Thinking of moving my goal date out....
 

So I originally had my goal date of March 1 to lose the entire 50 lbs I had to lose. Then I lost 15.5 lbs and started feeling good and got into a slump and moved it up to labor day to hopefully get myself motivated. I hasn't worked. I'm still in a slump. I'm back to charting all of my food, but can't quite get the exercise thing down again. I don't know what happened! When I first started, I just knew what I had to do and it was second nature. Now I'm fighting it.

So now I know I pretty much cannot meet the Labor Day goal of losing the remaining 28.5 lbs that I have to lose. I'm thinking of moving it out to Dec. 1 and need some advice of how to keep from getting back into that slump as I lose more weight???

Why not consider setting your goal as a behavior, not a result, instead of "I will lose 28 lbs by Labor Day" say "I will run three miles three times this week", or whatever is appropriate and you can do. The results will happen, but it's each day you need to live for.

Abby

I just posted a sticky for a 3 month challenge I am starting to lose 22 LBS. You are always welcome to join me.

My suggestion to help you overcome your rut is to visualize yourself at your goal weight every night before you go to bed. Be as detailed as you can and focus on how good you look and how great you feel.

Once your mind shifts your body will start to follow. :)

I am very much for extended goals that you are 99% confident you can achieve. In fact, all of these weight goals seem very aggressive compared to mine. I have 27lbs to lose from today (June 24) to reach my goal on January 11th of 2012.

Granted, I just did the math and based on my previous 5 months of weight loss, I could hypothetically reach my goal as early as Nov. 10th if I keep losing 1.36lbs per week. However, it makes me feel good to know that I am ahead of my goal. I use the progress graph to see how I'm doing. I often feel very discouraged if my weight jumps above my goal weight loss line, so having this extended goal keeps me motivated because I can see that I am far ahead of my goal.

Another reason I like this more relaxed goal is that it allows me to have vacations and breaks. I know that I will be on a wonderful 1.5 week vacation in August where I don't want to be on a restrictive diet (even moreso because it includes restaurants and lots of business lunches/dinners that I cannot control). I also want to have fun! So, my goal has vacations, Thanksgiving, and Christmas deviations built in.

So, I would say that at least for me that having an aggressive goal is not motivational. I find it motivational to know that I am going to beat my goal. Perhaps this is something to consider.

Best of luck,
Chai