This week is week four of five on 35 Day Challenge: Drop One Dress Sizes in 5 Weeks. I have a confession to make. The scale has stop moving since April. My diet is quiet a mess during this challenge and I barely exercise. I hope to produce some weight loss result this final 2 weeks.
Do you make sure you get to a weight loss goal by a certain date? .
I want to be at least 54 kg by my next birthday on November. That means I have to shed at least 20 kg in 4 months. That is a lot of weight! But setting a date for a weight loss goal create a sense of urgency. It's a great motivator and gives me reason to get started, and work hard to achieve the goal. Weight loss deadline is also a measure to say how far I have to go toward reaching that goal.
Birthday goal is not my first deadline this year. To be honest, I have setting several specific weight and date goal before.
Chinese New Year is only 8 weeks away!!! I need to lose at least 10 kg before February!
and….
I have friend's wedding coming up! I need to lose 7 kg by 4 weeks!!!
Sound familiar? I had a great idea, got all excited, envisioned the result but when the date is getting closer, I would start to slip up more and at the end of the day I failed to meet the deadline. I would feel like a complete failure. I would give up and chuck the whole thing. After some time, I move on and try to meet a new deadline again.
Is deadline necessary for weight loss? Or is it 'you will get there, when you get there' and just be patient and make healthier changes that you can keep forever? Let's debate.
Well, those kinds of deadlines never helped me. What did help me was to get a notebook to food journal everything I ate. When I got off the deadlines and onto food journaling, pounds started dropping off. Now, I like my weight and being much slimmer--but it was never due to putting pressure on myself, but because I did the little daily details that made weight loss work. Good luck!
ReplyDelete:-) Marion
{Melinda/Mothering From Scratch} I think goals are good, but I find that in all areas, I have to make small goals and celebrate little victories. That helps keep me motivated and not feeling overwhelmed and defeated. :)
ReplyDeleteI've gone both ways, and honestly had mixed results both ways. The best thing for me to do is stick with the plan no matter what the scale says because my weight yo-yos no matter what I do. It is also key for me to keep the house free of temptation foods.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the key to weight loss is diet and exercise is used for toning. It works no other way for me, especially since I'm the type that tends to say, "I can have ___ because I did 30 mins of ___." Never a good idea. :)
At any rate, I think you do what works for you. If that means set goals, set goals, but don't freak out if you don't meet them, especially if you've made progress. I know, easier said than done, but good advise anyway (and yes, I'm telling myself that, too!).
Best of luck to you! I am still working on myself and slipping up here and there and making it all the more harder (big grrr), so I get it. You will be in my thoughts and prayers as you work towards your goals for sure!
Good luck - I keep starting and stopping my fitness regime. Life just gets in the way.
ReplyDeleteI actually feel like having a deadline tends to make me fail, because if I don't meet my self-imposed goal then I just give up. Right now I am trying to look at health and fitness as a lifestyle, not a diet.-Ashley
ReplyDeleteI don't care for deadlines as far as weight loss goes. I've tried several different diets/eating plans and for most of them I stop losing weight after a couple weeks. If I'm working out, I'll lose some more inches but the scale doesn't move.
ReplyDeleteLast year my net loss was 10 whole pounds! And this was after training myself to run 5 miles at a time (setting a deadline for a fitness goal is motivating for me, as long as I am realistic given my age).
This summer I've starting to make connections between the quality/type of food I'm eating and some ongoing health problems like eczema and fatigue. In fact your 35 day challenge motivated me to start an elimination diet and I'm seeing the scale move again.
I feel that deadlines are necessary S.M.A.R.T. goals requires measurable goals. Adding deadlines makes you accountable. Good luck, I think you plenty of time to reach your specific goal and this blogs is a great accountability tool.
ReplyDeleteI actually thrive on deadlines personally, for writing and photography projects. Really anything. I think posting about it on a blog is also a good way to have everyone along for the ride. It's motivating! I do it myself. Like someone said above, I do tend to set my goals on the smaller side.
ReplyDeleteI need to get on this- and I need deadlines for sure. I think I am going to sign up for a 5k to give myself something to work towards.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if it is or not. What I do know is when I give myself a deadline, and write it down (for me the writing is key), it gets done. If I think it in my head, it doesn't.
ReplyDeleteI am insanely bad at this. I thin it sets you i the directing but when you don't make it, you end up sad and defeated even though you made progress. Its a vicious cycle lol either way as long as it gets done, its all good.
ReplyDeleteI have learned this time around that I may not reach my goals when I thought. I set goals and it is really coming off slow. But instead of getting discouraged, it keep plugging along!!
ReplyDeleteIt's worth waking up to read all these great opinions. :) It's easy to get discouraged if you don't seem to be making progress within the deadline. Sometimes I do feel like it's better if I just living my life, try to get healthy and move more and no rushing to lose weight within a set time frame. But for me, setting deadline is one way to creates a sense of responsibility to get after it. We just can’t let the goal go on for years and years. If I failed to meet the deadline I've given to myself, I will set a new one, see what's works and what's not. Thanks for sharing your thought.
ReplyDeleteI think goals can be good and bad. Good because it's something to motivate you but bad bc if you dont reach it you can get discouraged even though you may have already lost a ton. You'll get there soon enough!!! Thanks for stopping by my blog. xo, Julie
ReplyDeleteJust be careful you don`t overreach and screw yourself over in the long run. That`s the only thing id worry about.
ReplyDeletechoppysreviews.com
@Choppy T, thanks for being so kind. I'll remember that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Julie from prosecco to plaid. I agree with your opinion. It's so easy to get discourage if you fail to meet your goal in a specific time frame. It sometimes lead to emotional eating, which is worst and tend to give up later. But I think, it's attitude that will determine whether you'll rise up or not. Failure can be a motivator, and it's all about attitude. Thanks for sharing your thought.
ReplyDelete