Small Steps to Health

Setting Realistic Expectations for Weight Loss Success

March 3rd, 2008 by asithi · 1 Comment

Studies have shown that the happiest people are those with lower expectations. Google “happiness + expectation,” and you are bound to find articles talking about lowering expectations to increase your happiness. The people most satisfy with their lives reside in Denmark. What is their secret? You guess it — low expectations. They are always pleasantly surprised when things turn out better than they assumed.

What does all this have to do with weight loss success? The “all or nothing” approach some of us take when trying to loose weight is self defeating in the long run. How many of us can run for an hour? But most of us can walk for an hour. Slow and steady progress is still success, just as long as we get to the finish line. Does it matter if take 6 months or a 1 year to loose 20 pounds?

Most experts agree that the safe amount of weight to loss is 1-2 pounds a week. If you are trying to loose 20 pounds, that will take 5 months at a rate of 1 pound/week. And that is possible if you do EVERYTHING right without cheating. Most people diet and exercise for 2 months and expect to loose 10 pounds or more. A 4 pound loss is still progress. Life has its ups and downs, sometimes our weight goes along for the ride.

Life is a work in progress, when do you finally arrive at any place? Isn’t there always room to strive for improvement?

Tagged Motivation, Weight Loss

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