Because of my involvement with my DietHobby YouTube Channel,
I am aware that this weekend is the start of Spring Break - Easter Vacation.

Easter and Spring both symbolize the spirit of New Beginnings. 

I want one. .. a new beginning, starting from where I am right now. 

I enjoy feeling excited about a new diet, 

that feeling of hope that THIS could be the eating plan 

that will eliminate some of my remaining body fat, and 

become a pleasant way to eat that I will want to embrace forever.

For quite a while now, I've been feeling cynical,

while patiently putting one-foot-in-front-of-the-other 

with regards to my eating lifestyle. 

This gradual weight creep here in maintenance, 

which I've previously described here at DietHobby,

has been sapping my energy and 

I've been fighting a discouraging fear that my body will return to obesity,

despite all of my years and years of consistent and continual faithful effort.

 I'm growing annoyed with the nutritional and diet "experts". 

The behaviorists, the nutritionists, and the psychologists. 

They aren't answering the questions I have, 

but continue to either

offer the conventional wisdom which is no longer working for me,

or provide unusual ways of eating that seem unworkable and foreign to me.

My search of Amazon isn't revealing any new and interesting diet books.

Sometimes, like today, I find myself questioning everything I've ever been taught.

I feel rebellious, and resentful, and depressed. 

I want to eat whatever I want, whenever I want, in whatever amounts that I want. 

 It is no wonder that Intuitive Eating Concepts are so appealing to so many people. 

In essence they say that one CAN… 

just as long as one listens carefully to their body.

But…this never works with a body that can't be trusted,

and a mind where a large part of  thinking is also distorted….

My personal answer is to continue doing what I'm doing,

until something better presents itself. 

Today I'm in a rather negative mood, but it will pass, 

and after more effort toward positive thinking,  a good mood will come.

If I  log in all my food, and do my best to keep my calories down...

when my good mood returns, 

I won't be any fatter than I am right now.  

 I 've been busy lately,
engaged with the small details of life,
together with work on the DietHobby YouTube channel,
and I've put writing articles for this DietHobby website on a back-burner.

I've been reading, and writing, and watching videos,
while I work toward keeping my calories low enough
to maintain my current weight… and even drop a bit.

But although I've been keeping my calories as low as possible,
the drop isn't happening, and even maintaining my current weight
is a real challenge, because my body seems to no longer follow
the rules that the nutrition "experts" have set in stone.

My personal experimentation with Increasing my calorie average
proves that this leads to immediate weight gain,
and which refuses to drop off even when the calorie average is lowered.

Several times, I've experimented with lowering my calorie average 250 per day,
for long lengths of time, 8 to 12 weeks, which results in an immediate 2 to 3 lb loss,
but it is only water weight, because within a week of raising my calorie average 250 a day,
returning my calorie average back up to between up to 1000 - 1150 daily,
all of the weight returns, and I find that is no net weight-loss.

This is uncharted territory, because there are no research studies
involving "reduced obese" people who have reached normal weight
are maintaining over a 100 lb weight loss for more than 7 years.
Add to that, the fact that this person ( me) has kept computer food journals of
all food eaten EVERY day for that 7 years,
while weighing, measuring & working hard to be accurate.

There is no data for my current situation, and those rules
that worked for my body in the past,-- even during the first two years
of my maintenance, don't seem to be applicable.

Somedays I find this incredibly depressing, but I am grateful
that I have a normal size body, and that I can wear lovely clothing,
and that my body is minus any major aches and pains.

It is worth the work, and the frustration.
The words of wisdom "Sing Anyway" are definitely applicable here.

Somedays,

I think about myself, my weight-loss  and maintenance efforts,
and what I need to change, and what I need to continue doing,
and I find that I have nothing that I want to say. 

 Today is one of those days.  

This ia  picture of one serving of food from my new cooking video,
Baked Potato (White or Sweet)
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES,  Mealtime.