Things Everyone Should Consider Prior To Trying To Lose Weight: Don’t Count On Instant Gratification

I see so many people give up on their weight loss journeys just because they don’t see immediate results. In the world we live in, this is clearly no surprise. We have everything at our fingertips: the Internet, drive-thru restaurants, drive-thru banks, delivery drivers, etc. Everyone expects everything as soon as they demand it. This isn’t the case, especially with weight loss.

I can remember starting my weight loss journey and thinking in my head, “how the heck am I going to do this?! I have 72 pounds to lose before I’m at the weight I was before I started gaining.” I was overwhelmed to say the least. I set my SparkPeople ticker for 125 pounds (which was less than my final goal is now) and even though I was losing a decent amount of weight every week…it was going down SO slowly.

To help decrease how overwhelmed it made me feel, I decided to set my first weight loss goal at 10% of my overall weight (19.7 pounds). I didn’t know this at the time, but they say that the first 10% of weight loss is not only an obtainable goal but also has the most health benefits. So I reset my goal weight on my ticker to 177.3 pounds. When I made my goal, I set it to get out of the obese category (168.9). After that, it was 10% of that weight. That comes to my next goal, which is to weigh 152 pounds. I’m 3.6 pounds away from that goal right now. After that, it will be to get out of the overweight category (139.9 at my height of 5’ 3’’). My goal is somewhere in between 130 and 135, so at that time I will re-evaluate and decide how much more I want to lose. All these goals are obtainable and are never TOO far away. Plus, it makes dealing with wanting that instant fix a little easier.

You need to keep in mind that it’s the people who see past instant gratification that are successful in their weight loss journeys. I had to lose a good 25 pounds before anyone outside of my family started making comments about my weight loss. While the comments are nice because you work so hard to get where you are at, that shouldn’t be the only thing keeping you going on this journey. Some people just aren’t going to say anything or notice at all. Don’t let that get you down because (trust me) YOU’LL notice. So who cares if others don’t right away?

This is why creating a list of why you want to be healthy is so important…this list includes things that don’t JUST have to do with weight loss. Things you’ll be able to appreciate even when the scale isn’t moving in your favor. Don’t rely on the fact that you’ll always be seeing results because more than likely you will not. BUT…if you keep that in mind and stick it through the hard times, you WILL be rewarded and eventually get what you had started to work for in the first place.