Freedom in Maintenance

I am now in my 11th year of working to maintain my body inside my normal BMI range, after successfully losing more than 57% of my total body weight.  At my highest weight I had a 52.9 BMI, and at my lowest weight in Maintenance I had a 20.3 BMI.

Here in Maintenance I do lots of personal experimenting with different types of diets and ways-of-eating.  I recently began a new diet experiment which I call “Freedom in Maintenance”.  

This current Plan Directly Restricts the total daily AMOUNT of food that I eat, (has a maximum daily calorie number), but does not restrict the KINDS of food eaten, nor restrict the FREQUENCY of eating.

The consistent repetition of actions is what establishes a habit, and most diet plans are designed to help create specific eating habits.  These diets set forth specific eating behaviors, and the dieter’s goal is to regularly follow those specific eating behavior patterns until doing so becomes almost involuntary.

This current plan is very different than almost all other diet plans in that it does not rely primarily on the “Habit” concept.  Its successful implementation  requires very little repetitious conduct, promotes ongoing individual variability and allows spontaneous eating decisions. This, however, is a calorie restricted diet, not an “intuitive eating” plan.

Here is a graphic
of my
Maintenance Plan

At this time, I’m choosing not to discuss the specifics of HOW I came up with this particular diet plan, nor WHY I am currently choosing to do this particular diet experiment, but I probably will do so at some future point. 

The daily maximum 900 calorie number was established because that is very close to the amount of calories that my body uses to maintain my body at my current weight. ... which is currently near the top of my Weight Range Maintenance Plan.  DietHobby has many articles discussing that issue, for one of these SEE: Projections About the Rate of Weight-Loss.

The graphic at the bottom of this page shows the basics of the Freedom in Maintenance diet plan. 

• The total amount of one day’s food is to consist of between Zero and 900 calories. 
• The amount of allowable meals in one day is between Zero and 9. 
  
• The allowable meal size is anywhere between a tiny morsel and a large meal. 
  
• The timing of the zero to 9 meals is totally random. 
  
• Every kind of food is permitted, nothing is forbidden and nothing is required. 
  
• The ONLY limitation is the 900 calorie daily restriction.
  

I will be recording pictures of some of my various Freedom in Maintenance meals in the Photo Gallery section of DietHobby (look under the heading RESOURCES)   Most of these food photos will be specific to size and measurement and also show a calorie count for that portion size.