The Importance of viewing the "Whole Picture"

[Matt Z 4,138]

We all have or will get frustrated with our weight loss.
We all have or will question if we are doing things the right way.

I'm not different.

I wanted to showcase why focusing on the short term isn't the best thing to do.

Here we have my 1 week weigh ins. I'm so super frustrated with this. I've got this goal I want to meet and it's getting tougher and tougher. 2.7 lbs is still a respectable drop. But, I see this line and it makes me sad.

Here is my month. 7.4 lbs. This isn't great at all. The downward trend is good, but the rate, really gets me frustrated.

Here is where things start looking much MUCH better. Here is my year in review. 85.2 lbs total. Here is where we can start seeing why it's so important to look at the whole journey and not just the small daily/weekly or even monthly numbers. I am proud and pleased when I see this chart.

And here is my full weight loss weigh in history. Here is where you can clearly see the struggles. You can see where I got the Lap-Band and started this whole process. You can see where the Band and I stopped working well together. You can see the gains and losses, all the super frustrating stalls. But what I really want people to take away from this is, the whole picture shows the real story. When we focus too much on the small things, we lose focus. When we don't take the whole journey into account, both past and future... we lose sight of our own successes.

I hope this helps someone to get through a stall or to realize that, it's never too late to start over.
Just keep moving forward and try your best not to worry about the small little blips when the whole history will show something much different.

Stay Strong.

[elcee 3,340]

So true. The scales don’t go down every week and even when they do the losses can be small. Remember how long it took to put the weight on - it’s not going to all come off overnight

[Wanda247 908]

@Matt Z Thanks for sharing your year WL chart, it's so true but very easy to reflect on the little things...Great food for thought and encouraging. I like the big picture

[insta_adventurer 1,046]

This is so true! I get frustrated, because I don’t think I’m losing as quickly as I should. However, then I remember to tell myself I am down 120lbs from my highest weight two years ago, and just had the surgery two and a half months ago.

Surely if I lost the first 80 on my own (through exercise and trying and failing to fix my diet), I can losing the remaining 90 with my new tool!

I’ve rethought my goals. I’m just tackling this 10lbs at a time. I’m currently 260.4 and trying to hit 259.9.. and then I’ll work on getting to 249.9 and then 239.9.. and so on. I feel like setting goals that are easier to achieve is helping to push me forward and encourage me.

I think so often it’s easy to get caught up in the statistical expectations of this surgery.. that this soon out I should be losing 20lbs a month... and for whatever reason, I’m not... but I am losing... and focusing on 10lbs at a time.

[prkitty 29]

I'm glad I saw this. I'm still in a stall after only three weeks post OP. It's difficult not to be frustrated. Especially when I'm following the prescribed diet and exercising. Thanks for sharing.

[Matt Z 4,138]

On 10/3/2018 at 1:07 AM, prkitty said:

I'm glad I saw this. I'm still in a stall after only three weeks post OP. It's difficult not to be frustrated. Especially when I'm following the prescribed diet and exercising. Thanks for sharing.

The human body loves to keep things status quo. So when you start messing with intake, it does whatever it can to hold onto fat and energy stores. It does end up giving up and getting with the new program... for a bit anyway, then it gets all clingy with the fat cells again... as long as you are tracking your BMR and intakes, and are getting plenty of Water (128oz +) then you'll be ok. I so totally get the frustration! If you can, get a body fat measurement device or find a gym or nutritional store that has one, paying attention to fat loss, I feel, is pretty important, we see weight as a single factor, but, bones, muscle, tendons, our organs all contribute to our weight, the goal of Weight Loss Surgery is to reduce the weight from Fat only. It really should be called Fat Loss Surgery, and I think that would get more people paying attention to their fat content rather than focusing only on the weight number.

[prkitty 29]

The human body loves to keep things status quo. So when you start messing with intake, it does whatever it can to hold onto fat and energy stores. It does end up giving up and getting with the new program... for a bit anyway, then it gets all clingy with the fat cells again... as long as you are tracking your BMR and intakes, and are getting plenty of Water (128oz +) then you'll be ok. I so totally get the frustration! If you can, get a body fat measurement device or find a gym or nutritional store that has one, paying attention to fat loss, I feel, is pretty important, we see weight as a single factor, but, bones, muscle, tendons, our organs all contribute to our weight, the goal of Weight Loss Surgery is to reduce the weight from Fat only. It really should be called Fat Loss Surgery, and I think that would get more people paying attention to their fat content rather than focusing only on the weight number.

My son actually had me do measurements and told me to stay of the scale. He bodybuilds. I'm going to keep measurements from now on. I don't know if I can stay off the scale as that is the number the EVERY doctor goes by. It did start moving today. I lost three lbs. I'm still going to work on my Water 60 ounces is still a struggle and continue to track nutrients. I'm going to continue to go to the gym as well and take joy in small achievements. Such as I have ankles now, lol. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and letting me vent.

[Matt Z 4,138]

Just now, prkitty said:

My son actually had me do measurements and told me to stay of the scale. He bodybuilds. I'm going to keep measurements from now on. I don't know if I can stay off the scale as that is the number the EVERY doctor goes by. It did start moving today. I lost three lbs. I'm still going to work on my Water 60 ounces is still a struggle and continue to track nutrients. I'm going to continue to go to the gym as well and take joy in small achievements. Such as I have ankles now, lol. Thanks so much for sharing your experiences and letting me vent.

That's great that you have someone that can do the taping for you, VERY important to track your fat loss, ESP when the weight doesn't move on you... which happens with muscle growth and Water retention. I weigh in daily, I get it's not the suggested method, but I like having as many data sets for tracking trends. I'm glad I can provide my information and experience to hopefully help others.

[JessaK 59]

Thanks for sharing! My story is so similar to yours. I was scared to face my surgeon bc I thought I had failed. By the time I went back, my surgeon had been retired for years. I started off with a new one making aggressive folks and it worked. Unfortunately one two many times of throwing up bc of crazy restriction and I had a major slip. The bad was removed immediately. I thought I could do it by myself but eating just what doesn’t get stuck in the Band doesn’t translate to real life, sustainable eating. I gained it back this last year. I was sleeved on 10/22-almost 1 year exactly from my band removal.

[Kay07 734]

I kind of adore you @Matt Z, in a totally non-creepy way. Especially when you get snarky ;).

Incredibly insightful post. Posts like this, to me, are essential for all pre-op and recent post-op folks because it reinforces the commitment behind this surgery. Sometimes we focus so hard on the I-want-it-now mentality. Despite popular stereo-types, this really is not a quick-fling type of ordeal. It's more like a in-it-for-the-long-haul-in-fact-let's-get-married ordeal. It's emotional, it's frustrating, it's amazing, it's terrifying, it's freeing. You have ups and downs both emotionally and physically, and it truly requires a strong desire to change.

Great great post!

[FluffyChix 17,409]

Awww man! Thanks @Kay07 for posting this thread! I completely missed it the first time around!!!

@Matt Z are we under the wire or is this "necroposting"?

Great post and thanks so much for inspiring so many of us and for offering so much patience and support here on the boards!

(Any Happy Birthday!)

[Matt Z 4,138]

12 hours ago, FluffyChix said:

Awww man! Thanks @Kay07 for posting this thread! I completely missed it the first time around!!!

@Matt Z are we under the wire or is this "necroposting"?

Great post and thanks so much for inspiring so many of us and for offering so much patience and support here on the boards!

(Any Happy Birthday!)

This thread isn't even 2 months old and has had comments on it pretty steady, necroposting is when someone replies to a post that hasn't seen comments in a very long time, I've seen users post a reply to a post that hasn't seen comments in over 6 years....

[BostonWLKC 806]

Amazing post Matt. So important to go back and look at your journey and keep the whole picture in mind.

(Happy belated!)

[elcee 3,340]

20 minutes ago, Matt Z said:

This thread isn't even 2 months old and has had comments on it pretty steady, necroposting is when someone replies to a post that hasn't seen comments in a very long time, I've seen users post a reply to a post that hasn't seen comments in over 6 years....

That would happen because new people join the site and they search for topics that may be of interest to them. In fact newbies are often asked if they have done a search rather than just asking the same questions again.

Besides resurrecting the dead is quite popular, zombie series are very in

[Matt Z 4,138]

1 minute ago, elcee said:

That would happen because new people join the site and they search for topics that may be of interest to them. In fact newbies are often asked if they have done a search rather than just asking the same questions again.

Besides resurrecting the dead is quite popular, zombie series are very in

So far the only necroposting I've seen is from members that have been here for a while. Not to say I haven't missed newbies doing so... but *typically* newbies just post first, then search later. @FluffyChix is just being silly with her comment.