A Sustainable Alternative - POSTED ON: Oct 21, 2012
Weight-loss and maintaining weight loss requires that we change our Way-of-Eating, Forever, BUT.. While the change FROM our Way of Eating while we were fat must be permanent, our change TO any other specific Way of Eating can be temporary. There are many different Ways of Eating to choose from. We can choose one for awhile, and then make a different choice. We can hop between these choices as much as we like. Every Way of Eating is acceptable, as long as it fulfills the following requirement, which is:
During weight-loss: The amount of food intake must provide less energy than one's individual body burns.
During maintenance: The amount of food intake must provide the same energy as one's individual body burns.
During my lifetime of learning about, and sampling different Ways of Eating ... (Diets) here's a statement of objection I commonly see made by somebody, to almost every Diet I've encountered.
The '"X Diet", or "Dieting", will not result in permanent weight-loss because it is NOT SUSTAINABLE.
Everyone tends to nod their head in agreement with this principle, and then people in favor of the specific diet or in dieting, say that after achieving success, one should return to their "normal" Way of Eating... eating a bit less, AND then continue to use that same diet occasionally in order to lose any weight regained. There is an Alternative way of looking at this, and it is the one I use here in my own Dieting Hobby.
It's okay for the PERMANENT change to consist of many TEMPORARY changes.
Just pick any diet or way-of-eating that meets the above-stated energy requirements which attracts you. Stay on it as long as you can. When you want to eat differently, choose another diet or way-of-eating that meets the above-stated energy requirements which attracts you. Keep doing this process until you find a diet or way-of-eating that you find personally sustainable long-term, or until you die ... whichever comes first. This Alternative provides great deal of flexibility within one's eating choices. I've found that by choosing this Alternative, I am exposed to many desirable possibilities that are new to me. Some of these possibilities are transient experiences, and some of these possibilities become enjoyable Habits that I am able to incorporate into my life on a rather permanent basis. Some of you may be interested in my new Grandma video: which is located in DietHobby, at GRANDMA'S HOUSE, under Ask Grandma. You can also get there by clicking the link:
A New Perspective - POSTED ON: Oct 11, 2012
Achieving personal weight-loss and maintenance of that weight loss is a problem for many people, including me. I tend to work off the premise that a solution exists for most problems.
General problem solving skills apply here. When I can’t find any solution for a personal problem, then I try to more clearly identify the problem, or even re-define it. Sometimes I find that my best action plan for a solution to a problem is the simple Acceptance of the Reality that an ongoing problem is likely to remain in existence throughout my lifetime. To come up with a new approach to an old problem, it often helps to look at the problem differently. If we do the same things, we will get the same results. In my experience, when a new solution is required, one of the best things I can do is to change my perspective on the problem. Sometimes this means looking at different graphics, or reading about new diets, or asking myself new questions. When I explore new angles of a problem, I often see something new, which will give me an idea of a new way to approach it. How does this mental process work? When faced with a puzzle, we solve it by first running through all of our usual obvious solutions. First we engage our left brain by recalling the obvious tried and true solutions. Sometimes these ideas work, sometimes they don’t. As soon as our left brain has exhausted all ideas that don’t work, we get frustrated and hit the wall. The wall is the inability of our left brain to create new connections from our old ideas. We are unable to connect the old ideas with fresh ones, to find different solutions with the same methods. The only way to get unstuck is to try to see the problem in a new way. At the point of total frustration, our right brain engages. Our right brain solves problems with images. Once the left brain has gotten out of the way in total frustration, our right brain is able to freely associate in the language that it knows: pictures. Then, it hits — the connection is made, and all of a sudden, we have a glimmer of a new idea, our mind goes off in a different direction, and things start falling into place. What we have just done is literally created a new connection in our brain. Sometimes we don’t get an answer to our problem because we aren’t asking the right question. If we ask the same question over and over, we will most likely get the same answer. So, we need to figure out how to rephrase the question or ask a new question. Sometimes changing the wording we use is helpful, sometimes it helps to look at a different graphic. When working with data like weight or calorie numbers, I think about how I can display or visualize that data in a new way. Looking at the same data in different formats enables me to see new things. I see different things when I look at different charts and graphics even when they reflect the same basic numbers. Looking at the big picture often leads to a new way of seeing the problem. Sometimes zooming out, helps me realize that I’m asking the wrong question. DietHobby, under RESOURCES, Links, Tools, contains links to some online sites which use different methods of graphing weight. I find a consistent use of these different visual aides helpful to motivate me, and these visuals often provide me with insight about my own behavior. In my own case, one personal solution ...
Experiment of One - Current - POSTED ON: Sep 08, 2012
A fellow Forum Member wrote:
"My calorie count needs to stay at 1200 to lose and it has been averaging 1500. So for now the only thing I know to try is cutting back to 2 meals a day. This may be an every other day thing...we'll see.
At any rate I am now 12 lbs. over the top BMI for normal weight range and have gained 8 lbs. over the summer. This can't go on."
What is described here is a common occurrence for those of us with older bodies who have lost and are working to maintain weight-loss. People who track their food... even during "bad" times ... can actually SEE this happening. Actually SEEING it is rather unusual, because most people in this position "give-up" and don't track, begin eating more, and regain all of their lost weight.
I am working on this same issue right now. It is very difficult to continually eat a calorie average low enough to maintain weight-loss. I find that ..for me.. doing EXTRA exercise burns very little calories. and makes me very hungry so I wind up eating more than I've burned.
For the past 4 weeks, I've been running another experiment with an Alternate Day Eating type of plan. My plan is more of a zig-zag, calorie cycling plan rather than one of Intermittent Fasting because I'm still eating all throughout every day... only I'm having smaller portion, lower-calorie meals totaling about half the calories on alternate days.
Success for me would be to average losing 1/4 to 1/2 lb weekly, and get back into the blue area of my Weight Maintenance Range, (and this year I raised my maintenance range to make it run 5 lbs higher). Due to water-weight-swings etc. it is impossible to judge weight-loss success in such a plan except over quite a lengthy time period. My stabilized weight is running about 3 lbs less than it was 4 weeks ago, but most of that drop came in the first week, and it is too soon to see whether this plan will cause weight-loss. It is also too soon to tell whether or not such a plan will be sustainable for me.
Status Update - Records: My past 8 years (August 2012) - POSTED ON: Aug 14, 2012
Below are Eight charts showing Yearly Averages of my own Daily Food Intake. Beginning 9/20/2004 through 8/8/2012 ... an 8 year period (approx 7 years 11 months) 2880 consecutive days of detailed record keeping. Despite low-calorie eating, one can see that my nutritional needs were adequately met during the entire 8 years. I find it personally interesting that although I experimented with a great many different "diets" and eating plans, my nutritional yearly nutritional ratio averages wound up overall being quite similar. One CAN see slight differences in nutritional ratio due to various experimentation with various low-carb eating plans during the past 3 years in that the fat ratio increased slightly; the carb ratio decreased slightly, while the protein ratio remained fairly constant.
FOLLOW UP NOTE: Be sure to read the Final SUMMARY showing average weight and average calorie comparisons. 1st chart Below started on 9/20/2004 - therefore the yearly average is 42 days less than 1 year.
SUMMARY 9-2004 through 8-2012 8 year period (approx 7 years 11 months) 2880 consecutive days of record keeping
Date Weight 9/2004: --- 190.5 lbs. 8/2005: ----145.2 lbs. Loss 45.3 lbs. - 1235 average daily calorie intake 11 month pe...
Journaling & Keeping Records - POSTED ON: Aug 13, 2012
I consistently record my food intake and weight data in various computer programs. I have now been doing this consistently every day for almost eight years. ..…. as of the time of this writing, for the past 7 years and 11 months.
The Computer and software program in which I record my food is a useful TOOL. There are many such food journaling programs, but my own personal choice (at this time) is a program called DietPower. (Update 2018: My Recommended Food Journal for beginners is now "My Fitness Pal". My behavior of RECORDING my food intake every day forces me to stay aware of my actions, and it keeps me out of Denial. I know what I'm doing, and what I've done, and I continually face my own actions head-on.
Sitting at the computer and entering the daily data has become a Habit which …most of the time….is an enjoyable one. It is sometimes emotionally difficult to actually write down Everything I've eaten, but in a way it's similar to a Catholic going to Confession. My frequent input of my total food information often brings a sense of relief and sometimes even personal Absolution, a feeling of pardon or forgiveness.
I am Accountable for my eating BEHAVIOR every day, no matter what it is. My weights are the RESULTS of my eating Behaviors, and those RESULTS are actually outside my personal control. I am responsible for the food that I put into my mouth (my behavior). I am not responsible for what the scale says (my results) because I cannot control what my body chooses to do with that food. Therefore, I am responsible for my Behavior, but not for my Results. The scale is merely a TOOL that reflects the total weight of one's total body, including fat, water, bones, fecal material etc. It shows the RESULTS of my eating BEHAVIOR.
The scale is without personality. It is not a Judge and Jury of my actions, but is merely a reflection of them. Ones individual weight on one single day might not be very accurate, but graphing many days of those individual weights gives an extremely accurate picture of the RESULTS of one's eating BEHAVIORS.
Mar 01, 2021 DietHobby: A Digital Scrapbook. 2000+ Blogs and 500+ Videos in DietHobby reflect my personal experience in weight-loss and maintenance. One-size-doesn't-fit-all, and I address many ways-of-eating whenever they become interesting or applicable to me.
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