Unrealistic goals

[queenietut 0]

Hey everybody. I was banded 3-7-11 and am ready to recover so I can start concentrating on my weight loss journey. I am setting some goals. I have 65 lbs to lose and am hoping to do so before the end of the year. Am I being unrealistic or is this an obtainable goal. I know that I have a lot of hard work ahead but I'm ready! Any experienced banders have any input?

[jenn79co 13]

You can do it! I have lost 55 pounds since August, 80 all together.

Whatch your calories and exercise @ least 30 minutes to an hour everday or every other day.

You will make your goal!

[Humming Bird 275]

Yes, it can be done, but sometimes it is better to set mini goals. Do it 5 or 10 pounds at a time. Look at milestones like getting to Onederland or fitting in the next size down in clothes.

[queenietut 0]

Thanks jenn79co for your encouragement

[HeatherinCA 10]

I think it's doable... I was banded 3 months ago and I've already lost 42lbs

Though, if you only need to lose 65lbs, it might take longer since you are skinnier than me!

[ElfiePoo 109]

Maybe. The closer we are to our 'ideal' weight, the slower the weight comes off because there's less difference between what it takes to maintain our ideal weight and what it takes to maintain our current weight. For example (all things being equal...and they aren't), my body supposedly needs 1545 calories to maintain my ideal weight of 130 (Ha!). To maintain my current weight, it needs 1953 calories. So theoretically if I drop my calories by 500 per day to 1453 calories, I should lose 1 lb per week since it takes a 500 calorie reduction per day for one week to lose one pound. If I can find a way to expend 500 calories, then I can increase my loss to 2 lb per week. Drop it another 500 so I'm eating 953 calories and I can lose 3 lbs per week. Woohoo!

Ok...it looks good on paper but the charts don't take into account whether someone has a slow metabolism, is insulin resistant, or anything that may make these charts unrealistic.

The best thing you can do is to set smaller, short range goals and don't expect to lose more than 1 lb per week. Do that and you'll be elated if your losses go beyond your expectations rather than disappointed when you're not losing as fast as you think you should.

.

[FeelingGroovy 2]

Hi Queenie-

You and I are band sisters as I was banded on the same day and it also sounds like we have similar goals. I agree with the others regarding the weight loss and how to best approach. It will def get harder the closer we get to our goal. They key is cutting back the calories and adding in activity. I have been ok cutting back on food but have yet to move my fat ass and get in any exersize...maybe that should be my first mini goal...I need to even just take a walk around the block...ugh!

[Shelley64 26]

I truly think that depends on how you lose weight. I've always been a slow loser. I can remember losing 3/4 of a pound at weight watchers after being on program all week long. It was so frustrating! I was banded on 1/11/11. I lost about 15 lbs with the pre-op diet and then only one pound from there until my first 2cc fill on 2/22/11. I went in again yesterday and I had lost 3 more pounds. Its certainly not going at the pace I was hoping for but I didn't really understand what all needed to take place before a person hits their stride. You have to heal for a good 2-3 weeks. Your stomach has some swelling so that has to heal up along with your incisions. you and your doctor have to find out gradually how much Fluid you're going to need in your band to get that 1-2 lbs a week weight loss. Unfortunately, that takes some time. Here I am almost 2 months post surgery and I've only lost 4 pounds. I wanted to have 40 lbs off by my birthday on June 7th. That's probably not going to happen BUT I feel soooo much better physically and emotionally! I'm going in for lab work on April 1st (3 months from the start of my pre-op diet) to see how my numbers have improved. I'm hoping my cholesterol and A1c have gone down. I'd love to cut my cholesterol medicine in half or get off of it all together. I have white coat syndrom (blood pressure sky rockets when I'm at the doctors office) so they'll probably not let me lower my bp medicine even though my readings are normal when I check it at home. Those are the non-scale victories that will make this decision all worthwhile until my body catches up. Break your goal up into smaller goals and look at more than the scale. Seriously, my measurements losses are way bigger than what the scale says. I bought a 1x blouse at TJMaxx yesterday and their stuff runs small in my opinion so that in itself is a victory! Stay strong!!!!

[Mommyto1 1]

I think it's definitely possible. I was banded on October 15 and so far I've lost 56.5 pounds.

[Kalipso2 25]

i'm almost 3 years post-op and when i started my journey i needed to lose 68 pounds to get me to "normal" on the bmi chart. it took me the entire 2 years 10 months to reach that goal but during my first year, i was overfilled for too long and my pouch stretched a little so i had to get unfilled for a month and then slowly refilled for the next 3 months. i also don't exercise and believe in indulging every once in awhile instead of staying strict with the no sugar. i'm okay with losing slowly though. i have yet to gain 1 pound back and i'm still losing! i hope to lose another 5 pounds before starting to maintain. i think what you want to do is doable but it will take a lot of hard work and discipline! good luck!!

[Michie 0]

Hey everybody. I was banded 3-7-11 and am ready to recover so I can start concentrating on my weight loss journey. I am setting some goals. I have 65 lbs to lose and am hoping to do so before the end of the year. Am I being unrealistic or is this an obtainable goal. I know that I have a lot of hard work ahead but I'm ready! Any experienced banders have any input?

I was banded 3-9-11, I was 207 before the pre op diet, and 196 on surgery day. Today I am 186, but have stayed this weight for 3 days. Overall I have lost 21 lbs, and feel so much better. I too was hoping to meet my goal weigh within a year, and with the quick weight loss since surgery I was "loving life", I did get sad when the scale stopped moving, but today I have a new thought: I am doing great! And must stick with eating correctly(yesterday I wanted to cheat, I am still on full liquids). Instead of a big goal, I am going to make a little goal!! I want to lose 10 more lbs by May 1st!! Good Luck!! We can do this!!

[KartMan 58]

I was banded February 2009 and by October 2009 I had reached my goal weight. That was about 100 lbs lost, I went from 285 down to 185. I am a 6 foot tall male, and was 42 at the time. I think in general, men tend to lose weight faster and easier than women. Once I figured out how many calories I could consume in a day and still lose weight, it was easy. I found that I lost about 2-4 pounds per week if I kept my calorie consumption down to about 1400-1600/day. The band made staying in that range easy because I had restriction very early in the process so I was never really hungry. It was just a matter of counting calories and trying to make healthy choices.

[Jachut 487]

on the one hand, I was more than happy with my "slow" loss, I wasnt prepare to follow a diet plan, I just did my own thing, ate less, ran every day etc. I didnt set a time goal for myself at all and the fact that it took me 2 years to lose 100lb didnt worry me in the slightest, it was better weight loss than I'd ever managed before.

But I did have an ambitious weight goal - there was no settling at the top of my healthy weight range for me, i wanted to be at the bottom of it. I wanted to be truly thin. I think setting "realistic" goals is sometimes a bit of a cop out - people do it when they dont have confidence in themselves and its wonderful to see them change as they make progress and set new, more ambitous goals. Before anyone goes nuclear on me for saying that, I dont by any stretch of the imagination apply that to everyone, but there is some truth in it for some people. So set that lofty goal and aim for it! Believe you can do it!

To me, being "realistic" means set the high, ambitious goal but dont beat yourself up if you dont quite make it, be able to say "well, I did great even if I didnt quite get there" But if you dont even try for it, you wont make it, will you? I think you could definitely lose that weight within the time frame.

[KartMan 58]

Jacqui,

Well said, I feel exactly the same way. I do that with other goals too. I set run times just outside my reach and distance goals the that I know are next to impossible. The worst thing about setting obtainable goals is simply reaching them and stopping there.