"Please help me! I'm only 2 months out and I've ONLY lost 30 lbs."
I see these posts all the time on just about every board that I read. A sense of panic that someone has not lost all their excess weight in a manner of minutes, hours and days.
*sigh*. Big giant sigh!
You need to wrap your head around realistic expectations. You did not gain 50, 100 or 150 lbs over night. You will NOT lose it over night. This takes time. This takes the right ingredients.
WLS is like baking a cake.
When you decide to bake a cake, most of us just can't go into any cupboard, grab ingredients and within a matter of minutes, have a cake baked, done and frosted. Weight loss (even with wls) takes time, balance and the RIGHT ingredients.
Before we decide to bake a cake, most of us have to read and find the right recipe. We might have to research a bit before something seems to be "just right" for us to make. We have to find a recipe for success. It may take lots of consultation, lots of reading, talking to experts until we find the right recipe for the occasion.
Then we have to go shopping for all the right ingredients. We have to make sure that we have all the right food ingredients as well as pots, pans and utensils. Measuring cups guarantee success. Without that careful measurement, our cake may not rise or may be a total disaster. Planning is key.
We might even take a "dry run" and practice that recipe before we actually make it for that special occasion. We know that skills are not innate, they are practiced. We might even find that the recipe needs a "little something" so we may consult others for advise. We may talk to other baking experts about that one missing ingredient. We may even tweak the recipe accordingly and find that our recipe is better than the original!
The day of the big event, we are prepared in all ways for the task ahead of us. We know that a good cake will take some time. We give ourselves plenty of time so that we can slow down and be exact with our measurements. We know that being rushed won't help make the cake better. It's about exact measurement and precision. We don't just throw together ingredients. That doesn't work. It takes time.
Once we carefully measure, mix and pour, we wait. We wait some more. We wait some more.
Even the best cakes don't come out of the oven in 60 seconds.
That time waiting is precious. It's exciting anticipation of what is to come. We know that it will be totally worth the wait. We know that the cake is worth waiting for. Even though we have to wait, we don't question that we will have a cake when the process done. We know that we've prepared the cake the way we need to.
We know that we are set up for success. We added all the right ingredients. We know that we have had good practice. We know that we have all the ingredients and all the right tools. We know that in 40 minutes our cake will be done and it will be a success because we've set it up that way.
And even, when you take your cake out of the oven, there is more time to wait before you can frost it. Patience is required. It will take time, more time and even more.
Stop thinking that your cake will be baked in 3 minutes. If you've done all the planning, followed the rules and set yourself up for success, you have nothing to worry about. Everything worth waiting for takes time.
Know and believe that it will be worth the wait.
