Weight Goals

Jun 19, 2019

Whenever I start working with someone to lose weight, we always discuss the Goal. I call it your Ideal Weight or your Goal Weight. Not to be confused with a Weight Goal.

Weight Goals and Ideal Weight are two different things.

Now, they could be the same thing, but it’s useful to think of them as two separate things when you’re starting a weight loss journey.

A Weight Goal is the first stop on the way to your Ideal Weight.

Sometimes it’s daunting to think of how much weight one “needs” to lose. It can feel impossible to lose 55 pounds when you haven’t been able to lose 10 and keep it off.

I get it.

So I like the idea of Weight Goals—significant milestones along the way. They can keep us motivated and give us a chance to celebrate wins on the way to the Big One.

Every 5 or 10 pounds can be a good place to start, but here’s one number I want you to keep in mind: 10%.

For anyone starting out as overweight or obese, 10% down makes a huge difference to your physical health. Huge.

For example, if you currently weigh 180 pounds, losing 18 pounds and keeping it off will have enormous positive impact on your future health.

With 10% of your body weight gone:

Your blood pressure and cholesterol significantly improve which lowers your risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Your insulin levels decrease measurably thereby reducing any effects of insulin resistance and/or diabetes.
Blood vessel inflammation diminishes, further decreasing your chance of heart disease and stroke.
And remember, every pound of weight lost is 4 pounds of pressure off your knees. If you have osteoarthritis that means less pain.

People often take multiple medications to get all this done—your body can do it on it’s own with a little help from you.

Now you may be saying, “but I don’t want to weigh 162. I want to weigh less. If I’m going to go through all the difficulty of losing weight, I want to go all the way! And that will be too hard.”

Let’s just pause for a second here.

That’s a classic case of “all-or-nothing” thinking.

What you’re actually saying is, “I’d rather stay obese, have an extra 72 pounds of pressure on my knees, not wear clothes that are at least 2 sizes smaller, nor significantly decrease my chances of developing heart disease just because I won’t be at my ideal weight any time soon.”

Well . . . when you say it like that . . .

Setting and meeting Weight Goals on your way to your Ideal Weight can make weight loss feel do-able, keep you motivated and remind you of the success you’re having both for the way your body works and looks.

Next week we’ll talk about how to choose said Ideal Weight.

You might be surprised by my number 1 criterion . . .

Weight Goals

Join Our Free Trial