Being motivated is only half the battle. The other half is knowing where you want to end up. We need to create a Target Plan. To do this we need to know four targets. The four targets you need to set are:
Start date
Weight
End date
Daily calorie intake
1. Start Date
It is important you set a start date that gives you enough time to prepare for this challenge. So a start date today or tomorrow or even next week aren’t good start dates. The mind is a funny thing. If you put a date in the future your mind naturally puts things in place to set you up for the big day.
I would suggest a start date of anywhere between 2 to 4 weeks away. Anything further away you run the risk of losing interest.
Have a think about the day and date you choose as well. Should you choose a weekday or a weekend? Saturday may not be the best start date if you like indulging on a girls night out every Saturday. Yes you will have to deal with those Saturdays but just make sure it is not the first day you have to deal with!
Are any significant dates unsuitable due to commitments? If you always go out at the end of the month as it’s payday then avoid this as the start date. You want to make the first day the easiest to succeed as possible.
A good start day would a day where you have full control over the food you will be eating and you will be at home. So if you always have sunday lunch at your mum’s avoid it being on a Sunday.
I would also think about the day before the start date. You want to be waking up in your own bed on the morning of the start date. So make sure you go to bed in your own bed the day before your start date.
Bearing all these factors above pull out your calendar and choose a start date. Yes I really mean it. You need to choose a start date. It’s all becoming very real now isn’t it? Once you choose a start date it becomes real. You will feel strangely really good once you set your start date. Don’t feel shy and let everyone know. The more people you tell the more likely you will start. You don’t want to look like a fool coming up with bogus start dates now do you? Also check out my 52 Step Program as I think it can really help you,
This is the first real step of your journey to becoming your target weight. Now since I’ve mentioned your target weight let’s determine this next. Read on.
2. Weight
Imperial Or Metric?
Should you use pounds, kilos, stones or stones and pounds? The simple answer is whatever you are most familiar with. If your target weight of 65Kg sounds more motivating than 10.23 stone then choose Kg. It’s whatever you’re used to. There is no need to force yourself in to the metric system if you are hard wired in to the old fashioned imperial system. You don’t need to clutter your mind up with complex conversion calculations. This is your journey and we are going to keep it personal!
So now for the 64,000 dollar question. What weight do you want to be? Whatever the weight you choose it has to tie in with your motivating words. Your target weight will either be looks based or health based.
Looks Based
If your motivating factor was to be more attractive then you should have some idea of what size you want to be. If it’s size 8 or waist 30” you need to have a rough idea of what weight you would need to be to get to that appearance.
Have look at these 2 tables which show average weights for specific waistlines, dress sizes and height to help you choose your target weight. One for men one for women.
MEN
Waist Height | 26” | 28” | 30” | 32” | 34” | 36” |
5ft 150cm | 43kg 95lbs | 48kg 106lbs | 53kg 117lbs | |||
5ft 2” 155cm | 48kg 106lbs | 52kg 114lbs | 56kg 123lbs | 59kg 130lbs | ||
5ft 4” 160cm | 53kg 117lbs | 58kg 128lbs | 63kg 139lbs | 68kg 150lbs | 73kg 161lbs | |
5ft 6” 165cm | 58kg 128lbs | 62kg 136lbs | 66kg 145lbs | 70kg 154lbs | 75kg 165lbs | 80kg 176lbs |
5ft 8” 170cm | 63kg 139lbs | 67kg 147lbs | 72kg 158lbs | 76kg 167lbs | 80kg 176lbs | 84kg 185lbs |
5ft 10” 175cm | 68kg 150lbs | 72kg 158lbs | 76kg 167lbs | 80kg 176lbs | 83kg 183lbs | 86kg 189lbs |
6ft 180cm | 72kg 158lbs | 76kg 167lbs | 80kg 176lbs | 85kg 187lbs | 89kg 196lbs | 93kg 205lbs |
6ft 2” 185cm | 77kg 169lbs | 81kg 178lbs | 85kg 187lbs | 89kg 196lbs | 95kg 209lbs | 100kg 220lbs |
6ft 4” 190cm | 83kg 183lbs | 88kg 194lbs | 93kg 205lbs | 98kg 216lbs | 102kg 224lbs | |
6ft 6” 195cm | 90kg 198lbs | 96kg 211lbs | 102kg 224 lbs | 107kg 235lbs |
WOMEN
UK Dress size Height | 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 14 |
4ft 8” 140cm | 33kg 73lbs | 41kg 90lbs | 49kg 108lbs | ||
4ft 10” 145cm | 36kg 79lbs | 39kg 86lbs | 42kg 92lbs | 45kg 99lbs | |
5ft 150cm | 41kg 90lbs | 43kg 95lbs | 46kg 101lbs | 48kg 106lbs | 50kg 110lbs |
5ft 2” 155cm | 45kg 99lbs | 47kg 103lbs | 50kg 110lbs | 53kg 117lbs | 55kg 121lbs |
5ft 4” 160cm | 49kg 108lbs | 52kg 114lbs | 55kg 121lbs | 57kg 125lbs | 60kg 132lbs |
5ft 6” 165cm | 53kg 117lbs | 56kg 123lbs | 59kg 130lbs | 62kg 136lbs | 65kg 143lbs |
5ft 8” 170cm | 57kg 125lbs | 60kg 132lbs | 63kg 139lbs | 67kg 147lbs | 70kg 154lbs |
5ft 10” 175cm | 61kg 134lbs | 64kg 141lbs | 70kg 154lbs | 73kg 161lbs | 75kg 165lbs |
6ft 180cm | 65kg 143lbs | 69kg 152lbs | 73kg 161lbs | 77kg 169lbs | 80kg 176lbs |
6ft 2” 185cm | 69kg 152lbs | 73kg 161lbs | 77kg 169lbs | 81kg 178lbs | 85kg 187lbs |
You know your body better than me so choose a target weight that you think will be a weight you would look like how you want. You may know a time in the past when you considered yourself attractive and you knew what weight that was. So you may already know your target weight however please give this some thought.
Health Based
If your motivating factor was fear of illness and stroke then having a healthy Body Mass Index(BMI) is what you should be aiming for. Look at this graph below to help you determine what a healthy weight would be:
Choose the weight you want making sure it falls within the healthy weight range in yellow. It has to be a target weight you think will be the weight that will bring you health.
Ok, so do you have the magic number? If not reread the above and decide. No hurry. It needs to be the number that delivers to you what you want. If it would be nice to 70Kg but you would love to be 65Kg then it has to be 65Kg. You really need to be committed to it. Once you have your target weight we then need to work out when you will be this target weight. This is called your end date.
3. End Date
So you know how much you want to weigh but by when? Tomorrow would be nice but we all know that is unlikely and in most circumstances impossible! What we need to ask ourselves is how much can I lose per day or per week.
General agreed thinking is that one pound of week weight loss is safe, sensible and achievable. Considering that fast weight loss has been proven to dangerous I would steer towards a number that is close to the one pound a week weight loss.
Once you have chosen either imperial or metric then decide a realistic weekly weight loss. My suggestion is either one pound or 0.5Kg per week. I want you to run with this unless you have a good reason for another loss rate.
Calculating your End Date
So using simple maths we can work out how many weeks it is going to take for you to get to your target weight.
If you are 75Kg and your target weight is 65Kg then you want to lose 10Kg then it’s going to take:
10Kg divided by 0.5 which equals 20 weeks.
If you are 10 stone 3 pounds and you want to be 9 stone then you want to lose 17 pounds then it’s going to take:
17 pounds divided by 1 which equals 17 weeks or 119 days.
So you have your start date and you know how long it should take thus you get to your end date by looking at your calendar.
4. Daily Calorie Intake
Now we need to know how many calories you need to eat on a daily basis. To do this we need to use some current stats about you, your target weight and the number of days you have set to lose this weight in to the online Body Weight Planner.
Visit: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp
And enter your details.
Tips on using the Body Weight Planner:
Switch to expert mode by clicking on the top right
When estimating your physical activity level be prudent. Put 1.4 which is the lowest if you can.
Keep physical activity change to 0%
Click on “calories” as the initial result shows kilojoules
Once you have inputted all the figures you will get the magic number. This is the total amount of calories you can consume every day to get to your target weight by the date you have set. Need more help? Sign up to my 52 Step Program.
Now the next bit is extremely important. Read on.
Create The Target Plan
Fail to plan you plan to fail. We all know that. So we now need to create the Target Plan. This will show you how to get from A to B in numbers and dates. How much and by when. I create this using google sheet within my email by visiting here:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets
You can use excel or any other online excel type of program. It’s best to have it online so you can look at it and update wherever you are. You can still create something on paper if you so wish and there is a blank one at the end of this chapter for you to use.
Let’s say my start date is 8/11/17, my current weight is 77.5Kg and not expected to rise, my target weight is 67Kg and my target daily calorie intake is 1400 calories then the Target Plan would look like this:
Daily Calorie Intake: | 1400 | ||
Date | Target Weight (Kg) | Actual Weight (Kg) | Total loss |
8/11/17 | 77.5 | ||
15/11/17 | 77 | ||
22/11/17 | 76.5 | ||
29/11/17 | 76 | ||
6/12/17 | 75.5 | ||
13/12/17 | 75 | ||
20/12/17 | 74.5 | ||
28/12/17 | 74 | ||
3/1/18 | 73.5 | ||
10/1/18 | 73 | ||
17/1/18 | 72.5 | ||
24/1/18 | 72 | ||
31/1/18 | 71.5 | ||
7/2/18 | 71 | ||
14/2/18 | 70.5 | ||
21/2/18 | 70 | ||
28/2/18 | 69.5 | ||
7/3/18 | 69 | ||
14/3/18 | 68.5 | ||
21/3/18 | 68 | ||
28/3/18 | 67.5 | ||
4/4/18 | 67 | ||
So you can see from above each row represents a weekly target for you to aim for by a certain date. This is what you live and die by.
You then record your actual weight in the 3rd column. You must record your actual weight at the same time every day. I usually do it when I have just woken up after I have just gone to the toilet and not drank or eaten anything. I suggest you do so also. If that is not convenient just make sure you are choosing a time in the day where you are doing a proper like for like comparison. So if it is in the middle of the day before lunch make sure that it is always as such. Try and weigh yourself naked without jewellery. If that’s not possible just make sure you are wearing the same each time you weigh yourself.
In the fourth column you record the total loss from the time you started. So this will show how much weight you have lost since the start date. I like to know this number as it reminds you that even if you don’t hit target that week you can still see that you have lost weight overall.
If you don’t want to use something online or excel here is a blank one to fill out in this book:
BLANK TARGET PLAN
Daily Calorie Intake: | |||
Date | Target Weight (Kg) | Actual Weight (Kg) | Total loss |
I cannot stress how important it is to create a Target Plan. You really need to see in numbers how the future looks in detail. This is the best way to do it. Keeping track of your progress really helps with motivation also. So do not skip this task. Ok? You promise me? Great. Thanks!
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