Hi Girls, please will you help me set up a weight goal?
 

Happy new year to you all, so today i have just had the shock or my life and had bmi and weight done at the doctors it turns out im 361ibs, i couldn't believe it, i don't feel it, and i don't think i look like i weigh that much either,

i did have a little cry thinking god why did i let myself get this way, but just looking at the amount i weigh is making me want to change my life for the better now.


So onto my weight goal i have no idea what i should be able to achieve in a certain amount of time? can you guys help me? i want to say 10 stone in one year, but is that to good to be true? and how often should i weigh myself?

:o

Hi Jen!

I don't have any magic number for you. But I will tell you, starting is the biggest hurdle. So Congratulations.
For me a reasonable goal to start was 1/2 pound a week. Dang, doesn't seem like much, but it was doable for me and I have kept it off which is the important part. Granted many weeks I lost more than a pound a week, but the 1/2 pound a week was the goal.

I'm currently trying to lose 15 pounds by Easter, which is a hard goal for me, but I will try and do my best. Want to join me? A few other ladies are trying this too.

Thanks french for your reply oh yes i will join ill take a look now. xx

Hi Jen,
Welcome. For many of us, about a pound a week on average works pretty well. As you probably know it will be a little easier at first (once you get into better diet and exercise routine). A pound a week is about a 500 calorie daily deficit. So, if your calorie maintence level is 2000 per day, and only eat 1500 per day, you should lose about a pound.

One of the reason why I shoot for a pound is so that I see progress. I can get discouraged pretty quickly and a half a pound is the same weight as a cup of water, so it can be hard to see that half pound.

But there are lots of ups and downs, water retention, retention of the other waste product (ahem), and just plain stubborness on the part of our bodies.

Have you checked in to all the tools available in FitDay? It can help you calculate your current calorie requirement based on activity and can also show you a chart of weight loss based on calorie restriction.

Hope to see you around girl! Lots of help, support, and sharing going on around here :p.

Hi Pam,

Yes i have done everything i possibly can and are going off a pound a week, thanks for your words it really gets me motivated, if i ever feel i am going downhill all i need is these forums to pick me back up! so far so good though!

Thanks for your msg! xx

Did you go through the exercises on the "weight goal" tab. Usually your ideal weight is based on height and bone structure. I first started down this road when I realized I weighed double what I should, shocking to say the very least. Just take it one step at a time, figure out what your bad habits are and then slowly chip away at them one at a time and replace them with good habits. I really can't give you a good goal weight to lose in a year, but I will second that 1-2lbs/week is reasonable and healthy, which is 50-100lbs in a year. 10 stone is more than that, so you might want to shoot for 5-6 stone-ish if picking a number is a pivotal exercise for you. The number on the scale is important, but it's much more important to focus on being healthy and making changes that you can live with for the rest of your life.

Two other bits of advice I'm going to offer are to drink water water water, it really helps, baseline 64oz + 8oz for every 10lbs you want to lose. If that's too much water to drink in a day, just aim for the first 10lbs and throw down 72oz. Another thing that is crazy important to me is self forgiveness. Somehow or another cheating on the diet and completely throwing in the towel in a vortex of self pity are very intertwined events for me. And even though I have learned that I can climb back on the wagon after a fall, it doesn't come naturally to me, it requires focus and effort - which is nearly impossible if I'm swimming in guilt. So I take a deep yoga breath, pull up my big girl panties, exhale and move on. I refuse to be defined for all eternity by a handful of diet sin.

Ah, words of wisdom Almeeker - you can't aim for the stars ahead if you are focused on the ground from the past.

Hi Jen-
I'm just starting also and I've never had a need to lose weight before, so I was a little bit confused on how to pick a number. I was told by a Dr. & nutritionist to start with a small obtainable goal. So although I'd like to lose 45 lbs by tomorrow, it would be much more reasonable for me to say I want to lose 5-10 lbs in the next 30 days (I chose 10). Since I'll be exercising and eating better the belief is the weight will initially come off fairly quickly and then taper down over time. After 30 days you re-evaluate if the goal was reasonable and achieved, reasonable and not achieved(Exercise and food tracking can give insight) or unreasonable and not achieved based on changes in diet and the amount of physical activity. Then set a new goal. I'm giving it a try, I'm hoping it works. Best of luck to you!

Hi everyone! I'm back and will check in occasionally now that it's winter and a dangerous time for re-gain of weight, which I've done a bit of. I just need to refocus, mainly around food!

I maintained my goal weight all summer pretty easily. Well, a pound over but that's acceptable, I think. But right now I am looking at 5 pounds to lose. I'd like to lose it by end of Feb. I, too, go for the lower weekly goal because it can be reached. Something like 1/2 to 1 pound a week.

Goals:
1) cut portions in half for one week
2) average 1 hour/day exercise - a mix of cardio, strength, and fun (like tennis, zumba)
3) TRY to drink more water

I love being able to "journal" in the forum. I know I could just use the "journal" feature, but knowing that others see it really helps.

Weight April 30, 2011: 122.5
Weight all summer: 123.5
Weight Dec. 31, 2011: 124.5
Jan. 7, 2011: 127 (what happened in a week? I think Chocolate had a lot to do with it!)
Goal Feb. 28, 2012: 122#

You goal weight really depends on your height. For example a 5ft 10 person weighing 160lb would be normal weight whereas a 5ft 5 person of the same weight would be considered overweight. Sometime it's alot healthier not to think in terms of weight but in inches. athletes are alot heavier than they appear and may have an overweight BMI because of the weight of their muscle so BMI isn't always acurate. However all women should aim for a 30inch waist or bellow, try make little goals in inch loss (such as lose 5 inches within a given time) until you reach that healthy waist size (which ideally should be about 70% of the size of your hips).