So you want to lose weight, that’s great! But how much weight do you want to lose and how long do you want to give yourself to lose it in? These are questions you want to thoroughly think through. Why? Because so often, unrealistic weight loss goals are made and when they aren’t achieved by their proposed deadline, the person feels defeated and is tempted to stop their weight loss journey all together. Instead of throwing out random numbers and wishing on a star that you’ll achieve it, take the time to think what numbers are right for YOU.
Your ideal weight is one where you’re healthy, happy, and living a life practicing sustainable habits. So, how do you find out what that number is? First decide how much weight you want and/or need to lose to be healthy. Is it 25 pounds? 50? 100? If your long-term plan is 50 or more, we highly recommend focusing on smaller numbers first to see how your body reacts to weight loss. Some lose weight faster than others and that’s okay! Slow and steady wins the race – as long as you’re moving forwards and not backwards, you’re on the right track! Completely in the dark how much you should or could lose? Consult with your physician and check out apps like Lose It! that offer weight loss goal suggestions along with nutrition and fitness guidance.
After you’ve established how many pounds you want to lose, then it’s time to decide how long you want to lose it in. Again, weight loss speed is different for everyone, so while someone may be able to lose 50 pounds in 6 months, it might take you 8 months or longer…and again, that’s okay! The CDC recommends 1-2 pounds per week max for sustainable weight loss. Since weight loss is rarely linear and comes with many ups and downs, it’s important you integrate additional time as there will be weeks you don’t lose a pound and some weeks you may lose more than 1-2.
Once you have your overall weight loss goal and timeline, set up mini goals to break it up. That way, once you hit a mini-goal (i.e. 2% weight loss, 5% weight loss, etc.) you’ll have something to celebrate, which in turn will motivate you to keep going! We always recommend our HealthyWager challengers add a mini weight loss challenge, such as Jackpot with a 6% goal or Fast Track with a 4% goal to their challenge list, to not only help keep them on track to their main HealthyWager goal, but to also give them more achievements to celebrate. Who doesn’t like celebrating? With HealthyWage challenges, our successful participants always win cash prizes for achieving their goals, which means more money to spend on non-food rewards for committing to their health and wellness goals and staying dedicated.
So, a quick breakdown of establishing your goals: decide how many pounds you want to lose, and how long you want to lose it in. Once those two are established, break it up into mini goals and deadlines and celebrate EVERY success!