Patience is a virtue I do not possess. I seem to get frustrated every other day.

How do you cope with it without taking an Ice Cream scoop to your bum or attaching the shop vac to your thighs?

The "it's a journey" thing really just makes me more frustrated, so I need some coping mechanisms when I am having a scale up day or I try on something that still does not yet fit.

Um, yeah, this is me too. I am a sloooooow loser and DH just came home and announced that he lost 8 lbs this past week.

I do lots of self pep talks, and sometimes they work...

I try to think of the positive. You have lost 20 Pounds, that's great ! I find nothing more motivating than to step on the scale and see that the figure is down or in some cases has stayed the same. 20 pounds ! Tha's great. Think about it ! 20 pounds ! I'm sure you don't want it back..

I tell myself that every little bit helps, ask myself, would I rather have lost that half pound (or less) this week? or gained it, because it is so small and insignificant?

Generally I find I'm glad to have lost even the tiniest amount of weight. Several weeks of .5 lb or less accumulates into five or ten pounds every couple months.

Edit***

Um, I guess that wasn't really what you were talking about. The topic is about being patient, not frustration with tiny increments of loss. My bad.

As far as the actual topic goes: when I get weary of how looooooong I know it's going to take to lose the 100 lbs I still have to get off my frame, I remember a (former) friend of mine. I met her when she was in her thirties and she was slim, but not healthy... that is, not huge, but not toned or supple or particularly well-nourished-looking, I think I've heard it called "skinny-fat." She told me many many times that in her late twenties, she was bigger than I was and that after having her baby at age 26, she cracked down and lost all the weight (about 95 lbs) in about six months. She never said so, but I wouldn't be surprised to learn there was another kind of "crack"ing down going on. Losing the weight so fast and in such an unhealthy manner left her body looking deflated, and at age 33, she had the body of a 50 y/o who'd been ridden hard and put up wet.

My point being, when I get a little daunted by the enormity of the task, I remember that slow and steady gives my body it's best chance to look it's best when the journey is done. If I lose it all too fast with crash diets and pills and insisting on losing six lbs/week, I risk loose, hangy skin where I don't want it, and I DON'T WANT THAT.

I remind myself that time is passing anyway. In six months, I can be the same weight, or lighter, or heavier, and it depends on the choices I make today.

Jay

Give yourself little rewards when you pass milestones...spa pedicure with each five-pound loss, for example. If you work out five days in a row and no cheating, you can buy the X you've been wanting.

It has taken me a year to lose 10 lbs.....I just remind myself that if I hadn't given it my best this past year I would of GAINED probably 30 lbs!

I once had a doctor who reccommended losing 1 pound a month. I thought he didn't know what he was talking about.

Before you know it... you will be skinny..

Don't give up... and remember... its better than gaining weight!


I like your vacuum reference... I used to wish I could cut off all the 'bad' parts of my body.. then finally I realized that though I cant cut it off, I can sweat it out...

I love the title of this thread.

I don't really have a way of coping, except that I just try to put it aside and remind myself that it doesn't matter because this is my life now. That might sound more grim than I mean it to be. I guess I just tell myself the things I told myself in the beginning, that this time it isn't going to matter when motivations/rewards fail to incite. Because I don't need to remember all my reasons, I just need to keep keepin' on.

I'd like to say, don't think about what you want to see tomorrow on the scale -- think about what you want to see by say, August on the scale. For me, thinking of how thin I can be by thanksgiving, etc.

This helps me with focus but I admit, even though I only weighed weekly at first I have in fact become somewhat obsessed with what I'll see tomorrow on the scale. And I just grumbled and rambled about my day-to-day scaling mere minutes ago in the Chat thread!

Much like JayEll, I just tell myself that in a year I can either be skinnier, the same weight, or heavier and that's all up to me.

For me, I really just have to take things one day at a time. If I had started out thinking about how long it was going to take me to lose all of my excess weight, I would have been very depressed and might have given up. You just have to remember that time passes quicker than you think.

Hang in there, the feeling will pass. And, I'm one of those annoying "this is a journey" people (see my avatar for confirmation).

I gotta tell you - I felt like I was a snail, and I compared myself to the tortoise on this journey.

But, Jay is spot on - stick with it, and once you reach goal it will not matter one iota how long it took you to get there.

It took me 53 weeks. Now, almost a year later - it makes no difference WHEN I hit my goal - only that I stuck with my plan and continued my journey until I did.

Great thread title, b.c that's what's going on in my head right now...

Slow and steady... but sometimes it just takes SO MUCH EFFORT!!! Argh. Just have to shut my eyes, keep doing what I know I gotta do.

I like the idea of rewarding yourself for number of days On Plan. That makes sense.

Wow, I love that quote. It's perfect, not only for weight loss, but for live itself. Thanks for sharing that.