Are my Goals Realistic/Specific Enough?

Hi Guys,

I’m tracking my journey from fat slob to fit stud in my new blog:

I am working on setting goals that are specific to weight loss in general, and specific to the P-90X program.

I’d like some feedback/ideas on how to set specific, realistic, measurable goals.

Any help you guys can provide will be very appreciated!

To lose an inch on your belly (as measured around your belly-button circumference) each month (4 weeks).

A good rule of thumb for fat loss is a pound a week. You can get more than that, but a pound a week is a good starting place.

The problem is you can’t use the scale to measure that, because as a beginner, you could gain muscle and that would throw off your measurements, even though it’s a good thing.

In my experience and a few others of those I’ve read on this site, 4-5lbs of fat lost typically reduces your belly circumference by about an inch. You could also use calipers or a professional (using calipers) to gauge your BF%, which is probably a better, if less expedient and more expensive method.

An increase on the main lifts of 10lbs each month is also very do-able, especially as a beginner. Granted, it’s close to the bottom end of whats possible (some beginners gain ten pounds on their lifts in between workouts), but it’s a goal that you can achieve and feel good about. And if you keep that up pace for an entire year, that’s good progress.

I agree with OTEP DO NOT USE SCALES!!! they will only mess you up. Try and not depend on your weight as a guage. Your bio says 6’1" and 275lbs and 25%bf. You have some bf to get rid of and the only way you can do that is not to step on a set of scales, or you will only get discourged.

Don’t worry about what’s feasible, just work your ass off till you achieve your goals. Although admittedly there are goals that are unreasonable, still if you put enough effort/time you should be happy with your results.

This guy is very respected in the fat loss world.

You can’t stress enough how important your diet will be to reaching your goals. it’s more complicated than calories and grams of protein.

I’d add goals of:

  1. eating 6-7 times a day
  2. preparing a weeks worth of meals on Sunday
  3. always having healthy snacks available
  4. recording everything you eat in a journal or spreadsheet

These are are goals that can be attained on a daily basis. You can take pride in these accomplishments every day to keep you going.

[quote]LiamBrady wrote:
This guy is very respected in the fat loss world.

You can’t stress enough how important your diet will be to reaching your goals. it’s more complicated than calories and grams of protein.

I’d add goals of:

  1. eating 6-7 times a day
  2. preparing a weeks worth of meals on Sunday
  3. always having healthy snacks available
  4. recording everything you eat in a journal or spreadsheet

These are are goals that can be attained on a daily basis. You can take pride in these accomplishments every day to keep you going.[/quote]

Why on earth would he need to pay $97 for information that can be found right here?

Do you get a cut?

[quote]MarvelGirl wrote:
LiamBrady wrote:
This guy is very respected in the fat loss world.

You can’t stress enough how important your diet will be to reaching your goals. it’s more complicated than calories and grams of protein.

I’d add goals of:

  1. eating 6-7 times a day
  2. preparing a weeks worth of meals on Sunday
  3. always having healthy snacks available
  4. recording everything you eat in a journal or spreadsheet

These are are goals that can be attained on a daily basis. You can take pride in these accomplishments every day to keep you going.

Why on earth would he need to pay $97 for information that can be found right here?

Do you get a cut?
[/quote]

It’s complete and it’s easy and it cannot be found here.

You get what you pay for on T-Nation, especially the forums.

No i don’t get a cut. I’m just pointing out a reputable nutrition source. I guess you could recreate the wheel spending the same 1,000s of hours doing research or you could drop $67 on this.

Liam

So wait, you want him to drop $100 on a program written by A CONTRIBUTOR TO THIS SITE?? Mike Roussell has written a number of nutrition articles on this site. And several of the testomonials are written by contributors to this site as well–Hartman, Forsythe, etc.

So, why the devil would he want to pay for that stuff? I mean, all the info is here, except you have to come up with your own recipes and you don’t get personal attention from Mike. Whoopdedoo. Not worth 100 or even 67 bucks.

Most of that stuff is already old hat here–we’ve been getting that same information for years already here in articles. Obviously you have not taken the time to read the archives or even do some basic searching around with the search button.

It’d take me about 10 seconds to click on the “Authors” tab on this site and look up all Mike’s articles already. And then Berardi’s and then Lowery’s. No 1000 hours of research here.

[quote]Aragorn wrote:
Liam

So wait, you want him to drop $100 on a program written by A CONTRIBUTOR TO THIS SITE?? Mike Roussell has written a number of nutrition articles on this site. And several of the testomonials are written by contributors to this site as well–Hartman, Forsythe, etc.

So, why the devil would he want to pay for that stuff? I mean, all the info is here, except you have to come up with your own recipes and you don’t get personal attention from Mike. Whoopdedoo. Not worth 100 or even 67 bucks.

Most of that stuff is already old hat here–we’ve been getting that same information for years already here in articles. Obviously you have not taken the time to read the archives or even do some basic searching around with the search button.

It’d take me about 10 seconds to click on the “Authors” tab on this site and look up all Mike’s articles already. And then Berardi’s and then Lowery’s. No 1000 hours of research here. [/quote]

The whole of Naked Nutrition guide is not contained on this site. All the nutritionists have written TIP-based articles. To make any sense of it, there are many gaps to fill in. Maybe you can fill the gaps in with your experience, but the OP is very new to this. Information overload and MISinformation on the forums leads to poor results and ultimately giving up.

I would say $67-97 is a good value for everything he needs to know in one place. He can start eating EXACTLY right today and have resources to rely upon (which maybe you have, but the OP probably doesn’t).

I got news for you. The contributors to this site do not write here to GIVE away everything they know. They write here to tease you to buy the good stuff. You think Rousell, Forsythe, Hartman, etc. are all morons and just throw everything they know out there for free and then spend months or years writing books? AND THEN, put a 365 day money-back guarantee on it! You can actually buy it, compare it to his articles and send it back if there’s nothing new.

The worst thing that can happen is not wasting $100, it’s failing. I just didn’t want that to happen.

[quote]LiamBrady wrote:

The whole of Naked Nutrition guide is not contained on this site. All the nutritionists have written TIP-based articles. To make any sense of it, there are many gaps to fill in. Maybe you can fill the gaps in with your experience, but the OP is very new to this. Information overload and MISinformation on the forums leads to poor results and ultimately giving up.

I would say $67-97 is a good value for everything he needs to know in one place. He can start eating EXACTLY right today and have resources to rely upon (which maybe you have, but the OP probably doesn’t).

I got news for you. The contributors to this site do not write here to GIVE away everything they know. They write here to tease you to buy the good stuff. You think Rousell, Forsythe, Hartman, etc. are all morons and just throw everything they know out there for free and then spend months or years writing books? AND THEN, put a 365 day money-back guarantee on it! You can actually buy it, compare it to his articles and send it back if there’s nothing new.

The worst thing that can happen is not wasting $100, it’s failing. I just didn’t want that to happen.[/quote]

In all honesty, I could fill the gaps when I was a total newb too. If I didn’t understand something, I reread it, or read more articles, other articles, or posted a question as the OP has done. But usually I didn’t need to when it comes to applied nutrition. And in any case the great thing about being a newb is that you DON’T need all the fancy stuff. The list posted by yourself above that started with “6-7 meals a day” is pretty much all a newb needs. Control carb (not “no carbs”) as well I suppose.

You apply as you read. Otherwise, yes, analysis paralysis can set in. But the only way to really learn stuff is to actually apply the basic stuff while you sift and analyze the more advanced details and make sure you understand them. It’s understanding the difference between fundamentals and advanced details. Which, IMHO, you shouldn’t need a $70 book for.

I ate exactly right for years without any sort of “Gourmet Nutrition” booklet to tell me. I simply read the articles here and followed the principles. Not the details. If anything, my diet is looser now than it was in any past year of my training.

I agree, the worst thing you can do is fail. But why spend money when there’s easy access to free information here? It worked just fine for thousands of newbs already, me included.