I was lucky enough to have two doctor's appointments this week - my three month follow up with my local bariatric doctor and my PCP.

I lamented to my bariatric doctor about my stall. How I haven't lost anything in the past 18 days. I was kind of whiney about it. She just looked at me like I grew a 2nd head. She said, "You're going great. You've lost a total of 50 pounds. What was your expectation?"

I got to thinking about that - really, what number was going to make me happy? If it was 53 pounds would I automatically to over the happy side? What about 63 pounds, is that the magic number?

She pointed out all the good things going on - lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, my ability to walk seemingly forever pain-free, my increased energy level, etc. All good stuff, right? So why am I so hard on myself about the number on the scale. She asked how often I'm weighing - I'm back to weighing every day. She told me to stop that, but I weighed again today.

The best thing she said about my weight was this - "If you graph your weight loss, the line won't be linear, it's going to be more of stair step." And you know, she's right. I graphed my weight loss to date and it looks like stair steps.

This morning I went to my PCP whom I haven't seen since late-October, about 2 weeks before surgery. Her jaw dropped when she saw me. She cannot believe the difference in my appearance. Then we started going over the labs and she was amazed. She actually said "You are glowing! You look happy. Your eyes are clear and bright. The transformation is amazing."

Sometimes we get so hard on ourselves because we're not losing a the rate in which we think we should. "I'm a slow loser!" "So-and-so is losing so much faster than me!" We need to STOP! This is marathon, not a sprint. I didn't get to 256 pounds overnight, I'm certainly not going to lose it overnight.

Sometimes it's good to step back and look at things from a different angle.

I'm under 4 months myself and your right about the stairs analogy. Yes same as you now I'm off the bp meds and the diabetic meds too. My health has exponentialy gotten better as well. This is a bio physical social behavioral as well as spiritual voyage.

You are so right! But, damn, it's hard when you're in the middle of a stall!

As I am right now. I think I have lost the same 3 lbs. 3 times this month, so far.

Phew! I needed this! Thanks for the wisdom.