Taking Time to Lose – Weight Loss and Patience

Imagine with me for a second, if you will…

“The bright sunshine blinds your eyes, you can feel its undeniable radiant warmth on your face, a light fragrant breeze blows across it just enough to cool and soothe, but not enough to annoy or chill. As the world fades into focus, you look down… You’re awash in a yellow sea of poppyseeds. Their colorful brilliance is a stark contrast to your brown pant-legs. Nature in its original state brushing up against the human manipulated cotton of the pants, completely wrong and somehow perfect at the same time. Looking out at the blooming sea before you, several things immediately rush to your mind..

It reminded you of that scene from The Wizard of Oz you saw as a child – and simultaneously that episode of Seinfeld with Elaine’s drug test being thwarted by a poppyseed bagel. For a moment you chuckle, shaking your head at the inexplicable pop-culture snippets that have fused themselves together by the smallest threads in a attempt to create an unending tapestry of relevance. Man, you think, compared to the brain – Google indexing capabilities are seriously Mickey Mouse primitive. A smile slowly crosses your face as you survey the poppy waves rolling across the plain.

Suddenly, a loud buzzing sound comes from overhead, it repeats… louder and louder… the pulsating buzz creates an uncomfortable, almost crushing, pressure that brings a sense of dread with it… like a cross between a black-hole and an Apache helicopter… the whole world is closing in from above with each passing “Bzzzzzzz”, you try and close your eyes to block it out – and are suddenly jolted up in bed, breathing hard.

The buzz wins again. Ah, yes, the sound of modern alarm clock slavery.

Its another Monday morning, and time to get up for work aka “paycheck hell”. Like a suburban version of Dante’s Inferno – this is the eternal Monday that never seems to get any better, no matter how many times you re-live it. Your own personal Groundhog Day – having Bill Murray’s hairline without his sense of humor. “Rise and shine, campers!” Yeah. Rise and shine indeed.

Maybe we can find solace in this week afterall – as you stumble to the bathroom you slowly being to try piecing together your dream. Hmmm, something about Julia Louis Dreyfus and Bill Paxton’s Twister movie? Bah, who the hell knows knows – crazy ass dreams. “I shouldn’t have had that last Diet Coke at 11pm”, you think “That stuff’ll kill me one day”. Apparently today isn’t the day. Anyways, its morning ritual time – after a quick “nature calls” trip to unload some very unneeded bladder weight – you step on the scale and hold your breath…

“What?!? Only one pound lighter than last week! Ugggghh!” – Frustrated, angry (and only one pound lighter than last Monday), Monday morning begins. I pity the fool who crosses your path before you’ve had a liter of crappy coffee…“

Sound familiar at all?

I think one of the biggest stumbling blocks that we all face is the concept of time versus results. While a low-carb diet is probably one of the fastest and easiest ways to lose weight, eventually you will find yourself in the “steady loss” territory. I define “steady loss”, as, well… just that. A time when you are still LOSING weight – but no where near the speed at which you were during the first month or so. I’m talking a pound or two a week.

Note that this is technically NOT a plateau. I find that most people who actually DO plateau are people who have ramped their carb intake back up to a level where ketosis is no longer happening.

What can you do when you hit a your “steady loss” territory?

• Just try to have Patience

This sounds simple, right? Well, its not – as I’m sure most of you can attest to. There are weeks when the scale just doesn’t want to move, and while there are plenty of ways to explain this scale stubborness (muscle gain balances out fat loss, random water retention, etc) is still doesn’t bring comfort when we’re trying to “be good” and keep up our low-carb plan. My advice – just ignore it and try to remember that low-carb eating is a lifestyle choice and not a 2 week long miracle Sandra Bullock Diet. The road to being healthy, thin, and strong is a long-term commitment. As long as your in for the long-haul -don’t sweat the scale. It may think its won the battle today – but soon enough (probably sooner than you think) you’re going to be making that scale your bitch. Once you get to that point a funny thing happens… when you are happy and look GOOD your tune might change from “I hate the scale!” to “Scale? Fuck the scale.” Weight is just a three digit number – you reflection in the mirror is practically a novel. “If a picture is worth a thousand words…”

• Keep your motivation level up

How do we do that? Invest in your new life by trying something new. For me it was cardio boxing and strength training (which is slowly leaning to ‘real boxing’ but I digress). It gave me something to focus on that was secondary to the diet – but was still working toward the same goal. Maybe for your it would be some light jogging, or free-weights at home. Its developing new habits (much like stopping bread and sugar consumption) that will be a ‘two-pronged’ attack on your old toxic lifestlye.

• Stop Obsessing over the weight!

If you’re eating well, not losing as you’d like and getting frustated over it. Then stop checking it constantly! Put the scale away for awhile. If you follow the plan and don’t cheat – you will be in ketosis and you will be heading in a positive direction even IF it doesn’t show on the scale. Just like the “Patience” comment above – good things are silently happening, you just need to wait for the payoff.

Think of it like interest on a savings account. If you check your balance everyday, you aren’t going to be very happy. Even month by month.. the balance gains will seem small and pitiful. But eventually, with some waiting (and compound interest, also known as muscle gains) you’ll see the profits…

What was that Aesop’s Fable that we were taught as little kids? The Tortise and the Hare? “Slow and steady wins the race”… (maybe a modern version of that tale would have the rabbit get banned for illegal steroid abuse – but still, its the same overall moral)

Does anyone have any kick-ass methods to fighting the slow-scale blues?

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Question: How often do you weigh yourself?
2. Bariatric Surgery: Weight-Loss Miracle or just a Hardcore Dietary “Enforcement Tool”?
3. Basics 1: Easy, Quick, and Safe Weight Loss