Goals - and how to be realistic

While a big part of my weight loss goals are oriented around confidence and feeling comfortable in my own skin, I don't think that any real success can be had without some concrete goals.  

If I'm being honest, my new lifestyle (I'm really trying to avoid the word "diet" because it sounds temporary) began 3 weeks ago.  In that time I've already lost 10.5 pounds and 4 1/2 inches.  That's GREAT progress.  But, those first few weeks are usually the easiest.  Your body sheds a bunch of water weight and you shock it into submission.  So, now is when it gets tough.  Big 5 pound a week losses stop and slower (more realistic) weight loss begins.  

My goal from my present weight is to lose 42 pounds.  I'm only 4 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight (woot!), but have another 38 after that to get to my final goal weight.  If I'm being totally honest, my goal is a little ambitious, so I'd actually be really happy losing between 32-42 pounds (which would put me between 145-155 pounds and probably between a size 6-8).  We will just have to see as I get closer how realistic that lower number will be for me.  

Having said that, here's my advice to you when setting a weight loss goal.  Be ambitious!  But, be realistic.  Body types are different out there and I think each of us have different "set points" where our bodies are happy.  On one of my previous weight loss journeys I got too ambitious and that was the ultimate cause of my failure.  

Learn from my mistake:

I'm not a super tall gal, but I am taller than your average woman at 5'6".  I'm also curvy - I've got hips and a bum.  As such, I carry a little more weight than you'd think - I'll never weigh 125 pounds, at least not if I'm eating food.  And, to be honest, I carry that weight pretty well (I probably weigh a lot more than most people think).  So, I wanted to weigh 130 pounds.  The BMI told me that was a healthy weight and magazines led me to believe that a normal weight for a woman is between, like, 110-125 (it's not, by the way).  

Anyway, I worked out every day and ate 1100 calories every day for 8 months and you know what?  I lost 42 pounds.  I weighed in at 135 and looked fantastic.  But, you know what happened?  I didn't lose more weight.  I kept going to the gym, I kept eating next-to-nothing and I kept weighing 135.  So, and here's the stupid part, I felt like I had FAILED.  I stepped on the scale every day (another weight loss no-no that we'll get to in another post of "weight loss no-nos") and never lost - for months.  

And then it happened, I gave up.  I [quite subconsciously] decided that if I wasn't going to lose any weight, then I was wasting my time trying so darn hard.  I decreased my gym frequency and let myself indulge here and there.  My weight went up a pound or two and I felt like a bigger failure - and so the cycle continued until I'd gained every pound back.  

All this nonsense because I'd set my goal randomly and treated it like a magic number.  If I had said, "hey 135 looks great on me and I feel great," I bet I could have maintained near that number.  But, because I decided I wasn't worth the effort if I didn't hit that magic number, I did fail.  

So, while my new goal isn't so ambitious (and after 2 kids, I'm not even going to pretend like I have the time to work out every day or the emotional fortitude to stick to an 1100 calorie diet) this time around, it's also a range to keep me from feel like I've somehow failed when I've come so far.  

What's your goal?