[calluna]

I was writing yesterday and realized that I had this utterly irrational thought process going. I would much rather be 149 than 150 pounds, because 149 pounds is on the lower half of the 100s - even though it is only 1 lb different, 149 seems much farther away from 200 than 150 does.

It's completely ridiculous, and not rational at all. Just noticed. Don't know if I'll try to do anything about it, but it made me shake my head when I realized I felt that way and why.

Do you have any silly things like this going?

[Sea]

Calluna - Yes, I have this mentality, too. It's the motivation of milestones. In all my weight loss efforts I seek these milestones. I count off the percentages of my 3 miles (soon to step up) each morning on my treadmill, percentages and fractions of my distance to goal, etc.

My most ridiculous mental game is estimating the minimum number of weeks in which I could reach goal. I know it is silly but it keeps me on plan.

[odonnela]

YES!!!!!!!!! I must get to 249 because it is closer to 200 than 300! I was down to 254 and that 249 kept eluding me. I felt like if I just got to 249 the whole world would be sunshine and puppies and all the remaining weight would just fall off me. I let that 249 consume me so much that I feel/felt like a total failure for not getting there and I have actually started going in the other direction.

[calluna]

odonnela, having articulated this do you think you'll be able to reverse the trend? I hope so!

[SCraver]

Ya know - that isn't all that irrational. This is why prices in the store are
$x.99 Psychologically speaking - $4.99 looks like less than $5.00

I have irrational thoughts like - it is not POSSIBLE for me get below 200 lbs. (Like as if my body knows what number it is at!)

I have a lot of non-weight related irrational thoughts... Like if I worry about bad things happening - then they won't happen.

[LiannaKole]

Personally, I'm very excited to get to 149 because a) it IS closer to 100 than 200, which my weight hasn't been for years and b) it means I'm a normal weight!

And I'd rather be 149 than 150 because 149 is closer to my goal. And I'd rather be 148 than 149, and rather be 147 than 148, etc.

But one super irrational thing of mine is that I'm still not really convinced that I'm any smaller now than I was at 207lbs. I seriously half believe the scale is wacked and my clothes just got looser from wearing them. I know that's not true, but I don't believe it yet. And I doubt I will until I hit my goal or stay there for a while.

[Rosinante]

Kind of.
If I can make 139 before I go on holiday, I'll feel 40lbs thinner than 140.

If I can make 135 at all, it will be one whole pound more than last time, and I'll feel 40lbs more successful.

If I can make 120, I'll have lost one pound more than half my original start weight, and I really want to be able to say I've lost over half my bodyweight.

[caryesings]

Originally Posted by LiannaKole

But one super irrational thing of mine is that I'm still not really convinced that I'm any smaller now than I was at 207lbs. I seriously half believe the scale is wacked and my clothes just got looser from wearing them. I know that's not true, but I don't believe it yet. And I doubt I will until I hit my goal or stay there for a while.

This one for me. I keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter if it's "vanity sizing" that makes a size 8 bigger than it was 20 years ago. My butt is now in size 8 compared to the size 10 I was wearing only a few months ago and the size 24 I was wearing 18 months ago. Yet I still have times when I think it's the clothes that have changed, not me.

[lazylioness]

I have irrational thoughts too. Some of them are old that I do not have any more

"it is ok if i eat this whole tub if Ice Cream, I walked to the store to get it so its a wash"

"it is just a little bit more butter than the recipe called for, it will not hurt anything"

I think I became the master of rationalization!

These days there are less of them, but they are still there. Figuring out the fewest weeks until I hit my latest goal is one of mine too. But I totally get where you are coming from 149 is OBVIOUSLY way less than 150 right? and 39 is still not 40! and 2 for 5 is for sure less than 2.49 a piece, so it is of course a great sale.

It is all just a mind trick I spent a long time tricking my mind into bad habits, now I need to trick my mind into good ones. So I say, if 149 is in your head that much better than 150 and it helps get to goal YAY for 149

[Loving Me]

Definitely irrational thoughts lol!
I've just hit 149 this morning so I SO know where you're coming from there. I don't actually feel any different this morning, or look it, but to be able to say I'm 149 and not 150 is just so good.
I'm also guilty of working out how many weeks to a certain milestone if I lose a certain amount each week lol.
But my most irrational right now is after I've weighed and am then getting on with my day. I REALLY still can't believe I'm 10st 9lbs (in the UK we talk in stones and pounds), and I keep thinking that my head or eyes are screwed up and I've just been reading the scale wrong and really I'm 11st 9lbs or 12st 9lbs or whatever. ALL day I keep thinking, it must be wrong, the scale is broken or I read the number wrong....

[Number8]

[QUOTE=lazylioness;3533489 2 for 5 is for sure less than 2.49 a piece, so it is of course a great sale.

[/QUOTE]

That's so true!!!! That's why everything costs 9.99 because 10$ would be too much to pay for that!
People make money on peoples' insistence that 99 is not 100!

[ThicknPretty]

I am not a member of the 100 lb club but I've been known to creep over from time to time.

I am equally obsessed with 149. I've been bouncing around wildly in the 150's for...forever now and I just want to see that 4. It's the 4 that I covet and I know that it really makes no sense. I got close enough to taste it...but I've been slacking lately and have crept farther away. I WILL see 149!!!

I also sometimes manage to convince myself that if I were to step on a foreign scale, it would reveal that I actually weigh 50 pounds more than my home scale says. And that my home scale is just wrong and I haven't lost anything. It's really a head trip to look at the scale and see a difference, but look in the mirror and not see much at all.

I cannot eat ANYTHING off plan or I feel like I'm in the danger zone. I'm talking...gum, one piece of candy, one extra chip, one extra pickle, a cheez it. I'm so irrational about food now....sigh.

[Eliana]

The most irrational thought I've had has nothing to do with numbers and I've mentioned it in other threads.

My irrational thoughts surround FOOD and particularly vegetables. I have it in my head that cooked is not as healthy as raw and if it's reheated I'd be better off eating air. I have this horrible tendency not to "count" vegetables if they're cooked or delicious and I drive myself nuts trying to get in servings that my brain will accept. I hate it. It's illogical. I do eat TONS of vegetables but it doesn't feel right.

[GirlyGirlSebas]

Oh yeah. I fight with serious irrational thoughts constantly. My biggest one? People who have lost a lot of weight and kept it off have something special about their brain or their mental processes. Kinda like Lance Armstrong or people like him. You either have it or you don't and few people have it. But, no one really knows if they are one of the "chosen" so we keep trying. Over and over again. Irrational? Yep.

[EvilGidget]

Oh yeah... me too!

I irrationally think I shouldn't try because failing will just make it harder on me next time I have to try!

... Also have the one GirlyGirlSebas has...

I even struggle with harsh resentment towards people who actually have a metabolism that works lol...