Setting Mini-Goals and Rewards For My Weight Loss Journey

I took some time to set mini-goals and rewards for my weight loss journey. Despite my current losses, each week when I step on the scale I can’t help but feel overwhelmed by the long road ahead. I just have so far to go that it seems like I’ll never get there. Especially when I keep thinking of all the work I have done in past years to lose weight, and if I had only kept going instead of entirely backsliding and gaining more weight… it’s so incredibly disappointing and frustrating.

I can’t let these feelings of frustration and disappointment stop me. To quote C.S. Lewis “You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”

Breaking up my journey into smaller goals

I’ve broken it up into 4 parts:

Goal #1 Get under 250

I was below 250 for nearly my entire adult life. I think I had hovered between 230 – 250 for several years throughout my later 20’s. It wasn’t until I was nearly 30 that I had gotten heavier, and I specifically remember being 266 lbs at my first doctor appointment after finding out I was pregnant (just one month after my 30th birthday). At the time, it was a shock that I had gotten that heavy.

Getting under 250 lbs would be a huge accomplishment for me, and put me back to a place I was when I was more comfortable. Not to say I was comfortable with myself then, but as I have now experienced being nearly 300 lbs, I can definitely say things were much better when I was 250.

Goal # 2 Get under 220

This is around the weight I was in high school before I started my cycle of gaining and losing weight. Back then, I hadn’t yet developed the issue of using food for comfort, although I did eat too much and not always healthy.

Goal # 3 Get under 200

200 is basically the lowest weight I have ever been (in my adult life). I felt pretty good at this weight and looked much better, although I know it still isn’t exactly a healthy weight for me.

Being 200 lbs puts me at a BMI of 27.9 (5’11 tall) which is still considered overweight.

Goal #4: Reach 175

175 is my “healthy” weight and will be my ultimate goal. It puts me at a 24.4 BMI which is normal. While it’s at the upper range of “normal”, I have a naturally large body so being anything under this weight would probably be hard for me to maintain.

Judging from how I looked at 200 – I think 25 lbs lighter would be perfect.