Realistic Goals

Had a new patient come into my office yesterday and we were discussing her goals for weight loss. She told me that in high school she weighed 125 pounds..she was about 5 feet five inches...to reach this goal she needed to lose about 40 pounds.

Often, we refer to "the charts" as to what our weight should be....100 pounds for the first five feet and 5-8 pounds for each additional inch. However, I strongly believe that the goals for weight loss should be realistic and not based on some hard and fixed chart number. We are all built differently and what may be a good goal for one person at a cetain height is not realistic for another.

I went off to college at 155 pounds...5 feet nine inches...If I weighed 155 now, my patients would ask me if I was very ill, because I would look gaunt and unhealthy.

Please remember that as we get older, it becomes more and more difficult to maintain "ideal" weights, and even if we can get there, mauintenace would be far too difficult.

Set a realistic goal/expectation and that also psychologically sets you up to be successful as opposed to thinking you failed in your efforts.

On a non-weight subject: I wish I wasn't a Mets fan...this has been one ugly season.