Why doesn't it feel like a win?
Sylvarose
Posts: 70 Member
So Doc is recommending I lose weight because of my asthma. I'm on a 21 day streak of recording my food. Saturday I had my second weigh in with my therapist. Since starting this I'm down a total of 3.6 lbs and I lost 1.5lbs since last weigh in (which included Thanksgiving). Yet...I don't feel like...that's anything. Is it because all I can see is the 100+ more I have to lose? I don't know. 
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Any time I stop and try and figure out my supposed final goal weight, I laugh insanely. Seriously. I'm 250 pounds, and I've gone up a little since I hit this marker, and back down again (original heaviest weight was around 350 pounds), so I've made progress, but thinking about some ridiculous chart telling me 140 makes me laugh at the insanity of the concept. Instead what I've done to change my thinking to a more reasonable thought is I don't give a hoot if I lose weight. Well, not exactly.
I'm focused on gaining health. And I know that when I gain enough health, the weight part will follow suit. So if I focus every day on gaining health to some degree, form, or fashion, I'm winning.
And some ridiculous, seemingly unachievable number that would seem anorexic to me at this point will not control my destiny. BMI charts are an outdated concept but still an industry standard. They don't account for muscle or any number of things. Remember that most body builders are considered some level of "obese" by those ridiculous charts because of their muscle mass. So ignore that number, except as a very loose goal to placate your doctor...
Losing anything at this point - FOR ALL OF US - is a huge win, so don't discount it. Think about this. That is like, what, two gallons of water or something? There's a chart that's been around. Try putting two gallons of water in a backpack and walk around. Even though that 3.6 pounds seems so little, it makes a huge difference!!! Make sure to take measurements and pictures so that when that scale doesn't budge, you can see the progress in other places. You don't have to share these with anyone, but you might want the progress notes eventually!!
Losing weight over a holiday based around feasting? HUGE WIN. And keeping a streak/habit of logging - that will get you the furthest. Habits are what make us on this journey!!!! So keep on fighting the good fight. One day you will look back and see that 100 pounds in the mirror and wonder why you ever thought it was impossible!!
Hugs,
Carly in Oklahoma0 -
Dont even look at the 100. Give yourself mini goals every 2lb or so. Mine tend to be somewhere between 3-5lbs at a time and everyone is a win. I bore my friends rigid on my FB because I log every small victory. And its added up. Ive not looked at my end target beyond setting an arbitary figure I can come back to later yet since June I am down 47lb without even realising it. It can be done. Imagine you are a boxer. They arent worried about the end of the fight because they have another punch to throw, another round to win. Live in the moment and the future will sort itself out0
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Thank you all. Good advice. Last night I focused on just trying to get some darn point on my Every Move app. One way to do that is walk over 5000 steps. So while waiting for my scripts to fill I walked the pharmacy for 25 minutes. That got me to 4500 steps. I did some house work and that got me the remaining 500. I felt insanely accomplished to get fifteen points for Every Move. LOL0
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Awesome! What do you do with your points?0
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EveryMove lets you choose rewards to put your points towards. A lot of times they're like a coupon towards something. Sometimes it's towards helping a charity. I'm working towards 50% off an Epic timepiece. With every Epic timepiece sold, Epic International will provide clean water for five years and health education to an individual in a developing country. Right now I'm at 241 out of 500 pts. I have until January 31 to earn the 500pts.
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Ive heard of that and its not UK based as it sounds awesome0
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Hmmm....might have to check it out. I usually get between 6000-12000 steps a day when I do my walks!0
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You can also get points for workouts too. It's a good motivator.0
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Hey 3.6lbs is great. The biggest problem I had was I always tried to look at the BIG picture. The MASSIVE goal line that is so far away. And it's super super discouraging. Like others have said... make yourself small goals. They don't even have to be weight related really. I celebrate my logging streak (which I ruined back in August *grumbles*). I celebrate when I didn't gain weight over Thanksgiving. (Seriously, sometimes even holding a weight over really big holiday's that are based around food is an achievement that you should be proud of, and I mean you even lost so that's amazing!) It's all about making little goals to keep you happy and focused. And then in weeks/months/years you look back to that point you were at and notice that big change that you never noticed while going through it and it pushes you even more.
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Don't even worry about the big goal. I spent so much of my time stressing about the per week loss I completely lost sight of the bigger goal. Now I don't even think about what I am losing per week I look at how much I have lost.. and as of this morning it is 36lbs. Changing my viewpoint has made such a difference.0
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Thats because a 100+ lbs of weight to loose is a huge amount. And compared to that 100+lbs your 6lbs very well may seem like nothing. Nothing you can do about that.
But loosing nearly 2 lbs a week is a big accomplishment. Because your week to week loss is about all you can control (realistically meal to meal). We can have as much magical thinking as you like but 100lbs doesn't go away on its own. But you do control what happens week to week, and 2lbs a week is fantastic progress. Repeat that week to week and that 100lbs will come and go.
Focus on your week of success and your day to day choices. The 100lbs will come.0 -
Wow! Thank you everyone for your wonderful words of support! They mean so much. This past Saturday I reacted a little better. I lost another 2lbs. However, like many of you suggested I'm trying to refocus on other things. My big priority is to get the food journal logged everyday and to stay under the calorie goal. I know there will be days I may not make that goal but each day I that's what I strive for.
I did notice that the Christmas sweatshirt I wanted to wear to my work holiday luncheon was not tight like I feared it would be. That was a very pleasant and welcome surprise. I've been sick this week so I haven't been working out so I'm concerned what the scales are going to show on Saturday morning but trying not to worry about it.
Just happy that I stuck to my goals at the holiday luncheon and have planned on what to have for dinner which will keep me on target for the day.
SR0 -
Those are huge successes unto themselves:
sweatshirt not tight? WIN
logging food daily? WIN
Under calorie goal more days than not? WIN
Healthy Balance between goals and getting CLOSE!! SUPERDUPERWIN
Not working out due to illness, but trying not to worry about it... WIN
Stuck with goals at holiday luncheon? MAJOR WIN
Planned dinner to stay on target? AMAZING WIN
Combination of all of the above, such an amazing amount of success I can't count that high... LOL
Happy Thursday
C0 -
Lot of WIN one day at Lb at a time.0
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