(photo courtesy of 7th Decade Redhead)
There is a point during this whole weight loss process that the routine gets old. We measure food, we feel like we’ve given up every food we love. we’ve been at it for maybe one to two months and lost maybe seven to fifteen pounds. We’ve been really diligent about eating and exercising, and yet our goal weight seems like an elusive number we will never attain.
We might be hyper-focused at this point, scrutinizing our every action with respect to our weight loss. We think about what we’ve done and maybe consider “could I do more?”
Weight loss information in the form of video clips and reels are popping up with a vengeance on our social media fees because our devices know we are dieting and so does the digital world, unless you are using a paper and pen to log your food and track your progress.
We see something that catches our eye and decide to click on it. It’s a very fit man or woman (take your pick) with this amazing (and unverifiable) weight loss achievement in a short period of time. Ironically, this great achievement is solely because they did something we’re not doing. Doubt sets in and we ask ourselves if there might be an easier way.
As we listen (we shouldn't but we do), we have that gut feeling that maybe we haven’t lost enough weight yet. Maybe we aren't losing quickly enough. Maybe we could lose it faster. We may be discouraged because our goal weight is a speck on the horizon. Even though we're not as hungry as we were those first few weeks, we are tired of having to stick to this regime and bored with eating the same food over and over again. This may be the fork in the road where we might decide the results so far are not enough of a reward.
Sound familiar? Please understand that feeling this way is temporary and it will pass. I do not have a magic solution. When we get to this place, because I feel like most of us doing this type of diet end up here at some point, we have to simply ignore those feelings of self-doubt and power through them, believing in both our minds and hearts that it is worth it. The reward is that you will continue to drop weight, move easier, feel better, and you will be able to get to a point where you really see results that prove this is working for you.
If you are not experiencing this, then good for you! Keep up this attitude and do not get discouraged with your progress.
As for your thousands of weight loss buddies online, they are selling something. Whether it’s themselves as influencers or a product or a service, they are salespeople. They will insist you are not eating enough calories. I know, because I’ve argued with some of them.
However, there are just as many people doing the same thing you are, as not, and they will encourage you to keep going.
As for those who are not calorie deficit diet fans, it’s their job to make you believe that what you are doing is wrong, unhealthy and damaging to your body and that you need to do or buy whatever it is they have ‘sell’ you. They will try to make you believe that what you are doing will never work or that you will gain it all back. There will be many, many people who comment on their video pitch who ‘bought’ their solution and lost more weight than you can imagine. All unverifiable. Be skeptical.
Another possibility is that maybe you have a weight loss buddy, which can be a good thing and a not so good thing at times. Having a weight loss buddy can be a wonderful support system when you get discouraged, but it can also lead to comparison and competitiveness.
One of my husband’s favorite tidbits of wisdom is “comparison is the thief of joy.” Your body is uniquely yours. No one knows you better than you. There is no comparison with anyone else because your body functions differently than another person’s body. So, stop comparing your progress with other people’s progress. By doing this you steal your own joy over your accomplishments.
I think I mentioned that my sister decided to join me on my weight loss journey this summer. I was about three months into this diet when we arrived at our summer campsite, which is next door to her home. She announced she was going to lose ten to fifteen pounds. We decided to walk together to exercise. She was working part time, and I was not, so there were days I walked by myself. On the days we walked together, by the end of the three miles she was way ahead of me, because she walked faster.
I like listening to music when I walk. I also walk to the beat of the music at a pace that I enjoy. She wanted to walk faster. I stopped trying to keep up and I found that her being ahead of me and me following her really stole my joy of walking. It felt like a chore. I was constantly comparing my walking speed to hers, which meant I wasn’t walking fast enough, in my own mind. I let her steal my joy of walking. Don’t do this…
Is it possible that a calorie deficit diet is not working for you? Yes, it is possible. But, before you decide it’s not working, be brutally (and I mean BRUTALLY) honest with yourself about how you worked it.
Were you honest with your food intake and calorie counting? Were there foods and beverages that you chose not to log in your food app? Did you have a lot of high calorie days? Did you exercise? There is a big difference between the plan not working for you properly and you not working the plan properly.
If you are diligently eating the proper number of daily calories for the amount of weight you want to lose weekly and not losing weight, please check in with a medical professional to see if they can help shed light on why this weight loss plan isn’t working for you. You may have a medical condition that needs attention, or you may need to make changes in how you are doing the diet.
One year ago, when we at our summer campsite, I decided to take my 235-pound body for a walk down the hill to the dead end of our road. The walk there and back was just under two miles. I chose this direction because it was less hilly and less steep than the other direction. The first few times I walked, I had to stop several times on the uphill to catch my breath. By the end of that summer, I was able to do that almost 2-mile walk, without stopping but breathing very hard.
This year, at the beginning of our camping season I had lost about 30 pounds. I started walking and not only could I do that walk easily, I could also walk in the other direction that has steeper hills, and I could walk three miles without needing to stop and I wasn’t breathing so hard that I couldn't catch my breath. The photo above shows the 'big hill' on that walk.
It did not seem like 30 pounds had made a big difference in my life, at first, but this walking accomplishment really surprised me. My husband was really not impressed by the fact that I could handle that walk. He shrugged and said: “I keep telling you that you are stronger than you think.”
Guess what? YOU ARE TOO!
I know it feels like you are standing at the bottom of a big hill, trying to get to the top, and thinking, I don’t think I can make it up that hill. Or maybe you are saying to yourself: "it’s going to take too long to get there." Trust me, you can hit your goal. Look at every accomplishment as great progress! Anything you can do more easily now than you could before is great progress!
Do not let your impatience, your need for instant gratification, and the voices other people who don’t matter, talk you out of all the progress you’ve made so far. Because you have made progress. Fact: weight loss takes time. Don’t let your negative feelings in the moment control your way forward. You have a plan. That works. Stick to it. You are much stronger than you think!
If you are thinking about starting a calorie deficit diet or want more information about how I lost 60 plus pounds the year I turned 60-years old, here is a link to a post to get you started:
