setting a goal and some encouragement

samanthapwnsall

my wedding isn't until november 2014, so i have plenty of time to drop some weight before the wedding, so i'm setting small goals along the way to the wedding. i dont want the wedding date to be my goal date, too much pressure, so i'm thinking i'm going to use my birthday (august 5th), christmas, and valentines day as my goal dates. does that sound reasonable? so august 5th, i'd like to be down 15 pounds. then 10 from then until christmas, then another 10 til valentines day.  by that time, i'd be down enough that i'd be willing to start shopping for dresses. i just recently lost about 10 pounds, but i'm still trying to get down under 200 again.

PS.

i hope everyone that is working towards a goal is doing well, because you can do it, no matter what! [now if i believed that about myself, we'd be all good]

J&K10910

I like that you're breaking it down into smaller goals, and they sound quite reasonable except for the last one.  I think that a lot of people would struggle with losing 10 lbs between Christmas and Valentine's Day, just because of the holidays, and 10 lbs in the 6-7ish weeks might be unreasonable at that stage in the game.  The last 10 lbs are the hardest for many people to lose. 

I would also encourage you to think about alternative goals to just pounds loss.  Maybe inches?  Or a clothing size?  Depending on what you're doing for exercise, pounds loss is not always an accurate indicator of progress.

freebread03

Losing between Christmas and Valentine's Day would be amazingly difficult for me--and many people I assume--so I'd agree with J&K that your last goal may not be reasonable.  Definitely consider setting other goals for yourself too--want to be able to jog for 10 minutes without stopping?  That's a great goal to put in there and will help weight loss.  Or get into those old jeans?  While I have a weight goal I want to reach, I also want to fit into certain items of clothing--it almost makes me feel like I'm gaining a new wardrobe as I lose weight--double win.

kmac821

Ditto what they said--and especially about the pound ## loss. I've been working out to get in shape, and while the scale did move a little, I've gained muscle to replace the fat, and muscle takes up less space than fat--so while the needle hasn't moved THAT much, my clothes fit better, and I feel better about myself!

I would say do a combination goal-- lose 10 lbs OR fit into x size pair of jeans/pants/dress etc. I was killing myself trying to get that scale number down, but then I realized it doesn't matter as much as how my body fits in the dress!