Impatient, Discouraged and Re-energized

Today I was feeling both impatient and discouraged.  Impatient, because I've been at this for a few weeks and my pants don't feel any looser, and discouraged, because I am starting to feel overwhelmed about the huge task I have before me - although I don't have a firm goal weight in mind, I kind of like the idea of getting to 160 - which is about 100 pounds from now.

There's not much I can do about the impatience - I know if I trust the process, the results will come.  And although I've lost about 5 pounds in 3 weeks, I can't expect to see visible results on my waistline for awhile.  But what I can do is appreciate the muscle tone that I feel developing under all my insulation and use that as my confirmation that I'm making changes to my body.

Feeling discouraged - well, that's more of a concern to me.  That type of emotion can quickly lead to giving up entirely, and I need to nip that in the bud before it takes hold.  I talked over my concerns with my awesome trainer, Rena Raso, and she suggested some realistic long term goals might be in order.  My first thought was 'I want to be small enough by next August to fit into an XL wetsuit for the triathlon'.  So we talked about what that weight might be, and I think that would be about 190 pounds.  Which is about 70 pounds in 9 months.  Breaking it down further, that's about 8 pounds a month, or 2 pounds per week.  Which might be attainable for the first couple months, but as my weight decreases, so will the number of calories I burn...and so will the amount of food I can eat to maintain a 2 pound per week loss...and.....hmmm.  I'm not a contestant on The Biggest Loser - I have a real life to live with social activities and a full-time job.  Rena suggested that a more reasonable goal might be 10 pounds a month for the first couple months, then 5 pounds per month after that - a little over a pound a week - a 500-600 calorie deficit per day.  So I've set my sights on losing 50 pounds by July 1, 2010, or a mid-term goal weight of 212 pounds.  This means I might not be able to get a wetsuit that fits me before the triathlon, but really, it's only a half-mile August swim in the Schuylkil River, not a winter crossing of the English Channel.  I think I'll survive.

Now that I have a concrete goal in mind, I'm feeling much more energized and excited!  I've already lost 10% of my 50 pounds, and suddenly I see progress instead of stagnation and frustration.  And I'm thinking about mini-fitness goals to set as well - such as being able to jog for 5 minutes, swimming 200 yards without stopping, and conquering some of the yoga poses I've been struggling with.  And for those of you who would like to follow my numerical progress I have added a stats bar to my page for weekly updates, to be accompanied by occasional 'Now' pictures. 

I'd love to hear from everyone out there - what are your goals?  Do you prefer to break things up into mini-goals, or just keep your eye on the prize and work towards one big goal?