I’ve now had 5 years of maintenance at my current weight,
and I still Hope it will get easier one of these days.

I've learned that:
Things don't happen the same way twice.
The way I lose weight or maintain weight now is not the same way
that I lost weight or maintained weight five years ago.
I can't EXACTLY repeat the things I did before,
because I'm a different person now.

I'm 5 years older.
Although I am in very good health,
the human body is DESIGNED to wear out with age.
No matter how hard I work at staying fit,
now that I'm over 60, I am ageing more rapidly,
and I can see and feel that Process happening.
Some activities and exercises that I could do 5 years ago,
my present body will no longer tolerate.

My body has also now spent years adjusting and adapting to burn less energy.
Retirement from my profession changed my lifestyle.
I am active, but in a different way.

This is the Challenge.

What works now won't work forever.
You have to keep changing and adapting,
because life keeps changing whether you like it or not

Here is my most recent Video, the second of my Thinspiration series.

Disordered eating is defined as
having eating habits that might present a risk to mental or physical health,
without exhibiting all the symptoms of a “recognized eating disorder”.

The term “eating disorder” is defined as
a mental illness; a brain problem that creates obsessive thoughts
and compulsive behaviors around food and the body.

Using the above definitions, it seems clear to me that mental health professionals
could manage to place almost every obese person somewhere in those categories,
which increases their marketing target and their potential financial profit.

It is the position of mental health professionals that
all people with disordered eating behaviors and
all people who exhibit symptoms of eating disorders
should receive psychological treatment to correct those conditions.

        I don't agree.

Therapy is helpful to relieve mental distress,
and if disordered eating or an eating disorder is the cause of extreme mental distress,
therapy can be beneficial when its purpose is to make people feel better about themselves..

However, in the case of “disordered eating” psychological treatment frequently
appears to merely be an effort to force people to conform to specific social norms of behavior.
And, perhaps, conformity isn’t always such a worthwhile goal.
Maybe other values are more important.

My opinions about “disordered eating” and “eating disorders” are somewhat controversial,
and over time I’ll be saying a great deal more on the subject.
But for now, I’ll leave you with the following song about disordered eating.

“The essence of bravery
is being without self-deception."

Self-deception is a trap for us all.
Yesterday I shot my first "Thinspiration" video,
and, as I planned,
it was of my entire body…fully-clothed, of course.

I found that I needed courage to do this.
I see myself in the mirror all the time, and I like what I see,
…..especially when I take off my glasses… 
but in the past, I've been surprised at my appearance
when I saw photos of myself.
I wondered if this would happen today
when I saw my full-length body size in a recording.

I believe it is important not to deceive oneself,
not to exist in Denial.
However, the task of seeing things clearly
doesn’t mean that we need to have a negative view
about the things that we see.

I’ve found that I can choose my attitude.
And I have decided that I like myself as I am.
Imperfect is Good Enough.

I don’t have to “Strive for Perfection”.
I don’t have to “Excel”
I still have flaws even though I’ve done the best I can do
And that’s okay. I’m the best ME there is.

  So, I saw myself clearly.
I saw my flaws, and I’m sharing myself with you anyway.
Here’s the video.

Some things just take time.
This is true for Weight-loss and Maintenance of that loss.

 There’s an old saying that goes something like :

“The years know what the days never will.”

Focused self-control over one’s eating Behavior,
… when sustained over long-periods of time,…
will Result in successful weight-loss.
When that focused self-control over one’s eating Behavior continues,
the Result will be successful maintenance of that weight-loss.

Call it an Obsession with Dieting.
Call it a Lifestyle Change.
Call it a Diet Hobby.

No matter what you call it,
the underlying Truth remains the same.
There is no quick and easy way….ever…..
for those of us who have bodies that want to be fat.
Essentially: 

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

I am sharing my "strength, experience, and hope" here with you,
and, as part of that, I've been telling you a lot about my involvement
with this site which is part of my dieting hobby.

                             
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.