slow weight loss is a fair game.

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chanstriste13
chanstriste13 Posts: 3,277 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
i was thinking about this today. i weighed 183 pounds on my wedding day in 2002. not wonderful, but i was alright with that. by 2010, i was at my highest of 217.8. so i figure it took me about 8 years to gain nearly 35 pounds. that's a gain of a bit less than 4.5 pounds per year. can you imagine if it actually took that much time to lose it again?

i've lost 23 pounds since august 25 of 2010. that's way less than a lot of people in the same amount of time, and sometimes that is really frustrating. *but*, when i stopped to think that it took me about 5 and a half years to *gain* that, it seems pretty cool that i got rid of it in 7 months. that's an average of over 3 pounds per month. not too shabby, all in all.

so those of you with a slow moving scale, your homework is to doodle with your numbers! figure out how long it took you to put your weight on, and decide if you would be happy losing your weight in half the time or less, because you will. it really put some perspective on my weight loss journey! :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • sarah44254
    sarah44254 Posts: 3,078 Member
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    Gained 35 lbs from 2008 -> 2010
    lost 16 lbs in 3 months

    I'm not satisfied with this, but the numbers tell me I should be!
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
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    I'm glad someone else thinks like me! Six months after my son was born (he's now 21!), I weighed about 120 pounds. When I finally decided it was time to do something about my weight was almost 140. 20 pounds in 21 years. That's only 1 pound per year! I've lost 7 pounds in just under a month which has seemed frustratingly slow but I know, in reality, is MUCH faster than I put it on.

    Go, us! We rock!
  • tiarra77
    tiarra77 Posts: 39
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    yep its fair! went from 220 to 320 in 9 yrs.........yes! so, i am patiently doing the right thing to slowly remove this blubber cuz i dont EVER want to see it again !! :)
  • timanda2
    timanda2 Posts: 149
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    thanks...that does help!
  • Aitenev
    Aitenev Posts: 62
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    What a great way to look at it! Not only does this put it into perspective but the slower we lose the weight the more likely it will NEVER come back which is my big motivation for going slow. Well...that and less wrinkly skin?!?!! :laugh:
  • chanstriste13
    chanstriste13 Posts: 3,277 Member
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    Well...that and less wrinkly skin?!?!! :laugh:

    definetely another brownie point for slow weight loss!
  • astovey
    astovey Posts: 578 Member
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    I agree, It's frustraiting day to day becasue it seems to take FOREVER, but agter awhile, its like hey, I've lost 12 pounds in just a couple months...not too bad.
  • Jenni268
    Jenni268 Posts: 202 Member
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    Thanks for this! It's something that I "know" but I don't know! :) If you get my meaning! :) I LOVE reading the success stories on here, but sometimes it's counterproductive since I see people losing 20 lbs in 3 weeks or 60 lbs in 4 months. While I'm SO excited for them, my 7 lbs in two months can seem like nothing. But I know it's not and it's reading posts by level-headed people like you that can get me out of my doldrums!

    Thanks again!!!!
  • perrytyra
    perrytyra Posts: 357 Member
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    Great perspective! I am thinking it took me 15 years to gain 55 pounds. I would cry if it took that long to take it off. Even half that would be horrible. I don't need to lose 55 pounds, just about 40. One year seems trivial now.
  • raelynnjordan
    raelynnjordan Posts: 135 Member
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    It's only taken me 3 years to gain 25 pounds. I've lost 7 pounds in like 2 and a half months. It feels like I've been at this for longer, but I've only been doing it since the middle of January. Wow.... in a way I am happy losing it slow, because its more likely to stay off like this. In another way, I just wanna wake up and be skinny!! LOL!
  • spackham
    spackham Posts: 252 Member
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    My numbers are gaining 7 pounds a year or 0.6 pounds per month or less than 0.1 pound per week. I would CRY if my weight LOSS were that slow. Losing 27 pounds in 3 months is 9 pounds per month or about 2 pounds per week. So, I should not worry when my scale goes up a bit sometimes (I weigh every day) because it is coming down much faster. Thanks for
  • EmpressOfJudgment
    EmpressOfJudgment Posts: 1,162 Member
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    Great perspective! And yeah, the less wrinkly skin thing is definitely a plus. Now I'll go take off my pouty pants and put on my slow-and-steady-wins-the-race pants. Thanks for starting this thread.
  • chanstriste13
    chanstriste13 Posts: 3,277 Member
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    Now I'll go take off my pouty pants and put on my slow-and-steady-wins-the-race pants.

    smirk...!

    do you know where i could purchase some of those? all i seem to have right now are the pouty variety...:tongue:
  • FearAnLoathing
    FearAnLoathing Posts: 4,852 Member
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    ive lost50 pounds in a year im pretty happy with that.
    I
  • westcoastSW
    westcoastSW Posts: 320 Member
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    I think I gained 50 pounds in 8 years. I've lost 18 pounds in 6 months. I like this perspective -- thank you!
  • deeharley
    deeharley Posts: 1,208 Member
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    I gained 84 pounds in fourteen years. The discouraging part for me is that the first twenty pounds I have to lose right now, I've already lost twice and regained. I hate that! :(

    But, I'm going to do it and keep it off.
  • WeatherGurl1129
    WeatherGurl1129 Posts: 36 Member
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    This just goes to show how important it is to find an exercise regimen that you enjoy! You will never stick to losing 1 or 2 lbs a year if you are miserable.

    As for me, I gained 20 lbs over 8 years, or 2.5 lbs a year, 0.2 lbs a month. It really can creep up on you! It took me 4 weeks to lose 1.5 lbs (from 28 Feb to now), so I am happy with that. :flowerforyou:
  • noltes2
    noltes2 Posts: 202 Member
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    Scary to think about... My lowest was when I was 14 years old and 125 pounds. It crept up to 195 by the time I was 22 - so 70 pounds in 9 years. That is about a pound a month for 9 years.... WOW. I have lost 42 pounds in 9 months. I have 28 pounds to go and think it will take another 6-9 months. Not bad if you look at it like that!!! But sometimes I feel like this is the slowest weight loss in the world. But I am more likely to keep it off so that is finally important to me rather than looking at the here and now!
  • baisleac
    baisleac Posts: 2,019 Member
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    I put it on in 7 months. I don't hope to lose it that fast.

    Went from 145 to 208 during pregnancy (in 2009). Immediately post-partum and post massive water retention, I weighed in at 185. I started my MFP journey in October 2010 at 182.
  • MyNameIsNotBob
    MyNameIsNotBob Posts: 565 Member
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    I gained about 4.5 pounds a year for 10 years. (Yes, 45 pounds. Yikes.)

    In 3.5 months, I've lost 16 of those pounds. Which means, at that rate, I could take it all off in 10 months.

    That boils down to 1 month to lose each year of weight gain.

    Pretty optimistic equation. Thanks!

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