[SweetTreat80]

How many times have we all had a "restart"? Well I'm here again but I am hoping this is my last restart. I've played with my weight loss ticker on here and I have a question for you all. Do you find it discouraging to have your end goal (if it's a large weight loss like mine) listed and see the ticker move slow? I'm thinking I may change it to smaller goals so that it feels like I'm achieving something. Thoughts?

[penmage]

Welcome (back) !

My ticker is my end goal, but I list whatever current mini goal I'm working towards in the signature area as well, so I can see both.

[Mad Donnelly]

Yes, I'll be honest, I do hate to see the slow movement. I don't have the ticker, but I have my starting, current, and goal over there. I'm soon to move over into a new "decade" and that will be great, but then it's waiting for a new decade which stinks. But I'm losing, not gaining, so it's not disappointing overall.

[FitBegins]

You can do it SweetTreat80! I've started over a couple times. :/ All that matters is that we keep trying!

[Paulitens]

I'm all for mini goals! My first mini goal: go back to onederland. But I also have ongoing mini goals like sticking to the diet for one day, and then when that week is over to stick to the diet for another week, taking each day as a goal I achieved. If I don't take things like this, slowly, daily, I get very anxious and frustrated because as you said, the scale doesn't move as fast as I wish.

I have come to realize that when we are not dieting we have instant gratification for everything. I want candy, I get candy. I want a soda, I get a soda. I'm craving chocolate, I get a chocolate. But with dieting there is none of that, and there is no instant gratification. Taking my weight loss day by day, as an ongoing series of mini goals to where I lose these few lbs and get back into the 100s, and then go from there, also on a slow day by day basis, is the only way for me to succeed at this. That being said, this is the first time I ever took a diet this patiently and meticulously. I have failed at all my other diets because I get too impatient to reach my ultimate goal.

I hope my two cents help you, since we kind of seem to be on the same boat about this! Make a smaller ticker for shorter-term goals. Good luck!

[coffeeshopgirl]

Hey there - good thread topic! I don't know how many times I've restarted, but I try to look forward and learn from what derailed me in the past. There's a fine line between accepting our bodies as they currently are and getting down on ourselves because we've allowed ourselves to gain weight. I've struggled with that in the past, but I think I finally managed to accept myself at this weight.

I've stopped looking at the number on the scale (and on my ticker), and I'm focusing instead on conceptual goals such as: (1) recognize when you're full and (2) do one 30 minute exercise daily. It's really tough during my TOM, and I'm learning to refine my goals to (1) listen to your body and (2) recognize that you're hormones make your body tired for ONE week [with the caveat that I will get back to the exercise next week]. In a sense, I feel like I restart every month, which kinda sucks.

Winter doesn't help. I want to hibernate and stay warm. I feel like a lot of things are working against me. But, I suppose it goes back to our mini goals, and just trying to stay on track.

[SweetTreat80]

Thank you all for your responses, so many great points raised regarding tickers, goals and such. Sometimes I find it daunting to see that HUGE number I have to lose and think that smaller goals (whether on paper or in ticker form) may make me more successful.

I had brain surgery 3 years ago and I'm 30 lbs heavier now, after a cancer diagnosis. Figure that one out! I didn't do conventional therapy after surgery and that's allowed me to, for lack of better words, forget that I'm a cancer patient. I have an MRI in July and the last MRI I had (6 months ago) I felt rather claustrophobic because I was larger and felt like the inside of the machine was smaller, because naturally I gained it all in the belly and hips. Ideally I'd like to at LEAST lose 30lbs in the next 5 months (I'd really love 50) and I think I might be more successful breaking it up into smaller more "immediately gratifying" goals.

So I think that's what I'll do for my ticker on here, a smaller and more immediately gratifying goal.

Thanks for the welcomes too!

[Terra1984]

Yeah I've restarted recently too. My overall goal is under my name where it says S/C/G but my mini goal is on my ticker