Smashed It - End of August Goals!!!

So as you know my goal weight at the end of August was to be 85.5kg (189lbs) down form 87kg (192lbs) at the beginning of August.

My weight on the 31st of August was 84.3kg (185.8lbs)!!!!!!! That means in a month I lost 2.7kg (6lbs)! 

I am so happy with my progress, but it poses a problem for me. What do I do now? 

Given that I'm only 300g (10 ounces) away from my End of September goal weight of 84kg (185 lbs) should I change my goals? And if I do, how should I change them?

I think there are 3 plausible options. 

First

I move all my goals up by one month, so that my end of January goal becomes my end of December goal and my End of October goal now becomes my end of September goal. This means that I would try to finish in October next year, and still lose at a rate of 1.5kg (3 lbs) a month. 

Second

I change the rate at which I try to lose weight. I easily lost 2.7kg in August, why not change my losing rate to 2kg (4 lbs) or 2.5kg (5.5lbs) every month? In fact I could push myself even further, go more extreme and lose 3kg (6 lbs) a month. If I lost 3kg (6lbs) a month I would reach my weight in only 7 months rather than 15 months. I could be skinny in time for the end of summer! 

Third

I could make no changes.  

My Choice

The first two options are so appealing to me. I want to be slim and fit NOW, I don't want to have to wait, and I don't want it to take 15 more months of hard work. It is tempting to choose 7 months of extreme dieting and getting to my goal weight as fast as possible. 

There is this part of me saying "it's only 7 months, just exercise like crazy, eat as little as possible, and when you get to your goal weight it will all be worth it. You've done other things (mostly jobs) that you didn't enjoy for longer than 7 months, if you can do that, you can diet. Really, it wouldn't be that hard and think of those size 10 jeans". 

However it is exactly that voice, who I've listened to in the past, that has lead me to where I am today. I am not going to listen to it! I am going to do this slowly, so that the weight loss lasts. 

I am choosing the third option! 

And you know what, there is something extremely comforting about only having to lose 300g this month. There is absolutely NO PRESSURE and it feels amazing to already be so close to my goal. By setting realistic and manageable goals I'm creating a POSITIVE experience, where I feel like I can do ANYTHING, rather than feeling like a failure. 

Feel free to leave your own tips for success and weight loss goals in the comments!

Flying at the Sun with Wax Wings

 We all know the cautionary tale of Icarus who is given wings made of wax and feathers by his father Daedalus. Icarus is warned not to fly too close to the sun, but he gets caught up in the moment. In his joy and love for flying, he loses sight of common sense. He becomes ambitious and overconfident as he flies higher and higher, getting closer and closer to the sun, until his wings melt, and he falls to his death. 

I, like Icarus, continually fly too close to the sun. I am notorious at setting myself unrealistic goals to achieve in a ridiculously short amount of time. I get caught up in the instantaneous joy of "making a life changing decision", "finally doing something", or "unleashing my full potential". Basically I get motivated to diet, and each time I choose the quick fix, knowing all the dangers, but assuring myself that "this time will be different". 

In reality I become over ambitious, and stop thinking rationally about the consequences. I get caught up in emotion, that rush of desire to be amazing. I then measure my awesomeness based on two numbers: either my weight or my clothing size. More often then not I use both. This rush towards finally taking "positive action"/ "doing something with my life" leads to fad dieting, unhappiness and the motivation disappears as fast as it originally came. I crash and burn. 

Some fantastic examples of past completely unachievable goals I've set myself have been: 

•   lose 10kg (22lbs!) in a month

•   do 2 hours of exercise EVERY day, no matter what. 

•   cycle up Mount Wellington (which cycling fans will know is a HC rated climb. HC is the HARDEST rating a climb can have. Enough to make Lance Armstrong's face a canvas of pain!)

•   cycling from Perth to Melbourne, with no prior training (that's only 3,600km/2,237miles)

•   Eat 400 calories a day, until I'm an Australian size 8 (US size 4)

ok, so by now you probably get the picture. You probably also noted that none of the above goals are shining examples of a healthy attitude to weight loss. OF COURSE I failed. Anyone with these goals would fail. 

... and let me tell you failing SUCKS! I would get in this cycle of setting unrealistic goals, taking extreme measures to achieve them, only lasting 3-16 days and feeling miserable because I was depriving myself, then I would succumb and have a breakout. One breakout, would become two, and before you know it I was eating the ENTIRE block of chocolate. This would lead to feeling like I was incapable of doing anything, a loser who was doomed to be fat forever, and I would beat myself up about being weak, lazy, stupid and obviously not wanting 'it' enough. 

Instead of realising that what I was trying to do was unhealthy and impossible, I would blame myself and see only inadequacy. Further as I slowly spiralled into being more depressed about it, I would comfort myself with - you guessed it - chocolate! At my lowest point I could eat FOUR blocks (that's 1kg or 2.2lbs) a week. This was on top of the sugary hot chocolates, the crunchy crisps and the bread and honey I would also regularly eat. As I said, my actions meant I was doomed to fail! 

So this time is different. I'm setting myself reasonable goals and following a diet that is sustainable. 

My weight goal is to weigh 64kg (142lbs). 

I'm currently 85kg (187lbs) and my heaviest weight this January was 93.5kg (206lbs).

That means that in total I would like to lose 29.5kg (64lbs)

My clothing size goal is to fit into an Australian size 10 (US size 6). 

I'm currently a size 14 (US size 10) and my biggest was a size 16 (US size 12).

So I would like to lose 3 dress sizes in total. 

Time-wise,  I am going to try to do it slowly and realistically. 

To allow for life (stress, setbacks, breakouts, holidays, parties, family gatherings etc) I'm going to try and lose 1.5kg (3.3lbs) a month. 

My weight at the beginning of August was 87kg (192lbs). Here is a complete list of my weight loss goals per month. 

2012

End of August = 85.5kg (189 lbs.)

End of September  = 84kg (185 lbs)

End of October = 82.5kg (182lbs)

End of November = 81kg (178lbs)

End of December = 79.5kg(175lbs) 

2013

End of January = 78kg (172lbs)

End of February = 76.5kg (169lbs)

End of March = 75kg (165lbs)

End of April = 73.5kg (162lbs)

End of May = 72kg (159lbs)

End of June = 70.5kg (156lbs)

End of July = 69kg (152lbs)

End of August = 67.5kg (149lbs)

End of September  = 66kg (146lbs)

End of October = 64.5 kg (142lbs)

End of November = 64 kg (141lbs)

So in 16 months I plan on losing 23kg (51lbs)! 

By doing it this gradually I'm hoping to keep my lovely wax wings intact.