Do you want to know if you belong to the 67% group or the 33% exception? Answer these questions and I’ll tell you.

• How much is your current weight?
• What is your ‘dream weight’? (= A weight you would choose if you could weigh whatever you wanted)
• What is your ‘happy weight’? (= This is not as ideal as the dream weight. It is a weight, however, that you would be happy to achieve)
• What is your ‘acceptable weight’? (= A weight that you would not be particularly happy with, but one that you could accept since it is less than your current weight)
• What is your ‘disappointed weight’? (= A weight that is less than your current weight, but one that you could not view as successful in any way. You would be disappointed if this were your weight after the program)

Gary D. Foster, Ph.D. conducted a research¹ in which he asked those questions to a group of people who want to start a weight loss program. Then, at the end of the 48-week treatment, he checked and found that:

• 0% reached ‘dream weight’.
• 9% reached ‘happy weight’.
• 24% reached ‘acceptable weight’.
• 20% reached ‘disappointed weight’.
• And 47% did not even reach ‘disappointed weight’!

Was it because of lack of effort or discipline? No. Gary said that these people have set weight loss target that is too high to achieve. On average they wanted to lose 32% of body weight (70 pounds) - to get their ‘dream weight’. And they said that 17% weight loss (37 pounds) would be ‘disappointing’.

Gary and many other health experts believe that we should target to lose ‘only’ 5-10% of initial body weight.

Hence, there is a huge gap between people’s desire and experts’ recommendation.

The 2 Dangers of Setting Diet Goal which is too High

1. It is scary and de-motivating.

If today I ask you if you want to climb Mt. Everest, what will be your answer? Am I out of my mind? How about going hiking to a small hill nearby? You will think about it?

We are motivated to pursue a goal if it is JUST RIGHT. Not too easy. Not too difficult.

2. It will make us feel like a failure.

Most likely we will not achieve it. And what happen then? We feel like a failure. Instead of feeling proud of our achievement, we obsess over how much more we ‘should’ have lost. And we forget that our attention and energy should be better focused on trying to MAINTAIN weight loss achieved.

The Best Way to Set and Pursue a Diet Goal

1. Set a modest weight loss goal.

Go for 5-10% weight loss. If you weigh 200 pounds, expect to lose 20 pounds. Healthy weight loss is around 1 to 2 pounds a week. Therefore the 20 pounds target is achievable within 10-20 weeks.

2. Break it down into day-to-day goals.

When we go hiking, we are not constantly measuring our distance from the finish point. Doing so will not take us there any faster. Instead, we take it a step at a time. These are real actions, which will bring us to our destination.

The same thing goes for pursuing weight loss target. Take it small goal by small goal at a time. Here are some examples of smaller, doable goals:

- Starting from tomorrow, I’m not going to eat after 8pm.

- This week, I will run for 15 minutes for 3 days.

- Replace fizzy drinks with water.

3. Own your accomplishments - no matter big or small.

Don’t say things like “I ‘only’ lost 5 pounds”. You are not being fair to yourself. It’s not ‘only’. You must recognize and be proud that you have achieved a 5-pounds progress. In fact, experts have reported that even 5%-10% weight loss can produce significant health improvement in symptoms of weight-related conditions, such as diabetes and high blood pressure, even if you remain overweight.

Then, focus your energy and attention to maintain it. Once you are ready, you can jump on another weight loss attempt.

Lose it slowly, keep it off.

This article is part of How to Start a Diet Article Series. To read more:

1. How successful-weight-losers start dieting.
2. Why 67% of people fail to reach their target body weight.
3. 5 Smart strategies to start winning diet battles.
4. How to choose the best weight loss program for YOU.
5. The no. 1 reason why successful-weight-losers make it to the finish line.

1. Gary D. Foster et al. What is a reasonable weight loss? Patients’ expectations and evaluations of obesity treatment outcomes. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. [↩]