Patience, a half pound at a time

enidlotstein4324

Hi. I’m looking for inspiration on how to accept every half pound as an accomplishment when I want a faster progress.

AnnPT77

Inspiration? I don't know.

A while back, I was losing less than half a pound a week for a long time. I liked it. It was practically painless. My energy level stayed high. My exercise performance didn't suffer. I was fully confident that I wasn't losing unnecessarily much muscle mass alongside fat loss. And it added up to a meaningful amount, over the weeks and months. Easy and productive? Yes, please!

I'd do it again, if loss were needed.

I'm not saying everyone losing faster would not have those benefits while losing more than half a pound a week. That would depend on how much they had available to lose in total, and what tactics they were using to do it.

Lots of people lose faster, and some boomerang back to their starting weight and beyond, yo-yo style. Will slower loss eliminate that potential? No. But, alongside the right (personized) tactics, slow loss can make it easier to find and groove in tolerable new habits that help a person stay at a lower weight longer. That would be a good thing.

But inspiration for you? I dunno. Maybe some of that applies, maybe not.

Either way: Best wishes for success, the benefits are worth the effort!

KareninCanada

I struggle with that, and with even seeing that I have lost anything. I do better with data and proof.

Recognize that there are health risks with losing too fast, like it can affect your gall bladder.

Visualize the total loss by stacking up half pound blocks of butter or rocks or whatever, then put them in a backpack and go for a walk.

Mark your losses in terms of things you can picture: a block of butter, a watermelon, a small child.

Take measurements and don't only rely on the scale.

COGypsy

I'd focus on trying to find inspiration and accomplishment in the process rather than the results. To me, it's a gold star if I hit my fruit and veggie goal for the day, do my ab work, and get some stretching in. I believe that if the process is strong, the results will come. I find that especially useful when I'm taking a conservative approach to losing weight since it's so easy for slow loss to be masked by water weight fluctuations day to day.

Lietchi

Time will pass regardless.

Multiply by 10 - in 10 weeks you'll lose this sizeable blob:



Multiply by 52: you'll have lost 26lbs, a considerable amount, no?

springlering62

Check out the NSV thread over on the Success Stories board.

Lots of things happen to your body even when the scale isn’t moving.

There’s thousands of posts over there. I’ve read every single one of them, “banked” them for difficult stretches.

NSV=Non Scale Victories