Is my goal reasonable?

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kimi131
kimi131 Posts: 1,058 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just completed my food diary. You know how it says, "If every day were like today... You'd weigh X lbs in 5 weeks"? Well, that number (the X lbs) is higher than my goal. In other words, I wanted to be lower than that in only 4 weeks. Am I not being realistic? Do I need to adjust my goal to a higher weight? I thought my goal was reasonable enough, but then I saw that and I wondered if maybe it should be a higher weight or a longer time period. I don't want to set myself up for disappointment.

Replies

  • Arizona_JR
    Arizona_JR Posts: 275
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    If your goal is to lose 7 pounds by 7/9/11, that is totally doable. It just comes down to calories in versus calories out, and consistency. You'll regularly see reports of people losing 10+ pounds in their first month. Now, whether it's realistic with your lifestyle and degree of determination is the real question. :-)
  • yankeefamily05
    yankeefamily05 Posts: 657
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    I think its doable.
  • Jorra
    Jorra Posts: 3,338 Member
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    I don't entirely trust that reading, there are certainly times where I've reached the predicted weight much sooner than five weeks.
  • missballast
    missballast Posts: 10
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    Healthy weight loss is about 1-2 lbs a week, and if you want to keep it off that should be your goal.

    Also, make sure you are drinking enough water - more than the recommended 8 cups, it will help fill you up and clean you out (bloating & more).
  • pauljsolie
    pauljsolie Posts: 1,024 Member
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    I think that is doable. I tried to go back to the beginning to see how accurate it was but you can't get the original projections.
  • missxchelly
    missxchelly Posts: 180
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    That thing is bogus. It's always telling me I will be the same weight in 5 weeks even a week later.
  • Jennyisbusy
    Jennyisbusy Posts: 1,294 Member
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    It's fun to watch the scale go down but it can be fickle too. Set a goal that is truly controlled by your actions: I will hit my daily calorie goal every day for the month of June. The scale should reflect your efforts but if not you still get to do the victory dance b/c you hit your goal.

    I know it sounds kind of picky but too much salt, periods, exercise, etc can make the scale do wonky things that have nothing to do with body fat or losing inches.
  • Countrymade
    Countrymade Posts: 183 Member
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    I have been kind of playing around with that. It depends on what foods you eat. Seems the healthier the food the lower the predicted weight. Also if you figure the predicted weight at least for me the weight loss is more than the 1 lb that I want to lose for the 5 weeks. It keeps me on track. I always try and plan my meals before I eat them which helps. I am still learning. I don't have trouble to much making the calories I need to eat in one day anymore. What I have trouble making is my net calories.
  • nsueflorence
    nsueflorence Posts: 295 Member
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    it is saying if you every day was like today. so if you didn't change anything it five weeks this is a good estimate of where you might be at. So if tomorrow you went and ate a whole cake and a gallon of ice cream then chances of you seeing that number go down also go down. Same with if tomorrow if you cut back on things that maybe you shouldn't be eating so much up and pick up you activity level then the number could go down even more.

    hope you find that helpful.
  • SarahC75
    SarahC75 Posts: 45
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    Well, also take into account that if you stick to what you are doing today ..... in the next week you are likely to of lost weight. When you enter that new weight into the system, your new "in 5 weeks" calculation will take your new weight into account. :)
  • kate2004rock
    kate2004rock Posts: 223 Member
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    Tangential question:

    Does that esitmate include your exercise calories burned or not? I always sort of get the feeling it doesnt...
  • JennsLosing
    JennsLosing Posts: 1,026
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    i think its doable!
  • teachermegan
    teachermegan Posts: 69 Member
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    Tangential question:

    Does that esitmate include your exercise calories burned or not? I always sort of get the feeling it doesnt...

    I would think so because excercise gives calories back for the day. So say I ate 1500 calories, but exercised 200 calories off, my calories for the day would be 1300, keeping me in the green. Same as if the day before I didn't exercise and ate 1300 calories. Make sense?

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