Please welcome Meegan from Redstar5 – Work in Progress. Meegan and I have a lot in common, especially the fact that we are both pretty slow losers. You can visit Meegan’s blog here.

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Bobbie and I have something in common. We tend to fight this weight loss battle in a slow but fiercely determined fashion. We both got a little fed up with the way we had been leading our lives and have made some big changes. Changes we’ve grown to love and incorporate into our lives. I think we both also get a little frustrated sometimes with our fierce determination not resulting in seriously swift weight loss, but it helps knowing we’re not alone.

I started this weight loss journey in earnest when I turned 30 in February of 2009. I was 289lbs. Now it’s almost a year and a half later and at my last weigh in I was 213lbs. That’s 76lbs in 16.5 months or 66 weeks. That makes my weight loss average only slightly better than 1lb a week. That is slow (but steady) weight loss.

Some of my before and after pictures:

I mean seriously, would any of us ask for slow weight loss? So many people seem to be searching for that magic pill, diet, solution – anything that will bring on the skinny overnight. We all want that perfect beach body in the blink of an eye. We don’t want to wait weeks, months, even years to reach our weight loss goals. But here’s the thing, for many of us (or at least for Bobbie and I so far) on the path to lasting weight loss that’s the only way it happens. SLOWLY.

Now that I know that slow is the way this will be happening for me – I am learning to love slow. Don’t get me wrong, I know it’s a challenge to say that you like weight loss slow and steady. It is tough to be satisfied with progress when it comes little by little. But if this is how it is for me, I’m going to grow to accept it. I’m a slow loser. In fact, I have never been able to do anything fast before.

• I don’t run fast,

• I don’t move fast,

• I don’t think fast (I tend to ruminate and over think) and,

• I definitely don’t lose weight fast.

It’s frustrating. But when you decide not to be satisfied with your status quo YOU CHANGE. With all of the changes I’ve been making in the last 66 weeks I’ve learned that:

• I can run. It may be slower than all the other girls in my bootcamp, but I can run and it’s faster than before.

• I’m teaching my body HOW to move fast – and it feels good.

• I still analyze everything, but I don’t agonize over anything and life is SO much more straightforward that way.

• The one thing I haven’t been able to solve or change has been the pace at which I lose weight.

I’m almost a year and a half into this journey and I’m still losing weight slowly. But you know what, every decision, every pound; every change I’ve made has been worth it. The frustration will come and it will go, but I’m proud of the progress of I’ve made so far. I’m still losing pounds, and I’m making major gains in learning to live a healthier and happier life. Slow weight loss progress is still progress and its progress in the direction I want to be heading. In fact, I like to think that there are divine reasons for the slower pace:

• I like to think that losing the weight at a slower pace is giving my mind and body time to adjust to my new healthy way of life.

• I like to think that it means I will live my life this way forever, and keep the weight off forever because I’m learning to do it slowly.

• I like to think that maybe, just maybe, I will minimize at least a little bit of the whole loose skin factor by losing weight at a slower pace.

• I like to think that it’s giving myself the time I need to let new habits simply become my way of living life instead of something I’m just trying out until I reach my goals.

• I like to think that slower weight loss means my perceptions of who I am in a new body will have time to keep pace.

• I like to think a year of slow and steady weight loss has made lasting changes, in my life, in the way I think and in the mirror.

Bottom line – slow is good. Slow and steady really can win the weight loss race and make some serious lasting changes. After 66 weeks, with no turning back now, I am learning to love slow.

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