Anybody else set low weight loss goals...

kds10 · January 2018

I have about 30 lbs to lose...as of this morning I weigh 181.5 my goal is to be at 172 by June 30th then lose another 10 lbs by December 31st. Slow but for me that seems to work.

I like setting low expectations because then I find it less overwhelming and it allows for some lenience for the occasional off day, etc.

seska422 · January 2018

I went even further than that by not having a deadline. I figured I'd get there when I got there. The important part was to have a general downward weight trend.

tinkerbellang83 · January 2018

seska422 wrote: »

I went even further than that by not having a deadline. I figured I'd get there when I got there. The important part was to have a general downward weight trend.

Same, I initially gave myself a deadline, but prefer now to just aim to get my deficit week-to-week and focus on my fitness goals, I'll get there, when I get there.

toxikon · January 2018

It can definitely work for some people.

I prefer setting lots of mini-goals and deadlines for myself to keep myself on track. Otherwise I get lazy and slowly end up eating at maintenance (or higher). I don't have a lot of weight to lose, so it's easy to get complacent since I'm already a healthy BMI. I need to keep myself focused to get those last 15lbs off!

LivingtheLeanDream · January 2018

When I decided to lose weight this time I needed it to be sustainable - slow loss for me was sustainable. I lost the weight and have kept it off, am approaching year 5 of maintenance.

All the best.

kds10 · January 2018

RunRutheeRun wrote: »

When I decided to lose weight this time I needed it to be sustainable - slow loss for me was sustainable. I lost the weight and have kept it off, am approaching year 5 of maintenance.

All the best.

Yeah that is what my doctor told me when I told her on average I lose about 1.5 to 2 lbs per month she said that is great..if it comes off slowly it tends to stay off.

fitoverfortymom · January 2018

I needed to lose 100lbs and set a goal of a year-ish. I didn't meet my goal and I'm still a few pounds shy of it 5 months after a year, but I still "won."

alondrakayy · January 2018

I have 10 lbs to lose by the end of this year. Taking it slow and steady. I'm in no rush .. but I'm also at the very end of my weight loss journey so I don't think this would be the case if I had 100 lbs to lose.

MelanieCN77 · January 2018

I had 40lbs to lose and set to 1lb a week, as I didn't want to be deprived and was ok with settling in to a routine. Somewhere in my mind was also "the longer this takes, the further I am from having that moment when I just go back to my old ways" which I know is weird cognitive dissonance but I feel like it worked because I think the longer project helped solidify better habits and choices.

__TMac__ · January 2018

My calorie goal is set at maintenance level for my goal weight. Small deficit and slow loss. But it’s comforting that this is the amount I need to eat going forward. Occasionally, I set it lower for a week if I’m feeling ambitious, but I’m mostly happy to just chug along. 64 lbs down, 16 to go. I’ll get there when I get there.

steveko89 · January 2018

As for many, it can positive to have checkpoints or intermediate goals throughout your pursuit of weight loss. Trend apps like Happy Scale can be set up for that as well, and using a moving average of weigh-ins helps smooth out any big swings due to hydration, sodium, etc.

That said, I think the connection between losing weight slowly and successfully keeping that weight off is one of correlation over causality. I don't have any research to back this assumption, but for most people it seems losing weight slower means that you're making sustainable changes and breaking/building the right habits and generally improving their nutrition and fitness as a whole, not "dieting", which I feel can be done as aggressively as is sustainable for a given individual. Ergo, the sustainability of the weight loss is tied to the methodology, rather than the pace at which it is lost.

Unless you have an important life event that you've tied to those deadlines, and depending on how you function as an individual, I can see where long-term deadlines could be detrimental to your success. Personally, I always work best when I have a deadline, but have strong tendencies to procrastinate until absolutely necessary. As you said, being less overwhelmed based on your expectations allows for lenience; for some that lenience would prevent them from reaching their ultimate goal.

jessicapk · January 2018

I've got probably 100+ lbs to lose total and I'm working in 5lb goals at a time! It keeps my goals nice and close (less than 30 days) and it will really surprise you how quickly they add up when you are working hard to reach the next 5lbs instead of 50-60+ lbs away

Some people can do without deadlines but I've found that small goals work best for me.

MegaMooseEsq · January 2018

I'm hoping to lose about 30 pounds total this year as well! I decided early on that I was going to aim for the end of 2018 as a rough goal, giving me two years to lose 73 pounds. So far that's treated me pretty well - I lost about 40 pounds last year before taking a holiday diet break, and am back on the deficit train as of earlier this month. When I was looking forward to 2018, I also decided that I will probably not want to go much lower than an average net 1650-1700 calories a day (last year I averaged over 2000/day). We'll see how that goes.

cwolfman13 · January 2018

I put on about 10 Lbs every winter and strip it off in the spring...takes me about 2 months and isn't particularly painful...I can't imagine taking 6 months to drop 10 Lbs.

During my initial weightloss, I didn't really have a time frame...I lost 40 Lbs at an average rate of about 1 Lb per week and that's basically what I shoot for in my spring cut.

ladyhusker39 · January 2018

I love a good "I want to lose weight slowly" thread.

Seems like we get about 1 of these for every 100 of the Speedy Gonzales threads. (I think I just totally dated myself with that one.)

HoneyBadger302 · January 2018

I don't do deadlines or any goals beyond where my maintenance range should be.

I do want to see a downward trend. Right now, I'd like to see it a little faster than it is, but trying to determine if that's a realistic goal or not. Either way, the overall is what counts for me.

MrsPinterest34 · January 2018

It took me the entire last year to lose 32 pounds. Compared to others who share their success that's pretty slow. But my goal for this year is much slower, 10 pounds in 12 months. I'm in no rush. I don't want to gain any weight so I'm taking the slow approach for the long term health benefit plus I do like to eat.

hesn92 · January 2018

That sounds great. Slow and steady. I don’t see why so many people are in such a rush. Weight gain is usually slow over time yet so many people are like “my goal is to lose 30 pounds in 5 days” lol.

I was 180 2 years ago and I am 155 now. My goal is like 145. I’m not really that worried about it though.

sunfastrose · January 2018

And just to point out, sometimes what is "slow" is actually "mandatory for health". There are some times that the difference between the calories you need to eat to stay healthy and lose weight and the ones to maintain your weight is not enough to have the big pound losses per week. I.e. your TDEE (BMR + exercise) might be 1800 (to throw out a #). To lose 2 pounds - which is thrown out there as the "healthy max" - you would have to eat 1000 calories less than TDEE per day. That takes you to 800 calories, which is definitely an unhealthy # of calories for the general population. So for this person they will have to lose in the 1 pound a week range to stay above what is considered the healthy minimum for a woman (1200 calories).

jflongo · January 2018

I initially had my profile set to 1.5 lbs per week, but just recently changed it to 1 lb per week, to slow down a bit. Also, I'm trying to lift weights, so that is another reason I put it at 1 lb per week, to add a few more calories in per day.

I started at 210 about a month ago, I'm down to 204 now. My goal is around 185 - 190. Once I hit 199, I'm going to drop my profile down to 0.5 lbs per week.

bcradio1 · January 2018

The problem with all of this is that it is impossible to tell how many pounds you need to lose to get the look you want to get. I thought I had 20lbs to lose, but almost 40lbs later I am still not there yet.

I simply aim to lose 1lb per week until I am done.

Anybody else set low weight loss goals...

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