I've discovered a few things recently that have put things into perspective for me.

One of them is that often the most successful weight loss journeys happen slowly. I have a good friend from college who lost over 200 lbs in the last few years. I asked her how she did it. She said that the two things that helped her the most was choosing to lose the weight slowly and finding a sport she loved. Which makes sense because it's easier to keep active when you're having fun rather than just spending a lot of time at the gym.

The other I've learned from looking at before and after photos. They're my guilty inspirational go to. I've found that when I look at the dates on a lot of them, the most successful drops came over the span of a year or more. I guess that makes a lot of sense. The longer you take, the more time you have to adjust to your new lifestyle. I've always been the impatient crash dieter. I set extremely high goals and work towards them. In the past I could lose up to 40 lbs in the span of 3-4 months. But then I would get burned out and gain all the weight and often more back. We're programmed to think it's possible to attain these super high goals often because of all the weight loss TV shows. Just look into where a lot of the Biggest Loser contestants are now. A lot have gained the weight back. It's just not sustainable.

The plan my friend suggested is to try and lose around 50 lbs in a year. It almost feels harder for me to lose weight that slowly. I want to be skinny now! So what I did was make a graph. This is what is helping me to put things into perspective. I'll post the link to it before I even start explaining it. Otherwise I think it would get too confusing.

Weight loss graph

My main goal is to reach 150 lbs. That means I'm planning to lose 65 lbs in about a year. The graph begins with my start weight and week 1. It then ends at 52 weeks with my goal weight. The straight line is just a guideline. Weight loss is definitely not linear like that so it's just a way to help me visualize whether I'm on track or not.

The blue lines are BMI milestones. For example at 185 lbs I will go from "obese" to "overweight." The lighter blue lines show approximately the time I'll ideally reach those goals. So for this example I'm aiming for around mid-July.

Each week I track my weight. I've been on a plateau for the last 2 weeks and it's been super frustrating. But when I look at this graph it shows that I'm still on track and that it's okay.

If anyone wants help setting up a graph like this I can help.

Being patient is definitely the hardest part. When I was bigger, the weight fell off more quickly because changes to my diet or exercise had a bigger effect on a bigger me. Lately, I'm lucky to lose 1 lb in 2 weeks. It feels like a lot of work I'm putting in to lose a couple pounds a month. But I just have to tell myself that it's working, even if slowly.

Good luck on your own weight loss journey!

I am also guilty of being a SUPER impatient dieter. My impatience stems from disordered thinking. I had an eating disorder when I was younger and that kind of thinking stays with you forever...or it has for me, at least. My "disorder brain" tells me that if I don't see significant weight loss each week (even each day, if I'm relapsing or really struggling) then I am a failure with no value. Seeing posts like this remind me that my disorder brain is lying to me, and my weight doesn't impact my value as a human being and that patience is really the key to success and health! So, thank you!

Patience is everything.

Everything.

It's a very good thing that you are starting to think about the importance of being patient with your weight loss process. It took me 3 years to lose 120 pounds and let me tell you I am NOT a patient person. I learned so much about patience in this process.

I cringe when I hear people refer to 50 lbs or 65 lbs in a year as "slow" weight loss. If you are still thinking of this is as slow weight loss, ask yourself this: What if you put on 65 pounds in a year?

Would you consider that slow weight gain? I'm going to bet you wouldn't. So try not to think of 65 pounds in a year as slow weight loss. It ain't.

Patience is everything. You will have to be patient because days crawl by. But months zip by, have you ever noticed that? A year from today might feel like an eternity but a year ago feels like yesterday. So you will get there before you know it.

And you will have to be patient when the scale doesn't march cooperatively downward day after day or week after week. Our bodies are highly nonlinear machines, and how much we weigh on any particular day depends upon far, far more variables than we have control over. Sometimes you will be flawlessly on plan for a week and still see a gain for that week. Other times you will see a whoosh loss and then hold steady for a week or two. You will have to be patient and remind yourself that the relevant question is not "do I weigh less than yesterday" or "do I weigh less than a week or two ago," but "do I weigh less than a month or two ago?"

That was a great point!

I am the same way. I've been in recovery for about 7 years now and it's extremely hard to take it slow.

I see your point. But in my mind it's a compromise. I gained nearly 75 pounds in the last year due to a combination of medications and mental illness. I'm off of those medications now. I'm also in recovery from EDNOS so to me this is excruciatingly slow as it is. I know that I'm capable of losing that weight in 6 months or less. And at that point I'd be lucky to gain it back because the alternative would be mind forcing me to keep going.