Step 5 - How to Lose Weight | Planning and Setting Weight Loss Goals

Planning is what you need more for a weight loss Journey.. And the most important thing is your plan should be realistic.. Initially you body will lose more weight.. After 2 weeks, your weight loss will be just like a saturation.. After a week or so there will be a reduction and this goes on.. If you note carefully, you can find a lose in inches during the weeks which show saturated weight.. This is why Doctors advise us to go for a gradual and persistent weight loss.. No doctors ask us to drastically reduce our weight, because they know the nature of our body very well..

Week 1,2

• Follow a Diet and Exercise Routine.. 
• Check your weight.. 
• You would have definitely lost around 3 pounds.. 
• You might be bored with same type of Diet and Exercise ..

Week 3,4

• Change your Diet and Exercise Routine.. 
• Check you weight.. 
• There will be probably 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss.. 
• Mostly there won't be any loss in weight for a few people..
• You can find a considerable change in your waistline, I mean the inches..

Again the same thing repeats next month.. Using this technique, you can vary your diet and exercise.. You can also chart down the expectation in losing weight.. This would help you to track your journey.. This will encourage you.. This will show you a realistic approach.. I have seen people setting unrealistic goals like losing oodles of weight at a single stretch. They will get discouraged if their target is not reached.. Again they will start eating more and dropping from exercises.. You can never achieve a successful weight loss with this silly drastic plan.. How can you chart a realistic plan ?? I will show you an example..

Height: 5 ft 8 inches | Weight: 190 Pounds | Frame Size: Large | BMI: 29

How much weight should he reduce to reach a BMI of 25 ?
As he is with a large frame size, it is OK if he comes down to a BMI of 23-26..   He should reach 164 pounds.. Nearly 26 pounds he need to lose..

How much time will he need to lose that much weight ? This calculation is an approximate one..
Starting Weight in lbs   -  190
Months 1, Week 1 & 2 -   185             (190 - 5 pounds will be lost including water weight)
Months 1, Week 3 & 4 -   181             (185 - 4 pounds will be lost including water weight)
Months 2, Week 1 & 2 -   176             (181 - 5 pounds)
Months 2, Week 3 & 4 -   172             (176 - 4 pounds)
After two months, you should start taking more protein and should increase the intensity of exercises..
Months 3, Week 1 & 2 -   169            (172 - 3 pounds)
Months 3, Week 3 & 4 -   167            (169 - 2 pounds)
You should be more and more careful after this month.. Because you yourself will start feeling good after a considerable weight loss and can be tempted a lot.. Hence be careful and strict with you routines..
Months 4, Week 1 & 2 -   165             (167 - 2 pounds)
Months 4, Week 3 & 4 -   163             (165 - 2 pounds)
Thats all.. You have achieved your goal and more precaution should be taken to maintain you current weight..

Chart down your own chart like this.. To lose 26 pounds, a person needs 4 complete months.. This is just an expectation and mostly we will be do it more quickly than expected.. This is not derived on any formula kind of thing.. Because weight loss depends on various factors.. Particularly the nature of the persons body.. More obese people will lose more and more pounds in the beginning making their journey fast during first 2 months.. Overweight people who just have very few extra Kgs will be losing weight moderately in the beginning.. So the time cannot be charted with formulas.. The above said chart is just an example, how you should set your goal.. Like this, you should also plan the start time and end time of your goal.. If you make your mind ready for that much length of the time-span, you will never drop in the middle.. You will never think that your weight loss is slow..

I already told you to maintain a dairy, right ? Fill in these details in the dairy and set your mind accordingly.. Hope you have set your goal and eagerly waiting for the day to wear your favorite old dress :)