Even the most earnest individuals who genuinely want to lose weight can fall into the trap of expecting to lose too much weight, too quickly. This mistake can diminish their capacity to stay on a calories loss diet and doom their chances for a long term, healthy weight loss. Anyone aiming to lose weight and keep it off needs to understand how to set goals that are achievable as these are at the heart of successful weight loss.

Experts in weight loss say that a healthy weight loss rate is one to two pounds per week and that is not a lot. If you tell yourself that you must lose ten pounds a week or that you want to lose fifty pounds by summer you are not being realistic. If you set unrealistic goals and then fail, you will be tempted to go off your calories loss diet, thinking that you are a failure, so utilize these techniques to make sure that your goals are specific and achievable.

Cut back the weight you expect to lose if it is not achievable because losing 1-2 pounds each week is possible and should be counted a success. Small but consistent weight losses like this are the backbone of the most successful weight loss programs and the result of a carefully planned calories loss menu and an exercise program week by week. The success of each week’s loss is enough to spur you on to do repeat this the following week and your total weight loss is unlikely to be regained again in the future.

View your weight loss as a percentage of your body weight not only in pounds, as weight loss is a wider experience than just the pounds you lose. If you weigh 250 pounds now, a healthy weight loss for you would be 10-20% of this, around 25-50 pounds and this would put you into a healthy category that your doctor would be pleased with. So include as part of your goal setting, accurate weight loss goals that take into account your body weight now and a realistic weight determined by a health professional.

Chart your weight loss in different ways to accommodate the various body changes that following a calories loss diet and exercising will cause. This means that when your weight loss, measured in pounds slows for a time, you can still feel encouraged by the diminishing size of your hips, chest or waist. Including these different ways to measure your changing body shape not only accommodates a healthier perspective on losing weight but also helps keep you motivated as you see your weight loss from different perspectives.

Do the math because if you want to lose 25 pounds and you know that a safe weight loss rate is 2 pounds per week then you need to plan on taking 12 to 14 weeks to lose this weight. In the beginning it might make it seem more difficult to lose weight, but if you have a realistic expectation of how long it will take to lose the amount of weight that you want to shed, it will help you remain focused and stay on your calories loss diet. Weight loss goals that are ’short and furious’ generally go out with a bang soon after they have been set.

To lose weight you should consume fewer calories than you need to use each day so including the calculations around this as part of your goals is important. Take a close look at your daily menu and see if you can diminish your calorie intake by around 500 each day. A calories counter is a helpful instrument to calculate this easily and this will enable you to not only cut foods out of your diet but keep some that you really enjoy on your calories loss menu.

Create goals that can be achieved soon but remain focused on the ultimate goal and reflect this determination in your calories loss eating habits and your exercise program. Always include opportunities for the celebration of your weight loss successes along the way and reward yourself with special treats like clothes, CD’s, or even a night out somewhere special. Use these rewards as incentives to continue losing weight and always keep looking ahead at the final goal - the new you.