The following quote states a common point of view
frequently heard within weight-loss circles.

 
“Our bodies have a better idea of what ideal is for us than our brains do.
There’s no point in dieting down to one’s “ideal” weight,
because it will always be a struggle to maintain it.”

That quote SOUNDS like wisdom, and it might apply to the
bodies of "Normal" people who have just put on a "bit of weight".
However, it does not apply to the body of a "Reduced Obese" person,
A "Reduced Obese" person's body will continue to want to be Obese.
Almost every "Reduced Obese" person will always have to struggle
to maintain even a 10% weight loss.

In my own case, both before, and after, my WLS 18 years ago,
even when weighing in the 190s, it was a struggle for me to maintain my weight.
In fact....although of course I eat less here at my 115 lb goal weight,
than I did when weighing 190 lbs,.... the intensity of my struggle
with my body to keep from gaining is about the same.

My own viewpoint about working toward one’s ideal goal weight
is that since I'm going to have to intensely struggle with my body
to maintain my weight, in order to weigh less than 200 plus pounds,
 I might as well do it from inside the weight range
that is normal for my 5'0" height.

Since the Struggle is Endless, 
I choose to be Thin...a "normal" weight... instead of Fat,  during my Struggle.

                             
My Height is 5' 0", and my highest weight was 271 lbs.
I don't know how tall you are,
but for me, OBESITY STARTS at 154 lbs,
and OVERWEIGHT STARTS at 129 lbs.

To  be only OVERWEIGHT at 200 lbs, one would have to be 5' 11" tall.
For a 5' 11" female, 200 lbs is just inside the OVERWEIGHT category,
and only 1 lb below the Low Border of OBESITY.

Here is a Chart I made, based on the BMI percentages,
showing the High Borders of Normal weight,
and the Low Borders of Overweight, and Obesity.

Weight tracking is a helpful tool to use when involved in the task of losing weight or maintaining a weight-loss.  The scale is a measurement tool.  It weighs everything within one’s body.

Ultimately, however, scale weight will…over time…accurately reflect the RESULTS of one’s eating BEHAVIOR. I add the caution…over time…because there are many variables that affect a person’s daily scale weight. You can read more about that in "What About the Scales?" and "The Scale and the Big Picture".

I have found that Graphing or charting weight over time can help bring perspective and patience to my weight-loss or maintenance process.
As an example of how this works, I’ll share with you some current graphs showing my own weight progress.

1. Here is a WeightChart graphing my DAILY weight for the last 20 months.
 

 2. Here is a WeightChart graphing my WEEKLY weight for the last 20 months

 

3. Here is a WeightChart graphing my MONTHLY weight for the last 20 months

 These graphs are all from a charting program called WeightChart, and all of them use exactly same weights over the same 20 month time period. The Results are actually all the same. However my Efforts are reflected far more accurately in the daily graph than in the monthly graph, or even in the weekly graph.

Here is similar information using the graphing function of DietPower. Except that here the time period is for the past 12 months, a one year period.

1. Here is a DietPower graph of my DAILY Weight for the past 12 months.

2. Here is a DietPower graph of my WEEKLY Weight for the past 12 months.

 
3. Here is a DietPower graph of my MONTHLY Weight for the past 12 months.

 

 Below are 3 graphs from three separate Graphing programs
showing my DAILY weights for the last 90 day period.

This First daily graph is from DietPower for the past 90 days.

 This Second daily graph is from Weight Commander for the past 90 days.

 This Third daily graph is from Weight Physics for the past 90 days.

What all these 90 day charts show is:

• My weight loss efforts before Christmas,
• My Christmas Holiday overeating.
• My weight-loss efforts in the New Year.
• My February vacation overeating.
• My weight-loss efforts – post vacation.

This is a typical example of the way my personal maintenance works.
My Focus must be on my BEHAVIOR, not on my RESULTS
because it is Behavior that CAUSES Results.

I am Responsible for my Efforts,
which are my Behaviors, my food-intake and exercise.

I am not Responsible for my Results,
which is my Outcome, the timing of the numbers on the scale.

 While my scale results should not be my FOCUS, it is important to know those numbers. When I look at my scale weight graphed over time, I can accurately judge whether or not my eating Behavior is bringing me my intended Results. An accurate picture of my Results keeps me out of Denial, and gives me the option of modifying my eating behavior in order to achieve different and more positive results. While I cannot control my Results, I do have the ability to choose to control my Behavior.

Tracking weight by graph is an excellent way to obtain knowledge about our Results, without losing perspective when we have those inevitable weight-bounces. When the scale number is up, many of us feel sad or angry and tend to comfort ourselves with food. When the scale number is down, many of us feel elated and tend to reward ourselves with food. The habit of graphing scale weights can help prevent us from emotional eating responses at the sight of individual scale numbers.

Every chart I have included here accurately reflects the same information….although for different time periods. However, I find that, when carefully studied, each separate chart gives me a slightly different perspective on my Scale Results. …and indirectly, on my eating behaviors.

What I personally like about running several charts at a time, (which is part of my own Dieting Hobby) is I can almost always find something encouraging about my results in at least one of them. I don’t find the process difficult or time-consuming. It takes me only a few minutes each day. The secret to success here is exactly the same as the secret to successful weight-loss … Persistence, Consistency and Patience .

 I have never found weight-loss and maintenance of that weight-loss to be easy.
For me, it has always been a challenge, but I’ve learned ways to enjoy myself while following through with the effort it takes.
Like the saying on my Chart at the top of the page ABOUT ME ,

Being fat is hard,
Losing weight is hard,
Maintaining weight loss is hard.
Choose your hard

BTW, there are many links on the ABOUT ME page which provide pictures and charts of my weight-loss history. By accessing them, you can probably learn more about me than you would ever care to know.

Here is a picture of a friend’s DietPower chart which shows how tracking one’s daily weight,
(Results) and tracking one’s daily calories (Efforts) relate to each other.

Weight History equals Results.
Calorie History equals Efforts.

Tracking one’s weight is a good thing, and it helps bring perspective. But I never forget that my Behavior -- my Effort -- is the key to my weight-loss and maintenance success, therefore DietPower’s Food Tracking function is far more important to me than the weight tracking function of DietPower or any other tracking or graphing program,

As I stated in a previous Blog, The Essence Of Diets – Part One
I’ve been thinking a great deal about the essence of Diets.

The term “diet” is defined as Habitual Nourishment.

It seems clear to me that there are essentially 3 issues involved in all Diets,
One main food issue, AMOUNT,.
and two sub-issues, KIND and FREQUENCY.

AMOUNT -- of food eaten.
KIND – fundamental nature (micronutrients) of food eaten.
FREQUENCY of eating food.

 RESTRICTIONS:
All Diets involving weight-loss or maintenance of weight-loss place restrictions on one or more of those 3 food issues.

My careful study of many different diets has revealed some things to me.. things that might be obvious to others, but which took me some time to figure out. I’m still not certain about all of them, but here are a few “insights”.

The majority of diet book authors claim to have used that diet him/herself, and had excellent weight-loss results from it. I tend to believe this is true. What this proves to me is that there are a great many different ways to lose weight, but that what all of them have in common is EATING LESS.

EATING LESS, of course, means…not just eating less than one ate in the past while gaining weight, but also eating less than the amount of one’s normal (maintenance) energy burn. This, of course, is where it gets sticky.. ... because all of the rules one finds in the Expert’s charts and graphs are simply Generalizations.

People are different.
Male and Female, Tall and Short, Large and Small,
Young and Old, Sedentary and Active.

Each of these categories changes a person’s basic energy use. In addition, Genetics vary between people, and even being a “reduced obese” person changes energy use.

Diet Books show that there are many different ways to accomplish EATING LESS.
All of these ways involve somehow reducing the “calorie” amount of a person’s food intake.
This can be done Directly, or Indirectly.

In my previous post, The Essence Of Diets - Part One,
I discussed many of the details of that issue.

Most diet book authors who have created Diets,  appear to have structured his/her version of Eating Less on his/her personal preferences regarding the three fundamental restrictions which are listed above.

Those Diets appear to be based on that diet book author’s eating preferences; his/her viewpoint and morality, including values about food; and the general way he/she tends to live his/her life.

These personal lifestyle choices usually involve that Diet in additional matters which are sometimes rather unrelated to the basic food-substance-as-nourishment issue.

These differences between people’s preferences are reflected as different eating style choices inside each of the diets they have created. At some future time, I will provide some specific examples of this phenomenon.

For now, my simple point is that all diets have much in common.They appear to be all based on the same principles, and every diet seems to work for someone.

I’ve been thinking a great deal about the essence of Diets.
The term “diet” is defined as Habitual Nourishment.

The term “calorie” is the term used to measure the energy value inside food, i.e. the unit equivalent to the energy-producing amount of food when oxidized in the body.

In order for the human body to become a smaller size by losing bodyfat, that body must take in less energy than it uses.

 I have read hundreds of diet books, and been on many, many weight-loss diets.
Each of them appears to be some variation of a way to “EAT LESS and MOVE MORE”.

One of the things I find fascinating about Gary Taubes’ books, one of which is now featured here in the section BOOKTALK. is that in one way his concept seems to break that mold……and yet in another way…the concept seems to fit into it.

I’m going to share some thoughts about this here. Then at some future time, I plan to share some further personal insights on this matter.

It seems clear to me that there are essentially 3 issues involved in all Diets,
One main food issue, AMOUNT,
and two sub-issues, KIND and FREQUENCY.

AMOUNT -- of food eaten –

KIND – fundamental nature (micronutrients) of food eaten .

FREQUENCY of eating food.

RESTRICTIONS:
All Diets involving weight-loss or maintenance of weight-loss place restrictions on one or more of those 3 food issues.

AMOUNT –
This can involve either DIRECT or INDIRECT restriction.

DIRECT restriction involving AMOUNT, some Examples include:

• Counting food calories with the goal of staying near a certain number.
  
  
• Counting food points.
  
  
• Portion control – eating a specific size of a food substance
  
  
• Counting bites
  
  
• 1 plate, no seconds  -as in The No S Diet.
  
  
• Meal size restrictions – i.e. large Lunch, other meals smaller, etc.
  
  
• Variation of Amounts on alternating days - QOD, JUDDD, Calorie Cycling, Fast-5 
  .............are actually Blends of the Amount and Frequency categories.

INDIRECT restriction involving AMOUNT
This involves restricting the KIND of food eaten, and/or the FREQUENCY of eating food.

KIND –
This involves a DIRECT restriction of KIND, resulting in an INDIRECT restriction on the total AMOUNT of food calories. DIRECT restriction of KIND usually involves a shift in the balance of the intake of various  food micronutrients. Reduction of KIND frequently involves a flavor/taste reduction or satiation factor that results in less overall food intake.

Some Examples of restriction involving KIND include:

• Sweets Restriction – reduction of the intake of sugar, resulting in an additional
  reduction in fat and other carbs such as flour etc
  
  
• Fried Foods Restriction – restriction of cooking method resulting in a reduction
  of the intake of fat miconutrients.
  
  
• Low-fat –overall reduction of the intake of fat miconutrients.
  
  
• Low-carb – overall reduction of the intake of carbohydrate miconutrients.
  
  
• High-Protein – increase in protein along with reduction in carbohydrates.
  
  
• Food Exchanges – Divisions of foods restricting intake of specific food
  containing specific miconutrients, resulting in a reduction in total intake.
  One example: Dividing food portions on one’s plate such as:
  ¼ protein, ¼ starch, ½ complex veggies and fruit.
  
  
• Food Combinations – Divisions of food intake involving specific combinations
  of micronutrients at specific times (includes a frequency factor) resulting
  in a reduction of overall amount.
  
  
• High-fiber – reduction of the intake of miconutrients with low-fiber.
  
  
• Vegetarian – restricting animal proteins
  
  
• Liquid – restricting solid foods.
  
  
• Organic or No Processed Foods – restricting foods containing various chemicals
  
  
• Raw – restricting cooked and processed foods
  
  
• Low-sodium – reduction of foods containing salt, less flavor resulting in less overall intake.  

FREQUENCY –
This involves a DIRECT Restriction on eating FREQUENCY,
resulting in an INDIRECT restriction on the total AMOUNT of total food calories.

Some Examples of restriction involving FREQUENCY include:

• 3 meals each day, with no snacks (The No S Diet)
  
  
• 3 meals and 2 or 3 snacks per day.
  
  
• 6 small meals per day ( or 4 small meals per day)
  
  
• All snacks, no meals
  
  
• Zero food – i.e. water fasting
  
  
• No eating after dinner.
  
  
• Eat only before sunrise, and after sunset
  
  
• All eating to be within a certain time period a 5 hr daily window (Fast -5)
  
  
• 24 hr fast – No food after 5 p.m. until 5 p.m. following day (EatStopEat)
  
  
• Alternate day eating – (QOD, JUDDD)
  
  
• Intuitive Eating - Eat when hungry stop when satisfied/before full.
  
  

I'll be writing more about this concept in the future.