How much do you want to weigh? Less than you do now, or you wouldn’t be reading this. You may have a number in mind — something more concrete than
“less.” But before you zero in on a weight-loss goal, let’s talk a bit about goals.
It may make a difference in how well you succeed.
Two types of goals
Two types of goals can help or hurt your weight-loss effort:
Outcome goals. An outcome goal focuses on an end result. “I want to weigh 125 pounds,” or “I want to lose 30 pounds.”
Performance goals. A performance goal focuses on a process or action. “I will walk 30 minutes each day,” or “I will eat four servings of vegetables each day.”
Performance goals can help you achieve outcome goals. Setting an outcome goal without performance goals is like trying to run a marathon without training for it
— you don’t have much chance for success (and it’s likely to be a painful experience). An outcome goal becomes easier to achieve when it’s coupled with performance goals that provide the steps necessary to get you to the desired outcome.
For weight loss, you don’t necessarily even need an outcome goal. Some people find that just focusing on the process of losing weight (using performance goals) is more effective, and their weight eventually hits a satisfying level. Others find that aiming for a specific target weight helps keep them motivated and on track.
Both approaches can work. Whichever you use, just be SMART about setting your goals.
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BE SMART ABOUT GOALS
All goals — outcome and performance goals, and long-term and intermediate goals — should be:
Specific — State exactly what you want to achieve, how you’re going to do it and when you want to achieve it.
Measurable — How will you know if you’ve reached your goal if you can’t measure it?
Attainable — Set a goal that you have sufficient time and resources to achieve.
Realistic — Set a goal that is within your capabilities. If you’ve never been remotely close to a size 4, is that realistic? If your goal is not realistic, you’ll get discouraged (and discouragement can lead to binge eating, and you know where that leads).
Trackable — Tracking your progress keeps you motivated. Jot down your results in The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal or a notebook.
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Breaking it down helps
If you’re setting a specific weight-loss outcome goal, breaking your goal into steps can help keep you motivated as you focus on and achieve those intermediate goals.
If you want to lose, say, 25 pounds in three months, you could break it down to 8 pounds during the two weeks of the Lose It! phase, then 6 more by the end of the first month of Live It!, 6 more in the second month, and another 5 in the third month.
Breaking down goals is more important the more weight you want to lose. Goals far in the future are harder to attain without intermediate goals to keep you focused and motivated. And don’t forget the performance goals to help you get there.
So what’s your goal?
There’s really no wrong answer when setting a weight-loss goal, as long as your goal weight is safe (healthy) and realistic. What might a realistic goal be?
Depending on your weight, 10 percent of your current weight might be a good start. That’s 18 pounds if you weigh 180 pounds, or 25 pounds if you weigh 250 (and so on).
You can take a look at the body mass index chart for a guide to a healthy weight.
That may or may not be realistic for you, and if it is, it may take several steps (intermediate goals) to get there. Your doctor may be able to help you set a specific goal based on your health.
Whether you’re setting a specific goal or focusing on performance goals, write your goals down in The Mayo Clinic Diet Journal or in a notebook. Use them to keep yourself motivated along the way.
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IT'S OK TO DREAM BIG
Big things don’t happen unless you have big aspirations. But recognize that big things typically don’t happen without big efforts.
Champion athletes don’t become champions and then start training like one. It’s the other way around — they dream big, do the necessary planning and preparation, and then work their tails off
in hopes that their training and dedication pay off.
So dream big if you want to — keeping realism in mind — but prepare (set intermediate and performance goals) for a championship effort to reach that big goal.
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Selecting your daily calorie goal
Calories-in minus calories-out equals weight gain or weight loss. Here, we’re going to focus on the calories-in part.
To lose weight, you need to set a daily goal for the number of calories to consume (one of those performance-oriented goals). If you eat 500 fewer calories each day than you normally do and keep your activity level the same, you’ll lose about 1 pound in a week. That’s because 3,500 calories equals about a pound of body fat.
In Live It!, the goal is to lose about 1 to 2 pounds a week, so that means consuming at least 500 to 1,000 calories a day less than you normally do. (Keep in mind that you can help this equation by burning more calories, but we’ll get to that later.)
You can go through the process of tracking your calorie intake for several days, averaging it and then subtracting 500 to 1,000 calories to get a goal, but that’s a lot of work and not really necessary. Instead, we’ve simplified things with the accompanying table, which is based on average calorie intakes needed to result in a 1-to 2-pound-a-week weight loss. Just find your current weight and read across to the desired daily calorie level.
These are good calorie levels to start with. You can adjust them based on your own goals and how quickly you want to lose weight. If you feel exceptionally hungry or lose weight too quickly, consider moving up to the next calorie level.
If you’re moving down a level, don’t drop below the lowest level listed. Fewer than 1,200 daily calories for women and 1,400 for men generally aren’t recommended because you may not get enough nutrients.