Will setting a small goal make more sense?

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Seeyoubabyweight
Seeyoubabyweight Posts: 49 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been yo-yo ing with my weight loss for years. Majority is my own fault working mom of three with a hubby who works straight nights. I'd love the gym or even time for my videos, but it just doesn't exist.

What I have been trying is managing what I take in. This is great for maintaining, but I'm having no luck losing.

Now hubby and I are taking a belated honeymoon in July. I'd love to drop at least a bit.

I've always set large goals...30lbs in xxx months...and get nowhere. Hell as I said I seem to be staying the same. I just lose motivation and the little I lose, goes up again.

So I'm thinking of switching to something simple. Even if I drop 3lbs/month that's nearly 20lbs by my trip which would be nice.

I'm just wondering, if I have a hard time motivating with the larger scale, what are tips to keep myself motivated with lower? I'm worried I'll step on the scale and thing "oh its okay I didn't lose this week, I have two more weeks to lose".
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Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
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    I would not set a monthly goal. Weight loss is not linear. And, being a woman, your body weight will fluctuate due to hormonal shifts throughout the month. Just pick mini goals and work toward them. For me, looking at each 5 pounds as a mini goal worked.
  • CodeMonkey78
    CodeMonkey78 Posts: 320 Member
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    +1 on mini goals.

    Here are some pretty easy mini goals to try:
    - Meeting or going under your calorie goal each day
    - 5lb loss increments
    - *Not* gaining weight / maintaining current weight
    - Gauging progress not only on the scale, but how your clothes fit.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Everyone's brain works a bit differently on this stuff but what truly worked for me, was thinking of a relatively close goal weight (for example when I was at 262 I wanted to get to 220, after reaching 220 I decided to try and hit 199 then 180...) and NOT putting a timeframe on it at all. One thing I see a lot of people struggling with, is the timeline of reasonable sustainable weight loss. 1 or even 2 lb a week isn't much, but it does add up in a major way when you do it for a year or more, even if you have lots to lose. You must be patient.
  • wkwebby
    wkwebby Posts: 807 Member
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    Another +1 on mini goals. Your 30lbs/month is way higher than is recommended so no wonder you're not going to make them. Even if you did make that goal, you wouldn't sustain because you're probably STARVING to get there and then binging when you aren't even aware of it.

    Go with 1-2 lbs per week (giving you 4-8 lbs/month) which would be 24-48 lbs by the time your vacation rolls around. Small healthier steps are the way to go. Try "cleaning up your diet" first, and start weighing food. These two steps alone will help to drop those first few pounds. So no more soda or sweetened drinks (1-2 lbs gone), way more veggies in diet (keeping you fuller for longer, 1 lb or more gone), more fruits instead of sweet treats or swapping out every other sweet treat for fruit (no deprivation, and you'll lose some), then weigh your food so you get an accurate count of what goes into your mouth.

    Good luck! :D
  • tulips_and_tea
    tulips_and_tea Posts: 5,715 Member
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    Agree with the above: smaller, more attainable goals and not necessarily time restrictions.

    Also, do not rely solely on the scale. Get a measuring tape and mark down your measurements starting today. Track those as often as you weigh. Seeing those numbers change is very helpful.
  • lsiberian
    lsiberian Posts: 69
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    For me counting calories is the only thing that works. Every day I see green I know I lost weight.
  • williams969
    williams969 Posts: 2,528 Member
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    OP, you already said you know setting the "X pounds in Y months" doesn't work for you. So don't do that with any amount or time length. I'm the same way, deadlines don't work for me.

    Instead, like others have suggested, just focus on smaller, none deadline goals, e.g. 5 pounds, then the next 5 pounds, etc. And other non scale goals like, stay on calorie target for the week, make good food choices for the day, get your X number of workouts completed for the week, etc. If any of those fall short, just put it behind you and work it tomorrow.
  • sherbear702
    sherbear702 Posts: 649 Member
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    I think it's key to set an over all goal, like losing 30lbs, but set mini goals along the way. For instance, 5lbs a month until you reach your goal. 5lbs a month is a totally obtainable, realistic goal. Plus, it's an extra bonus when you hit your monthly goal. It's like having a bunch of little wins on the way to the big win.
  • chele402
    chele402 Posts: 128 Member
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    I tend to do best when I break it down to 10 lb increments. As in, I started in the 170's, then wanted to get to the 160's. Now I'm in the low 150's and my next goal is to hit the 140's. Makes each goal manageable and I get to feel success every time I hit one.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,741 Member
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    Another idea on this is to set goals that you know you will meet...and then get excited about blowing them out of the water. For example, this time last year I weighed 202 and my goal for 2014 was to get under 199 and stay there. Not only did I do that, but I lost an extra 30 lb.

    For me big difficult goals are depressing and freak me out. I used to weigh over 300 and the very IDEA of "needing to achieve" a weight of 150-160 would have kept me from really even getting started. I started out w/ losing 30 lb and have now lost over 130. Baby steps work better for me.
  • Mr_Knight
    Mr_Knight Posts: 9,532 Member
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    There's no simple answer to your question. Some people do better with big goals that require a long period of slow changes. Others do best making biggers changes in a short period of time, with periods of no change (like a stair step). Some do better falling short of impossible goals, others need to outperform easy to achieve goals.

    The best approach really comes down to understanding how you're wired inside.

    Good luck! :drinker:
  • mrs_j_smith
    mrs_j_smith Posts: 24 Member
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    What if you focused less on the weight and more on the behavior as a "mini goal"? Like I will exercise 3 x a week for 45 min or I will stay within calories. That might help you establish/maintain healthy habits that may lead to weight loss. I get crazy when I focus too much on the weight loss itself. Hope that makes sense.
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    Seeyoubabyweight wrote: »
    I've been yo-yo ing with my weight loss for years. Majority is my own fault working mom of three with a hubby who works straight nights. I'd love the gym or even time for my videos, but it just doesn't exist.

    You don't need the gym/time for videos in order to lose weight. In fact, you do not need to exercise at all to lose weight. You can lose weight just though eating fewer calories.

    As for your goals, set weekly goals related to the causes of weight loss, not the results. Instead of even, "I will lose .5 lbs this week," your goal should be, "I will eat X,XXX calories every day this week." If you get your intake to be less than your maintenance calories, you will lose weight. Exercise is great, but not necessary for weight loss.
  • leanne0627
    leanne0627 Posts: 109 Member
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    I find some exercise even if its just 10 mins a day really helps me and motivates me to eat better. If i had to sweat for an hour to burn 300 calories I'm much less likely to eat that 400 calorie muffin. I am also a mother and a fulltime college student so not much free time but what I've been doing is just adding small periods of exercise in whenever I can. I got a fitbit to track it and have doubled my daily steps by going on walks with the kids, playing physically with them more, soccer etc. (Also great to see my daughter get more fit) doing jumping jacks or sit ups while watching TV at night. I even do squats while folding the laundry. I burn an extra 500 calories or so a day doing this. Just a suggestion if u want to include some exercise, although like others have said its not needed for weight loss.
  • yourradimradletshug
    yourradimradletshug Posts: 964 Member
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    Personally I set smaller goals because when I hit those goals I feel more motivated to continue going to reach the next one.
  • esjones12
    esjones12 Posts: 1,363 Member
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    My daily goal is to not eat over my calories. Make healthy food choices and move my body. That in the long run = all the large goals I set regarding health/fitness.
  • dubird
    dubird Posts: 1,849 Member
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    For me getting the habit of logging was key. My 10lb goals don't mean squat if I don't log it, so first I had to get into the habit of logging. That let me see just where my issues were and where I can cut back and substitute stuff, and after a month I focused on meeting my calorie goals to hit each 10lbs I needed to lose. Breaking your big goal down into manageable chunks can help keep you from getting disappointed or depressed with how far you have to go because you'll be hitting small milestones along the way.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    edited December 2014
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    jordanjean23 wrote: »
    What if you focused less on the weight and more on the behavior as a "mini goal"? Like I will exercise 3 x a week for 45 min or I will stay within calories. That might help you establish/maintain healthy habits that may lead to weight loss. I get crazy when I focus too much on the weight loss itself. Hope that makes sense.

    This is something that really works for me. I set longterm weight goals too, because for me it is motivating, not discouraging, but what's really important is having non-scale goals that I have more control over--like hit my calories or log consistently and accurately or bring lunch or all sorts of exercise-related ones.

    Another thing I did to take the focus off the scale was buy three pairs of jeans in the same brand and style one to three sizes down (I had lots to lose) and aim at fitting in them. Once I was in the smallest size I bought a couple of more, and am now in the smallest of those (6) and am thinking about buying some more.
  • Seeyoubabyweight
    Seeyoubabyweight Posts: 49 Member
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    wkwebby wrote: »
    Another +1 on mini goals. Your 30lbs/month is way higher than is recommended so no wonder you're not going to make them. Even if you did make that goal, you wouldn't sustain because you're probably STARVING to get there and then binging when you aren't even aware of it.

    Go with 1-2 lbs per week (giving you 4-8 lbs/month) which would be 24-48 lbs by the time your vacation rolls around. Small healthier steps are the way to go. Try "cleaning up your diet" first, and start weighing food. These two steps alone will help to drop those first few pounds. So no more soda or sweetened drinks (1-2 lbs gone), way more veggies in diet (keeping you fuller for longer, 1 lb or more gone), more fruits instead of sweet treats or swapping out every other sweet treat for fruit (no deprivation, and you'll lose some), then weigh your food so you get an accurate count of what goes into your mouth.

    Good luck! :D

  • kbmnurse
    kbmnurse Posts: 2,484 Member
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    Check out the definition of a S.M.A.R.T goal. Love it. I love making small goals.

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