Question:
Up to now, wt loss has been relatively easy,but now it has slowed and I have come to

realize that there are four realities that I must get into my head. In order to realize my dreams and goals I must 1.exercise daily 2. use a food log daily to count calories, carbs, proteins, fats. 3. drink my water 4. Take my vitamins and supplements daily. In other words,use the tool that I have been given. I know these things are all pretty basic and I did KNOW it before but until now, didn't really apply. Anybody have any other insights that would help me to lose faster? My mind is trying to defeat me! I keep thinking that this is temporary and I will be the one to fail. This is harder than anything else to overcome. I have to remind myself that my insides have been changed permanently and this is not like the yo-yo diets I have been on before. Has this happened to anyone else? Help! Any advice/support is appreciated! I cannot let my past failures affect me now. I, and a lot of you, have been through too much to let this happen. Grazing and eating sweets is such a habit to change. I am going to be a slow loser but I can't let my old habits back in. I am 5 mos post op and lost 57 lbs. I carried this wt for twenty years and it isn't going to come off very easily...my reality check. This site is my lifeline!!!    — Marilyn C. (posted on April 28, 2001)

April 28, 2001
First of all congratulations on losing 57 pounds! Can you think of any other weight loss plan that allowed you to lose over 10 pounds per month for 5 months? I'd bet not or you would have done that instead of surgery. I know I would have. I had my surgery (open rny) on 6/23/00 and am coming up on my one year anniversary. I am a frequent user of this site and was sometimes discouraged by the huge & fast weight losses posted by others. BUT I have plodded along at my turtles pace and here I am down 100 pounds, feeling great, no bad skin, no hair loss, and none of the many of the other problems reported. I do not dump from sugar and I can eat meat with no problem. I keep reminding myself that I had my stomach rewired but not my head, so I do struggle to adhere to the 4 points you listed. I try for all 4 each day but some days I fall short. The one piece of advice I have is each day look at that list of 4 things and realizes that there is really no excuse for not checking 2 of them off. Not taking your vitamins and drinking your water is simply not an option, so do those early in the day. See if you can find a friend to exercise with but even if you have to do it alone...GO! I get these 3 items accomplished EVERY DAY. Now Item 4 for me is eating properly (not snacking on "bad" foods) but as I did the other 3 items I am still coming out ahead in the weight race. So pick your battles and don't beat up on yourself (unless that is the form of exercise for the day).
   — Andrea P.