Setting Realistic Goals for Weight Loss

In an ideal world it would be possible to lose all your extra weight in the space of a week or two without too much effort or inconvenience. The reality of the situation, however, is that it can take quite a long time to reach your goal weight, especially if you are carrying quite a lot of excess baggage! Although you may want to be able to lose seven pounds a week, your body is not designed to let go of weight that easily and so you have to be realistic about what you intend to achieve. If you do not set yourself realistic weight loss goals you will be in for disappointment.

You need to set yourself goals that push you to try harder and which keep you motivated, rather than being unrealistic and over-stretching yourself, so that you end up tired, ill and inclined to give up. You may think that aiming to lose seven pounds a week will keep your mind focused, but if you step on the scales and discover you've only lost two pounds, instead of being proud of yourself for losing weight you will come away disappointed. You will obsess about the fact you only managed to lose two pounds, even though this is a perfectly reasonable amount.

Unless you have undergone bariatric surgery it is extremely difficult to embrace eating habits that will enable you to lose over five pounds a week. You will virtually have to starve yourself to achieve this amount, which clearly isn't the best way to go about weight loss. You therefore need to make changes to your diet which enable you to lose weight consistently and that you can continue following once you have reached your ideal weight. When you're a long way off reaching your weight loss goal, it is definitely worth breaking it down into smaller chunks.

When choosing your final weight loss goal you may decide to go by your Body Mass Index (BMI) or by how much you used to weigh, but if you've always been overweight it can be difficult to know how much weight to lose. The main thing is that you aim to lose at least a pound a week, as at least you know your weight is heading in the right direction. You may set yourself monthly targets instead of weekly ones if you find stepping on the scales every week to be counterproductive. It may not be a particular weight you're aiming for, but rather a certain dress size.

It doesn't matter how you set your goals, as long as you are realistic about what you are able to achieve in the short-term and in the long run. That way, you are less likely to be disappointed and to give up as a result of your disappointment.