John Wooden is widely considered the best basketball coach of all time. His teams won 10 national championships in 12 years, including an unbelievable 7 in a row. The closest any other team has come in Division 1 basketball, is Connecticut's women's team with 4 in a row.
Coach Wooden was obviously able to coach the skills of the game like rebounding, passing, shooting, etc... But what really set him apart was that winning was not his first priority. He considered it a by product of preparation.
His coaching and teaching philosophy led to him developing what he called his Pyramid of Success. It had very little to do with basketball, but instead included things like poise, self-control, alertness, and team spirit.
The Pyramid of Success was developed when he was a high school teach because Coach Wooden saw so many parents that would berate their kids for bringing home anything less than an A or a B. Or question him and wonder what was wrong with their kid, how come they weren't scoring more points. It was more about working on all the things that make up a successful person, other than just winning games or being the star player.
I think we need a Pyramid of Success for weight loss. Too many people berate themselves for not losing enough weight. Their whole day can be ruined by an inanimate object's reading.
If that has been you in the past, you need to look to other measures of success. Did you get in your workouts this week? Did you drink more water? Did you cut down on soft drinks? Did you finally eat some vegetables??? These are things you actually have control over, so they are great to focus on.
Maybe you have more energy or you are in a smaller pair of pants. You started sleeping better or you find yourself in a better mood. You are getting stronger and fitter! You got off blood pressure medicine and your blood sugar went down.
There are so many ways to measure success other than just the scale. Look for them before you call yourself a failure. Look at weight loss as a by product of all the other things you do. A lot of times it will come and that is awesome! But don't let that be the only thing that decides whether or not you are winning.