I may be a failure.....but in that there is success

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dlyeates
dlyeates Posts: 875 Member
in Success Stories
I don't know if this is the right place to post this but it could help someone the way these realizations have helped me...

As I sit here watching Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Addition they keep talking about how she is going to have her first taste of failure and gains 7 lbs in Ireland on her honeymoon.

I have come to realize that when it comes to weight loss.....I have failed. I'm not saying that for anyone to tell me otherwise or to get sympathy or anything. I'm being honest. For the amount of exercise and the way I've been watching my calories I should have, realistically, lost a minimum of 1 lb per week. That would have been 20 lbs from the beginning of the year which would have put me at my goal. But I haven't....even with doing C25K, even with strength training, even with meeting with a trainer for 5 weeks.....in the first over 5 months of the year I've lost 6.6 lbs (and that's at my lowest which I'm still not back down to thanks to TOM).

And in the past that would have meant that I would have quit, said "screw it" and been done with it.....not doing it as intensely, slacked off. But I haven't. No matter how I've complained, no matter how depressed I've gotten, not matter how many tears I've cried over my "failure" I have continued, moved forward, researched and have kept trying.

I have learned that my definition of failure is different.....failure would be giving up and giving in. I may have failed in losing weight but I'm still on my journey, I'm still learning and I'm NOT GIVING UP!!!! So while in just over 5 months I've only lost 6.6 lbs I'm not done, I will not be defeated and I am a success because I'm still on my journey and I'm not giving up.

Maybe one of you needs to hear this too.....it really isn't just seeing the number on the scale go down......it's about being faithful to the process, being faithful to making yourself a priority and being faithful to trusting that this is all worth it!!!
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Replies

  • Gr8ChangesAhead
    Gr8ChangesAhead Posts: 836 Member
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    It is a journey not a raca to the finish line, some of us will trip some of us will fall, As long as we get back up and continue to try we will be successful
  • DJackson230
    DJackson230 Posts: 306
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    So failure is never final... loved your story...
  • weisegirl1119
    weisegirl1119 Posts: 122 Member
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    bump
  • mrmv
    mrmv Posts: 95
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    Amen
  • finally79
    finally79 Posts: 21 Member
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    Thanks! I needed that.
  • Justacoffeenut
    Justacoffeenut Posts: 3,808 Member
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    very well put.
  • monie64
    monie64 Posts: 2 Member
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    it is hard but the little amount we drop each week is better than none. and then we fall off the next week but after that we pick our selves up and go on the next week . thanks for your honesty ....
  • godblessourhome
    godblessourhome Posts: 3,892 Member
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    i love the quote by winston churchill:

    Success is not final. Failure is not fatal. It's the courage to continue that counts.

    keep on trying!
  • biggirl1000
    biggirl1000 Posts: 189 Member
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    Agree with your comments. It is hard to put forth a significant effort only and not see it recognized on the scale. It somehow feels unfair. Wasn't her weight loss incredible for a year?
  • kristinkt
    kristinkt Posts: 921 Member
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    I love the quote by winston churchill!!!

    Some days and weeks I have to remind myself I am doing better for myself, making better choices, staying more consistent, planning ahead, and seeing myself at goal eventually. This is fairly new for me since before I would burn out and collapse falling to the wayside of past diet plans. Even if the scale doesn't always play fair these good choices have got to show up as positives in my life, and they are.
  • ShifuYaku
    ShifuYaku Posts: 504 Member
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    We're in the same boat... exact same. I have been on this journey for 2 years now, and have only lost 20 pounds. Still keeping at it, but rarely seeing any progress. Here's to the summer, the summer of change. We all can get through this together! :flowerforyou:
  • losingthehealthyway
    losingthehealthyway Posts: 46
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    “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.”
    ― J.K. Rowling
  • lilylight
    lilylight Posts: 128 Member
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    Great attitude!
  • AngieJoy81
    AngieJoy81 Posts: 99 Member
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    Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm in the same boat. I lose maybe .5 or 1 lb a week even though I'm doing P90X and running (just finished a half marathon yesterday!). But I feel like I'm learning a lot about commitment, priorities, and like you said, FAITH.
  • megleo818
    megleo818 Posts: 595 Member
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    THANK YOU! :smile:
  • builtforlife
    builtforlife Posts: 259
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    Keep experimenting. Im finding that I have to keep my heart rate up high for an hour 6 days a week to see good results, but thats just me. Good luck.
  • SilkyHotspur
    SilkyHotspur Posts: 233 Member
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    This is one of my most favorite quotes of all time, by Bill Nicholson, former Manager of Tottenham Hotspurs

    "It is better to fail aiming high than to succeed aiming low. And we of Spurs have set our sights very high, so high in fact that even failure will have in it an echo of glory."
  • 123kellyms123
    123kellyms123 Posts: 1
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    A friend recommended this site to me tonight and I just joined and yours, is the first post I read.....thank you...I really needed to read something like that...I feel the same way....I am a failure but I want to try and get my life back.....thanks for your post. Kelly
  • gracefulotus
    gracefulotus Posts: 42
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    I watched The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel recently and there was a wonderful quote by the Indian character Sonny:

    "Everything will be all right in the end. So if it is not all right, then it is not yet the end."

    Your journey hasn't finished yet, and your body/lifestyle isn't like a machine. It has its ups and downs, and that's reflected in your weight loss journey.

    Good post for those thinking about giving up.
  • secretgirl4611
    secretgirl4611 Posts: 474 Member
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    And in the past that would have meant that I would have quit, said "screw it" and been done with it.....not doing it as intensely, slacked off. But I haven't. No matter how I've complained, no matter how depressed I've gotten, not matter how many tears I've cried over my "failure" I have continued, moved forward, researched and have kept trying.

    Maybe one of you needs to hear this too.....it really isn't just seeing the number on the scale go down......it's about being faithful to the process, being faithful to making yourself a priority and being faithful to trusting that this is all worth it!!!

    THIS^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^OMG! SAME BOAT 100%
    I started this year January 15th 2012 and by now I would have thought I would have lost this measly 20 pounds, which is ALL I have to lose to get to goal weight. And NOPE that is not the case at all.. I work my butt off! For 5months I have managed to workout 6days a wk and Its never easy. I just started Month 2 of Insanity and before I was doin Insanity, I was weight training and jogging. BUT ALWAYS CHALLENGING MY BODY..
    The fact is, before this year it NEVER clicked! I would "attempt" at weight loss diet and exercise and literally never made it past 2wks! And I had always QUIT!
    Now, I'm 5months into working out and I love to workout now. And YES, even tho I haven't seen the weight melt off as I had hoped for, I still just keep on goin and thats a HUGE achievement in itself... :)
    The reason I haven't lost the weight is cuz I am a bad over Indulger in my love for junk foods and sweets.. haha Its ok tho, the OLD me would have given up at the slice of a cake! And now, even if I have a huge major mess ups. I dust myself off and try again the next day and the next day.
    SO GLAD YOU POSTED THIS! GLAD, I'M NOT ALONE! AND WE CAN DO THIS!
    WITH OR WITHOUT RESULTS NEVER STOP! NOT EVER! EVENTUALLY YOU WILL GET THERE AND WHEN YOU DO.. DONT STOP THERE EITHER, KEEP ON GOIN FOREVER.. ITS ABOUT A LIFE CHANGE NOT A FIX...
    :)

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