Hey Vets, I'm struggling with setting weight loss goals, I mean I know my end goal but would like to set mini goals throughout my journey. It would be helpful to know how much weight you lost in the 1st year and how close you were to goal after the 1st year. Thanks

I honestly don't know how that will help you but I totally get why you're asking. Try doing one of the holiday challenges. Everybody's experience is so different. Some people get to goal at nine months, some at three years and some never do. Also, don't be afraid to change your goals along the way.

Honestly, the best thing you can do is try not to compare your progress to others, because we're all so different, and there are so many factors that affect your weight loss pace. If you really want to be able to compare to someone, your best bet is to find someone as much like you as possible - another woman, same approximate age, same surgery, same starting weight, same height. These factors all impact your loss rate, as will pre-op diet (most of us lose 10 or more "easy" pounds that are mostly Water weight - either because of a liquid diet, or low-carb pre-op diet, or in the early weeks post-op. Those of us who lost it pre-op will lose a few fewer pounds in the early weeks post-op. After surgery, of course your food intake and exercise impact your loss, but I've always suspected other things can play a role as well - have you had prior huge weight loss cycles (with subsequent regain)? Have you been overweight all your life, or did you not really start to put on weight until adulthood / child bearing? And there are weeks when your body just decides to do what it wants, despite all your hard work and careful eating.

Have you thought about setting goals based on your efforts, not the outcome? You can control your efforts (exercise goals, getting all your Vitamins / water in, learning to eat slower, staying on track when you eat out), but not necessarily the outcome (scale numbers). Find ways to change your behavior and relationship with food, and new ways to enjoy activity in your changing body, and the scale will take care of itself, in its own time.

10 months in and -207lbs. im done.

10 months in and -207lbs. im done.

holy cow - 207#! That is such a great loss and shows how diligent you are.

To the OP: For me, I lost 180# after 8 months (a whole me literally - down from 360 #). While I am "done" with watching the scale drop ( or, for that matter, watching the scale at all) my refinement of health, fitness and well being continues to this day at 21 months post op. It is a way of living and I enjoy it. Keep up the good work and focus. You will get there. There are so many post ops that inspire me with their effort and thought processes.

My suggestion is first to visualize yourself a winner and at goal. Your success is inevitable if you form some good habits. Second I would identify with and follow some vets who are out further than you. Be like them. Follow their habits. And when you are strong enough in your resolve, blaze your own trail for others to look up to and follow some day. Be that person you want to be. Now is the time.

Edited April 10, 201412 yr by Fiddleman

@ My two cents is to set 10 lb. mini goals with no date attached. 10 lbs. is very doable. This way you are only completing against yourself.

The other type of goal that I like to use is dress size. Stick with a particular brand so it is consistent (I like Coldwater Creek).

Good luck to you