My weight plan - is it realistic?

D

Danyella

New member
Hey, i'm 16 and i currently weigh 196lbs but i'm only 5"3 and i am fully aware i'm obese and need to start doing something about my weight. When i first started trying to lose weight 3 weeks ago i weighed 202lbs so seems to be going well so far.

i was just wondering are the goals i have set my self are realistic or doable.


Goals:
in 16 weeks to lose about 20-25lbs

in 40 weeks to lose about 50lbs


i have changed my diet completely and eating 3 meals a day and if snacking eating fruit.

i do a fitness dvd too as well as some leg and tummy exercises.
 
Hello there Welcome to the forum


Hello so about your questions. It is safe to lose an average 1.5 to 2lb a week. Now that being said, I find that when people lose too fast they gain back what they have lost and sometimes more. I think that it is great that you want to take care of your health, and the best way to do that educated yourself, and make a weight loss plan that you can live with, diet don't work, what you have to do is change your lifestyle.
 
Some maths.


25lbs in 16 weeks is (25/16 = 1.56lbs) per week.

1.56lbs per week you'll need a calorie deficit of about (1.56 * 3500 = 5486) calories per week

Or per day (5486 / 7 = 783)


Your current maintenance is about 1978 calories per day calculated here, that means to get a deficit of 783 per day you need to eat about 1978-783 = 1195 calories per day, this is actually about the limit for diet for a woman, it's recommended that you don't go below 1200 calories per day.


50lbs in 40 weeks would be (1978-((50/40)*3500)/7)) = 1353 calories per day.


Learn how to calculate your calorie limits and losing weight is fairly easy, you just need to stick to the diet, you can generate that calorie deficit through exercise if you like but that's a lot of exercise every day to lose the weight.
 
Yes i think it sounds like a good plan. But its easy to follow the plan when you are feeling postive and motivated. Its harder when things go wrong - someone upsets you, you struggle with a school project or exam, and things like that. So effective long term weightloss requires a psychological strategy as well.


if you slip up just get back on the job asap. And don't mentally punish yourself for it. Avoid self-loathing because it undermines your positive efforts.

Keep doing a food log to help you maintain motivation and not get slack.

Don't be too strict about the deadline. Usually all plans have glitches in them and things do not usually go strictly according to plan. There are always ups and downs. Be prepared for them and go easy on yourself when a down happens.

Prepare for when you reach the end. don't think you can go off your diet when you reach your final goal. You need to pay as close attention to what you eat after you reach your goal as when you start it. And do'nt think that as you approach your goal, you can afford to slack off with your discipline. This slacking off becomes the thin end of the wedge to things coming apart.


Maintaining the discipline of a diet in the long term is very hard. I've fallen off my wagon. I am still in the healthy weight range but i could be doing a lot better. One can never afford to stop caring about their weight if one who is prone to weight problems wants to be very slim.
 
Those are very realistic goals. Just keep track of your calories and exercise every day to receive the best results. But like aforementioned, if you slip don't punish yourself too much for it. Just get on the diet right away.
 
Yes, punishing yourself for down weeks is a bad idea.


It's especially important because you're only looking at 1-2lbs lost per week, but your weight during any single day might fluctuate up to 2-3lbs naturally depending on what/when you eat. That means you can actually drop in weight over a week, but have a higher measurement on the scales at the end of the week than when you started.


It leads to some odd behaviour where some weeks look like you're the same weight despite sticking to your diet, and some weeks where you lose more than is possible in the week (maybe 4-5lbs when you're dieting for a loss of 2lbs), so you're naturally going to have up and down weeks even if you perfectly stick to your routine, it's just the nature of the beast. Being mentally prepared for the lows and understanding how your body works helps a lot with keeping your spirits up which in turns helps you stick to your diet.
 
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