Long term goals can make you feel like there's an endless path ahead.
So I’m back to blogging about my efforts to lose weight after a month of silence. November turned into a busy month and left little time for blogging. I gave myself a few days off of the scale around Thanksgiving but found that I still lost a pound without trying which was nice since I expected a slight weight gain. That was a very satisfying pound.
I’ve decided to explore an idea I had a while ago, to focus on losing in small increments instead of the big number. At the end of this I will have lost about 85 pounds, but it’s hard to feel successful on a weekly basis with only a few pounds lighter. My interim goals are three pounds a week, which is still a lot per the weight loss literature out there but I think it’s sustainable.
Another way I’ve started approaching my weight loss in an incremental manner is by planning periods of focused effort follow by a week of relaxation. This doesn’t mean I intend to gorge myself during the week off, instead I’ll not track EVERYTHING I eat and stay off the scale.
There’s a long road ahead of me, I don’t want to lose sight of my destination halfway there. The image used in this post is Creative Commons licensed by Ryan Wick on Flickr.com
