Great idea for a thread!
- Weight loss is a precursor to maintenance, and maintenance is lifelong. Therefore, losing weight is a great time to pick-up the skills for maintenance.
- Because weight loss is followed by maintenance and maintenance is for life, lifelong lifestyle changes vs. temporary solutions are key.
- The weight got put on over time, and will take time to take off.
- All progress is worth celebrating! every single pound is worthwhile.
- You don't have to do it alone. If you're on 3fc, we are here for you and ready to offer support and a shoulder or high five! If they are starting at it alone, find support. Support makes weight loss, like life, so much easier and more enjoyable/meaningful.
- There will be easy times, hard times, confusing times, thought-provoking times, amazing times, elation, disappointment, and more. This is all worthwhile, they can get through it, and there is so much to discover through weight loss beyond finding one's collarbones.
- That anyone can do it. Absolutely. I say this with complete faith.
- Perfection is not expected, and not necessary. Falling off the band-wagon happens. It's possible to get back on. And if we fall off, it's important to know how to get back on.
- You were beautiful before, during, and after this process. You deserve your love and compassion as much as anyone else does.
- Weight loss is a process that can be individual to each person. What works for one person may not work for the next, and certainly
doesn't have to work for the next. There are a myriad of approaches. Do what works for you. Employ the approach that seems more suitable to you and employ it at a pace that feels most productive for you. You have a lifetime to learn and hone your skills; it doesn't have to come all at once (in fact, it won't).
- Take it one day at a time. Trying to think of the ultimate goal (and how amazing that will feel compared to how crummy the present may feel) is usually unproductive and depressing. One day at a time, one choice at a time, and sooner than later you will see progress!
- Losing weight can be hard. In fact, it might seem so surreal as to be impossible. But it's not impossible. You CAN do it. Equip yourself with knowledge, support, and commitment to your goal and eventually YOU will be the success story others gaze at in wonderment as they find themselves in your starting shoes wondering if it's possible for them to do what you did. It's very common to feel this way when starting out, but success is as much within your reach as it is within everyone else's who's met their goal.
- Got a lot of weight to lose? It might take a year or more. And yes, that can feel like a really long time (which doesn't have to, but can, feel overwhelming and depressing). However, the truth is that this time will pass anyway, and when it does, you can find yourself 20, 30, 50 + pounds lighter (and even if not yet at goal, certainly already enjoying the satisfaction and perks of success!) or in the same place you were before, lamenting about the impossibility of losing weight. Realizing you have a lot of weight to lose can be difficult, but it's still worth doing. You're worth the life you want to live in the body you desire.
- Small changes lead to grand results.
- The scale gives you a very narrow picture of what's going on. It can't measure your health, it can't measure your health improvements, and it can't measure your effort or your worth. It's not always accurate either (because of factors like hormonal changes, sodium intake, water retention, and the myriad of processes that take place within our bodies). Thus, it's best used as a guide, a tool used at your discretion, rather than an oracle and dictator of your success and worth.