Patience is NOT my strong suit

numinousnymph

i, too, struggle with impatience, especially when you have a lot to lose. the key for me is not focusing on "i lost 2lbs this week, that's great, but i've got 30 (or 40, 50, 60, 100...) lbs left! i feel like i'm NEVER going to get there -- it's going to take FOREVER! or what if i never even make it there?!". i struggled with that for a LONG time (when i started i had ~50 lbs to lose), but about halfway through losing weight, i looked at the bigger picture. our bodies have to lose weight at a certain pace, both because it's healtheir for our bodies to do that AND because taking it slower means you will have an easier time losing weight and not feel miserable (i.e. not crazily restricting your diet and/or exercising hard for hours on end each day). i have 10 lbs left to go, and i still feel impatient (especially since i'm only set on losing about 0.3 - 0.5 lbs a week), but i look at the alternative -- if i wanted to lose even 1lb per week, i'd have to net 1100 calories per day. that is WAY too restrictive for me, and i would probably overeat once i got to my goal because i'd felt so deprived. i want this to be a permanent change in my diet and exercise, and for me, that means going slowly. when i get frustrated, i always remind myself that i WILL get to where i want to be eventually. i think about where i was a year ago from now and how i never thought i'd ever get to the weight i am now and lamented about how long it'd take me to get there -- but here i am!

you need to take it one day (or week) at a time. you will have plateaus (hopefully not actual fat gains, but they happen -- and it's okay if they do.) and discouraging moments, but focus on the larger goal. don't think about "oh my god i still have X amount of lbs to lose, that's so much". before you know it, you will get there.