I can't be the only one that feels this way. However much weight you have carried, whether it's 20 pounds or 200 and for how long you've carried it, whether its a few months or decades (like me). Once I start eating better and moving I just want the weight GONE!!! Nevermind it took years to pile on the weight, once I start a plan I wish I could wake up and *poof* I'm thin!!
Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. I'm just super psyched to get under 300! whoot whoot!

Megan,

I totally know how you feel. Today I was getting mad because I've only lost around 8 pounds since the 6th of February. Then I began thinking to myself... that's already about 15% of the weight you want to be gone! I need to learn to be more patient with my body... it's trying to recover from all the bad food I put in it! LOL

I am terribly impatient and just want it to drop quickly without much work, lol. Realizing that is impossible takes some getting used to. I have posted this quite a few times, but my mental motivation is to acknowledge that the time is going to pass either way and I can either slowly improve myself as it ticks away or I can come out on the other end with no change.

I was just thinking about this! I'm so ready to be at my goal... instead of slowing down, enjoying the process and enjoying my life while I'm at wherever I'm at. I've been slowly plugging away and losing the weight, not quickly but steadily, and it's so hard to keep on track sometimes! Or the thinking "if I cut back more, if I worked out more, I could lose weight so much more quickly"... but I've tried that before, and eventually quit - so I know it's better to stick with gradual, permanent changes. But still, so hard to be patient.

I wish it was that simple too. Sometimes I feel bad, because I have a relatively little amount of weight to lose compared to others, but it still takes so very long and a lot of hard work, not to mention the mental shifts we go through

Oh well - by doing it slowy, we're really changing our attitudes and learning how to stay fit forever!

Megan! WOOT! WOOT! I am excited for you too!

One thing that helped me was start loving myself along the way. I began to treat myself like a queen and quit expecting others to! I started spending oodles of time on rubbing lotion into my body after my bath--making sure my makeup was just so and straightening my hair--. It helped pass the time but it was total motivation to continue!

Oh yeah, I'd like it to go faster. The thing for me is that I put in all this work and I might lose two pounds this week. But I could put just as much energy into EATING and probably gain 15 pounds in the same time. Too bad it's that easy to gain and that hard to lose. Wouldn't it be cool if it was the other way around?

I always wanted to go to bed fat and wake up thin.....just doesn't work that way....sigh.

I used to feel like that, but I think a key part of my better-health journey has been to become patient with the process. I'm nearly at two years of working on this stuff, and I've lost a lot of weight, but not all the weight I want to lose; nor am I as healthy and fixed-up as I want to be, yet. But along the way there have been some significant struggles in my personal life (most notably my mom's diagnosis with pancreatic cancer), and I am OK with taking it slow, now.

"Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans," to quote John Lennon. I've spent too much time in my life already making plans, and too little time living and enjoying it. I'd rather live and enjoy it now, rather than obsessing about what it will be like in the mythical someday "when I lose weight," "when I have money," "when I..." Now is when.

Ha. My impetus to start losing weight was my and my husband's decision to try to have a baby. I'm 33. So the "impatient to lose weight" feelings are all mixed up with the "biological clock is ticking" feelings: my body Wants Baby Now but we have to do IVF so we can't even try until I lose quite a bit more (and we save up quite a bit more money). So yes, I am impatient!

On the other hand, when I want to eat, I think about holding a sleeping baby on my chest while I watch TV, and somehow the cheeseburger never sounds as good as that.

I think what bothers me the most is that it was and is so easy to put on, but lately, I'm feeling like it's impossible to take off!

Oh yeah, wouldn't we all?! Seeing the quote "A year from now you'll be glad you started today" was huge for me. It put into perspective that this would take a year. A whole year and yet only a year! That was immensely profound to me. I wasn't going to work for a month and find myself at goal. I wasn't going to work for six months and give up. One year. That's how long it will take. Perhaps longer. But I am in this for one year.

It takes the impatience down just a notch.

After being obese, morbidly obese and mostly super morbidly obese for over 2 decades, when I finally woke up and realized that I didn't have to be fat if I didn't want to and DECIDED to lose the weight - yeah, I wanted it off - yesterday.

I used that *impatience* to my benefit. I stayed on plan for months on end, including birthdays, holidays, social gatherings, stress and what not.

BUT - needing to lose 165 lbs, it still did take quite some time.

I remember VERY often hoping and wishing to wake up thin, but had that actually happened - it would have been for naught. I would have woken up thin, and then turned around and put each and every pound (& probably then some) right back on. The reason? - I wouldn't have had a clue what to do with my slim self. I wouldn't know how to STAY thin.

The time spent losing weight is very valuable. It was time to nail down my plan, tweak it and customize and make it mine. It was time to find foods that I LOVE. It was time to find what works for me - and what doesn't. It was time to get my planning down pat. It was time to get wonderful healthy habits in place. It was time to find coping skills and strategies to get me through all situations. It was time to incorporate exercise and activity into my life. It was time spent making these healthy habits just that - habits - and automatic.

It was time to LEARN how to stay slim - forever. Besides, I loved every minute of the losing portion of my journey - it was a thrillng, thrilling time in my life. It was a time of personal growth and self discovery.

It was time very well spent.

Gosh, I'm going to have to 100% ditto what Robin said. I feel the exact same way, she just said it better than I could.

You are not alone. I feel that way everyday I wake up. Darn! It's still all there! The Fat Fairy didn't come during the night.

I agree with everyone, but esp. JustSharing83 - time will tick by whether or not we do anything to help ourselves so we might as well help ourselves. I'll have to remember that when my 3 PM cravings kick in...