We had two new patients enter our program yesterday who set their total weight loss goals at a very aggressive number. Both people mentioned that these were the weights they were in college, and they were hoping to get back down to those weights.
I think it is an important point to differentiate between what a person could realistically achieve as far as a total weight loss vs. what is sustainable. Clearly, if there was some reality tv show that would pay me a million bucks to get down to my college weight of 155, I have no doubt that I would be able to do that. However, to try to maintain that weight would be very difficult.
Similarly, we all must remember that our metabolisms change, our body habitus changes, and what we used to weigh in high school or college is not a weight that would either : 1-be a realistic goal to maintain and 2- aesthetically look good. If I came to work one day weighing what I did in college, all my patients would think I had a horrible medical disease.
In our clinics we always try to help people set realistic goals for their weight loss. This means trying to reach a healthier weight that would be reasoably sustainable. Once again, there is no "race" to lose weight or see this as some finish line meaning that when you reach that weight it is "over". Reaching your realistic weight loss goal is only the first initial step; maintaining that weight is our lifetime goal for better health and happiness.
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