Patience please

ItsTerriC

Sometimes it seems that this journey is a very slow one. I am not the most patient person, so this is against my nature. I could be a poster child for instant gratification. I tell myself that this is a lifestyle change and an education, so I shouldn't focus on the scale. The truth is, I want to lose weight! I want my old body back. I get frustrated when I look in the mirror and don't see the changes I want. There are changes, just not as quickly as I had hoped for. Some days I want to just give up and be a fat old grandma.

I did the math today and I have lost an average of 1/2 pound a week since I've been on MFP.. I have to fight for every lost ounce. Apparently my fat is very attached to my body and isn't overly interested in moving on.

1/2 lb a week is better than if I had stayed where I was, or worse yet, gained that much.

That is what I am choosing to focus on today. I can't think about the fact that, at this rate, it is going to take another 9 months to reach my goal weight, providing I don't hit any major plateaus or get sick or injured so I can't work out.

Those 9 months are going to pass whether I am losing weight or gaining. It really comes down to what I choose to do with my time until then. Keep exercising, monitoring my calories and making smarter choices? Give up and return to being overweight, unhealthy and unhappy?

How do you handle those days when it seems like your goal is so far away? What strategies help you to be patient?

mrogers52

Great post!
I struggle a lot with patience! However, I am focusing on the positive results that I have achieved so far on MFP. I didn't gain the weight overnight. Need to eat right and exercise. Lifestyle change not a diet!
We can do this!:glasses:

homeport51

I have so much to lose and it will take me a long time too to get there. When I am feeling like you waiting for that scale to move, I keep reminding myself how much BETTER I feel. So the scale hasn't moved as quickly as I want it to. I still am better off than I was when I started this. If you continue, the scale will move... if you stop the scale will move too... lol
Hang in there, it happens to every one, I think!

jenstanley13

I could have written this myself! I have to keep reminding myself that I have put this weight on over the past 10 years or so and it is not going to come off overnight. I just started working out for the first time in my entire life last week and I already feel better, I am trying to focus more on how it feels than how much the scale or the tape measure says right now.

I am going to have to put my scale back under the cabinet in the bathroom so I will quit getting on it everyday; probably the biggest reason I get frustrated. I think it was having a nice day very early last week because it said I had gotten down to 149 and now I am at 151 which is still two pounds less than where I started but I like the 149 better.

lil_pulp

I often try to focus on the fact that my healthy choices are for overall health (and a resulting longer and happier life) rather than just for weight loss. It is frustrating sometimes, though!

Janworkingitout

I'm feeling you on this one Terri. I'm so close to my goal I can taste it! Because of life's interruptions (illness, weddings, etc.) my workout routine is no longer routine. This has caused my weight loss to come to a screeching halt, not one pound lost in 6 weeks. But guess what, I've not gained any weight either! What a victory, in the past life's stressers would have packed another 5-10 lbs on my frame. So good for me! That's how I stay positive and motivated!

You got this Terri....just take it one day at a time!

Enigmatica

I've always just focused on the moment by moment goals and figured I'd get there when I'd get there - kind of the way I handle training goals with horses in dogs LOL. the way I look at it, I can't control how fast my body loses weight. But I can control what I eat, how much I eat and how much I exercise. I kept my focus on making my daily goals and the pounds did come off not always at same rate but eventually they came off.

cjs3001

I know exactly what you mean. Even at 30lbs down I don't feel like I look different at all and I want to wear much nicer clothes and not have wobbly bits. What I focus on is that I could very easily have been 30lbs heavier. My average is about 1.5lbs a week which for my size doesn't seem like anything but surely the slower it comes off the more tome your body has to adjust. I hate it when I see weight loss programmes and because they've lost weight so fast there is just skin everywhere. And a lot of them put it back on again. Slow and steady might feel crap right now but it'll help in the long run when it comes to maintenance.

You've done great, don't forget it

Papillon22

Thank you for sharing this. I'm a very patient person, but I can't deny that there are days when I'd like to see the scale moving faster.

The other day I was thinking that a month ago, I wasn't doing nearly half of what I'm doing now! Being on this site has made me raise the bar on what's acceptable/enough to do. Now, if I don't work out one day I feel like I'm missing something. It is great to be surrounded by so many great people working so hard at the same thing, isn't it?

When the scale doesn't move (and the cm either...), I tell myself that at least my heart is healthier. I work out every day, so the sucker is getting stronger no matter what!

froglegjack

I do understand this one Terri. As I think everyone on here trying to live healthy does. You WILL get to where you want to be. You will! Funny cause I had the thought of giving in and settling on being a fat grandma too! But who says we can't be sexy good looking and healthy Grandmas? You are already there by the way

mom23nuts

How do i hang in....I look at before and after picts and think I could do a lot of damage with just one binge that I think twice. Lose 4 lbs a month and you can throw it all away with one huge breakfast at IHOPS or one candy pig out.

I try to do small rewards if I really need them and then get on some piece of exercise equipment and sweat it out.

there are days I want to just give up too....I just try to get myself to think bigger picture and longer term.

I tell my hubby to I can't get really thin, I have never been REALLY huge I am always stuck in the middle....why not get really fat and enjoy it...then I dosomething wacky like ry on my little black dress or swim suit and change my mind.

1953Judith

Since 2006, I have lost slowly and steadily 50 pounds (prior to that I was putting on about 5 pounds a year for about 16 years). I expect it will take me about three to five years to take off the rest. The weight loss has been so slow that it is only this summer (five years later that it shows noticeably to casual others).

I am not a patient person either. So I have been taking my victories in other places. My blood pressure is now under control; my cholesterol is now under control; I can hike, bike, and swim, walk my dog. I don't shop in the plus section. My husband diabetes is under better control. I can make some mighty fine healthy meals (guests don't even feel deprived). When people talk, "eating clean", it is so natural to me that I don't even flinch. I can say," yes ", without guilt when I want something. I can effortlessly say, "No", when I don't.

I have lost most of my weight by switching habits one at a time. Believe me, though I have changed many habits and patterns, there are many more to evolve and change. Even my best plans are thrwarted at times by the ever changing curves of life. But it is working for me.

I know that very slow habit changes don't work for everyone. The method has certainly taught me patience. I just offer up that slow and steady has it merits.

PA21

I am not a patient person either. So I have been taking my victories in other places. My blood pressure is now under control; my cholesterol is now under control; I can hike, bike, and swim, walk my dog. I don't shop in the plus section. My husband diabetes is under better control. I can make some mighty fine healthy meals (guests don't even feel deprived). When people talk, "eating clean", it is so natural to me that I don't even flinch. I can say," yes ", without guilt when I want something. I can effortlessly say, "No", when I don't.

^ This is truly inspirational! How great would it be to be skinny but dead from a heart attack or diabetes? I really strive to be like you making healthy choices and feeling good about the *inside* of my body, as the outside I think in time will follow through.

As far as the OP, I like the little victories that come a long with weight loss that aren't present in the scale or the mirror. Like getting up off the floor (I'm a special needs teacher, so I'm "on their level" a lot) is much easier and my personal favorite- the seat in the airplane! I no longer touch both sides of the armrests. I almost cried when I discovered that one!

Take heart and know you will see the results you are yearning for if you stay on track. Perhaps do the Oprah thing and keep a gratitude journal? 3 things a day you are grateful for and maybe that will help the time pass a bit easier

zeeeb

I have a diary and in my year planner i write down my weight at the top of each month. so when i feel like i'm getting nowhere, i can look at the year planner and see January 95kg and down down down down down each month to June 78kg, overall, the trend is downwards,and even though each week may feel slow, the months look better, it's not just a half a kg or a 300g lost, the numbers are more substantial.... and always looking back to january (fat fat fatty) it feels good.

sloanie1

I've always just focused on the moment by moment goals and figured I'd get there when I'd get there - kind of the way I handle training goals with horses in dogs LOL. the way I look at it, I can't control how fast my body loses weight. But I can control what I eat, how much I eat and how much I exercise. I kept my focus on making my daily goals and the pounds did come off not always at same rate but eventually they came off.

sloanie1

I am going to take a leaf out of your bookGreat attitude!!

AlsDonkBoxSquat

switch your ticker to how much you lost instead of how far you have to go. You've made a good deal progress, so make your glass half full and then change it over at like 5 pounds to go. What's important is that you are making progress and sticking with it, setting up a new life and lifesytle for yourself, hopefully meeting new people along the way, and having fun.

rice161

I would suggest finding something to focus on in addition to the scale (since we know most of us aren't going to not look at that!). Is there something you want to accomplish that being more fit will allow? Run/ walk a 5K, 10K, half marathon? Whatever it is! My goal is to kayak in Alaska... not the ocean kayaks that you fall out of when you tip but the REAL kayaks where you have to have the strength to turn back over if you tip over! I've got a long way to go and 4 years before I turn 40 to get there, but every time I get frustrated or want a second serving, I think of that goal! What's yours?!!

ItsTerriC

So much good advice! Thank you all for giving me things to consider when I'm having one of "those days". I know I'm on the right track and I know I'll get to my goal - whether I ever see my goal weight or not. My friends here make it so much easier!