Is weightloss really slow?

Bshmerlie wrote: »

Here is another analogy about pacing yourself. If you had to cross the USA on foot which is 3000 miles would you really start out running? Be serious...you'd just start walking. You'd probably try and set little goals for yourself like walking 20 miles a day or something like that. You don't just start sprinting full speed because how far would you really get? That's how I think of this weightloss journey. I started out with 125 pounds to lose. There's no way to crash diet 125 pounds. So I'm just at walking speed. I'll even crawl if I have to...but I'll never stop. I've got 66 pounds to go and I have absoultely no doubt that I will get there. And its going to take probably until the end of 2016 to get to that final goal. But that's OK and thats actually pretty quick considering it took me over 20 years to put it on.

What a GREAT analogy!!!

I like this! thanks OP! The "be the turtle" thing is sooooo true.

Soooooooo frustrating too because I feel like the slowest turtle on the frikkin planet and we all want to look good NOW.

I can now say no to goodies at work. We just had cupcakes handed out about 10 mins ago and I said NO. A year ago I would have taken 2. For starters.

Great post! I've been drive myself nuts excessively stepping on the scale 5x a day (like the number is magically going to go down in 2 hours).
Thanks for sharing

Bshmerlie,

Thanks for bringing this up. I have been faithfully eating 1,000-1,300 calories a day and exercising at a gym for an hour each time consistently for 16 months. I have lost 41 pounds and that is only 2.5 pounds a month. At first I was a bit frustrated at the message at the bottom of my food diary on MFP that always predicted that I would lose 8-10 pounds in the next 5 weeks if I kept doing what I was doing. But I was determined to lose anyway.

But today I bagged up 14 pairs of too-big-for-me pants of 4 different sizes to donate to Goodwill. They will be gone forever, and so will those pounds. Gone is the worry I had over the poor knee I had to deal with. I can now climb the big staircase at work several times a day if I need to without any worry over my knee joints.

I am very content and happy to continue with limited number of daily calories thinking I may have to stick pretty close to that range maybe even for the rest of my life. I eat very few desserts and "treats" but am satisfied with healthy and homemade foods for 99% of my meals.

I still have maybe 25 pounds to go, but I am liking the person in the mirror and the way she looks now. 2.5 pounds a month has added up!

Bshmerlie wrote: »

Here is another analogy about pacing yourself. If you had to cross the USA on foot which is 3000 miles would you really start out running? Be serious...you'd just start walking. You'd probably try and set little goals for yourself like walking 20 miles a day or something like that. You don't just start sprinting full speed because how far would you really get? That's how I think of this weightloss journey. I started out with 125 pounds to lose. There's no way to crash diet 125 pounds. So I'm just at walking speed. I'll even crawl if I have to...but I'll never stop. I've got 66 pounds to go and I have absoultely no doubt that I will get there. And its going to take probably until the end of 2016 to get to that final goal. But that's OK and thats actually pretty quick considering it took me over 20 years to put it on.

Love this analogy!

Awesome post!!! ☺️

Needed to hear this!

daniwilford wrote: »

Weight comes of everywhere, sometimes it comes off of some places very noticeable and sometimes not. Sometimes the scale moves but the tape measure doesn't or visa versa. I think it is very important to have non scale victories and focus on the down ward trend. Weight loss may be slow but I am losing it faster than I gained it.

<I think that's a very important truth to point out, this journey is not always about what the scales say. >

1 to 2 lbs per week is the standard advice for losing in a healthy manner. I don't know if that's the same for everyone, of course, since there are other health risk factors to consider. But at least for me, I've been losing 2 lbs a week steadily and it even feels fast enough. The rate gives me time, too, to work on my real issue, which is portion control when I'm hungry. I can wolf down food as though I'm starving, and that mental attitude really needs to change unless I'm going to end up gaining weight back. Since I'm one who HATES obsessing about diets, food, and all that......it's really good for me to take my time and undo that thinking.

I don't want to go through this again.

Great thread