OK, I've been asking a lot of questions lately, but I really want this to work out correctly, so stay with me.

I'm setting a goal to go from 208 lbs currently (5/10) down to 185 lbs (8/3), in other words, in 12.14 weeks. This would require losing 1.89 lbs per week. The target date I chose is arbitrary, but I figured it since it's 3 months from when I started dieting seriously.

I'm following a strict 40/40/20 diet, 20-25% off my BMR of about 3190. I haven't decided whether to zigzag yet, since I haven't been able to get my daily calories up to 2500 yet from the ~1800 level I had before.

So far I've lost about 5 lbs in 8 days, but without exercising for the past 5 days, as I've been dealing with a nasty cold; I hope to get back to the gym tomorrow. Once there, I'm doing about 45 minutes of cardio, with another 45 minutes of weights.

Can I make my goal? Is it realistic? Or should I push it out farther?

I would say so. It seems like the more you have to lose, the faster it comes off. Good luck!

Jason

Stay focused and you WILL achieve it. Sounds like you're on the right track.
:gl:

Oh, yeah....you can do it.

That's very obtainable. Just stay focused, and if you get discouraged, (the weight loss rate will slow down at some point) use this board for support.

:gl:

Great! Thanks for the encouragement.

Is zigzagging important at this stage, or will my body take to the diet so well that it won't be necessary at this stage?