Missed My Goal. Shrug. I Made a New One.
/If you read this post about my bold move to set what I thought might be my last weight loss goal over the last couple of months, you will know the quest was optimistic. And the progress was pretty awful. The scale has had more ups and downs than kids at a trampoline park. And since I update my weightless spreadsheet daily, and since the target date of January 8, 2017 has come and gone, there's a new chart. Started this morning.
Now, I know some of you have just read more about math and charts than you care to, so I'll move on. The point is that missing a goal ain't nothing but a thing, as we say in the South. My weight ended up lower, albeit it much less than I had aimed for, than when I started this most recent leg of my decades-long, spreadsheet documented quest to lose weight. In fairness to myself, it was an aggressive goal. I was feeling full of myself because I had just lost 9.1 pounds over the month of October. That in itself was kind of outrageous. I hadn't lost that much in a month since starting the ketogenic (low carb/high fat) diet in January of 2014. But I had been flying solo here in the house for that month whilst Lovely Mate was out of the country. It's amazing how often we eat just because food is around or because it smells good.
"So", says I to myself, "why not go for broke, jump two segments on your massive spreadsheet and make this your last goal?" (More math talk but these goals are all based on several complex formulas that even I don't remember the reasoning behind. I just love formulas!) "And while you're at this", I continued, "make it by January 8, the anniversary of when you started this whole thing!"
That's how I managed to set myself up with a goal to lose more weight than I had ever lost in the shortest time frame. AND go through the holidays to boot. Brilliant! What could go wrong?
Actually, nothing did go wrong. I lost a bit of weight, 2.7 pounds, not 14.3 pounds. And I went down another size in my last StitchFix shipment (see this post). All good. I simply didn't hit a goal.
So, what now?
A new goal, of course! This one more realistic and without me circumventing my spreadsheet's formulas. It clearly knows better than I. The new goal is to lose 5.8 pounds by March 6. We'll see how that goes.. I've missed several over the course of these three years. Missed some by a little, some by a bit more, made some with time to spare. Here's the thing, in the many years of trying to lose weight before starting the ketogenic diet, I never made one goal. Not one. I would try to lose 10 pouds. Whiff. 5 pounds? Nope. One year I just wanted to lose 1 pound a month. I put on 1.2 pounds.
So even when I 'missed' goals over these last three years, I always ended up that segment lower than I started. Always there has been progress. Slow? Perhaps. But progress. As I sit here today, lighter than I was on this day last year, much lighter than the year before that and 92.1 pounds lighter than when I started, I'll take progress for progress' sake. And if I never lose another ounce, I'm the happiest person you're likely to encounter. Keep the faith. And maybe start yourself a spreadsheet!
Disclaimer: I’ve been fortunate to have had the time and resources to research the ketogenic diet, also known as LCHF (low carb/high fat). The information I share is based solely on my understanding of that research. We are all responsible for our own choices, including what we put in our mouths and there’s no substitute for each of us checking things out ourselves. And I’m not a medical professional in any way. Go Keto With Casey is not a medical site. “Duh,” you might say. But best to make it clear to all. I welcome questions, comments and even civil criticism. I’m still learning. So, if you have something to add, go for it. Links in this post and all others may direct you to amazon.com, where I will receive a small amount of the purchase price of any items you buy through my affiliate links. Thanks!
