Realistic Goals

So this week I was approached by my husband who so tenderly let me know that he thought the goal weight that I had in mind was unrealistic. I had finally come up with weighing somewhere between 165 lbs and 175 lbs. I remembered when I weighed this amount and I liked the way my body looked. That became my number. I didn't have any other information to get this number, it just seemed like a good number.

I spoke to my trainer about it, which if I can stop here a moment and just give her kudos. 

Lori is the most awesome person. She has been with me from the beginning. She has always pushed me past what I thought I could do. She has believed in me, when I didn't believe in myself. Lori has a genuine concern for my health and well-being. The care that she has had for me is simply amazing. I am blessed to have her in my life and am so happy that I can call her friend. 

So as I was saying, I spoke to Lori about what would be a reasonable goal for me. She asked me what I wanted my body fat to be. "I don't know. Who walks around knowing what they want their body fat to be." She gave me a scale of different body fat percentages and I chose 20% body fat. She then calculated my lean body mass. This is what I need to live: organs, blood, bones, muscle and skin. Basically everything but fat. To my surprise, for me this is 157 lbs. So if I had absolutely no fat on my body, I'd still weigh 157 lbs. (I told my hubby I was 'big boned'.) With 20% body fat my goal weight is 195 lbs. That is considered a fitness build.

Now you may ask, what made me choose 20%. They truth is 24%, which is still fitness build, would put me at 206 lbs. Quite frankly, I don't want a 2 in front of my weight. Rationally, I understand that I am almost 6 feet tall and that I have a large frame. Even though I would weigh 206 lbs, I wouldn't look like it. My body would be lean and fit, but for me there's just something about me weighing 200 lbs that I just don't like. I realize it's all mental and I am comfortable being only a few lbs less than 200 lbs while I figure out why it's such a big deal.

With that said, my new 'realistic' goal is 195 lbs. I currently weigh 237 lbs. I am 42 lbs away from my goal weight! That's so close I can taste it! It's like I am in a triathlon. I am about to finish the first race. Then I'll move on to muscle tone and fat decrease. Finally, I end in maintenance. It's all about endurance now.

Below you'll see my current 4 month pics. Thanks for allowing me to share my journey.