The Hazards of Minigoals

I tend to be a very goal oriented person. I like to have something I'm working towards, it keeps me on track. But it also has the potential to be all-consuming. It'll be all I think about, I'll put ALL my energy into it, and it might not be the healthiest thing to do. But being a bit OCD, it's how my brain works. So naturally, mini goals along the weightloss journey should work well for me to help get to my ultimate goal. But I think I've realized that not the best idea...

First off, I can definitely go to extremes to meet my goals. The result of that for meeting my birthday mini goal was eating under 1000 calories a day and dropping 5 lbs in 3 weeks. Then I got stuck. I would have been much better off accepting that I won't hit the mini goal and just continuing to do what I was doing (which was working! But slowly). I've since lost about 3 pounds in 2 months. Which is TERRIBLE. But...

Mini goals don't really take the unexpected things in life into account. I may have lost 7 lbs one month, but something can easily change the next month. And for me it did. I've already blogged about my new relationship and when thinking about goals, that's gonna play a big role. So, the question is, are the goals really worth it?

I'm starting to think they aren't. I know I'm committed to this. I'm not about to stop completely and put 63 pounds back on again. At the same time, I'm not about to stop without reaching my ultimate goal. It's just that I've learned that it's OK to take my time. Sure it's fun to join challenges to lose so much by Christmas or Valentines Day (both ones that I'm in and enjoy), but it's not the end of the world if I only lose 3 lbs instead of 7 lbs. The point is that I weigh less than when I started. As long as the scale is trending downward, I'm happy, however slow it may be (3 lbs in 2 months is pretty darn slow). I'm still enjoying myself (which includes drinking delicious beer with Randy), and I'm still happy with how I look. So, I still have minigoals, but no more concrete dates for when to meet them. I'd love to be under 150 for the new year. Perhaps I will be, but I won't beat myself up if I'm not. It's the holidays after all (and I'm addicted to peppermint bark cookies and ice cream...).

So my ultimate goal you ask? To weigh between 135-140 lbs by time it's bikini-wearing season :D That gives me about 6 months. For 15ish pounds. SO doable, not stressful, and with all these winter clothes on, you won't really see those 15 pounds much anyway. But once I'm all uncovered in the summer, it will have been worth the wait and patience. And hopefully the skin will have made my tummy all nice and flat by then (I can tell it's shrinking, it's looking loads better in recent months). So I'm gonna relax, stay on track, live a little, and keep the end of the journey in sight.