Figuring out a goal date for weight loss will help inspire you to keep trying.
Trying to lose weight can seem like an uphill battle. Having goals and set dates to reach those goals can help you get through the task. Some people want to lose a certain amount of weight by an event like a wedding, a reunion or an office party. If you do not have one of these types of events in mind, it can be difficult to set a goal date. With some thought, though, you can figure out how much weight you should be able to lose and set a goal date.
Instructions
1. Record what you eat in a food journal for seven days. You should take care to record everything that you eat or drink. Include coffee, gum and condiments. This is necessary to get an accurate understanding of how many calories you consume throughout the average day and week.
2. Record any physical activity above and beyond normal activity for seven days. Include on-purpose exercise like walking your dog, exercising to a DVD and lifting weights.
3. Find out you body's resting metabolic rate, also call basal metabolic rate. This number lets you know how many calories your body burns naturally, without any purposeful exercise. There are many calculators for figuring out this number online. Enter a search for "resting metabolic rate" or "basal metabolic rate."
4. Determine the number of calories that you consume in a week and the number of calories you burn from exercise in one week. Do not combine these numbers. Multiply your resting metabolic rate by seven to get the number of calories per week you burn normally. Take the number of calories that you consume and subtract your seven-day resting metabolic rate. Then subtract the number of calories you burn during exercise in a seven-day span. If your final number was positive, than you will gain weight. However, if it was negative, divide it by 3,500 (the amount of calories you need to burn to lose 1 lb.). Your answer will tell you how long it will take you to lose 1 lb. with your current habits.
5. Figure out your goal weight date by multiplying the number of days to lose 1 lb. by the number of pounds you want to lose. For example, you eat 1,400 calories a day times seven days for a total of 9,800 calories; your resting metabolic rate is 2,000 times seven days for a total of 14,000 calories; and you burn 400 calories a day for a total of 2,800 calories per week.
9,800 - 14,000 = -4,200
-4,200 - 2,800 = -7,000
-7,000 divided by 3,500 = -2 lbs. per week
Therefore, if you want to lose 20 lbs., you should be able to accomplish this in 10 weeks.
