What are some realistic weightloss goals

a bit of a ramble as I am struggling with motivation.. I need to set some smaller goals, rather than wanting to lose 30+ kg...

I have booked myself into a bootcamp (a very supportive one as well), but the last few months, things have gone a bit crazy with extra work hrs, and as such loss of motivation.

I also need to change my diet, and I am slowly ridding the house of the comfort junk foods!

So hit me with ideas.. Do I make a weekly plan of what exercise I am going to do? And what foods I am eating? I am open to any suggestions to point me in the right direction rather than the big goal which right now is totally unacheivable, but will be eventually!

I lost 30kg in 12 months after DD2 was born. Granted, some was the weight of being pregnant with her and breast feeding has helped, but I did some things to help (I lost 5kg when bf DD1).

I didn't watch the scales religiously. It meant no pressure on myself and it didn't put me into a negative headspace if I didn't get results. On average, I probably weighed myself once a month.

I ate smaller dinners but are more during the day. Big bowl of cereal for breakfast, sandwich or roll for lunch. Snacks in the afternoon like fruit, crackers or kabana. A couple of cruskets with butter and cheese for supper.

I didn't eat anything that was low fat. I drink full cream milk. I didn't eliminate anything. I ate chocolate and chips. I've never been one to gorge on them though so probably only had chocolate a few times a week or chips once or twice a fortnight.

I didn't have soft drink often. No alcohol because I was bf. Had a glass of juice each day.

Walking twice a week. All up, my walking time was six hours. Would cover between 15-20kms overall, so a good pace. I've slacked off this winter and put a few kgs back on, but getting back into it now the weather is nicer.

I wanted to lose weight but I didn't want to stress or agonise over everything that went into my mouth and I didn't want to worry about the kgs. I want to be able to eat what I want, I just make sure I don't eat a bucketload of it. We don't have takeaway very much, maybe 4-5 times a year, so I'm in control of the cooking and food shopping and make sure we have a variety of meals.

Good luck!

The things I found helped were:
Carry a water bottle with you everywhere. I found the best one for intake was one that had a wide mouth instead of a pop top.
I bought a set of 3 snack holders, they screw together with a dome lid, and also took that to work. I filled it with grapes, strawberries, cashews etc. This really helped to stop the junk snacking
I also bought the weight watchers bars to have for morning tea if I needed something with my coffee.
Cut my coffee intake to 2 a day but no more than 3 and I only had a 3rd on special occasions
We also bought smaller plates so we ate less at tea time. Tea was a small piece of meat with salad and sometimes vegetables but I tried to stay away from potatoes, eating sweet potatoes instead.
All the best as you start on your journey. Oh and don't get on the scales. Use your clothes getting to big as an indication that you are loosing weight :)

If you want to kickstart your weight loss, I can recommend the Kick Start program, you can download it free from the today tonight website. I have just completed week one of the phase one....which is pretty easy really. Great if you like soup, which I don't, but I now love. I am down 2.8kg after the first week. They also have a phase 2, which shows a more normal diet, and is a lot easier to achieve for most people. I am finding it really easy. They also have a list of foods that are allowed and a heap of unlimited stuff on there as well, I haven't been hungry at all.

I actually don't own scales, I just know by my size what I need to lose. So I suppose that is a good start! I try to portion the snacks, but fall down at work, but I will try harder and not have change for the chocolate box :)

I will check out the kick start program Dinky.

I still have the double mountain buggy, so I could go walking in the evenings when DH is home.. (sucks having a shiftworking DH at times cause some areas here aren't the safest for a mum and kids on her own).

But welcome more suggestions too!

Can I suggest that you could substitute some fitness goals.
Be able to run 5km without a break by Christmas. 10km by Easter?
Or how about being able to run City to Surf (insert local event) next year?
Or be able to squat your own bodyweight?

Eating 2 pieces of fruit and 5 veg a day. I always have fruit with my breakky.

Make a weekly plan of 'active things' - I don't call it exercise as it sounds yuk! Include family active times (walk the kids to the park to kick the footy, family bike rides) inside active times (Fitness DVD, stretches, WII, treadmill etc) and solo active times (gym, walk by yourself etc). The family ones help you stay accountable, the inside ones help when it's hot and can be done while kids are asleep, and the solo ones are for sanity time!

Build in incidental exercise - park further away at the shops/school, garden while the kids are playing outside.

Eat a proper breakfast - low GI and with protein to keep you full.

Have healthy snacks on hand - I bake so there's always something yummy but healthy in the freezer as I feel gipped if I feel like I'm sacrificing by being healthy (and that's when the choc bar looks sooooo good!). Make a list of healthy snacks so you can refer to it.

Low sugar instead of low fat.

Make sure you're actually eating enough. Lots of people think to lose weight, you need to eat less. It's often the case that you may not be eating enough calories per day. I calculated for myself that I should be eating about 2000-2400 cals per day for my very limited activity and body weight. That is actually lots of good healthy food, and I actually often struggle to eat it.
I also need to make a point of eating enough protein. I really struggle with that too. I often only eat meat at dinner, and have very little other sources of it. So I have upped my intake of eggs at breakfast, or tuna sandwiches, or nuts or yogurt snacks, or smoothies with protein powder added.

Are you a "rules" person?

If so, make yourself some rules, like:-

1. you will have one glass of water after every drink of anything else (coffee, juice, soft drink, wine).

2. you will exercise at least 3 x 40 (or 4 x 40, 5 x 60 - whatever is achievable) minutes a week (and don't allow yourself to "make up" for it the next week ... if you're at 1 or 3 on Friday, then you have to do 2 on Saturday).

3. you will meal and snack plan, buy for the plan, and NOT make excuses inbetween (eg: have some "permissible" snacks, like natural yoghurt, tuna, nuts, boiled eggs - not nutella and toasties and ice cream).

4. use my fitness pay - every day, every meal, like clockwork. There's real power in holding yourself accountable for what is going in your mouth. Not just about calorie counting, but seeing more clearly how much you eat, and when, and what seems to keep you fuller for longer, etc.

Are you a "routine" person?

If so, make a routine, and put it in your diary, like:-

1. At a particular time each day (whether it's morning, lunchtime, evening, or Monday Wednesday Thursday morning, other evenings, etc) that you will go for a walk, no matter what. Even if it's just 15 minutes, even if it's in your back yard. No excuses. UNLESS you've gone to the gym that day (so put it in the morning if you want to err on the side of doing both!)

2. Every Friday night you will make a meal plan for the next week, and every Saturday morning you will do the shop - and you will NOT go get more food during the week ... you will set yourself up for success!

Are you a "team" person?

Get onto a fitness forum or set up a thread here, or on facebook, or whatever - join a walking club, make friends at your gym, join a team for a fun run, do the corporate challenge, join a sporting team (there are some pretty casual ones) and plan dates in advance - you're less likely to bail if people are expecting you.

Are you an "antelope"?

Run away from lions. That is all.