Weight Loss - When you are impatient for results

Nancy_hc

I'm a very visual person - I track things DAILY.

I have a "fitness wall" which is basically note cards for each day taped on a wall in my room that tell me what workouts I'm suppose to do that day. I also have a spot on the card to enter my weight and a spot on the card to write in my calories. I track there on MFP as well but I like the idea of actually seeing it and writting on it.

This basically gives me something to look forward daily (checking items off a checklist) and lets me see at a glance what I've accomplished that week. I do this for a month at at time so at the end/start of each month I take time to remake new cards with new fitness goals (xx push ups, sit ups, squats this day... xxmile run this day...sprints that day... etc). This helps me refocus and recenter on my long term goals. ... Plus it make my wall look pretty and I like drawing fun pictures on them with lots of color... its the simple things.

beamer0821

i like what others have posted.

but developing new habits takes time. don't focus on that weigh-in date. there are other things to focus and work on as well. like your meal plan, making sure you are getting all the proper nutrition in your diet, enough water, exercise, etc.
in the beginning i think its important to make sure you are not depriving yourself, make sure you are eating and doing things you enjoy. don't eat diet food, etc.

it sounds like you are what i call "white knuckling" it. you will never make it white knuckling it through. you must find a plan that works that you don't feel like you are just trying to make it to weigh-in day every week.

if you focus on overall health that will help balance things in your head and realize its not just about the weightloss. i think when you focus on taking care of yourself as a whole the weightloss is a natural by-product of those efforts.

JennyToy

What an awesome post. I really needed to see this today
When I started weight loss at 260.9 pounds on 1/1/12 I told myself it absolutely didn't matter how quickly I lost, just as long as I did. Now that I am closer to my goal I am getting more impatient. I wanted to be at goal for my 40th birthday in spring. Or at least close. But I have to let it go and stay the course I started.

I do weigh everyday and most of the time fluctuations don't bother me. I'm just too impatient to wait a week to weigh. But it doesn't "ruin my whole day" if I gain a little (or, if I gain, I usually know why).

Anyway~thanks again!! For sharing all your responses.

ew_david

I'm horribly impatient, but somewhere along the way I stopped looking at this as if it had an end date. I stopped trying to lose weight for losing weight's sake and started training for specific things. It's taken me 18 months to lose 29 pounds, but that's okay because I did it in a way that I could still live my life (read: eat and drink).

mad_lifting_runner

Patience is very much a virtue...when I first started out I didn't check weight but once a week, maybe. It was easy to see the progress. Later, I got a bit antsy and started weighing in every day. Of course, the problem here is that you see the water weight or the digestible weight as well as the bodyweight and you can flux up and down up to 5 lbs per day! It's enough to drive you mad and make you start questioning and impulsively changing up your routine...which will most likely cause a stall.

I say ride it out...the losses will come. Pay more attention to the mirror, the measurements, the performance in the gym and of course the deficit. You'll get there.

*edited for typos*

Chain_Ring

Look at it this way, the days are going to pass whether you're sticking to your plan or not. You might has well be moving in the right direction regardless of how minimal the results might seem on a day to day basis. It's all up to you.

onefortyone

I am quite impatient too - I feel like I'm not 'supposed' to be over 200lbs so I should wake up weighing 190 damnit! So I feel you!

But I have my settings to lose 1lb/week and I'm sticking to that because it's sustainable to me, even though it'll take 'til christmas to get to 190lbs if I do everything right. So as impatient as I am, I still prefer slow-and-steady. Though I'm jealous my husband blinks and loses 40lbs lol.

I also weigh (almost) daily on my Wii Fit for more data-points. And I like seeing the overall downward trend. And I don't want to miss the day my BMI is 29.9 (out of the 'obese' category). I'll be happy NEVER to hear that chirpy-*kitten* voice say 'that's obese' ever again.

JG762

I weigh myself every day. I track my food every day, I track my exercise every day and I weigh myself every day. I don't care about the daily fluctuations, I could be up a day and I know its water, down a lot one day and know that I may not have that low reading the next. But I have the nice daily graph to tell me how I am doing, and I also know when my body goes into a nutrional reset - where it holds weight and then drops it in bigger chunks later.

For someone that is data centric (like myself) weighing every day dulls you to the highs and lows. It also gives you a better picture than once a week. For all you know your once a week weighing may be on a high or low point. I can look at my entire week and know what I lost because once I've had the same measurement for a few days (or averaged it out), I know that weight is gone.

This is what works for me - not that it is applicable to anyone else.

BOOM BOOM BOOM!!!!
He is exactly correct, I weigh every day and the fluctuations help me understand that no matter how well I stick to the plan there are some things that I just can't control.

To the OP I would say to weigh and measure a bit more often and 6 months is way to long to wait to reach a goal, set small goals that are attainable and rejoice in them when you make them and use the information learned to help you attain the next.