While it is true that many people get tired of calorie counting, and many people don't manage to continue calorie counting under stress, this is not ALWAYS the case.

For example, in my own case, for the past six and a half years I have continued to consistently log ALL of my food into my computer software food log, DietPower, EVERY SINGLE DAY, and this program counts the calories and other nutritional values of that food. That computer program says that today is the 2364th day without any missing data.

This does NOT mean that I never overate or never binged during the past six years, It merely means that I ALWAYS entered ALL of my food into the journal. It became, and is, a HABIT.

This is the principle of ACCOUNTABILITY.
I am accountable for every bite I eat.... even on vacation days, sick days, stress days.
NO MATTER HOW HIGH MY FOOD-INTAKE, I LOG IT.
This has provided me with long-term success.

My life has not been stress-free during this process. I have all of the ongoing NORMAL stresses of life, both good and bad, and I have also had some EXCEPTIONAL stressing circumstances. I'm going to list some of them below, not to show myself as a "victim", but as an example of the stress one can go through while successfully counting calories.

  For Example:

I have two unmarried adult children. During my weight-loss phase, my son was severely burned in a fire, and spent over a month in a hospital burn unit in severe pain, receiving skin graphs.

During my maintenance-phase, my daughter was in the hospital in a coma, and upon physical recovery spent long periods in mental health facilities, which resulted in long-term disability SSI, making her mother (me) the one responsible for handling her ongoing income.

During my weight-loss phase, I was responsible for my aging mother, who had Alzheimer's, and was the one who had to place her in a facility, visit her daily, advocate for her, and witness her death.

During my maintenance phase, my father-in-law died; we were forced to place my disabled mother-in-law into a nursing home, where she was visited frequently until her death, about 6 months ago.

During my maintenance phase, the nephew with whom I had a close relationship, became a Marine, and spent a tour in Iraq, and after coming home safely, spent another tour in Afghanistan, which resulted in his receiving two purple hearts.

During the past 5 years of my maintenance phase, my husband has had eye surgery twice, as well as another unrelated surgery. My best friend for the past 25 years, was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer, and I spent time with her almost every day until she died 5 months later.Other beloved family members have also dealt with severe illness.

During my maintenance phase, three years ago, I developed a life-threatening medical condition, which resulted in emergency surgery and hospitalization for 10 days. During this time I lived on IV's, and was unable to log my food, but as soon as I was released from the hospital and returned home, I logged in estimates of the amounts of all the liquid food I received, during that past 10 days, and continued with my ongoing food entries.

During the past 6 years, I have also had numerous vacations, holidays, and celebrations...all involving food. I overate during many of those occasions,but NO MATTER HOW MUCH I ATE, I LOGGED IT ALL.

And So Life Goes.
During that time, I also brushed my teeth, combed my hair, got dressed daily, and used the toilet when necessary. I prioritize entering my food into my computer journal as equal to, or more important than, those activities.

I know for a fact that one CAN develop a HABIT of counting calories; and I know for a fact that one CAN continue counting calories under stress; and the truth is, IT ISN'T ALL THAT DIFFICULT.
Except to my family and friends, I'm not all that Special, and I think that there is a very good chance that this is something ANYONE can do, IF THEY DECIDE TO.

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,

I found the DietPower food journaling program in September 2004, while surfing the net.  I started using it.  I had good success, and still really like it.  

   I have logged all of my food into DietPowerevery day since 9/20/04, today, 2/21/11 makes 2346 consecutive days.

DietPower is my most essential tool for weight-loss and maintenance.……….However, like any tool, it won't be helpful unless………you make, and follow through with, a commitment to consistently use it.

Before using DietPower I tried many times to keep track of my food and calories. That was very hard to do using only paper, a pen, and a calorie dictionary, I was never able to keep doing that for more than a week or so.

Diet Power changed all that for me. As entering all my food was easy, it became an enjoyable Habit. It is now as natural to me as brushing my teeth or making my bed every day. DietPower works with every diet one might care to use,and no matter what specific diet I’m on, I still use DietPower.

Counting calories long-term used to be very time consuming and difficult, however, using a computer software program like DietPower lets one do it with ease. In fact, because of my habitual use of DietPower, counting calories is now a Habit for me.  I’m currently doing a Low-CarbExperiment and DietPower also makes it easy for me to count my carbs.

DietPower is a very small company, and it gives great personal support. There is a free 2 week trial, and the program pretty much explains itself. When I first got it, I downloaded the free 2 weeks and I liked it so much immediately, that I bought it after using it for only 3 days.

Although DietPower is a simple program, learning anything requires effort.Also, installing a habit is not energy free.  One must keep one’s commitment to consistent action for the weeks that it takes to establish the habit

of logging in one’s food. Consistent effort can result in habitual behavior.

 DietPower has a big food dictionary with thousands of foods of all types and brands. For example it has tons of generic granola bars, and if you want to input quickly, you can just pull up whatever appears to be the closest to what you're eating. However, one thing I really I like, is the ease with which I can input the exact info from the label of my favorite food (for example: a specific Atkins bar) into DietPower's food dictionary, and then from that day forward, I have that EXACT information in my program.

I use DietPower’s recipe function all the time.  Although initially DietPower’srecipe dictionary contains a number of recipes,  I must admit that I've never used any of them.  However, I’ve put all of my own recipes into DietPower, by using ingredients from the food dictionary. So I know exactly what the nutrients are in one serving of any of my favorite recipes.  When I eat that serving, or part of it,  I simply input that choice into my food log which then tells me the exact amount of calories, carbs, protein, fat etc. in my food intake.

Another good use for the recipe dictionary is that I can combine foods to makemy usual salad or sandwich; or even combine all the foods of a standard meal including a salad, a main dish, fruit etc. and then just  a few clicks puts all of that food information into my daily food log. 

 DietPower can be used just as it is, and you will want to do that at first until you learn the program well,  but the benefits of individualizing the program are fantastic.

There is a lot of information about DietPower on its online website, and I've found it all to be true.  I have no financial interest in it, and I’ve chosennot to receive any payment for people who buy the program after clicking my DietPower links.

If you buy the program, my advice is to pay the small extra charge for them to ship you a disk. I don't like that "key" process, because it can take a day or two to implement, and having the program disk has really saved me a few times from computer glitches.

Personally, I’m not fond of the metabolism function of DietPower, except as an area of interest.  I find it much more effective to set myself a "constant calorie budget" than let DietPower zigzag my calories up and down.
The program will tell you to eat far too few and then far too many calories.  Perhaps that function works well for large men, but I've found it doesn't work very well for medium size to small women.

The thing to remember is that DietPower is just a tool. 
It doesn't work unless you use it.

If you have questions, feel free to ask them.  You can easily access the DietPower website by clicking the icons located on the top and bottom of this page.

Update, January 2018: DietPower now only seems to work on an older Windows computer, and over the years, it has become relatively obsolete. Although I still choose to use it to journal my daily food, I supplement it with the use of My Fitness Pal, an online food journal which performs similar functions. As of this date, if I were just beginning to learn to use a food journal, my choice would be to use My Fitness Pal.

    During my weight-loss phase, I participated in a diet forum of people who posted daily weights. Observing the behavior of the others provided me with extremely helpful information. When I neared my goal weight, I decided that it was important for me to set specific Goal weights, and to make them extremely VISUAL.

So I created this Weight Maintenance Chart,

which turned out to be a very successful way to BURN specific goal-weight-range numbers into my mind and heart.

Many people have asked me how and why I chose these particular numbers, for these specific categories.  My "creative" thought process went this way....

Over time, I’d learned that my body weight tends to bounce around quite a bit due to salt/water/waste issues. Three pound gains and losses are frequent. Five pound deviations are not unusual. After a 3 day vacation I can have an 8 to 10 lb up-bounce, most of which recedes after a week of eating carefully. Due to this, I decided to set myself a 10-lb maintenance weight range.

At a height of 5’0”, the "Expert" Charts said my "Healthy Weight Range" was between 95 and 128 lbs, and specifically gave 110 lbs as the most "Healthy" weight for my height and bone-structure. I chose the specific numbers from within that range which were meaningful to me.

I set my permanent Goal weight number as 115 lbs. and decided that more than 5 lbs above that number was unacceptable. Therefore I set the 4 lbs above 115 as a “lose weight” area.

I knew that, due to my love of food, dropping too far beneath my goal weight would never be a problem, however, I watched one of my 5'0" forum members, who was maintaining between 110 and 100 lbs, be continually hassled by her family and by other forum members who were worried she was going to “develop Anexoria” and allow her weight to drop too low.
My own family also began making occasional remarks like: “when will you decide to stop dieting?” So I decided to clarify my entire position by setting limits for my bottom weight,as well as limits for my top weight.

The Charts singled 110 out as the ideal number for me,and my lifetime secret fantasy was to weigh 105 lbs. So I decided to set my 10 lb maintenance range between 115 and 105 lbs,.  which placed 110 lbs at the mid-point of my range.

Even the positioning of my numbers have Meaning.  English is read from left to right, which means thatleft is where one has been, and right is where one is going.  I put my high numbers on the left and my low numbers on the right. because the high weight is my past, and the low weight is my future,

The bottom numbers of the "Healthy" Chart were 99-95 lbs so I set this 4 lb range as a "gain weight" area.

Any weight below my "gain weight area" (less than 95 lbs) is a weight that is Totally Unacceptable to me.

Any weight above my "lose weight area" (more than 119 lbs) is a weight that is Totally Unacceptable to me.

The colors I chose also have meaning for me.

Blue for the Maintenance area, because it's my favorite color.
Green for the Acceptably lower area... like Go, it's okay.
Red for the Lose and Gain Weight areas...like Danger or Stop.
Black for outside the high and low Boundaries...like Outer Darkness.

I put all of that information into a small Chart to make it Highly Visual. I did this primarily to firmly fix my goals in my mind,  but found that this also made it easy to share the details of my plan with others. During the past 5 years, this chart has proven to be a very effective tool.

My goal is to make DietHobby an interesting and informative place, rather than a boring monologue about myself. 

That said......
Here's a picture of my cat, Boodie.

                         
If I wanted people to see me fat, I would have stayed fat.

That’s one of the many reasons I did what it took to lose from 271 lbs down to 115 lbs, and continue the struggle to maintain
my weight-loss. Sometimes I share former fat information with personal acquaintances in real life, and sometimes I don't. It depends on the situation and on my mood.

However, I don't share fat pictures of myself with the general public. Morbidly obese people all look pretty much the same, because no matter where you carry fat, there are only so many places on the body to do so.

Photoshop is so common now, that a fat picture is PROOF of nothing. There is also an element of Freak Show or Circus Fat lady, in the fascination people seem to have in looking at "Before" pictures.

I feel that if anyone needs the "Inspiration" of seeing a Before picture, they can look in the mirror, or watch a weight-loss show on television.

People who knew me fat will remember what I looked like. People who didn't can look in the mirror or watch “The Biggest Loser”. I’m not here to sell a product, only to share my ideas and my life.

During the fat phases of my life, I wore primarily tent dresses and caftans. Below is a music video of California Dreamin' by the Mamas and the Papas.Visualize a fat version of my face on the body of Mama Cass.