I'm at 196 now, but i want to get to around 118 pounds.
How long should it take, and is it a sensible goal?

I was thinking around 9 months or so..

On average, you should expect to lose about 1% of your bodyweight per week, in order to be healthy. For most people that averages out to between 1-2 lbs per week. Obviously the heavier you are, the more you'll lose, and as you get closer to your goal, you'll lose less.

If you stick to an average of 1.5 lbs per week, to lose 78 lbs will take you 52 weeks.

Now, having said that, as I mentioned, weight will come off faster at first, and I don't think 9 months is an unreasonable goal.

Thankyou! I'm not too sure about Body Fat Percentages stuff, but i will look it up now

I was just wondering how tall you are...118 is pretty light, unless you are quite short.
Perhaps you should set mini goals first and each time you reach that goal set a new one. That is what I have done, and it has made the whole weight loss process seem much less difficult and has kept me from getting discouraged.

I'm 5'5. I'm trying to get to 140 first, then lower if i want to. 118 is just the lowest

mm, Thankyou for the advice. I'm just sticking to eating Healthily (3 meals a Day) and More excersise

That sounds very reasonable! Good luck!

Thankyou

So, you want to lose about 80 lbs in 9 months or so? That's not an impossible goal to accomplish, but I would stretch it out a little bit if I were you.

When I started my weight loss journey, I made a reasonable and realistic goal for myself. I started off weighing 277.75 lbs and I made a 24 week plan for myself (the deadline I chose was the date of a wedding I have to attend). During those 24 weeks, I wanted to get my weight down to 200 lbs, as that is my normal weight. If I wanted to reach that goal, it would mean that I would have to lose 77.75 lbs in 24 weeks, or around 3 lbs/week. I knew that I could do it, but REALISTICALLY, that's a tough goal to accomplish. So, I made my goal a little more reasonable. Instead of shooting for 215 lbs, I made my goal 230 lbs, or around 2 lbs/week.

Currently, I am losing over 3 lbs/week, but I just consider that to be a bonus. Realistically, I would still be happy with losing around 2 lbs a week.

So, just figure out what goal you can realistically reach and set that goal for yourself.

I've been busy with things recently, but i was losing 2 pounds a week with 1500 calories and 30 mins excersise a day. I know that it might take longer, but i'll just have to work harder. Thanks