Weight Loss - When you are impatient for results

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  • Reddirtblacktopqueen
    Reddirtblacktopqueen Posts: 79 Member
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    These are all great suggestions! Keep them coming. :happy:
  • MegE_N
    MegE_N Posts: 245 Member
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    I know I shouldn't, but I weigh myself every day because I am impatient. I couldn't sustain any other way. I'd get too frustrated, too fed-up. It seems to be working well enough for me, so far, but I know I am abnormal in this.
  • fernlori
    fernlori Posts: 17 Member
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    I've come to realize I am not a patient person when it comes to my weight loss. My husband can lose weight by just walking at lunch time. Meanwhile, I walk at lunch and use my eliptical at night but still having hard time losing weight.
    The scale has become my enemy that I can't avoid.

    My pants fit better and I feel better, but it would be nice if the scale also moved!
  • Samstan101
    Samstan101 Posts: 699 Member
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    Because I switched to setting fitness related goals over weight loss goals. Example my goals this month: Bike 300 miles, lift 3 times per week per my plan, and run at least once per week.

    To do that I have to stay consistent. You also need to learn patience. Plus developing good habits, I log my food as part of my daily routine, I work out based on the routine I've put into place.

    The other thing is I've learned this time around that I don't have to be miserable to lose weight.

    Pretty much the same for me.

    And on a similar note, OP you say you stop after 3 months. That implies a diet or that you're doing something that you can't sustain forever. For me the mentality of this being a lifestyle change and not a diet is essential. That way if it takes me another year+ to lose the remaining 25-20lbs its still a very small part of the rest of my life (I hope). I eat food I like, I log & weigh everything, I don't deprive myself of things I like I just include them in moderation. I ignore timescales - some months I'll average over 1.5lbs a week lost, other months it may be 0.5lbs a week but as long as the trend is down and my fitness gets better then I'm happy.

    Only concenr I have is if I were to pick up an injury that took weeks to heal as my exercise & fitness is my driver and also what makes it realtively easy most of the time.
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
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    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.
  • JoseCastaneda
    JoseCastaneda Posts: 245 Member
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    For me, probably THE most significant change I made when I decided to make a run at this... again... was to completely change my expectations for weight loss. In the past I always had that "biggest loser" mindset - if I didn't see big losses on the scale I'd totally get frustrated and quit. So, at the beginning of the year I totally committed myself to averaging 1-2lbs of weight loss per week. That level is what I now consider success. Anything more than that is great, but I've also started to look at anything more than that as a bit of a caution - to make sure I'm always mindful about doing this right. Expecting 1-2lbs per week has really helped me get through those really tough times where I lose less than half a pound or even gain - both of which have happened a number of times this year. When that happens I can go back to "reports" in MFP and see where I was a month ago, or two months ago, and it helps me realize that I'm usually still on track and that I've come a long way. I even had T-Shirts made that say "100 in One" just to constantly remind me of the goal.

    ^^This is exactly my mindset. Small steps, long term goals. Every little success is exactly that, a success! and not only in the scale, the NSV (non scale victories) are victories too!
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,626 Member
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    It sucks having to wait, but i have no choice. Since I know there is nothing to be done about it, I just wait.

    Freaking out, taking a break or quitting will not get me where I want to be any sooner, so those are out.
  • MegE_N
    MegE_N Posts: 245 Member
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    Because I switched to setting fitness related goals over weight loss goals. Example my goals this month: Bike 300 miles, lift 3 times per week per my plan, and run at least once per week.

    To do that I have to stay consistent. You also need to learn patience. Plus developing good habits, I log my food as part of my daily routine, I work out based on the routine I've put into place.

    The other thing is I've learned this time around that I don't have to be miserable to lose weight.

    Pretty much the same for me.

    And on a similar note, OP you say you stop after 3 months. That implies a diet or that you're doing something that you can't sustain forever. For me the mentality of this being a lifestyle change and not a diet is essential. That way if it takes me another year+ to lose the remaining 25-20lbs its still a very small part of the rest of my life (I hope). I eat food I like, I log & weigh everything, I don't deprive myself of things I like I just include them in moderation. I ignore timescales - some months I'll average over 1.5lbs a week lost, other months it may be 0.5lbs a week but as long as the trend is down and my fitness gets better then I'm happy.

    Only concenr I have is if I were to pick up an injury that took weeks to heal as my exercise & fitness is my driver and also what makes it realtively easy most of the time.

    Agreed - another reason to weigh myself every day. Growing up we didn't have scales in our house, it was all a matter of looking in the mirror to see how you were doing. I will never go back to that ignorance, and I want to get up every morning and step on the scale so that I never look down and get sudden shock that I've jumped 20lbs.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
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    Like you, I've only ever managed a couple of months in the past. If I gained a little or didn't lose fast enough, I'd lose motivation. This time I decided that I'm in this for the long haul. If I have a bad week or two or three I still have to come back to what I know works.

    There will be weeks where you are sick and don't feel like counting calories or working out. That's ok. Figure out how many calories you can eat for maintenance and how many to lose. Once you remove a due date on your weight loss it gets so much easier. If you have a week you are stressed or busy or sick, just eat maintenance that week.

    Like someone else said. No need to be miserable or stop living just to lose weight. Go easy on yourself. You are probably your biggest critic.
  • Early_Riser
    Early_Riser Posts: 127 Member
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    A combination of pretty much all these things helped me. Daily goals, weekly, etc. New clothing size, monthly progress pics hung on the inside of my closet, and tracking weight. The Withings Scale has helped me greatly!
  • Nancy_hc
    Nancy_hc Posts: 123 Member
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    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
    beamer0821 Posts: 488 Member
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    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
    JennyToy Posts: 149 Member
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    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
    ew_david Posts: 3,473 Member
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    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
    mad_lifting_runner Posts: 37 Member
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    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
    Chain_Ring Posts: 753 Member
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    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
    onefortyone Posts: 531 Member
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    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
    JG762 Posts: 571 Member
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    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.

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