Choose My Adventure..
Well not exactly.
Unless I completely fall off the wagon or hit a nasty plateau, I have a pretty good chance of hitting my initial goal of 52 pounds in the next few weeks. Fifty-two pounds sounds impressive and looks impressive when I type it out long-form like I did in this sentence. And it IS impressive. But sadly, it is not the end of my weight loss journey. 52 pounds was a nice round number that I picked out of thin air out of ignorance of what I can do when I set my mind to it, and coinciding with my birthday next year.
According to various BMI calculators, the top weight for my height is around 172 pounds. And that’s the high end. The low end is about 140. (For the record, based on past experience, my body type and muscle mass, I suspect I will be at the high end, but I’ll reserve judgement for when I get there). So I am still obese (but only by a few pounds) and I still need to lose some significant weight.
For the next round, I don’t plan to aim for such a high number in one go. I have a target goal of ~16 pounds, to get me to 199. That mini-goal would achieve a few things – 1) I’d be under 200 for the first time probably since about 1995, 2) I’d be firmly out of obese and into just plain overweight. Both of those would be huge psychological boosts.
The question is – how much time should I target? For the first round, I averaged around 2 lbs / week. However, there are a few realities here. First, it gets harder the lighter you are. This time period is likely to contain Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s. I don’t plan to gorge myself, but I do intend to eat without obsessing over calorie counts either. The festivities also tend to interfere with gym time (not tremendously, but some). And lastly, as one of my favorite series says – ‘Winter is coming.‘ Last winter was rough snow wise, and interfered with the gym greatly.
So I’m curious what everyone thinks I should aim for. 16 pounds in – 8 weeks? 12 weeks? 20 weeks?
Posted on October 19, 2011, in General Housekeeping, Personal, Weight Loss and tagged goals, inspiration, postaweek2011, weight loss. Bookmark the permalink. 20 Comments.
52 Weeks, 52 Pounds 
Hi J.,
How about 1.75 / week before Thanksgiving, and 1.0 after?
Regards,
David
Hi J – first a HUGE congratulations on nearly getting to your first goal. It’s an incredible achievement and one that you have achieved in a lot shorter time than you originally aimed for.
I agree with David’s idea. Perhaps aim for an average of 1.5lbs per week over 10-11 or perhaps 12 weeks, but aim for nearer 2 prior to the festive season and nearer 1 after that. If you aimed to lose it over 12 weeks that would allow for the weeks when there are celebrations going on and for the weeks when you can get to the gym more regularly.
Good luck with whatever you decide
Pip x
Just wondering, your numbers are pretty close to mine. Do you have as hard a time as I envisioning yourself at 170-175 lbs? Seems somewhat unbelievable to me that I still have 50 lbs to come off this frame and even then be at the “high” end.
thanks for the ideas so far.
@corey – 140 is completely unfathomable to me. I don’t have a skinny frame even when the fat is gone, 165 seems pretty difficult to imagine. 175 I can juuuust about imagine. When I was 20 I got down to 188 or 189, and at the time I thought 180 seemed like the reasonable end-point (change the 1 for a 2 and it was ;)).
This is a really good post. I have broken my weight loss into 30 pound intervals so it doesn’t feel like such an incredible task. I think it is great that you are remaining aware of the challenges that the holidays bring. One suggestion I’ve heard is that you can aim for losing 1% of your weight on a weekly basis until you hit the high range of your BMI and then focus specifically on fat loss and/or gaining lean muscle mass. Just a thought.
1% sounds interesting, I’ll have to make a spreadsheet.
Hi! I have similar numbers to lose, about 100 all together. 30 of them are gone and I’m working on the last 20 before January 3rd. Focus on doing what works for you, enjoy the holidays and keep doing those things – a good breakfast, lots of veggies and fruits. Make sure the special stuff is really special, not just there. IE Real whipping cream, not cool whip, real butter, not some whatever. Your favourite cookies, not just a cookie that happens to be there. Don’t settle for second best! Get to the “under 200” mark and re-evaluate!
good point. as I said, I don’t intend to graze and gorge, but making the things I do eat count is another fair comment.
Looking at your results so far I think that you are proving that having an “easy” goal hasn’t caused you to relax. At the current rate it would be 8 weeks, 16 pounds but even if you place your goal posts at 16 weeks to allow for food holidays, I am sure you will reach your goal sooner than that.
Wow.
You are doing amazingly well – but my big question is – are you going to have to rename your blog to something like “25 weeks, 52 pounds, woo hoo I rock!”
I was thinking of going for the snappy 364 days, 23,586 grams title..;)
Thanks for feedback. Mulling it all over and seeing if any more comes in.
You have made such amazing progress! I think the 16 pounds in 20 weeks sounds reasonable. As you said, you have less to lose so each pound will get harder (trust me, I know).
Push hard until Thanksgiving and then give yourself 6 weeks to be diligent but also merry for the holiday season. A piece of pumpkin pie is great….camping out at the buffet table…not so great. 🙂
Congrats one being so close to your original goal. I think the 20 week plan sounds extremely reasonable considering the major holidays are coming up.
Again…congrats!
J – congrats on the great work so far!!! I would agree that a slowdown in weight loss is most likely in order, and as a matter of fact, even a few weeks of maintenance – to see if you can do it. I’m seeing some bloggers writing about losing the weight was easier than keeping it off? I’m going to do a push until Tgiving and then just try to maintain thru New Years, continue exercising and then hit it hard again in January.
I’m in the 20-week crowd. You’ve proven you have extraordinary dedication and drive – I suspect the holidays will be a great experience for you as you balance and adjust and learn how to go through them with your new frame of reference. And frame. 🙂
thanks all for the feedback, I continue to ponder the timeline.
I say go for the 12 weeks. That’s a reasonable time period to lose 16 pounds. You want to make sure you pick something that will stretch you at least a little. You don’t want to lose that momentum you’ve built up.
Congrats on being so close to your first goal! You rock and are an inspiration! I think 16 pounds in 20 weeks sounds like a great goal. If you beat it, more power to you but with winter and the holidays, I’d go for the 20 weeks…course I’ve lost nothing in about 20 weeks so listening to what I say may show poor judgment on your part 🙂
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