Is it time to reconsider your goals?

There are many good reasons to be on a site like myfitnesspal. For example, it is nice to be a part of a community that can offer support and managing nutrition can be a valuable behaviour to sustain a healthy lifestyle. However, misinformation and an obsession with always being under you daily calorie amount or on a strict and unreasonable amount can also occur.

Many individuals, particularly the ones who are obese tend to put their calorie amounts at or around the 1200cal a day mark. How did this number become so entrenched in the minds of dieters? Many commercial weight loss programs (Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, etc.) all promote low calorie diets and successful weight loss stories. However, what they do not let you know is that within a year over 90% of dieters do not manage to stick to them and regain most of their weight.

So how does someone who is overweight/obese manage to lose weight successfully and keep the weight off? One of the best ways to answer this question would come from examining the behaviours of individuals who are of a healthy weight.


So here are some tips and goal changes you might want to make.

1) Losing 'weight' is not a particularly useful goal. You can be 120lbs and still not look as good as a 160lb fitness model. Instead focus on losing body fat and increasing fitness. If you are healthier, fitter and can fit into smaller clothes then who cares about a number on the scale?

2) Exercise regularly. Diet makes a big difference in your weight but over time you naturally lose muscle mass and you need to do some form of resistance training to maintain or build muscle. This not only helps you burn more fat but it will give you a more attractive figure overall.

3) Do not go with the mentality 'I'll drop weight as quickly as I can now and then I'll eat properly to maintain when I am at my goal weight'. Think about this point. Did you gain your weight overnight? over a week? over a month? year? decade? If you have slowly gained weight overtime then why do you expect to lose all your weight overnight? Start eating and living like the person you want to become and your weight will eventually balance itself out.

4) A goal of I want to lose 60lbs in 3 months is for most people unrealistic and might lead to a loss of motivation. Choose something you can constantly measure. For example, start your fitness program by seeing how many pushups/situps/squats etc you can do in a minute. In a months time try the test again. You can objectively see your strength and health increases that way.

5) Eat adequately. There are many BMR calculators on the net. Usually most will recommend a 65kg women to eat at least 1400-1700 calories a day before exercise and a 75kg man to eat 1800-2160 calories a day before exercise. Try to eat at this range plus whatever you are burning during exercise. This will help your metabolism to keep working optimally and will use more fat as a fuel as opposed to your lean muscle.

I hope this helps some of you out there. Remember, change is progressive and sometimes slow. But a slow journey forward is better than racing ahead only to end up crashing and returning to the start.