Hey fellow calorie counters. I have been so caught up in trying to lose weight fast that I have been beating myself up. I work four shifts per week at work and they are 16 hour shifts. I usually go to the gym 4-5 times per week and eat about 1500 calories a day... in other words, my deficit is normally 800-1000 calories per day.

This week, I have just been exhausted. I still exercised 4 times this week but it didn't seem like I worked as hard. I had one day where I went above my 1500 calories. I made myself feel so bad about this.

But I have just realized that one bad day is not going to mess up all of the progress I have made. Even if my exercise is not as vigorous as normal... I am still creating a calorie deficit and that is what is important. I will get where I want to be eventually- and that is what I am focusing on from now on.

Just some thoughts before I go to bed

You are so right! There are times when I feel like you do and beat myself up so badly that I throw in the towel completely for weeks or months. It's stupid, really! Every day that I slack off and maintain is better than a month of saying 'screw it'! KWIM? I hate the things we do to ourselves.

Even if I 'slacked off' and lost a lb. a week for the next year I'll meet my goal eventually. Giving up and gaining weight instead is stupid...

It's definitely something to think about! It has to be a lifestyle change. It's a process!

I've lost five pounds per month since I started, and yes at times it's not very exciting.

That's ok because my real goal is to permanently change my relationship to food, retool how I shop, cook, eat out, my emotional relationship to portion sizes, breaking addictions, etc. I don't think that can be done quickly, if you expect the results to last.

I'm only 6 months into what I expect to be an 18 month journey. I've been checking out the maintainers board quite a bit, because that's where the real success is!

Great thoughts to be having.

Thanks for posting them and reminding me to think them, too.

ditto to all of this!

Whether it takes a year or two or even three, I'm moving forward to a more fit and healthy body and lifestyle. What the scale and the labels on my clothing say are really secondary to that - I'm doing what I'm doing and I'm not going anywhere, and the weight will come off when it comes off.

It's been a lot easier for me to focus on the things I can control - eating on plan, drinking lots of water and getting my activity in, and progressively increasing the duration and intensity on that. Letting go of the desire to control the scale isn't easy, and I'm still working on that, but it's been easier to try to focus on the rest of it when I'm not focused on that.