People have different ways of setting weight-loss goals for themselves. Some people want to fit into a certain size, or something crazy ambitious like their junior prom dress. Some people have an ideal weight in mind. Some people just want to “be healthy,” which – while vague – certainly sounds noble. Personally, I have two goals: to be a weight at which I am not fat, and to get to that weight in a way I can maintain for the rest of my life. So, not vague at all, right?

For the first, I decided to settle on a kind of rolling estimate. I chose 127 as my goal because I know for a fact that at that weight I can fit into 28-inch jeans and wear a bikini without feeling like a manatee caught in a fishing net. It’s somewhere in the middle of my ideal weight range, and gives me a decent waist without decimating my lovely lady lumps. BUT, and this is important, if I found myself happy at a higher weight, or still too big at 127, I would readjust.

For the second part of my goal— maintenance—I decided to make one huge change in my traditional weight-loss regimen: I was going to take it slooooooow. So, no low-carb induction, no starving, no four-hour workouts. Whatever changes I planned to make would have to be so incremental that I barely noticed them.

Initially, it was a little daunting to think that I might go as long as six months before noticing any real changes, but it was even more daunting to think about going through all of this again one day. If quick-weight-loss plans worked, I’d weigh 102 pounds and be writing a list of turn-ons for Playboy instead of a diet journal for Health magazine. It was time to try something new.

Current weight: 187

 
By Jen Barnett