I consistently record my food intake and weight data in various computer programs.  I have now been doing this consistently every day for almost eight years. ..…. as of the time of this writing, for the past 7 years and 11 months.

The Computer and software program in which I record my food is a useful TOOL. There are many such food journaling programs,  but my own personal choice (at this time) is a program called DietPower. (Update 2018: My Recommended Food Journal for beginners is now  "My Fitness Pal". My behavior of RECORDING my food intake every day forces me to stay aware of my actions, and it keeps me out of Denial. I know what I'm doing, and what I've done, and I continually face my own actions head-on.

 Sitting at the computer and entering the daily data has become a Habit which …most of the time….is an enjoyable one.  It is sometimes emotionally difficult to actually write down Everything I've eaten, but in a way it's similar to a Catholic going to Confession. My frequent input of my total food information often brings a sense of relief and sometimes even personal Absolution, a feeling of pardon or forgiveness.

I am Accountable for my eating BEHAVIOR every day, no matter what it is.
My weights are the RESULTS of my eating Behaviors, and those RESULTS are actually outside my personal control. I am responsible for the food that I put into my mouth (my behavior). I am not responsible for what the scale says (my results) because I cannot control what my body chooses to do with that food.

Therefore,

I am responsible for my Behavior, but not for my Results.

The scale is merely a TOOL that reflects the total weight of one's total body, including fat, water, bones, fecal material etc. It shows the RESULTS of my eating BEHAVIOR.

The scale is without personality. It is not a Judge and Jury of my actions, but is merely a reflection of them.
Ones individual weight on one single day might not be very accurate, but graphing many days of those individual weights gives an extremely accurate picture of the RESULTS of one's eating BEHAVIORS.

Weighing and recording ones weight every day can be emotionally difficult when the scale goes up. This is especially true when the entire weight graph shows an uphill pattern. Watching a downhill, weight-loss pattern feels very rewarding,

but watching an uphill, weight-gain pattern can feel demoralizing.
These are the times when most people choose to stop recording weights.
And, there are days when I feel very reluctant to write down what the scale says.  
There are weeks when I am very unhappy with my weight results,    and I sometimes feel that I'm having an uphill pattern that is unjustified,  but IT IS WHAT IT IS.  I cannot change what I will not face.

People who ACTUALLY keep records of their food intake ALL THE TIME, can gain a great deal of insight into the connection between their body size/weight, and their food intake.

Although I remain open to the knowledge and opinions of nutritional "experts", conventional wisdom or the knowledge and education of any such expert, cannot erase the truth that is shown in long-term detailed personal records.

Due to my consistent daily DietPower journal entries, I now have records of every day of my all of my food eaten since September 20, 2004.  This is just about 1 month short of EIGHT years of personal data.

That data is statistically correct, because all 8 years were handled by me personally, in the same manner.  I've consistently weighed and measured my food, read labels, and followed calorie counting charts.

If I've weighed and measured food incorrectly, or made calorie counting errors (which is impossible to avoid), those inadvertent errors are a consistent part of the long-term process.  Such errors would merely raise or lower the overall caloric levels but does not alter the weight/food-intake relationship.

On my ABOUT ME page here in DietHobby, under the heading RESOURCES, there are a great many links to weight charts and weight graphs showing many details of my first 5 years of personal record keeping.  If you have not done so recently, you might want to review these.  To do so, click the link above.

I also plan to soon write an article  showing detailed charts of my personal food intake, together with a SUMMARY of the relationships between my food intake and weights for the past 8 years.  Watch for it.  

                               
I'm not a Guru... a teacher or a guide, and DietHobby is not a place to find every dieting answer.
What I am is a living human being who shares my own thoughts, my experiences, and my opinions
here while I pursue my own personal hobby of dieting as a lifestyle.

I recently read: 

"Getting Information from the Internet is like taking a drink from a Fire Hydrant."

I find that so very true. There's a lot of information available here on the internet.
Something for everyone. There are hundreds, even thousands, of diet plans ... of "ways of eating"
.. including those claiming not be be "diet" plans, such as those which use intuitive eating principles...but all of which deal with the specifics of eating .. how, or when, or what to eat... often including various items and/or amounts to eat and to not eat, or when to eat or not eat.

All of them work for someone, but that someone isn't necessarily me.
Maybe that someone is you, and maybe not.
Many of them interest me, and I can enjoy learning about them.

A great many people seem to believe that an "Ultimate Answer" exists.
I'm not one of them.
My personal position is that a continual search is okay.
The process doesn't have to be an unpleasant one.

I've been fat and I didn't like it.
I didn't like having a fat body, and I don't want to be fat again.
I've worked very hard to get my body to a normal size,
and I'm willing to continue working hard to keep it there.

In a perfect world, I could eat all I wanted, of anything I wanted, whenever I wanted
and while doing that, my body would stay within a normal BMI range
...rather than spiral into morbid obesity.

It's not a perfect world, but I've learned that Dieting can become an enjoyable hobby.
It merely depends on the perspective one chooses. 
We can learn to enjoy the process, the dieting lifestyle journey,
and we don't necessarily have to find an "Ultimate Answer".

This has a lot to do with the issue of "Acceptance".
Acceptance of the reality of life the way it is, rather than the way we wish it were.

                

Like it or not, that Baby is still inside, and part of us.   

 

I grew up hearing, "If you don't have anything good to say, then say nothing."

Nevertheless...
today I spent quite a long time surfing the internet looking for weight-loss and maintenance articles
to inspire myself, but came up empty-handed. I found a great many articles,
but I wasn't inspired by them.
I suspect that this result has something to do with my own frame of mind…
...which currently is well inside the border of pessimestic.
Days like that happen for all of us … including me.

                                        
A member of a forum I frequent left me the following message:

You have a great website there.
It's very interesting to read the perspective of one of the exceptions,
who has lost a large amount of weight and kept it off.
I love your honesty about how little you have to eat to avoid regaining.
But I also find it quite scary!
I find it very difficult to imagine myself eating like you
(in terms of calorie intake and portion size) for the rest of my life.
It worries me that the amount I should eat to maintain
is actually less than the amount I'm currently eating to lose weight.
No wonder maintenance is difficult for people who have been very big!

It IS scarey how little I need to eat to maintain in the normal weight range.
Those weight charts that connect calorie needs to bodyweight
are inaccurate for a great many people...including me.

One thing that people often don't get .... is that THE REALLY SCAREY THING
is how little my body needs in order to maintain my weight ANYWHERE...
even in the morbid obesity weight range....

I didn't get to eat everything I wanted to eat whenever I wanted to eat it,
and still not gain, even at 220 or even 250 lbs.
As a short, older, sedentary woman I was only averaging around 1600 - 1800 calories a day
during that couple of years when I gained from the 160s up into the 190s.
AND my weight was still slowly climbing.

Evidence indicates that is very difficult for me to maintain at any weight.
I can choose to work to maintain in the "normal" range,
OR
I can choose to work to maintain well inside the "obesity" range.

Since I have to work hard anyway, to maintain anywhere,
If it is at all possible,
I'd rather do what it takes to weigh in the normal range.