Stages of the Weight Loss Journey

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Many of us have been on this journey many,

many times for many, many years. I think all of us will nod our

heads in agreement with this chart, posted in a message to 3 Fat

Chicks message forums, by a gal named "ubergirl" called:

Stages of the Weight Loss Journey

1. Self-doubt: This is when you don't really believe you

can succeed because you never have before. I fell off in this

stage millions of times over the course of twenty years. I would

lose ten or fifteen pounds, then get off track, then stop, then

gain it back. After a while it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2. Mastery: This is after you lose maybe forty or fifty

pounds-- more than you ever dreamed possible. You start to think

you've got the hang of it. It seems almost effortless. You wonder

why you never did this before.

3. Super-confidence: You've been on a roll for months and

months now. You feel like an expert. You are one hundred per cent

positive you will NEVER go back. You follow your plan like a

champ. You never slip up. You feel like a weight loss goddess.

4. RELAPSE: I think most of us long-termers slip up. A lot

of people cope with it pretty well. Some really don't and end up

with a big regain.

5. The Long Haul: This is where I am now. This is when you

start to realize that your food issues will probably never go

away, and that you probably will slip up from time to time, but

you are going to have to learn that life at a lower weight is made

up of good days and bad days and that NOBODY IS PERFECT.

The weight loss journey is full of highs and lows that have

nothing to do with weight.

Talk about a way to really and truly get to know yourself. This is

it!

http://www.3fatchicks.com/forum/100-lb-club/232889-stages-weight-loss-journey.html

I've been through

stages 1 so many times I can't count them any more. Stage 2 I hit

a couple of times in the past 40 years but I can count them all on

one hand. Stage 3 - maybe not. I've always had to "white knuckle"

it once I hit stage 2 and take it one day, sometimes one hour at a

time. And stage 4 has been hit each and every time. Sometimes the

gain is merely 20 pounds, but more than once it was close to 50

pounds regained. Hopefully one day before I die I'll finally reach

stage 5.

Sue in NJ