I've made changes to my Weight Range Maintenance Plan. 

Previously the top black "Unacceptable" area was 120 lbs and over, (now that "Unacceptable" area is 126 lbs and over); and the red "LoseWeight" area was 119-116, (now that "LoseWeight" area is 125-120 lbs)

When I grew near to my goal weight, I made a visual graphic of my plan to maintain my weight-loss, by creating a Weight Maintenance Chart much like the one shown above. This turned out to be a very effective way to set specific goal-weight-range numbers into my mind and heart.

I talk more how I did this, and why, in a previous article, "Setting A Goal Range". Read that article to see the original chart and the maintenance weights that I originally set for myself.

This graphic has been very helpful to me for the past six years, and I have worked very hard to stay within the maintenance weight ranges that I set for myself. However, this past two years, ... despite my very best efforts... I've spent most of the time hanging out inside the top red area and the top black area,and I've been unable to sustain much time at all inside my blue maintenance area.

So, I've finally accepted that my age and my activity level might never let me get and keepmy weight down as low as it was during my first few years of maintenance, so I've raised the top of my Maintenance Weight Range Plan by five lbs. I haven't changed the bottom ranges. These will remain the same because they are merely there as a reminder of the general weight guidelines for someone my height.

I fought against raising my weight range for a very long time,but have finally chosen to face my present reality, I haven't given up the struggle to get my weight back down to 115 or lower. I still hope that I can accomplish that. However, I'm tired of hanging out in my upper red and black areas. I am hoping that changing this graphic will give me an added mental push toward making the blue maintenance area my status quo again.

I've been very reluctant to make this change.  Not so much because of the actual 5 lbs,
but because of my fear that ... despite all my continued best efforts ... that my weight will continue to creep upward.

I've decided to face the truth, that my body isn't the same as it was 7 years ago. My maintenance weight has been about 5 lbs higher for the last few years,  so it's time to adjust my maintenance weight range to accurately reflect reality.  Although in a way doing this feels like admitting defeat,  it is actually a step toward success in my ongoing maintenance.

                                   
Our bodies are not Bank Accounts.
Although using financial metaphors often helps describe the dieting process, we don't get immediate feedback for calories eaten or not eaten, except from the immediate and temporary water-waste-gain-or-loss equation which is due to an excessive change in our salt intake, or our food volume.

Each of our bodies assimilates what we eat, whether it is food or a food-like substance. It uses or stores what it can, and discards, or tries to discard, what it can't.

This is a process, and it takes time. The process is complicated, involving enzymes and hormones, some of which haven't even yet been discovered. Although the process is similar for all humans, there are genetic differences between people, and this affects the way that individual bodies function.

That said, here is weight loss in a nutshell:

Eat less.


Find a calorie range for you that you can eat daily that

1.) Does not make you want to die, and

2.) Allows for a reasonable energy deficit
(meaning, you will consume moderately less than you are burning just by living and exercising).

You can start by finding out how much an "average" body like yours burns in its normal everyday state without effort. Just google: BMR and punch in your stats to get this number.  HOWEVER, this number is ONLY an estimate, and due to your own personal genetic equation, your body could easily burn far less.

Work to eat 250 calories less than that number per day.  Eating 250 calories less than your body burns every day will lead to a one-half pound per week weight loss (meaning stored fat loss)… but for most people…the scale will not reflect this loss accurately on a day-to-day basis.. and sometimes..not even on a week-to-week basis.

Move more.


Which essentially means: move more.  By move I mean move, in any way your body likes.  And by more, I mean more, as in - more than you currently do.

If you try to burn an additional 250 calories through exercise each day,  you could lose an additional one-half pound weekly.  HOWEVER, extra exercise makes the body more hungry and more tired. So if you eat a little extra because you exercised, or you spend more time resting during the rest of the day because you exercised, then exercise will be ineffective for weight-loss which is due to a release of stored fat.

Theoretically, a 500 calorie deficit will lead to 1 pound of weight loss from fat storage over a one week period. This is based on the general rule used by science: 1 lb = 3500 calories, so 7 days of burning 500 calories less than your calorie intake creates 1 lb of stored fat loss.

But CAUTION. This is a "general" rule, and the calculation is far more complicated than it appears. ...

I used up my inspiration and energy in writing this long e-mail answer, so I'm sharing it here in this article. 

 Someone asked me the following question:

"Can you tell me how many carbs you limited yourself to
when you were on low carb?
Did it work well for you?
I seem to have more luck counting carbs."
 

Here's my answer. 

I think that low-carb is an excellent diet plan, and if it is a workable plan for you, go for it. Personally, whether I'm doing low-carb or not, I've found that it is necessary for me to track my food, and count calories.

All of my own research and experimentation and observation leads me to believe that Calories Count, even when doing low-carb, and IF there is a "calorie edge" to eating low carb, it is a very small one, probably not more than 100 calories a day.

I've seen that people who choose to eat more calories than they burn ...over time... while doing low-carb will still gain weight. Low-carb -- when it's VERY low carb -- tends to be more satiating, and more and more I suspect that --- over time --- it works primarily because people ingest less food.

My experiments with low-carb have been during maintenance at normal weight, so it can't be fairly compared with someone in the weight-loss phase.

I am intrigued by Gary Taubes' position about carbs, (see the BOOK TALK Section at DietHobby.com) and did a lot of experimenting with it in 2011.

I have experimented with what is known as ZERO carb -- which actually turned out to be around 5-10 carbs a day, because I choose not to give up my very small amount of plain, Greek yogurt.

However, during most of my low-carb experimentation, I worked to keep my carbs around 20 or less.

When I'm doing my "normal" - "balanced" food plan, my carbs are usually around 50-80 or less. For me, a normal, really high-carb day would only be about 100 carbs. It just turns out that way, because I don't have a large enough calorie allowance for more.

My own experience .. so far .. because I expect to be doing further future experimentation with low-carb
is that...

             
Weight-loss and Maintenance of that weight-loss is hard work. This is a Truth that needs to be faced in order to achieve long-term success.  Everywhere we turn we see advertising statements about how quick and easy weight-loss is... IF you just buy and use that One Specific Product.

That product could be a food, a supplement, a diet plan, exercise equipment, clothing, a book, a video, or an idea. It could be just about anything that can be sold for money.

Those marketing lies are common, but seldom do we see in bold black-and-white the truth that no matter what product we might use,
weight-loss is slow and hard, and maintenance of that weight-loss is seldom achieved.

There are now quite a few "reality" TV shows concerning weight-loss. These consist primarily of a trim and muscled, naturally thin, person, setting forth difficult physical tasks for very fat people, then berating and encouraging those people in order to "help" them "start to live their lives".

I find this prejudiced-against-fat people statement particularly offensive, because fat people have lives that are just as productive and enjoyable as thin people.The quality of one's life depends on that person's attitudes and thoughts,
not on their physical size, or even their physical condition.

I didn't start "living my life" only when I was a normal weight,
I've lived my life for all my life, whether fat or thin.

Sometimes it seemed good, sometimes it seemed bad, but it is the only Life that I have here on earth (as far as I know), and it's been continuous since I was born.  It didn't only "start" after weight-loss.

The action shown in these television shows mostly involves physical tasks, including exercise.  Because, otherwise, for long periods of time, we would just be looking at people NOT EATING the amounts or kinds of higher-calorie foods that are currently considered socially acceptable and desirable in our culture.This would be about as entertaining as watching paint dry.

Everywhere you hear people being told to "change their lifestyle". Like THAT is a different process than dieting forever. But, it isn't.

Our lifetime eating habits are culturally and emotionally based, and are extremely difficult to change long-term. To make it even harder, habit and emotion are only part of the equation, because physical elements are also involved. 

The bodies of the "reduced obese" do everything possible to return that person to their previously obese condition. There are quite a few articles already here at DietHobby addressing this issue,and this will continue to be an ongoing topic here.

Accepting the rather unpleasant Truths about weight-loss and maintenance has helped me become successful in that area, and personally, I don't see how it is possible for an obese person to achieve long-term weight-loss success without coming to terms with those Truths.