How much weight you REALLY LOST!!!!!

 

Some of us (me include) believe scales should be used only for fish or piano ... However, many others like to weight themselves regularly. They feel it helps keep them on track.

 

Many compare their lost to someone else’s, and get discouraged. The amount of weight lost is affected by many factors. Everyone loses weight at different rates. It has to do with age, gender, one’s weight, exercise, etc.. A 10 pound lost to one person could be as affected as a 40 pound lost to another. Think of it this way: If a 400-pound person loses 40 pounds; a 300-pound person loses 30 pounds, a 200-pound person loses 20 pounds, and a 100-pound person loses 10 pounds – the 400-pound person didn’t necessarily lose more weight than the others. All three lost 10% of their body weight.

 

With that in mind, I found a very good site that will calculate the PERCENTAGE of weight loss.

It's http://www.fi****ch.com/qkcalc/calculate-weight-loss-percent age.html

 

So before you get blue because Person A lost X pounds, and you've lost Y pounds, try to find out where they started from. You may be surprised to see you results are just as good, if not better.

 

Some other things to ponder:

 

Sometimes it is not the number of pounds that someone loses in a specified period of time that is important. Remember, if you are toning up muscle – your weight loss may seem to have slowed (or stopped), when in fact you are replacing fat with muscle. Muscle is heavier then fat. Someone weighing 200 pounds with a body fat percentage of 25 is carrying around 50 pounds of extra fat. That same person weighing 200 pounds with 10 percent body fat would be carrying only 20 pounds of fat. So it’s not the number that is important.

 

Remember there are other “scales" you can use to monitor your success: your constant hunger reduction (eliminated); reduced clothing size; increase energy; re-familiarizing yourself to body-parts unseen for years (errr… toes) ; “common" activity becoming easier (walking, climbing steps), just feeling good about yourself; sleeping better (reduced snoring); the mirror; better medical exam results (lower cholesterol and/or blood pressure); etc.

                    

Finally, we are a generation of instantaneous results, however remember we didn’t put all the weight on at once, it took years. So don’t you think losing it would take just as long? This isn't one of those miracle instantaneous weight loss programs. Those types of programs always fail. This is a way of life. Plus in all my years of losing weight I’ve come too realized with instantaneous weight lost comes instantaneous weight gain.

 

Nowhere does any of the literature state you will lose x amount of weight in x days. Think LONG TERM. That’s what I am doing. My outlook is  “Slow and steady wins the race".  Even if it take me over 5 years to lose all the weight I want to, I know in the long run I will be happy and healthier. My doctor firmly believes the slower you lose weight, the better chance you have of keeping it off. My doctor reminded me that each pound I gained took time to put on, and it’s going to take some time to lose those same pounds. Try to remind yourself that even if I lost only 1 pound per week, in year’s time I’d be 52 pounds lighter.

 

Be proud of your lost. No matter how small it may seem. Remember, it’s better to lose not a pound than to GAIN a single pound.

 

 Thank you for this Tom.   No matter what WLS you had this is VERY GOOD ADVICE to follow.

Hugs and blessings ~~~ Vivian

Thank you for the reminder, Tom. I was discouraged this week when I went for a weigh in. I had not been there for 6 weeks. I GAINED 4 pounds! I had to be reminded of the things I had forgotten, took for granted, etc. (such as NOT drinking the extra milk at the bottom of the cereal bowl when the cereal is gone-it is extra calories, such as REMEMBERING to measure and NOT counting on what the amount LOOKS like)...Hopefully at my next visit I will again lose like I had in every other visit so far. And I am going back to every 4 weeks for awhile...Thanks again for the reminder and the encouragement!