Setting Fat Loss Goals To A Deadline
Setting yourself goals is probably the best way to lose fat over the long term. I started 2009 not only overweight but having a dangerously high body fat percentage of 30%+. I knew at the beginning of the year that my friend was hosting his stag weekend at Benidorm in the middle of April. This didn’t give me much time to get into shape. I started the year weighing 234 pounds. My weight yesterday was 202.2 pounds. So has you can see I’ve lost quite a bit of body weight so far this year.
I’ve got 4 weeks to go now till the stag weekend, but I’m still carrying quite a large amount of body fat at 23.6%. My aim in the next 4 weeks is to work my butt off and burn of as much body-fat as I can, and get my body weight down to 195 pounds. I know for sure that I will achieve this, because I am dedicating my life at the moment to my body fat reduction journey. I’m constantly thinking about it. Setting yourself fat loss and weight loss goals like this is brilliant because it really does keep you motivated to work your butt and lose your excess fat.
In 4 weeks time I would absolutely love it if my body fat percentage was below 20% to achieve this though it’s going to take much more hard work than I’ve already done so far. As I’m losing weight my resting metabolism is getting less and less each week. This means I neither have to burn more calories off through exercise or reduce my daily calorie intake slightly. Once I start building muscle my calorie intake will become higher and the more muscle my body carries will also increase my resting metabolism.
I’m currently writing this post as I’m exercising on my stationery bike. But once I complete my one hour cardio session. I am going to set out a 4 week plan that will maximize my fat loss to the most that I can possibly do. At the moment I’m eating carbs on a night. I’m going to make a 4 week diet plan that stops me eating carbs after 5 pm. I’ve only got 7.2 pounds to lose in 4 weeks, I may lose more during this 4 week period but whats important is I need to hold onto as much lean body mass as I can. This will probably mean an increase in my protein intake, and perhaps an increase in my complex carbohydrate intake during the earlier hours of the day.
I’ve already starting doing things to improve my fat loss already. One I’m now doing my cardio in the earlier hours, which will give my metabolism a boost for the day ahead which means more calories burnt every day. I’ve purchased a sweatsuit from www.sweatsuits.co.uk and I’m now exercising in it instead of my normal workout gear. It will hopefully allow my body to burn even more calories. A word of warning though if you are thinking about doing this yourself take it easy because your body heat rises. So don’t exercise hard wearing a sweatsuit, ask your doctor first to see if it’s OK.
If you have that special occasion coming up start setting yourself goals. Let’s say you need to lose ten pounds because of a wedding your going to in five weeks. Set out a plan and make sure you lose those ten pounds before the wedding arrives. Don’t leave it till the last week, so your crash dieting to lose weight. Been there and done the crash dieting its works for a short period then your quickly back to square one.
