When I weighed 456 pounds, getting to a normal weight seemed like a an impossible task. I figured that if i wanted to lose 260 pounds and i did it at a safe, healthy pace of two pounds a week it would take me 130 weeks or two and a half years. Did I have what it would take to stay focused that long? It didn't really take that long, because I was able to stay 100% focused. I did it in 17 and 1/2 months, 76 weeks, for an average loss of 3.42 pounds per week. I started out, of course, with some big weeks of 5 to 6 pounds and eventually settled into a groove of a steady loss of about 2 to 2 and 1/2 pounds per week. The primary problem with previous attempts was that, for one reason or another , I could never sustain the program I was on for more than a few weeks or even months at a time. I was always looking at the long term goal (that's the way I am wired) and it was so overwhelming and difficult and I lacked the mental toughness to bring it to the finish line.My solution to that problem was to shorten up the goals. I break my goals into 13 week periods. The 13 weeks works for me but you may find that that is still too long for you,but the point is that you need to find a plan that works and the components of the plan should include a specific written set of goals, a time frame with a start date and an end date, an eating plan and an exercise plan. We will talk more about these different components in future posts and of course I invite comments, questions and feedback that could help me, you and other readers.