How do you stay patient?

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SoulOfRusalka
SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It's driving me crazy. I know of course I can't reasonably expect to lose noticeable weight in a few weeks, and it requires patience and probably gradual loss, but I'm in a phase where restricting feels easy and I just want it to come off as fast as possible.
How do you deal with this? I know long-term lifestyle change etc. is the way to go but I can't make myself put it into practice. Even 2 lbs a week seems agonizingly slow, it will take so long to get to where I want!
Any tips/advice?
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Replies

  • gearhead426hemi
    gearhead426hemi Posts: 919 Member
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    You will have good days and bad days just take them in stride and look at the end goal. If you have a family make eating and being active a family affair. Then it feels like family time not working out. Try to change up your workouts every couple months. Will keep your mind and body fresh. Best of luck!
  • SoulOfRusalka
    SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
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    Machka9 wrote: »
    When I started, I decided to stick with it for 16 weeks. That's all. 16 weeks isn't that long ... so I could wait till then if there were "special" things I wanted to eat.

    At the end of 16 weeks, I was back into my normal BMI range. I took a 1-month diet break, and then stuck with it again for 16 weeks.

    I'm actually spending a semester abroad for exactly 16 weeks right now...so if I can follow your example I'll be happy! One week at a time and it's really not so long.
  • bigjonb4116
    bigjonb4116 Posts: 155 Member
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    i don't think it gets any easier for anybody, suddenly you look back, and in 12 months you've lost 'x' amount, but you have to give the process a chance to work.
    i've averaged roughly 1.9lbs a week, over 19 months with about 4 major plateau's, but when the weight wasn't going down my body shape and size was changing.
    lots of people on MFP suggest taking measurements rather than weighing every day.
    I weigh every couple of weeks at my doctors, i just pop in at a lunch time( so i don't use an allotted appointment), i don't actually own any bodyweight scales.
    At least only weighing twice in a month you can only be dissapointed twice a month!! :)
    (Also i always weigh on the same set of scales)
  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
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    I started with MFP in June and felt the same way - 1-2 pounds a week was agonizingly slow. I was ready. I was weighing all my food. I changed. I just wanted it all to fall away NOW!
    But like @livingleanlivingclean said, I decided to just trust the process. I focused on one week at a time, one day at a time. Now it's 15 weeks later and I'm in a totally different place. Down 22 pounds so far. It feels slow until you start doing it and don't think about the time. Then the time passes and you get where you want to be. Good luck!
  • 4leighbee
    4leighbee Posts: 1,275 Member
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    Find alternate goals than weight loss. I choose fitness (running) goals, because that's my thing - but find your thing and then choose small, attainable goals that keep you interested. Someone above said that looking at weight loss as a goal gets boring - always the same - so mix it up! And also ... as others have said it's less of a goal and more of a lifestyle change. It sounds a bit hokie, and MFP is definitely designed for us to think of it as a goal, but maybe try shifting the thought process in your head and remembering that MFP is only one singular tool to help you create this lifestyle change. You're doing great!
  • msmith404040
    msmith404040 Posts: 84 Member
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    I realized I do not want my gallbladder taken out, which can happen if you lose weight too rapidly and you get gallstones. I don't want that to happen, so I stay within losing two pounds to 1.5 pounds a week. I was surprised to read that and bummed out I could only lose that much a week, since I'd lost four pounds the first week. But now I realize it's for the best to take it slowly and I'm just going along with the CICO program and it's working fine.

    Best of luck to you!
  • MellowGa
    MellowGa Posts: 1,258 Member
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    it's one day at a time....win each and every day, if you don't? well don't throw in the towel, continue on the path. Nothing is easy in life, we must work hard and be patient, as we get older, we reflect on our past and adapt for the present.
  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    msmith404040 wrote: »
    I realized I do not want my gallbladder taken out, which can happen if you lose weight too rapidly and you get gallstones. I don't want that to happen, so I stay within losing two pounds to 1.5 pounds a week. I was surprised to read that and bummed out I could only lose that much a week, since I'd lost four pounds the first week. But now I realize it's for the best to take it slowly and I'm just going along with the CICO program and it's working fine.

    Best of luck to you!
    Gallstones tend to come from low fat diets, not from weightloss. I lost my gallbladder long before I made my first serious attempt to lose weight.

    You can lose up to 1% of your body weight per week - a little more if you are morbidly obese - but the first week usually comes with a bit of additional water weight.

    CICO is not a program, it's the process by which weight loss happens. Maybe you mean counting calories and eating anything you want.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Not focusing only on the number on the scale has made me more patient.
    I don't know what your starting point is like but I was in pain, had trouble walking far, was out of breath climbing stairs, had trouble sleeping. My reason to lose weight is primarily to be healthier and improve the quality of my life. I didn't set a deadline. 1 lb a week was fine. Every week seemed an improvement even if the scale didn't go down.
    The day I noticed I was easily walking beside my family instead of struggling 5 feet behind them was a bigger reward than seeing the number on the scale change.
  • asonrody
    asonrody Posts: 83 Member
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    For me, I put more emphasis on the changes I see rather than the scale. I had to buy new shirts recently as I went down a size and looked like one of those rappers that wears oversized shirts! I bought a shirt one size small last week, so fitting into that is my main goal right now. Going down a belt hole is always a small victory as well. Dividing your goal into multiple, smaller goals may help. Losing 10-15 pounds will take a lot less time and give yourself a reason to be proud!

    It may also help to focus on other things along with your weight loss. Since you're studying abroad right now, keep up the weight loss but also immerse yourself in the culture! Being busy gives you less time to think about how slow you're losing. The time will fly by, and you'll continue to lose weight. Sometimes I feel a little impatient, but I just remember, the year or two it might take will be nothing compared to all of my adult life I have ahead of me!
  • karahm78
    karahm78 Posts: 505 Member
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    I use a weight trending app, I use Happy Scale for iPhone but there is also Libra for Android or Trendweight for desktop. This does show me the trend over time, see when I should hit certain goals, and validates that this is working!

    Even if it takes 10 weeks to lose 15-20 pounds, in the big picture that is a short timeframe and at the end of those 10 weeks you will be that far ahead of where you would be had you not really started by thinking it was too slow.

    I also think about how losing at a slower rate overall helps reduce loss of lean mass (retain more muscle), allows skin to recover better (less loose skin or wrinkles), and more likely to maintain once hitting goal when compared to crash or yo-yo dieting.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
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    Sometimes I think about how much weight I would have lost by now and what my weight would be if I had started on X day. It helps.
  • SoulOfRusalka
    SoulOfRusalka Posts: 1,201 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    Not focusing only on the number on the scale has made me more patient.
    I don't know what your starting point is like but I was in pain, had trouble walking far, was out of breath climbing stairs, had trouble sleeping. My reason to lose weight is primarily to be healthier and improve the quality of my life. I didn't set a deadline. 1 lb a week was fine. Every week seemed an improvement even if the scale didn't go down.
    The day I noticed I was easily walking beside my family instead of struggling 5 feet behind them was a bigger reward than seeing the number on the scale change.

    Congrats on the loss!
    I'm not actually overweight right now so I sort of doubt that my health is going to improve, but I'll try to pay attention.
    I don't even have a scale right now so I don't have to worry about getting too caught up in the numbers.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    Ask yourself: "Am I doing what's necessary to be (slimmer, fitter, stronger)?"

    If the answer is "Yes", keep doing it.

    If the answer is "No", start doing it.

    If you'd rather ask the cosmos, "Why aren't I satisfied?", simply return to the self and ask, "Am I doing what's necessary to be satisfied?"

    If the answer is "Yes", keep doing it.

    If the answer is "No", start doing it.
  • Archcurl
    Archcurl Posts: 239 Member
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    I had this in the beginning of my journey. I think it's because you're just so exited about finally doing something about it that you want it to be as fast as possible. By now things have slowed down but I'm also seeing a lot of changes. Every new change is a NSV, and I tend to look forward to fitting into certain clothes or doing a certain workout with more ease.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    Read the success stories forum of people who had to lose more than you and took even longer. This helped me.
    Sometimes we have to choose which voices and which tapes in our head we give credibility to. We need to fix the way we think about this. So play some new tapes and start believing some new outlooks. Easier said than done, but essential for long term success!
  • JimmyCarterI2T
    JimmyCarterI2T Posts: 14 Member
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    The great Charlie Munger had a quote that i keep in my head.. this personally kept me going when i felt that i wasnt getting anywhere

    "Spend each day trying to be a little wiser than you were when you woke up. Discharge your duties faithfully and well. Step by step you get ahead, but not necessarily in fast spurts. But you build discipline by preparing for fast spurts.... Slug it out one inch at a time, day by day. At the end of the day--if you live long enough--most people get what they deserve."

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