It’s Friday, and today is the start of Labor Day Weekend.
It is common for dieters to lose focus
around special events, like holidays and vacations.

Think about what happens to us at Thanksgiving,
Halloween, or Christmas when we tend to “forget”
to pay close attention to our food intake. 

Imagine you are a (good) parent shopping at the mall
with your two pre-school children.
You wouldn’t get so preoccupied that you forgot
that you brought your kids along.
Instead, you’d always know where your children were
and what they were doing.

Most parents have the mental ability to stay alert,
even after the kids are in bed. This built-in awareness,
or focus, helps them know when their children are at risk.
Sometimes we don’t set out to overeat or ignore our diets,
we simply lose our focus – the ability to stay aware
of our eating plan while we enjoy our food together with
conversation and special activities.

We can have fun and still Focus.
We need a way to hold continual awareness
in spite of what’s going on around us.
It’s tough, but it can be done.

Part of staying focused is:

Remember:  Frequently remind ourselves about our food-plan and goals.
Pull Focus back quickly:  When slipping into old patterns, intentionally renew focus.
Stay Alert: Mentally identify our individual emotions in the situation.

  It is important that we don’t “forget”
about our weight-loss or maintenance efforts,
so we need to develop a built-in awareness to help us
stay focused on what it takes to live with the weight we want.

VidCon was interesting.

I engaged myself in enjoyable activities,
One of these enjoyable activities was eating more calories than normal,
and now I must deal with the consequences.

Some time soon, I will share a bit more about my YouTube conference experience,
but right now I am exhausted. I still have to unpack and return my rental car,
and today is the 1st of the month, which is the day I do banking and bill paying etc.

My goal for today is to get back into my maintenance eating groove,
and to make a plan as to what I will do during the next few weeks
in order to take off my vacation weight-gain. 

On Sunday, 7/31/11, I'll be driving home from VidCon.
It has been an interesting time, and I can't help but compare
the experience to conferences I've attended in my past.

During my first marriage, I attended a great many church conferences.
During my legal career, I attended a great many State Bar conferences.
This weekend I attended a YouTube conference.

Organizationally, all three conference types have a great deal in common.
The social structure of each type of conference has many similarities,

There is a hierarchy of people. ..the organizers...the volunteer helpers...
the workers...aka industry..those who have made it big,
and those who have a respectable following;
those who want to make a lot of money, those who have fame, those that seek fame,
those that just want to be around fame, and those who just want to have a good time.

This YouTube conference was different than any conference I've previously attended,
in that it was packed with young, energetic people who were wide open to life,
to positive experiences, and to friendship with others.
I enjoyed being around them, and was grateful for their kind attention to me.

My son, the web-genius, had many positive experiences
as he connected with his YouTube friends and acquaintances,
the brief time that we spent together has been pleasant,
and I feel very grateful to my Higher Power for this.

This afternoon I'm picking up a rental car,
then picking up my web-genius son,
and driving us to Los Angeles to VidCon.

VidCon is short for the annual YouTube Video Convention.
The first was in 2010, and this will be the second.
All 1200 spots have been sold out for quite some time.
I got an e-mail a few weeks ago asking anyone who had  ticket
but had changed their plans and didn't intend to go,
to return it for a full refund, because there is a waiting list of more than 1000.

I'm taking 1,100 individually wrapped, tiny, homemade, diet cookies
for the "YouTube Grandma" (me)  to pass out.
I've devised a plan on how and when I'm going to do that,
and I'll be interested to see how it works out.

I can admit to you, my friends who read DietHobby,
that VidCon, for me, is 90% about pleasing my son.
He produces, films and edits all of the videos of one of the YouTube "superstars",
and knows some of the big names there...however, he, himself, does not have a "big" name,
and he is a little anxious about how it's all going to go for him.

The hotel was sold out, so he will be sleeping in an extra bed in my room
which means I'll be more involved in his life than usual.
I just want everything to work out for him, and if it doesn't go as he hopes,
it is going to take a great deal of energy for me to remain positive.

This is sort of a first for us.
It could be a really good time, or the opposite.
However, I am determined to maintain a positive attitude
and I have made plans to guarantee that I, personally,
will have the best time possible...no matter what.

If I can find the time, I will make daily entries here,
and if not...please know that I'm thinking about you.

Today's video was based on my Thoughts about VidCon
and the social organization there, the stars, the fans, and the others.
Sociology was my college major, and I have always found such issues interesting.

So...
I continually work on my Thought Processes,
and many of the articles here at DietHobby
demonstrate my involvment in that activity.