Is weightloss really slow?
Bshmerlie
Posts: 1,026 Member
Is it slow or is it all in our heads? I get on the scale every moring and usually the scale says the same number everyday. Then occasionally its a pound less. Then I go another several days with nothing. Then God forbid it be that time of month and I can go for almost two weeks with nothing. But then another pound less...and then another pound. I look in the mirror and I think I look the same...but I can't really tell.
Very often on this very forum we get people wanting to lose weight as quickly as possible. We've all been there. We've all thought the same thing. We've all tried the same thing. But do we really need to rush it? Is 1-2 pounds per week really that slow? I gonna say that it really isn't. Yeah when you're staring at your scale every morning hoping to see the next lowest number it may seem slow. But what did you weigh 30 days ago? How about 90 days ago? Yeah, sometimes a pound here or there seems like such a small drop in the bucket but when you stand back and look at it...that bucket starts to fill up pretty quickly. 90 days ago on July 1st I was 222 pounds. I was getting ready to go to the beach for the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time and it doesn't seem that long ago. But 90 days later on Oct 1st I now weigh 195 pounds. I don't have to shop at the Plus Size stores anymore.
And it was pretty painless. I'm even tempted to say it was easy. And that is just a 2 pound per week loss.
I'm rolling along day after day and pound after pound. Sometimes it may seem like watching grass grow. But when you stand back and look at the big picture it does actually go pretty fast. So to all of those out there that just started your journey and you're all gunho and want to lose 10 pounds a week because you're tire of being fat. Just RELAX. Take it easy. Make your plan easy and comfortable. Don't beat yourself up if you slip up. Sometimes Pizza just happens. But if you're sticking to your plan more often than not you will lose weight. Just give it time. If you're you're struggling with your plan then slow down a little bit. Just like some nights I get on my treadmill and I can walk a 4mph pace for 30 minutes with no problem but then other nights I'm tired from a long day at work. So I set it to 2 mph and still do my 30 minutes and its a lot easier. So if you have to slow down and raise your calories up for a little while because you feel hungry all the time then do it. You can always lower it back down when you're feeling better. But the point is to just keep going. Because those pounds lost do add up...but you have to keep going. The winner of this race is simply the one who can keep going the longest no matter how slow it may seem. The turtle will win every time.
BE THE TURTLE!!!
Very often on this very forum we get people wanting to lose weight as quickly as possible. We've all been there. We've all thought the same thing. We've all tried the same thing. But do we really need to rush it? Is 1-2 pounds per week really that slow? I gonna say that it really isn't. Yeah when you're staring at your scale every morning hoping to see the next lowest number it may seem slow. But what did you weigh 30 days ago? How about 90 days ago? Yeah, sometimes a pound here or there seems like such a small drop in the bucket but when you stand back and look at it...that bucket starts to fill up pretty quickly. 90 days ago on July 1st I was 222 pounds. I was getting ready to go to the beach for the 4th of July weekend. We had a great time and it doesn't seem that long ago. But 90 days later on Oct 1st I now weigh 195 pounds. I don't have to shop at the Plus Size stores anymore.
And it was pretty painless. I'm even tempted to say it was easy. And that is just a 2 pound per week loss.I'm rolling along day after day and pound after pound. Sometimes it may seem like watching grass grow. But when you stand back and look at the big picture it does actually go pretty fast. So to all of those out there that just started your journey and you're all gunho and want to lose 10 pounds a week because you're tire of being fat. Just RELAX. Take it easy. Make your plan easy and comfortable. Don't beat yourself up if you slip up. Sometimes Pizza just happens.
But if you're sticking to your plan more often than not you will lose weight. Just give it time. If you're you're struggling with your plan then slow down a little bit. Just like some nights I get on my treadmill and I can walk a 4mph pace for 30 minutes with no problem but then other nights I'm tired from a long day at work. So I set it to 2 mph and still do my 30 minutes and its a lot easier. So if you have to slow down and raise your calories up for a little while because you feel hungry all the time then do it. You can always lower it back down when you're feeling better. But the point is to just keep going. Because those pounds lost do add up...but you have to keep going. The winner of this race is simply the one who can keep going the longest no matter how slow it may seem. The turtle will win every time.BE THE TURTLE!!!
0
Replies
-
Very good post and very true. I have to remind myself of the very things that you mentioned in your post. Weeks that I feel I did not lose as much as I wanted to, I look back and see what my loss has been for the month. At any rate, if I only lose 1lb or .5 lbs, it is still progressing towards my goal. Thank you0
-
Love this^^ thanks for sharing!!0
-
My losses come infrequently. It's a tough mental battle to hold steady waiting for the "real" feedback from the scale. But they do add up, over 60 pounds gone so far and there is no reason to ever look back.
Great post. Thanks for sharing!0 -
You're so right. I am starting to come to this realisation now that I'm three weeks into my weight loss. I keep getting on the scale every morning ' just to check' and feeling disappointed that the numbers haven't magically moved, when really I should be amazed that I'm just three short weeks I am 11lbs lighter, and weigh less than I have in a long while! I admit I have been beating myself up over every perceived stumble, and in the long run that just isn't going to work out. I'll end up feeling so bad about my failures that I'll give up all together. So I think this mindset it's really healthy, and thanks for posting it we all deserve to be happy and feel good about ourselves. 0
-
Great Post op!!!! It can be slow for sure.... Has taken me 2.5 years to lose 71 lbs.... But hell.... I lost 71 lbs0
-
Thanks, OP, you are so right. It's funny how people want to lose weight oh, so quickly, but they gained it oh, so slowly! If someone gains an average of five pounds a year, as I did, in 12 years it's "suddenly" 60 pounds gained. Nobody would agree to LOSE only five pounds a year for 12 years, though! (And I wouldn't blame them.) I've lost 32 pounds since December of last year, with 28 to go, and couldn't be happier.0
-
Weight comes of everywhere, sometimes it comes off of some places very noticeable and sometimes not. Sometimes the scale moves but the tape measure doesn't or visa versa. I think it is very important to have non scale victories and focus on the down ward trend. Weight loss may be slow but I am losing it faster than I gained it.0
-
Great way to articulate this process. Slow and steady wins the race. 16 months and going strong!
0 -
I like your thinking. Most people when losing weight want a quick fix and don't see it as a lifestyle change. Weight loss is like weight gain. Weight gain happens over time. No one gains twenty pounds in a week or even a month (excluding water weight which isn't real weight) just as it's impossible to loose 20 pounds. I'm not even sure if you can loose 20 pounds in a month unless you're super obese or if you starved yourself, but then the weight loss would be mostly water loss which can be gained back very quickly.
It's the little things that add up over time. One day of overeating won't make you gain weight as you can't loose weight in one day, it builds up over time.
Weight loss might seem like it's takes forever but time goes by quickly too and before you know it it's been three months and you've lost all stone!
Slow and steady weight loss is far better than crash dieting and regaining the weight.0 -
I definitely went in with the expectation for it to be really slow, and I was shocked to find out that I've actually lost 15lbs since June. I've never really lost weight in my life! Especially since I had no idea what I'm doing and it's taking me a long time to figure out how things work & where I'm comfortable.
It's a bit less than a pound per week, and I'm actually really glad I didn't get a scale. It's consistently been a nice surprise every time I get weighed, I'm a couple pounds down, so I don't have that grass-growing feeling! I also tried to approach it, as the saying goes, like a "lifestyle". It's my foray into nutrition and (until I busted my knee
) fitness, and doesn't impact my social events. I already feel so much better. It's not visible yet, but I can feel it. And that's just the best thing.
There are so many bumps in this road that I need to learn how to climb, and I'm determined to keep going. Because I want a better life, I want a full life, and I deserve it. Je suis la tortue!
0 -
Yes, it's slow and Yes, that sucks.
I get why people want to lose it quickly. Me, too!
If I could, I would...I swear ("I swear" added for the George Michael fans.)
I wish all the crash dieters luck, but I cannot crash diet 100 pounds off my body, so I stick with eating right and exercising...and waiting. The waiting is the hardest part (added for the Tom Petty fans.)0 -
Great mindset! I know I started wanting to lose fast and trying to restrict a lot. But my life keeps going on. I decided I didn't want to be the spoilsport when DH came home with a treat. For example, He had gyros for lunch one day and was going to bring home baklava to share with me. Well, the guy at the restaurant heard that and offered him another piece free, so DH shows up with 2 large pieces. And I LOVE baklava. So I said thanks, ate half that night (and went for a walk after dinner) and planned the other half for the next night. My family deserves to have a happy mom/wife, not a grumpy feeling deprived one.0
-
If I went in with the mindset that pizza just happens attitude, Id probably wouldve just lost 10 pounds that year oppose to 40. The oh give yourself a break, tomorrow's another day thing never worked for me.
Wow you went an entire year without "Pizza just happening to you"? If its not pizza its a burger or its a cookie or its ice cream or popcorn at the movies. There's always going to be a time where you have something that is not prelogged the day before in your diary. If I beat myself up everytime I did that I would have given up months ago and not lost the 60 pounds I did. We all try and be as good as possible and stick to our plan but there are times when life doesn't go according to plan. Call it a moment of weakness or whatever you want but its not going to derail your entire weightloss journey. Does it slow that journey down a smidge? Sure maybe it does. Maybe if Pizza didn't happen maybe I would have lost 65 pounds in the last 6 months. But honestly who really cares about that 5 pounds in the long run. The point is just log it and move on. Get back to your diet...maybe do a little more exercise to burn it off. I do absolutely everything I can do to make this process for me as EASY as possible. I honestly think if its you're struggling or miserble you're doing something wrong. And sorry but life without Pizza would be miserble. 0 -
Here is another analogy about pacing yourself. If you had to cross the USA on foot which is 3000 miles would you really start out running? Be serious...you'd just start walking. You'd probably try and set little goals for yourself like walking 20 miles a day or something like that. You don't just start sprinting full speed because how far would you really get? That's how I think of this weightloss journey. I started out with 125 pounds to lose. There's no way to crash diet 125 pounds. So I'm just at walking speed. I'll even crawl if I have to...but I'll never stop. I've got 66 pounds to go and I have absoultely no doubt that I will get there. And its going to take probably until the end of 2016 to get to that final goal. But that's OK and thats actually pretty quick considering it took me over 20 years to put it on.0
-
-
Lol at 2 pounds a week being slow. Right now I'm at about 0.25 pounds a week, which means sometimes 2 months before I see a new low.
(And I once gained 40+ pounds in 6 weeks, so don't even have the "didn't gain it overnight" argument to console me. Math says it's way easier to gain than to lose.)
Fast or slow doesn't matter. You're going to be a year older in a year no matter what - do you want to weigh more at the end of that year, or less?0 -
Some people would say - in fact, have said - that if you overeat and then exercise more to make up for it, you're "doing it wrong." Ditto exercising more so that you can eat more. Also "doing it wrong." They really believe that. A few have diagnosed that as an eating disorder, lol. It's not wrong. It's just different than how they've chosen to do things.If I went in with the mindset that pizza just happens attitude, Id probably wouldve just lost 10 pounds that year oppose to 40. The oh give yourself a break, tomorrow's another day thing never worked for me.
Wow you went an entire year without "Pizza just happening to you"? If its not pizza its a burger or its a cookie or its ice cream or popcorn at the movies. There's always going to be a time where you have something that is not prelogged the day before in your diary. If I beat myself up everytime I did that I would have given up months ago and not lost the 60 pounds I did. We all try and be as good as possible and stick to our plan but there are times when life doesn't go according to plan. Call it a moment of weakness or whatever you want but its not going to derail your entire weightloss journey. Does it slow that journey down a smidge? Sure maybe it does. Maybe if Pizza didn't happen maybe I would have lost 65 pounds in the last 6 months. But honestly who really cares about that 5 pounds in the long run. The point is just log it and move on. Get back to your diet...maybe do a little more exercise to burn it off. I do absolutely everything I can do to make this process for me as EASY as possible. I honestly think if its you're struggling or miserble you're doing something wrong. And sorry but life without Pizza would be miserble.
I struggled my way I to a healthy diet. I struggled hard, especially with salt. But I got there. I have a healthy diet now and am happy about it! For me, I'm doing it right.
For some people, having pizza (or whatever) is absolutely necessary because they have eating disorders and find that they'll binge if they don't include the "forbidden" food. Others just don't want to give up their pizza and burgers. That's great for them!
Skipping that stuff is NOT "doing it wrong." It's just doing it differently.0 -
Thank you so much for this! Perfectly said!0
-
Some people would say - in fact, have said - that if you overeat and then exercise more to make up for it, you're "doing it wrong." Ditto exercising more so that you can eat more. Also "doing it wrong." They really believe that. A few have diagnosed that as an eating disorder, lol. It's not wrong. It's just different than how they've chosen to do things.If I went in with the mindset that pizza just happens attitude, Id probably wouldve just lost 10 pounds that year oppose to 40. The oh give yourself a break, tomorrow's another day thing never worked for me.
Wow you went an entire year without "Pizza just happening to you"? If its not pizza its a burger or its a cookie or its ice cream or popcorn at the movies. There's always going to be a time where you have something that is not prelogged the day before in your diary. If I beat myself up everytime I did that I would have given up months ago and not lost the 60 pounds I did. We all try and be as good as possible and stick to our plan but there are times when life doesn't go according to plan. Call it a moment of weakness or whatever you want but its not going to derail your entire weightloss journey. Does it slow that journey down a smidge? Sure maybe it does. Maybe if Pizza didn't happen maybe I would have lost 65 pounds in the last 6 months. But honestly who really cares about that 5 pounds in the long run. The point is just log it and move on. Get back to your diet...maybe do a little more exercise to burn it off. I do absolutely everything I can do to make this process for me as EASY as possible. I honestly think if its you're struggling or miserble you're doing something wrong. And sorry but life without Pizza would be miserble.
I struggled my way I to a healthy diet. I struggled hard, especially with salt. But I got there. I have a healthy diet now and am happy about it! For me, I'm doing it right.
For some people, having pizza (or whatever) is absolutely necessary because they have eating disorders and find that they'll binge if they don't include the "forbidden" food. Others just don't want to give up their pizza and burgers. That's great for them!
Skipping that stuff is NOT "doing it wrong." It's just doing it differently.
I totally agree. Some people do need to remove certain things from their life or they will binge on them. I get that. But some people also are so restrictive with their diets. They cut out everything that they think is bad for them. But what happens is they eventually go back to it and then their diet goes out the window. I eat the same foods I did before.....just less of them. So yes, I confess I do eat Pizza once a week but its not the entire Pizza anymore....its just a couple of slices. But yes there are some people who can't stop at two slices....and for those people yes you should probably stay away from the Pizza. 0 -
Some people would say - in fact, have said - that if you overeat and then exercise more to make up for it, you're "doing it wrong." Ditto exercising more so that you can eat more. Also "doing it wrong." They really believe that. A few have diagnosed that as an eating disorder, lol. It's not wrong. It's just different than how they've chosen to do things.If I went in with the mindset that pizza just happens attitude, Id probably wouldve just lost 10 pounds that year oppose to 40. The oh give yourself a break, tomorrow's another day thing never worked for me.
Wow you went an entire year without "Pizza just happening to you"? If its not pizza its a burger or its a cookie or its ice cream or popcorn at the movies. There's always going to be a time where you have something that is not prelogged the day before in your diary. If I beat myself up everytime I did that I would have given up months ago and not lost the 60 pounds I did. We all try and be as good as possible and stick to our plan but there are times when life doesn't go according to plan. Call it a moment of weakness or whatever you want but its not going to derail your entire weightloss journey. Does it slow that journey down a smidge? Sure maybe it does. Maybe if Pizza didn't happen maybe I would have lost 65 pounds in the last 6 months. But honestly who really cares about that 5 pounds in the long run. The point is just log it and move on. Get back to your diet...maybe do a little more exercise to burn it off. I do absolutely everything I can do to make this process for me as EASY as possible. I honestly think if its you're struggling or miserble you're doing something wrong. And sorry but life without Pizza would be miserble.
I struggled my way I to a healthy diet. I struggled hard, especially with salt. But I got there. I have a healthy diet now and am happy about it! For me, I'm doing it right.
For some people, having pizza (or whatever) is absolutely necessary because they have eating disorders and find that they'll binge if they don't include the "forbidden" food. Others just don't want to give up their pizza and burgers. That's great for them!
Skipping that stuff is NOT "doing it wrong." It's just doing it differently.
I agree! I think it's all about personal priorities and personal health. I prioritize social eating, so I make allowances for social events. I feel like for me, I enjoy sharing fries and other food with friends and family so much I'd be upset if I couldn't keep it.
I'm about finding the behaviours that are unhealthy and sit in an unhealthy mindset for me - so if I'm eating to avoid talking, or eating beyond fullness, even in a social setting, that's not good. If I'm buying fries (or chips or candy etc) alone, that's also not good. Yet there are foods I don't find calorically worth it, like movie theatre popcorn. So I don't get it, even in social situations, anymore. I will, however, now and again make my own air-popped popcorn and top it with real butter. That also might sound contradictory lol, but it's how I've worked it out for myself.
For some people, they would feel differently. But sharing these moments with friends is important to me, so I keep them. It's not wrong, just different. I don't forbid specific foods, but I forbid specific foods + certain feelings/situation.0 -
Here is another analogy about pacing yourself. If you had to cross the USA on foot which is 3000 miles would you really start out running? Be serious...you'd just start walking. You'd probably try and set little goals for yourself like walking 20 miles a day or something like that. You don't just start sprinting full speed because how far would you really get? That's how I think of this weightloss journey. I started out with 125 pounds to lose. There's no way to crash diet 125 pounds. So I'm just at walking speed. I'll even crawl if I have to...but I'll never stop. I've got 66 pounds to go and I have absoultely no doubt that I will get there. And its going to take probably until the end of 2016 to get to that final goal. But that's OK and thats actually pretty quick considering it took me over 20 years to put it on.
What a GREAT analogy!!!0 -
I'm new to MFP and I want to tell everyone who posted how much I enjoyed this post and their comments. I lost 68 pounds pretty fast back in 2009-2010 and then put back on 80. I don't blame myself for the weight gain.... It was inevitable as appetite hormones kick in after a large and quick weight loss. I was so hungry I could bite the corner out of a table! I absolutely had no control over the voracious appetite I developed. I felt like I was starving all the time and so I ate. This time (and the final time I might add), I'm going VERY slow. It's taken 2 years to lose 40 pounds, but I've kept it off. I'll be happy with a consistent half a pound per week weight loss if it means I'll keep that half pound off forever. By the way........... I have 60 pounds to go so it might take a few years... but that's OK by me. 0
-
I like this! thanks OP! The "be the turtle" thing is sooooo true.
Soooooooo frustrating too because I feel like the slowest turtle on the frikkin planet and we all want to look good NOW.
I can now say no to goodies at work. We just had cupcakes handed out about 10 mins ago and I said NO. A year ago I would have taken 2. For starters.
0 -
Thanks for the reminder! I will feel happy when I have lost 2-3 pounds in a week, but then feel discouraged because I still have 60+ pounds to go. Then I remember I was at one, point 80 pounds away from my goal. It's always a constant back and forth with me
0 -
Great post! I've been drive myself nuts excessively stepping on the scale 5x a day (like the number is magically going to go down in 2 hours).
Thanks for sharing 0 -
I love this! So true. I try to remind myself every morning that today, I'm one day closer to my goal than I was yesterday. Sometimes it's easier to internalize that than others though, so thanks for the reminder 0
-
Bshmerlie,
Thanks for bringing this up. I have been faithfully eating 1,000-1,300 calories a day and exercising at a gym for an hour each time consistently for 16 months. I have lost 41 pounds and that is only 2.5 pounds a month. At first I was a bit frustrated at the message at the bottom of my food diary on MFP that always predicted that I would lose 8-10 pounds in the next 5 weeks if I kept doing what I was doing. But I was determined to lose anyway.
But today I bagged up 14 pairs of too-big-for-me pants of 4 different sizes to donate to Goodwill. They will be gone forever, and so will those pounds. Gone is the worry I had over the poor knee I had to deal with. I can now climb the big staircase at work several times a day if I need to without any worry over my knee joints.
I am very content and happy to continue with limited number of daily calories thinking I may have to stick pretty close to that range maybe even for the rest of my life. I eat very few desserts and "treats" but am satisfied with healthy and homemade foods for 99% of my meals.
I still have maybe 25 pounds to go, but I am liking the person in the mirror and the way she looks now. 2.5 pounds a month has added up!
0 -
0 -
Here is another analogy about pacing yourself. If you had to cross the USA on foot which is 3000 miles would you really start out running? Be serious...you'd just start walking. You'd probably try and set little goals for yourself like walking 20 miles a day or something like that. You don't just start sprinting full speed because how far would you really get? That's how I think of this weightloss journey. I started out with 125 pounds to lose. There's no way to crash diet 125 pounds. So I'm just at walking speed. I'll even crawl if I have to...but I'll never stop. I've got 66 pounds to go and I have absoultely no doubt that I will get there. And its going to take probably until the end of 2016 to get to that final goal. But that's OK and thats actually pretty quick considering it took me over 20 years to put it on.
Love this analogy!
0 -
Great post; thank you for sharing!0
This discussion has been closed.
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 393.6K Introduce Yourself
- 43.8K Getting Started
- 260.3K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.9K Food and Nutrition
- 47.5K Recipes
- 232.5K Fitness and Exercise
- 431 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.5K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.6K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 153K Motivation and Support
- 8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.8K MyFitnessPal Information
- 24 News and Announcements
- 1.1K Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.6K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions