Set a very specific goal.

Losing weight requires a change in thought and behavior,
so set goals for your emotions and weight.
Don't just set vague goals like, "I want to lose some weight."
Be specific:
How much weight do you want to lose?
How do you want to feel?
Close your eyes and visualize yourself after you've reached those goals.
Use this visualization to feel commitment and inner strength.

Get a plan.

Work out a detailed strategy because willpower doesn't work!
To lose weight and keep it off, you must have a strategy.
Plan ahead.

Identify small, measurable steps.

implement steps that will fit your lifestyle, not somebody else's.
Be sure to move toward a positive goal, not just not to be fat.
Every step you take will bring you closer to being who you want to be.

Create a healthy, realistic timeline.

Don't expect to see huge results overnight;
take the time to change your lifestyle,
and you'll change your weight.

Create meaningful monitoring and accountability.

If you commit yourself
to log in all of your food into a computer software program,
you’ll know you have to face your eating behavior,
and you'll be more likely to stick with your plan.

DietHobby has active for 7 months now,
and as one can see by the archives,
during that time I’ve posted a great many articles.

Now that DietHobby is established,
I’ve decided to experiment
with a more irregular posting schedule.
My plan is to post new articles several times a week,
but not necessarily every day.

Those who’ve registered at DietHobby have the option
of receiving e-mail notices telling them
when a new Blog or News article is posted,
and if they’ve made a comment on an article,
they also receive a notice of additional comments on that article.

So, registered users who allow notification will know when I’ve posted.
Those users who haven’t registered will still see frequent posts when they check in,
and if they don’t see a new post, they can go to the Archives
and pick one of the many past articles to read.

I receive an e-mail every time someone makes a comment,
so please continue to make comments on any current or past article.

This is just one more experiment in my life of ongoing experiments.
My plan is to give myself more flexibility in my posting schedule,
and I want viewers who come here daily to know about that plan.

Sometimes I will post daily, and sometimes I will post less frequently.
This doesn't mean I'm ill, or away, or depressed or binging.
It just means that, at that moment, I need to spend my time another way.

I'm still going to be here,
and I hope you will be too. 

Recently I posted another cooking video, Creamy Crab Salad,
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES, Mealtime.
This is a low-carb recipe that is low-calorie when eaten in small amounts.

        
Consistency is a highly under-rated trait,
but it is one of the behaviors that is most necessary
for successful weight-loss and maintenance.

The definition of Consistency is:
reliability or uniformity of successive results or events
To be consistent means to constantly adhere
to the same principles, course, or form.

There are many different ways to eat,
and many different diet plans.
Most all of them will work
IF they are consistently followed.

We don’t all have to have the same diet,
or the same eating plan,
but to be successful,
we have to develop a pattern of eating
which gives us the same or less calories
as our individual body burns.

We don't always have to eat the same things,
or always eat at the same times,
or even always eat the same amounts.
But we need overall consistency
minute after minute, hour after hour,
day after day, week after week,
month after month, year after year.

When talking about weight-loss or maintenance.
I think a “lifestyle change” means that
we have to change the patterns of eating
that made us become overweight or obese,
and replace it with another, lower-calorie pattern.

This, of course, involves and requires consistency.

Gratitude is feeling or showing
an appreciation of kindness, of Thankfulness.

It is a way of recognizing
the importance of a source of pleasure.

Gratitude is an emotion that
expresses appreciation for what one has.
It is currently receiving a great deal of attention
as a facet of positive psychology.
Gratitude is what gets poured 
into the glass to make it half full.

Studies show that gratitude
not only can be deliberately cultivated
but can increase levels of well-being and happiness
among those who do cultivate it.

In addition, grateful thinking
-- and especially expression of it to others –
is associated with increased levels
of energy, optimism, and empathy.

I am grateful to each one of you who participates here
by reading or commenting or watching a video.

 Thank You.

For those who are following my “Ask Grandma” videos
click to see my latest one: “ School Bullies & Mending Relationships”
which is located in DietHobby under RESOURCES, Videos, Ask Grandma.