Setting goals

On Tuesday evening I sat down with my best friend Sarah and talked about goals. Everyone trying to lose weight has some kind of goal. It could be a case of being able to wear the jeans that fit you when you were 22, getting to your healthy Body Mass Index (BMI) or could be a case of being fit enough not to run out of puff when you go up the stairs.

For me it has always been difficult to set specific goals. My healthy BMI is between 8 stone 3 lbs and 11 (ish) stone. The trouble is visualisation. I have no idea where in that range my body will look and feel its best. I could look perfectly fit and toned at 11 stone and look completely skeletal further down my healthy range. I came to the decision of the arbitrary (end) goal of 150 lbs because it's on the higher end of my range. Once I am in my healthy range I can wiggle around with my weight until I get to the point that I feel at my best.

In the interim period though, it is important that you have 'mini' goals to keep you going. When we discussed goals on that Tuesday evening, some were major landmarks and others were more trivial. All of them are important. If I simply look at the 177 lbs I have to lose, I feel like I'm stuck in the middle of the ocean with no sight of land wherever I look. I could be getting closer to land but the challenge could also make me drift further afield. As I mentioned yesterday, that first 7 lbs is an important goal to me. Yes, I just missed it this week but I now have a goal to get there for my next weigh in (which will now be on a Thursday as I'm going back to university on Saturday). After this is my 5% and 10% of starting body weight and I look forward once again to not having a 3 as the starting number of my pound weight. I remember when I lost the 50 lbs before. I felt so much like I'd made this enormous achievement. I framed the certificate and proudly hung it on my bedroom wall and then looked towards my next major goal. 75 lbs. Those next 25 lbs were nearly impossible to shift but finally, one day I stood on that scale and I was there. I'd achieved my goal.

75lbs remains a line in the sand for me. After I attained that goal I plateaued big time and would gain a pound and lose a pound over and over again so that I stayed at around 75-76 for over a month. That disappointment, plus the start of a relationship, meant that losing weight became less of a drive than it should have been. It will probably take me just over a year to get to that 75 lb weight loss again and this time I need to have further goals to keep going. Had I looked at my overall weight loss and looked at the percentage between starting and my ultimate goal, I would have realised that at 75 lbs had I just kept going a little while longer, I would have been at the half way point. Now that I realise how truly close I was I have no intention of giving up so easily again. I think I may have some kind of party when I get to the half way mark or finally make it out of having a 2 as the starting number of my pound weight. I cannot remember the last time that was the case.

Goals. On a handy Excel spreadsheet...

I respond well to these particular number goals. I vary so much with dress size that simply monitoring my dress size decreasing won't be enough. I've designed my goals to occur at regular intervals to make them easier to maintain and I look forward to ticking them off one by one. I'm sure that soon enough the goals of being able to wear normal high street clothes or falling out of a pair of jeans will follow and I will keep a close eye on when that does happen. I just can't get bogged down by it not happening quickly enough.