Are my goals realistic?

morganhkeeling
morganhkeeling Posts: 6
in Motivation and Support
Since November I have lost 12 pounds.. When I think about it too long, it doesn't sound that great at all, but then I consider that I began at around 230 pounds, I am ecstatic to be where I am!
I was just wondering if you guys could give some feedback based on how realistic my goals are. I would love to hear some success stories, too!
I would love to be 145 by summer, and ultimately 120 by December 2014.

My goal for this post is to just see 1. What is the general consensus about whether this is possible to do on a healthy diet/exercise regimen from real people who are health conscious, and 2. See people discuss their successes.
(I know there are people who troll these just to tell you how stupid you are; so none of that please! Constructive feedback or positive stories.)

Replies

  • wordpainter09
    wordpainter09 Posts: 472 Member
    I see your CW is 177 on your profile - mathematically it seems reasonable to lose 57 lbs in the next 8 months (Feb-Nov), however keep in mind that your last 10-20 pounds may be much harder to lose as your body adjusts to new levels of exercise, food etc. In my experience, which is limited, not having lost a significant amount of weight, so it's mostly anecdotal, the last few are the hardest and sometimes take several months more to come off and serious tweaks/adjustments to a diet/exercise routine. That's not to say it can't be done, it just may take longer than you've planned, but the changes if done right will be more lasting.
    Always helpful also to consider strength training, etc, if you haven't yet, which could add more scale weight but overall has lasting health (and looks) benefits.
  • leaner426
    leaner426 Posts: 90
    I agree it seems doable. I've just been on MFP for about a week, and one thing that surprised me is how much the projected weight loss in 5 weeks changes based on the amount of fiber and fat you consume. If you are analytical in your approach and choose foods to get you in the right fiber/fat range and not just in the calorie range you could do it.
  • mspoopoo
    mspoopoo Posts: 500 Member
    Yes, if you are currently 177, you can get to 140s by summer.

    Just be consistent with your diet and exercise plan.
  • MoreBean13
    MoreBean13 Posts: 8,701 Member
    Your goals aren't unreasonable, as far as weight goals go. I'm not a big fan of weight-date deadlines, period. I really like action-based goals instead- like "By july I'd like to run a 30 minute 5k" or "By september I'd like to do an unassisted chin up" and let the weight happen without deadlines. There's a few reasons I don't like weight deadlines- 1. They make people crazy and unable to appreciate the progress they're making if they're not sticking to the deadline, and makes people emergency crash diet when a deadline is approaching (which makes the whole process harder long term) 2. Weight loss isn't linear 3. it's really hard to know at this point what your body will look like as it changes when you get closer to goal.
  • Le_Joy
    Le_Joy Posts: 593 Member
    They *could* be it depends on your height, body type etc. I am 5'5" and haven't ever weighed less than 150 as an adult. At that time I was exercising a lot, eating really well, wore a size 6 (could have fit into a 4, but I don't like snug clothing) and I had six pack abs. If you look at BMI charts they say I should weigh between 111.2 and 150.1 lbs. So according to them I was barely in the healthy range and could have weighed almost 40 lbs less. I don't think it's realistic for me to weigh much less than 150, but really if I can get back to that weight/size/abs I'm not going to complain or care about what BMI says.

    When I was losing weight (most recently) I was 180s in January and was 153 by August, but I had a very busy and hectic schedule, so it could have been done faster. Then I met my husband and had less time, then I got married and pregnant and weigh who knows how much now, but I'll lose weight this spring and summer!

    As the first poster said weight loss does slow down as you get closer to your goals.

    And I don't give as much credit to the your weight in 5 weeks thing as other people do.
  • Barbonica
    Barbonica Posts: 337 Member
    Since November I have lost 12 pounds.. When I think about it too long, it doesn't sound that great at all, but then I consider that I began at around 230 pounds, I am ecstatic to be where I am!
    I was just wondering if you guys could give some feedback based on how realistic my goals are. I would love to hear some success stories, too!
    I would love to be 145 by summer, and ultimately 120 by December 2014.

    My goal for this post is to just see 1. What is the general consensus about whether this is possible to do on a healthy diet/exercise regimen from real people who are health conscious, and 2. See people discuss their successes.
    (I know there are people who troll these just to tell you how stupid you are; so none of that please! Constructive feedback or positive stories.)

    It appears that you want to lose 30 pounds in about 5 months (20-22 weeks), which would be an average loss of 1.35 - 1.50 pounds per week to reach 145 by "summer". This is aggressive, because by the time you hit 145, you will be within 20 pounds of goal, and unless you want a pretty restrictive diet, you will probably only be losing about 1 pound a week. I agree with other posters, it is doable, but I think you may be putting too much pressure on yourself to lose at this rate for this period of time. Your calories will have to decrease as you lose weight to maintain the same rate of loss (see threads on TDEE and BMR if you need more info on this). I don't see that this is impossible, but would hate to see you become discouraged because of a self-imposed deadline.
  • Katla49
    Katla49 Posts: 10,385 Member
    Your goals aren't unreasonable, as far as weight goals go. I'm not a big fan of weight-date deadlines, period. I really like action-based goals instead- like "By july I'd like to run a 30 minute 5k" or "By september I'd like to do an unassisted chin up" and let the weight happen without deadlines. There's a few reasons I don't like weight deadlines- 1. They make people crazy and unable to appreciate the progress they're making if they're not sticking to the deadline, and makes people emergency crash diet when a deadline is approaching (which makes the whole process harder long term) 2. Weight loss isn't linear 3. it's really hard to know at this point what your body will look like as it changes when you get closer to goal.

    I agree with MoreBean that calendar deadlines as goals are not a good strategy. It takes however long it takes. Doing everything right on my weightloss journey included lots of time doing the right thing while the scales didn't budge. Clothing size shifted down, energy increased, but the scales didn't move predictably. There will be "plateaus" for most of us and the right thing to do is keep on meeting your calorie goals and exercising. The number one rule is don't give up.

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