I think we tend to forget the years when we didn't meet a goal or live our lives the way we are now. How about that?
I look at some of your food plans and I think to myself so why are you following that food plan, you would have lost more by now? I am just at the early stages of my weight lose journey and I have had times when I question myself when I haven't met a short term goal because I chose to eat more than I "needed" to.
I have an end date for me to meet my weight goal of January 2009 but if I am losing steadily over 2008 and I haven't met my goal weight, I hope that I will remind myself of the good things that have stayed in my life and haven't left.
I do understand your frustration but are you at a healthy weight for your height? Have you had a physical lately? Are your "numbers":BMI, blood sugar, cholesterol, B/P, etc. are they where they should be?
I remember reading in Dr. Atkins book that he recommended that people first lose weight to attain "optimal health" then if they have acheived that, the rest is "cosmetic" and then it is a matter of personal choice. I liked that.
As you can see I have set a very low weight. I have been there but I averaged around 135-140 lbs most of the time when I was in high school. I was 125 lbs a few times but it was not easy to maintain. I was also in my 20s. Now, I am in my 50s. Of course, I would love to be that weight again but given my age and the fact that I have been obese for 25 years makes me wonder if it is "realistic" and if it is "possible". I don't know. I have decided that WHEN I reach my first "HEALTHY" weight where I have hit the BMI of 24.9% and I am 155 lbs. I will decide at that point if I want to continue or I want to maintain.
If I do this, I hope I am in the frame of mind that will "allow" myself to consider that as having "succeeded" as well. I have to remind myself that when I was at those lower weights I wasn't a very active person. Ironically, it was when I gained the weight that I became active. Partially because I had to be (I didn't have a car and had to walk everywhere). I have also been waiting to have the skin caliper test done and seen other very fit women getting measured and I was very surprised at how much they weighed.
Remember, if you are more muscle than fat, you will weigh more but you will not "look like it". Again, getting back to where I said I began walking and doing other physical activities out of necessity and ended up having more muscle as a result. At the peak of when I was my most active, most people could not believe how much I weighed. It always looked like I was about 35-40 lbs. less than what the scale said. Even diet counselors would mentino that.
This is an aspect of fitness that I don't hear mentioned on this site but it is also an important criteria to consider. It is not just about a number on the scale per se but how fit are you? I have read that there are people who are "thin" fatties; thin people who are actually carrying more body fat in ratio to their body composition. Ideally, you will want a balance of all of this. A weight that is healthy for your height and age. A weight that reflects how fit you are. Can you walk a brisk 12 min. mile? Can you touch your toes? How many ab crunches can you do? And, I think, most importantly, can you maintain this long term? To me, it is better to maintain a healthy weight for the rest of your life than to keep pursuing an artificially and difficult lower weight out of vanity or because we want to "fit" in with what the 1% of the population who is underweight and neither healthy nor fit by medical standards.
Is it possible that you are at a "good place" health-wise? Have you considered maintaining that weight for awhile? Four-six months? See how you feel about that weight? I don't hear too many people talk about that but wouldn't it be better to do that rather than get discouraged and possibly regain the weight you have worked so hard to lose just because you didn't meet a specific goal? My concern for you is that you will get really discouraged and then let things slide, especially this time of year and then begin the spiral backwards.
I am glad that you posed this question because it is one that we all need to consider very thoughtfully as we work towards our weight lose goals. Thank you for bringing this up. I had already been thinking about this myself and I am glad that I had a chance to think about it again.
Just remember, if you choose to not go any further you have not failed. Whatever weight lose you have acheived is better than where you were. And, any positive changes that have come out of that is SUCCESS no matter what any one, including your self, says.
You have succeeded already. Please don't forget that!
It's almost been a year. And I dont think I'll meet my goal. Failure?
At one point we will all feel this way
I am sure you are beautiful. Just keep going and don't worry about "when" you get to where you want to be- just focus on getting there, and it will come.
