I came to a revelation today. I weigh daily and, for the past eight days or so, I've had a nasty half pound just taunting me, up, down, up, down... Today is my *official* weigh-in and the result was a net loss of a mere quarter pound since last Friday.

Since I stayed mostly on my program, I was disappointed. TOM and a bit more soduim over the past couple of days are probably the culprits, but still, it was disappointing.

My mini-goal was to have lost 15 pounds by next Wednesday, March 8. I think it's fairly safe to say I'm not going to make it, since it's still nearly 3 pounds away.

And that's when it hit me. It's not the goal that's the problem, it's the deadline!

There are a lot of things in weight management I can control. I can control what goes in my mouth. I can control how much I move and with what intensity. But I can't control at what rate my body decides to release the pounds. I can wish. I can hope. But I can't actually control it (unless I take a knife and start slicing parts off, but that would hurt way more than my current program ).

Anyway, I noticed that instead of celebrating the fact that I've already lost nearly 13 pounds (), instead of congratulating myself for working diligently on my program of eating and moving (), instead of being proud of myself for adopting a totally new attitude () and finding this absolutely marvelous 3FC community (thanks, everyone, you're all aces! ), I was upset with myself because I've probably blown any chance of meeting some silly deadline. It's self-imposed stress and totally not worth it.

That's just not right.

So, from here on, I'll set goals and work diligently to hit them. When I hit them (and I will hit them, I know I will), I will celebrate that victory, whenever it occurs.

How liberating!!!!


(now I need to go update my little ticker )

Lena! Revelation, indeed! I'm so glad you've turned your thinking around, sweetie... that is HUGE! And so is that 13 pounds!!
Thanks for your inspiring post, hon... keep it up!

I like deadlines because it keeps me focused on an end goal, but like you I sometimes let that pressure overshadow my great accomplishments. So as long as it is movement in the right direction we should be SO proud of ourselves and remember that all things are possible, it may just take a bit more time. I like this thread though, good for perspective.

yay! for celebrating your accomplishments and yay! for not letting 3 measly pounds overshadow the 13 you lost!

I totally agree that deadlines can seriously mess with our heads sometimes. Sure, if our bodies reacted like clockwork, it would be easy to know when the pounds will be lost, but they don't. I keep reaching for that 2 pound a week loss but it has so far eluded me. lol Time flies by anyway...whether we do something or not, so might as well do something good for ourselves and eventually, all those little losses here and there add up!

Living healthy is where it's at That in itself is a victory. You are so right about not needing the extra stress of seeing a deadline loom over the horizon. Down with deadlines! Plus, research shows that stress apparently adds fat to our waists!

Keep up the hard work and great attitude! You are a inspiration for everyone out there.

Bravo, Lena! You said it so well, and it is so the truth! Start setting goals for more of the things that are under your control -- exercise and eating well -- the weight loss will result, in its own time.

Lena, thanks for sharing. I do that too, goals without deadlines. Like, I am working on a ten pound down challenge and the goal is just to get ten pounds off. No date, just ten pounds.

Deadlines do create a lot of anxiety and disappointment for me. In addition to the ten pound down no-deadline challenge, I also have a deadline as well. Does that counteract each other? I am going to England on June 14, and have set a deadline to be 170 by then. I know I will be totally bummed if I don't make it. England is my reward for sticking to the weight loss thing for 1 year, and I chose 170 lbs. because it was my original long-term goal.

So I guess in a roundabout way I am saying that I agree with you, although I still have trouble not doing it

Take care, Alicia