I have NEVER been able to force myself to get serious about dieting until now. Somehow I maintained 185-ish for about 3 years, and I honestly don't know how I wasn't gaining anything since I had terrible eating habits and didn't exercise. However, in just the last 3-4 weeks I have developed a plan that's working for me and that I'm having a fairly easy time sticking to. I came down from 183-175 in 3 weeks. That's huge for me. I've been averaging about 1.8lbs/week.

My goal is 145, possibly even lower. It just seems so far away. I'm not a patient person, and I think the reason I've put off dieting for so long is because I'm overwhelmed by how long it will be before I start seeing results. I want immediate results which is, of course, hugely unrealistic. If I keep my weight loss rate up, then it should be just 5 or 6 months by the time I reach my goal.

My fiance is an Army officer in Iraq, and to keep myself busy while he's gone, I've gotten serious about the weight loss. He's been gone for 2 months, he has 10 months left. That means I have 10 months to reach my goal, and I'm determined. It just seems like a long ways away.

Does anybody have this impatience problem? I am not having a hard time forcing myself to exercise or to eat well, I have a hard time thinking about how long it will be before I start to see results.

1.8 pounds a week! I'm losing 100 GRAMS a week. Which is like, less than a quarter of a pound a week. And thats a good week! 10 months seems like a long time now, but its really not- maybe it would help to have some fitness related goals, things you can see a difference in quickly, to keep you interested. Have some small goals to reach to break the loss up a bit. And mostly try not to think about the long term goal

Well you've already seen results on the scale, and that's what i find is the best motivation for starting out. You've been losing almost 2 pounds a week, and that is fantastic! Considering relative to a lot of people your starting weight is pretty low, that type of loss is awesome.

The 10 months will go by quickly, and wouldn't you rather have lost weight than have put some on in that time. You can definitely reach your goal by that time. And, you will have some leeway, because your goal date is so far a away. Weightloss isn't linear, so the best method is to just keep at it. Even if you don't lose one week, just think about how good it will feel when you lose the week after.

When i think about how much weight i have lost in the past 6 months (about 30 pounds), i can't believe how quickly the time went. Also, when i think about the alternative of not having lost the weight all the effort was undoubtedly worth it. Sometimes it's hard, and you have an off day but JUST KEEP GOING. Because you CAN do it!

You can totally loose 1 - 2 pounds a week. However, you will have good weeks and bad. Some weeks you'll loose 4 pounds, sometimes half a pound, sometimes nothing, even though you've been sticking with the plan. You can't get down on yourself because of it, you just have to stick with it until you reach goal. Word to wise however, I have tried to loose weight by thinking about long term goals in the past. For example - I'll say I'm going to loose 70 lbs. Which sounds great but is overwhelming. I can't loose 70 pounds... but I can loose 10 pounds 7 times, or 5 pounds 14 times. That was you reach little goals along the way and you don't feel discouraged. Hope you find this helpful.

This is my major issue right now. I know I'm eating better and throwing myself into a healthy lifestyle full force. But to everyone else, I'm still just fat. I'm dying for the rest of the world to see how good I am and for my body to mirror that hard work.

That being said, i think mini-goals are a good idea. Not to mention fitness goals. With decent rewards that are visual reminders. So if you lose 20 pounds, you get your hair cut and colored. Thats a major visual, outward change that you can see every day...and its tied to your weight goals too.

I'm really impatient too, but I'm trying to think that I if just focus on losing this excess weight at lightning speed it would probably mean that I would not learn how to have a healthy sustainable eating and exercising lifestyle. I'm really keen to lose as much as possible before my friend comes to visit me on Jan 10, because she hasn't seen me for years and when I last saw her I weighed around 140. And what makes this weird is I know for a fact she doesn't care what weight I am as long as I'm happy.

Thanks for the great replies everyone! This is my first time on a weight loss forum, and it's great to know other people are going through the same thing I am.

I'm definitely breaking it up into mini goals. My first mini goal is 160, because that would put me at a healthy BMI weight. I don't think I've ever been at a healthy BMI weight, so that will be a big deal for me. That was originally my only goal, but I've been so impressed with myself already that I figured I could go further.

I'm about to take some before pictures....I can't wait to compare them with some afters

Before pics are a very good thing to have. I really wish I had some more. I know how you feel about getting impatient. Sometimes I'm just so ready to lose and it feels like its taking forever and I think "why bother?". Then I remember, I didn't get to this size overnight and it won't go away over night. Plus, slower lost will stay gone longer.