Originally, when I started this journey, my goal was to get ten pounds under my doctor's goal for me of 200 lbs. Right now I am sitting at 191 and so excited to have lost almost 123 lbs, more than 80 since my surgery 8 months ago.

For all intents and purposes I have met my goal. But I want to go so much farther and I think I can. Ideally, I would like to be smack dab in the middle of the 120-160 range, which the BMI chart tells me would put me in the healthy range. So 140 is my big hairy goal, the one I secretly wanted to attain when the doc told me I would likely always be obese, just less so.

My problem with working to that goal is a feeling of failure if I don't make it. I might get to 160 or 170 and be happy with my health and my looks and my size and decide to stop then. I haven't been that weight as an adult, so I really don't know. And the honeymoon period could be over any month.

I am thinking of setting ten pound goals for myself, celebrating the mini victories along the way and if I get to 140 great! If not, I have to remember I did meet (and hopefully surpass) my initial goal.

What was your thought process when you set your goal? What do you think of the small goals vs one big one?

Thanks!

@@VSGAnn2014 thanks! Funny enough sometimes reading posts here makes me think maybe I'm not...panicked enough/stressed enough/aggressive enough about losing weight NOW, NOW. NOW! But then I remember that I gained weight over a 10 year period...and I really want to make overall change in my life and I am okay

@@sleevedinseptember ... I didn't stress at all either about how fast I lost. And yet I've made it all the way to goal (150 pounds) and 12 pounds below that.

One of the lucky things I (think I) did was not to eat 800 calories/day for all of my weight loss phases. I ramped up to 1,000 cals during Months 5-6 and up to 1,200 cals during Months 7-8 (at my bariatric P.A.'s urging). She said it would help my eventual maintenance budget be higher.

Turns out, in my case at least, that she was right -- I'm now while maintaining eating 1700 calories a day (on average) and bouncing (now) between 138 and 140. I honestly think that I will need to raise my cals to stop slowly losing weight or that, if I do eat a few hundred calories, I can maintain close to this weight.

Boy oh boy, this is working for me!