"Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.

As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexations to the spirit.

If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in your own career, however humble,
it's a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself, it is still a beautiful world.

You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams
it is still a beautiful world.

Some of you might be interested in the above
 detailed nutritional information chart which is based on
my daily food-intake data over the past  six years.

Around the middle of 2010,
I became interested in experimenting with low-carb issues,
primarily due to Taubes’ Good Calories Bad Calories,
as well as my own weight-maintenance difficulties.
I made several brief (failed) efforts during 2010.
At the beginning of 2011, I started a Low-Carb Experiment-of-One
In the years prior to that time, I did not consciously try to restrict carbs.

Calorie Restriction has always been
my primary method of weight-loss and maintenance.

While reducing my calories, I made a conscious effort to eat a reasonable amount of protein.
Even though I primarily ate low-fat, fat is in just about everything.
So, due to my calorie restriction,
there were simply less calories available to take in as carbohydrates.

Taubes’ writing has made me aware of the fact that
in every diet throughout my lifetime….and there have been a lot of them….
my calorie restriction has also inadvertently resulted in a reduction of carbohydrates.

I remember that in years prior to the end of 2004,
during the times when I wasn’t restricting calories,
my primary food was carbs
…sugars, simple and complex carbs, and fat.
I believe that, at that time, I ate about the same amount of protein that I do now.

 I have detailed daily records of my food-intake from 9/20/2004 through today.
For the past 2398 consecutive days, I have entered all my food into my DietPower log.
The DietPower program stores that data, and makes it readily accessible to me.
I can easily access my data in “averages” for specific time periods,
or for exact amounts within individual days.
This gives me the ability to make an accurate personal analysis of my own behavior.
which is limited of course, by my own insufficient skills of analysis.

I began maintaining my current weight in January 2006,
and have now done so for the past 5 years.

During that 5 year period, I have experimented with a number of different issues,
involving food-intake and exercise,
by using a number of different methods and ways-of-eating.
Eating more, eating less; exercising more, exercising less etc.

Leaving the issue of ongoing Hunger and Cravings aside,
I’ve been concerned about the fact that..
..….independent of any exercise or ageing issues…..
my calorie requirement to maintain my current weight has dropped over time.

It is impossible for anyone outside a lab to ever accurately count calories,
because all calorie counting involves estimates along with a reliance on food labels.
Therefore, the ACTUAL CALORIE NUMBER, can be inaccurate.
However, my focus is on my personal Calorie deviations over time.
I weigh/measure foods and count the calories in them
the same manner, and by the same methods
so...Over Time... I am actually measuring my own behavior BY my own behavior…
…which I believe is as accurate as anyone can ever be in real life.

The FACTS are:

To maintain at or near my current weight:….
1st year of Maintenance: 2006 – Calorie intake 1505
2nd year of Maintenance: 2007 – Calorie intake 1408
3rd year of Maintenance: 2008 - Calorie intake 1179
4th year of Maintenance: 2009 – Calorie intake 1045
5th year of Maintenance: 2010 – Calorie intake 1076

This calorie deviation is not explainable by exercise or aging…
and probably not even by carbohydrate intake.

During my 16 months of weight-loss my calorie intake averaged around 1200 calories,
and I lost from 190 to 115, which is 75 lbs.

During the first two years after that, I maintained around 115 lbs
while eating about a 1450 average calorie intake.

During the 3rd year, in order to maintain close to that same weight,
it was necessary to drop my calories about 250 calories a day.

During the 4th and 5th years, in order to maintain close to that same weight,
it was necessary to drop my calories an additional 120….
which is about 370 less a day than I ate during the first two years,
and about 150 daily calories less than I ate during my 16 month weight-loss period.
There simply don’t appear to be any factors….
….outside my body’s own desire to regain lost weight….
that adequately explain this to me.

As a result of the above-information, I have come to the personal conclusion that
the simple Calories-in/Calories-out, together with the Theory – 3500 calories = 1 fat lb,
just don’t adequately explain what is going on inside my own body.

I feel certain that this is PARTIALLY due to the fact
that I am maintaining  in a "normal" weight-range LONG-TERM,
after many years of obesity,
which puts me into the category of a "reduced obese" person,
No Scientific Research Study Results exist in that area,
for many obvious reasons.

However, I am also personally very interested in the fact
that "The GREAT CALORIE THEORY" i.e. 3500 calories = 1 fat lb.
doesn't actually seem to accurately apply for many people
who are at the height of their morbid obesity,
or for formerly "reduced morbidly obese"  people
who are maintaining in a "normal" weight range.

I am becoming convinced that there are unknown factors regarding this issue
that have not yet been discovered by Science.
However, I'm not waiting for that discovery to determine my personal eating behavior,
because it might never happen....Not in my lifetime anyway,
and I have really grown fond of  living inside a normal size body.
My plan is to continue to engage in whatever eating behavior it takes
for me to maintain my current body size.

                              
Take a look at your priorities and your goals.
Where did they come from?

Are they the products of soul-searching, self-analysis, and careful planning?
Or are they a reaction to pressures from other people?
Did you find them within yourself or within the pages of a magazine?

The answers to these questions are important
because they tell you if the person you're becoming
is someone you want to be.
Here's another way to look at a goal:
do you want it, or do you just think you should want it?

It's not easy to follow your own direction in life.
But it's more possible than you may think.

Question everything.
Every priority in your life needs to justify why it's there.
If you can't come up with a good reason
that actually comes from YOU, maybe it doesn't belong
. 

"To be nobody but yourself
--in a world which is doing its best, night and day,
to make you everybody else—

means to fight the hardest battle
which any human being can fight;
and never stop fighting."

...................by EE Cummings, poet

Anyone who has read very many of my prior posts should be aware that
I am a 5'0" tall medium-to-small-boned woman
who spent most of my adult life over 200 lbs, with a high of 271 lbs.

I have gained and lost over 100 lbs three separate times in my life.
Usually these this re-gains happened within about a 6 month time period,
simply by choosing to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

Total freedom with food exacts a high price.

There are tall, large-boned women who can be attractive
and in good physical health at 200 lbs or more.
However, I am not one of these women.

I learned to accept and love myself, (through many years of therapy)
even when I was extremely obese.
That does not mean that I liked being enormously fat.

It has taken a great deal of very hard work to arrive at my current size,
and it takes a great deal of hard work to stay here.

I am very aware . . .from my own history. . .
that if I decide to allow myself to simply eat what I want whenever I want, 
that within 6 months to a year, I again will be 200, 270, or higher.

The only thing that would stop my body's weight ascent,
would be a return to controlled eating.
Then, I would have to control what I eat. . .
…to diet. . .just to stay 200, 250, or 300 lbs.
I know for a fact that there is no limit to how many lbs I can gain.
Therefore, I remain viligent and committed.

Like everyone else, I also want to be happy, healthy and free.
But for me, freedom with food, exacts a price I no longer want to pay.
In order to stay happy and healthy, I have to be willing to limit and control my eating.

Every Diet requires limits and controls over food intake.
In a perfect world, I could eat whatever I want, whenever I want to
and my body would adapt to a reasonable size.
But this is not a perfect world.

Sometimes I see inconsistencies between different Food Authorities
about the exact calorie count of a specific food.
I don’t think there is a way to really know which one of them is the most accurate.

It is always important to remember that Calorie Counts are ALL estimates,
even when they are written in books, online, or on menus and food labels.

I don't think it makes much difference which calorie counting source one uses.
Unless the calories are listed on the labels of the foods I use,

I ordinarily use the calorie counts listed in my software food journal, DietPower,
The source of which is a National Base. If it isn't in DietPower,
and I have no food label, there then I look at Calorie King,
or some other online source for a similar type of food.

I am doing the best I can to maintain my current weight,
or lose a few pounds. The idea of calorie counting
is just to do one's best to keep track of one’s food intake.
It is impossible to be totally accurate for a great many reasons.

First, my food measurements might not always be totally accurate,
for example, when I measure out 1/4 cup of dry oatmeal,
I fill a 1/4 cup as full as it goes.
The Oatmeal label says 1/4 cup equals x calories,
but it also says 1/4 cup is x grams...
Weighing out the grams shows that 1/4 cup is Less than full.
It is a very small difference, but these things can make quite a difference over time.

Another thing to be aware of is that the FDA only requires
food labels to be up to 20% accurate.
The reason those weights and measures laws exist
is to make certain the consumer isn’t shortchanged...
that is to make certain he/she gets at least that minimum amount of food.
Almost always, an inaccuracy is going to result in the consumer
getting MORE food ….which means a HIGHER calorie count that the label says.

Furthermore, labels aren't regulated very closely,
and there is a difference in accuracy between companies.
The very large food companies tend to be no more than 20% inaccurate,
but the smaller, mom and pop companies, can easily have up to a 50% error rate.

As a further example, fruit is now bred to be both larger and sweeter
than it used to be, but the calorie counts for fruits haven’t been increased.

What this means is,
no matter how closely one watches one's calories,
one is not going to be PERFECTLY accurate.
However, careful weighing and measuring food, and keeping track
in my food journal gives me the best chance of knowing my calorie number.

Those BMR or RMR numbers given by the charts showing the number of calories
that each of us burns, are based on either the Harris-Benedict or the Mifflin formulas.
These formulas were created from Averages, and are not necessarily accurate
for any one particular individual.

No matter what the Charts say my body's calorie burn rate should be,
if, over time, I gain weight on a specific calorie number,
I have to work to eat less than that calorie number.

Maybe I'm taking in more calories than I know,
Maybe I'm burning less calories than I know,
Bottom line, if...over time... I am gaining weight,
I have to...EAT LESS and move around a bit more.