Everybody would like to lose like a hare, and we all do in those first exciting weeks or perhaps months where you can post a loss of 1 pound or more every week. Its less thrilling & exciting when you get to the tortoise phase where your celebrations are for "I lost another 1/10!" Or " didn't gain this week!"! Me I am most definitly a tortoise, 13 years and still counting!

I really admire those who put together long streaks of accomplishments. The very thought of putting together a streak of some health related accomplishment challenges some part of my self image. I hear the inner voice tell me that I could never do something like that; that I’m already too old; it’s too late, etc... That inner voice ignores the healthy streaks I have accomplished, such as not drinking since January 16, 1997. I have to remind myself of that, and choose my own narrative. I really enjoyed the video and the thoughts it’s provoking inside me.

Tortoise for sure but with accomplishment.

When I started WW, I was a hare for sure. I had a nearly-perfect streak of losing each and every week (with a single exception week) until I hit goal and lifetime. That was clearly a "honeymoon" period for weight-loss for me. Before I started I felt like I had really hit "rock-bottom" (or perhaps, "rock-top") and needed to do *something* about it. WW seemed like a reasonable way to go, and many of you will recall that first week big-weight-loss that many of us enjoyed. That was enough to get me going, and thankfully I got to goal and lifetime in 6-8 months.

Now, however, it's much harder, and I think I've come to value consistency more than speed. Unfortunately, I've been pretty lame at both consistency AND speed with getting off the last few pounds I'd like to re-lose. Of course, the level of urgency I had 10 years ago isn't there, and it's certainly harder to take off weight when you're below goal than it is when you're obese!

In other areas of my life, I really appreciate consistency, though I don't really track that. For example, every morning I take 20-30' and do some learning. I try to get in 3 runs per week and two other aerobic days in-between. Etc.

Slow but steady progress Tortoise!
2013 -60 A hare at age 65?
2014 -37 Learned to LTL
2015 -15 to NOT GAIN a success
2016 -37 (goal was -52)
2017 -43 (goal was -52)
2018 Made GW from 376 to 184
2019 Successful on Maintenance below GW over one year.

In general I'm a tortoise. But last year I lost 24lbs in 16 weeks. The first 12 were from my own eating plan and felt good. The next 12 were the result of a medical study I enrolled in where I had to eat very low carb for eight weeks. That was fine for about three weeks, then I was miserable.

I've said it before, "The waiting is the hardest part."

Flintwinch wrote: »

88olds wrote: »

Tortoise.

We’ve all been around the block a number of times. The hares are over on the Motivation board. Their calories are set at 1200 and they are losing 60 lbs in 30 weeks.

If you aren’t 100% for this and say so on their thread, they will summon a MFP administrator and have your post deleted. Yes, that did happen. No demotivating reality allowed.

That's why I don't like boards like the one you described. Life is effort. Unremittingly repeated. Fast weight loss happens. The faster you lose it, the harder it is to sustain it.
The long-time weight losers , whether goal weight or a portion thereof, are the winners

As one Goadie puts it "it'a a death march".

🐢 Tortoise for sure but it seemed like a hair starting back in 2011. Lost the big hundred in about a year then was still no where near goal. It was however closer then I am now. I just had another hundred and ten to go to my goal weight. I stayed steady and firm at 295 lbs for about 3 years then the beginning of 2018 I started a new business venture and took all my focus on that and just grabbed things to eat whenever and whatever came about.

So I need to start over and go with the tortoise pace but just stay consistent day after day.
🐢