Many of us have preconceived expectations
when we start our weight-loss journey,
as to how long it will take.

We think that by doing everything to a T,
everything will go as planned.
But many times that is not the case.

We must learn to accept the obstacles
that are inevitable in this journey,
knowing that the end is not what makes us who we are
or who we were meant to be.
It is the journey of overcoming obstacles
that defines who we are and who we are meant to be.

Giving up is not an option.

                     

The diet industry has dozens of ‘rules‘ of fitness
and ways to live a ‘healthy’ lifestyle.

Most of them revolve around some sort of dietary intervention
like changing the timing of a meal, or the composition of that meal.
After that we’re given extensive lists of good and bad foods,
and supplements we should be taking.

These recommendations fail to consider how impractical they are.
They are presented as the Absolute Truth.

However, conflicts exist between many of the recommendations.
It is easy to feel guilty because it is impossible to follow them all,
and we don’t know which are the best to follow.

The stress and guilt from failing to follow these ‘rules’
can easily erase any benefits we get from doing the things we CAN do.

It is important to always remember that every little bit counts,
and whatever we can do...
...whatever fits in with our current lifestyle is just fine.

Instead of following everyone else’s rules,
My choice is to make up a few rules that fit my own life.
Rules that work fine just for me.

My latest recipe video is Peanut Butter Toast .
This is located in the Mealtime section of RECIPES.
Here's a photo of that food.

I've been asked many times what specific diet or food plan I use
now that I'm in Maintenance.

It would be difficult to list all the many, many different eating plans
that I've experimented with
since I reached my weight goal over 5 years ago,
but I will be writing about many of them here at DietHobby.

Everything worked.
Because I'm still in my weight goal area.

Nothing worked,
Because I'm still looking for a better way to live comfortably
while maintaining my current weight.

Dieting is my Hobby,
and I'm always learning new and interesting things about that subject.
As I learn things I'll share them here,
and as I ponder the things I've already learned, I'll share them here too.

Weight-loss and maintenance of that weight-loss takes FOCUS.
I've learned that when that FOCUS stops, weight returns.

Whether or not to maintain FOCUS is a "Lifestyle" choice,
but it is my opinion that a "reduced obese" person NEVER becomes "Naturally Thin".
My observation of myself and of others leads me to believe
that maintaining FOCUS it is what a "reduced obese" person
must do to keep off lost weight.

Making Dieting my Hobby is one of the ways that I maintain FOCUS
on the issues and behaviors that make and keep my body a normal size.

I've posted another new recipe video,  Egg, Bacon, Veggie Scramble
in the Mealtime section of RECIPES.  Here's a photo of that food.

                        
I like reading, and I especially enjoy reading Diet Books. Reading them is part of my DietHobby.

Diet Books are written by medical doctors, and psychologists, and trainers, and nutritionists, and journalists, and lawyers, and housewives, and people from many other walks of life.

Most diet book authors say that they have personally lost weight while following their recommended diet, and/or have seen their clients, their patients, their fellow members, or their friends lose weight while participating in the diet presented.

This is also true of authors who espouse diets that aren’t officially labeled “Diet”, such as diets which based on intuitive eating principles like: “Eat only when hungry; Eat what you like: Stop when you’re full.”

Books are work products that are normally intended to benefit their authors financially, and/or bring them into the public eye…i.e. provide them with fame and fortune. Honest and dishonest people both exist in this world. Some people lie.

Authors can exaggerate or actually fabricate examples of successful dieters in order to boost the credibility of their diets. Their motives vary.  Some of these do this for financial gain, and others do it to benefit humanity. For some, it is a mixture of both.  Except for that fact, initially, I have no reason to doubt an author’s claims.

While reading a diet book, I charge myself with the personal responsibility of doing my best to keep an open mind to the author’s concepts, and while I cannot keep myself from factoring in my own common sense, my prior knowledge, my own life experience, and my personal values, I work to temporarily suspend my personal judgments about the concepts presented.

After a lifetime of reading hundreds of diet books, my belief is that just about every diet works for someone.

Every diet book I’ve ever read has benefited me in some way. Even the worst of them usually contains some useful kernel of Truth, and most of them contain recipes that I find personally interesting.

Each diet book has provided me with information, and sometimes… the information I gained was not what the author intended.

Over time, it is my intention to write here about a variety of diets, and about some of the die...

                                             
                                 
A gastric bypass...or stomach reduction, is exactly that.
18 years ago, when I chose to take this option, it was still considered experimental
and there were only a couple of doctors in California performing it.
I was required to travel to San Diego, which is 6 hr drive from my home, for that surgery,
and stay at a hotel there for at least 10 days immediately following my hospital release
with another person.  My husband accompanied me.

In my case, over 18 years ago, this was before laser surgery was common,
and my body was cut open vertically from chest to stomach...somewhere around 12+ inches.
My stomach was then cut apart into 2 pieces.
The top piece being a relatively small pouch,
and the bottom being the majority of the stomach.
At the place of division, the bottom part of the stomach was closed off and stapled shut.

As Food intake comes in through the top of the stomach,
and leaves though the bottom of the stomach,
the intestine connected to the bottom part of the stomach was cut away,
then brought up to the bottom of the small top part of the stomach and attached there.
The bottom part of the stomach remained inside the body, unattached to anything,
while the small top part of the stomach became the functioning body part.

In some of these surgeries, ....but not in my case......,
the intestine is shortened before it is reattached to the smaller, top portion of the stomach.
This interferes with the natural digestion process, so that ALL of one's food
...both calories and nutrients....are not absorbed but therefore pass through the body more quickly.
HOWEVER, in my case, all calories and nutrients in food are still absorbed.

A gastric bypass is, of course, major surgery,
although now laser surgery is commonly done,
which avoids the long vertical cut through the body.

It is painful, but my San Diego gastric bypass surgeon felt
that potential complications from pain medication outweighed the benefits.
So he did not routinely prescribe it.
In fact, a day or two after my hospital release,  I lay on my hotel bed in such pain,
that my husband phoned the doctors office for a pain prescription and was given one.
My husband returned from the pharmacy with TWO pills....TWO single pills.
That was the only pain medication I received after leaving the hospital.

 As my stomach healed, for several days I could only tolerate small sips of water.
Then I added jello and broth for several days.
On about day 8 or so, I was able to eat 1/2 a poached egg and a couple of bites of toast.
Eating more was physically impossible.

In those days, bariatric surg...