Even though I won't give up, I sure feel like it today. I only lost one lousy pound this week and it makes me wonder why even bother. Just having a pity party. If the wind ever stops, I'll just do more exercise for this week and hope next week is better.
That is one less pound you have in the way of your final goal. Don't give up because remember this is a life change and I say this because I use to look loosing weight as the sooner I get it done the best but I never learned before that I have to change the way I eat forever and that exercise is good for me regardless of me loosing weight or not.
Thanks everyone. Maybe this coming week it will be better. Or this is my opportunity to learn to be patient and let the work do as it will in whatevcer time it takes.
Because you can lose weight one pound at a time, but you can't lose weight if you give up.
One pound is NOT lousy weight loss, it's excellent weight loss. On average, I've lost far less than one pound per week for my 80 lbs of weight loss, and I'm still having difficulty losing even one pound a week. Should I give up, or should I just keep losing what I can for as long as I can?
The only reason I have lost 80 lbs is by choosing not to give up, and choosing to keep going regardless of the weekly loss (or lack of loss). If I cannot lose any more weight, the 80 lbs I've already lost, still MATTER.
In the past, I would have used many excuses to give up, because "why bother."
If I can't lose x, number of pounds within y timeframe - why bother?
If I can't eat what I want, when I want - why bother?
If I can't see a difference in the mirror - why bother?
If my weight doesn't matter to (other people) - why bother?
If I feel healthy at this weight - why bother?
If you can't answer the question "why bother," with an answer that you find compelling, chances are you won't.
So why bother? You don't have to tell us, just yourself.
Kaplods, I don't see a smiley sticking out its tongue and making obscene noises at you, which mean you are mighty lucky today. LOL!
I know. I am a plodder alonger no matter what and even if, heaven forbid, I couldn't lose even one more lousy pound, I still feel better for the 18 pounds I have already lost. And I feel better for having gotten out to do some exercise, especially while the weather was nice. And for taking Buster out to walk...overjoyed and grateful. I am glad to be eating in a more healthy way becuase I know it is good for me.
I know I will continue to lose pounds as long as I don't give up. I will always wish them away faster, but it won't always be that way, nor would it be reasonable to think it would!
But, thank you for the reminders...I know why I will still bother...because it is important to me, and to DH and to Buster!
LOL - I have a very active imagination, so I can see and hear the little smiley making those rude noises.
Yes, I was being a bit sarcastic. I know it was like poking you with a stick, but not to be mean, but because it's the same stick I still have to use to poke myself. I have been there - more often than not.
I tend to get on my soapbox sometimes, because so many of the behaviors and thoughts we're taught to have about weight loss are actually more likely to work against weight loss than for it.
No one is born with the belief (or a similarly illogical one) that if a dieter eats something off-plan (even a lick), he or she can binge until the next day. Unless the slip happens on a Friday or Saturday, in which case the diet should resume on the following Monday, unless it's the last Monday of the month, in which case the diet should resume on the first Monday of the following month.
And yet many of us do believe it (on some level) since we repeat it so often.
Even when we know better, it can be hard to do better. Without realizing it, we absorb all of the diet myths, taboos, stigmas, and crazy patterns of dieting thoughts and behaviors that we've been exposed to. We've seen, read, and heard how weight loss is done, and it can be difficult to follow any other pattern, even when we know the pattern isn't an effective one.
Not all that long ago (but long enough that I don't remember how long ago), I was griping to my doctor that I was extremely frustrated that I wasn't losing faster.
My doctor pointed out that even a loss of 1 pound a month (or any loss at all) is more weight loss than most people accomplish, because most people give up before the first month is even over.
My doctor helped me see that I was seeing failure where there was actually success (and a lot more success than I was giving myself credit for).
When it comes to weight loss, we're often taught to see the failures much more prominently than the successes. But when the failures seem to outnumber or outweigh the successes, the natural response is to give up. Why would anyone continue a behavior that isn't being rewarded in some way? It wouldn't make sense. We wouldn't stay at a job if the paychecks stopped, and when weight loss is the job, we've got to see the rewards or we're going to give up.
A lot of what we interpret as failure, we do so because we think other people are doing so much better (or because we've done better ourselves in the past). So it's easy to think that everyone else is being more successful - doing it faster, easier or better, when the truth may be quite different.
Because one pound each week adds up to 52 pounds in a year. Wouldn't that make you happy? Hang in there!
Yep, this is how I'm trying to look at it. Whether I lose 100 lbs in a year or I lose 25 lbs each year for 4 years, at the end of that time, I'll be at goal and it won't really matter because I'm just going to keep on doing what I'm doing right now anyway!
One foot in front of the other, that's all we can do -- continue to carry on. You lost a pound!! It is your choice whether you embrace it or shun it. I choose to embrace.
Only ONE LOUSY POUND
