A Truth to Remember

By this, I do NOT mean that the SCALE keeps an accurate journal.  I mean that one's actual BODY keeps an accurate journal.  Many times here on DietHobby I've posted articles that discuss how difficult it is to actually know how many calories are in specific foods, and all of our food records are merely "best guesses".

My own practice is to do my best to accurately assess the amount of the food I'm eating, and to record that information into a computer food journal.  That program assigns a caloric value to the food, and then tells me how many calories I had that day.  Maybe it's correct.  Maybe it's not.  I've done my job to the best of my ability.

Computer programs also tell me what my body is supposed to weigh when it takes in a specific amount of calories.  These calculations are not necessarily accurate.  They are based on Averages, and that means that an individual's caloric needs might well be above or below that number.  Those computer program calculations are also only "best guesses" as they are based on the averages of the people who were in specific research studies.  There are also Outliers in every such scientific research study. People who have bodies which simply don't fit into those expected calculations.  When that happens, of course the scientists usually blame that deviation on the outlier's eating behavior.  In doing this, the Scientists are using their expected results to judge the participant's behavior, instead of giving that participant's results an equal weight of importance that they do for the people who provide them with their Expected Results. 

The body, however, is completely accurate, and it processes the food we've eaten.  It shifts water around, uses some of the food, discards some of the food, and if it doesn't need all of it immediately, stores it as fat. If the food coming in doesn't immediately provide everything the body needs, then it uses up some of that stored fat.   It's a complex process, but the basics are simple to understand. The body does what it does...regardless.

All bodies essentially function the same way, but there are small differences between individual bodies, (due to genetics and other things). So there can sometimes be differences between bodies of exactly the same size, weight, and age. Bottom line, some bodies simply require less food than other bodies.

I believe that it's up to me to do make my best efforts to manage my eating BEHAVIOR, while understanding that what my body does with the food, and my scale RESULTS, are out totally of my control.

This is the basis of my Moto:

I have the ability to control my eating BEHAVIOR,
but I have zero ability to control my body's weight RESULTS.