Facts and Figures

One of the comments on my last post was from Saraseahorse, who mentioned the xls chart she created for me way back in January. This is an Excel spreadsheet where she has plotted a default of 2.5lbs loss per week, but which I update every Monday with the actual figures. There is a little graph, a column for BMI and one for percentage of target loss reached.

I love this chart. It is brilliant on so many levels. Short term targets are great - you can work towards them knowing they are realistic and achievable in the forseeable future. But sometimes, when 1 or 2lbs a week seems nothing, it's good to look at the bigger picture too. Sara's chart was what first showed me that with a modest regular weight loss I could lose 7 st by Christmas...7st! Suddenly all those 2lbs add up to something amazing! And I'm a tiny bit competetive (no, really!) and this leads me to try to bring certain target dates forward. So for example if the chart says I will reach 15st by November, I'm going to be trying damn hard to do it by October!

Another visual aid to spur me is a little ticker which plots my weight loss - the one below shows my current progress to an initial target of 50lbs loss.




I have enjoyed watching my little tortoise race to reach the pot of gold!

Maybe not everyone would be as excited by numbers and tortoises as me. It's all about finding what works though. I have to have a loss every week because Sara hasn't told me how to enter a gain onto the spreadsheet. What better reason could there be for staying on track?