Achieving personal weight-loss and maintenance of that weight loss is a problem for many people, including me. I tend to work off the premise that a solution exists for most problems.

General problem solving skills apply here. When I can’t find any solution for a personal problem, then I try to more clearly identify the problem, or even re-define it. Sometimes I find that my best action plan for a solution to a problem is the simple Acceptance of the Reality that an ongoing problem is likely to remain in existence throughout my lifetime.

To come up with a new approach to an old problem, it often helps to look at the problem differently. If we do the same things, we will get the same results. In my experience, when a new solution is required, one of the best things I can do is to change my perspective on the problem.

Sometimes this means looking at different graphics, or reading about new diets, or asking myself new questions. When I explore new angles of a problem, I often see something new, which will give me an idea of a new way to approach it.

How does this mental process work?

When faced with a puzzle, we solve it by first running through all of our usual obvious solutions.

First we engage our left brain by recalling the obvious tried and true solutions. Sometimes these ideas work, sometimes they don’t. As soon as our left brain has exhausted all ideas that don’t work, we get frustrated and hit the wall. The wall is the inability of our left brain to create new connections from our old ideas. We are unable to connect the old ideas with fresh ones, to find different solutions with the same methods. The only way to get unstuck is to try to see the problem in a new way.

At the point of total frustration, our right brain engages. Our right brain solves problems with images. Once the left brain has gotten out of the way in total frustration, our right brain is able to freely associate in the language that it knows: pictures. Then, it hits — the connection is made, and all of a sudden, we have a glimmer of a new idea, our mind goes off in a different direction, and things start falling into place. What we have just done is literally created a new connection in our brain.

Sometimes we don’t get an answer to our problem because we aren’t asking the right question. If we ask the same question over and over, we will most likely get the same answer. So, we need to figure out how to rephrase the question or ask a new question. Sometimes changing the wording we use is helpful, sometimes it helps to look at a different graphic.

When working with data like weight or calorie numbers, I think about how I can display or visualize that data in a new way. Looking at the same data in different formats enables me to see new things. I see different things when I look at different charts and graphics even when they reflect the same basic numbers.

Looking at the big picture often leads to a new way of seeing the problem. Sometimes zooming out, helps me realize that I’m asking the wrong question.

DietHobby, under RESOURCES, Links, Tools, contains links to some online sites which use different methods of graphing weight. I find a consistent use of these different visual aides helpful to motivate me, and these visuals often provide me with insight about my own behavior.

In my own case, one personal solution for the weight-loss and maintenance problem has become my choice to make Dieting into an ongoing, enjoyable hobby for myself. For more on this, see "Dieting Is My Hobby. Another part of the solution for me, is to ACCEPT certain personal Realities as Truth. For example:

• I will never achieve perfection in any aspect of my life;
  
• Eating the way my own body is naturally programmed to eat will cause me to be morbidly obese,
  
• At this point …and probably forever, maintaining my weight-loss requires constant, consistent monitoring of my own personal food intake;
  
• People are different, there is more than only One “Right Way”.
  

A fellow Forum Member  wrote:
 

"My calorie count needs to stay at 1200 to lose
and it has been averaging 1500.
So for now the only thing I know to try is cutting back to 2 meals a day.
This may be an every other day thing...we'll see.

At any rate I am now 12 lbs. over the top BMI for normal weight range
and have gained 8 lbs. over the summer. This can't go on."
 

What is described here is a common occurrence for those of us with older bodies who have lost and are working to maintain weight-loss. People who track their food... even during "bad" times ... can actually SEE this happening. Actually SEEING it is rather unusual, because most people in this position "give-up" and don't track, begin eating more, and regain all of their lost weight.

I am working on this same issue right now. It is very difficult to continually eat a calorie average low enough
to maintain weight-loss. I find that ..for me.. doing EXTRA exercise burns very little calories. and makes me very hungry so I wind up eating more than I've burned.

  For the past 4 weeks, I've been running another experiment with an Alternate Day Eating type of plan. My plan is more of a zig-zag, calorie cycling plan rather than one of Intermittent Fasting because I'm still eating all throughout every day... only I'm having smaller portion, lower-calorie meals totaling about half the calories on alternate days.

Success for me would be to average losing 1/4 to 1/2 lb weekly,  and get back into the blue area of my Weight Maintenance Range, (and this year I raised my maintenance range to make it run 5 lbs higher).

Due to water-weight-swings etc. it is impossible to judge weight-loss success in such a plan except over quite a lengthy time period. My stabilized weight is running about 3 lbs less than it was 4 weeks ago, but most of that drop came in the first week, and it is too soon to see whether this plan will cause weight-loss. It is also too soon to tell whether or not such a plan will be sustainable for me.

       
Below are Eight charts showing Yearly Averages of my own Daily Food Intake. Beginning 9/20/2004 through 8/8/2012  ...  an 8 year period (approx 7 years 11 months) 2880 consecutive days of detailed record keeping.

Despite low-calorie eating, one can see that my nutritional needs were adequately met during the entire 8 years. I find it personally interesting that although I experimented with a great many different "diets" and eating plans, my nutritional yearly nutritional ratio averages wound up overall being quite similar.

One CAN see slight differences in nutritional ratio due to various experimentation with various low-carb eating plans during the past 3 years in that the fat ratio increased slightly; the carb ratio decreased slightly, while the protein ratio remained fairly constant.

                                                     

FOLLOW UP NOTE: 
Be sure to read the Final SUMMARY
showing average weight and average calorie comparisons.

1st chart Below started on 9/20/2004 - therefore the yearly average is 42 days less than 1 year.

SUMMARY
9-2004 through 8-2012 
8 year period (approx 7 years 11 months)  2880 consecutive days of record keeping

Date        Weight

9/2004: --- 190.5 lbs.
8/2005: ----145.2 lbs.
Loss 45.3 lbs. - 1235 average daily calorie intake
11 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
............averaged = 480 calorie daily deficit =  making actual Total daily calorie burn 1715

8/2005: --- 145.2 lbs.
8/2006: ----108.2 lbs.
Loss 37 lbs. - 1310 average daily calorie intake
12 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
............averaged  = 359 calorie daily deficit = making actual Total daily burn 1669

8/2006: --- 108.2 lbs.
8/2007: ----110.0 lbs.
Gain 1.8 lbs. - 1442 average daily calorie intake
12 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
.............averaged = 17.5 calorie daily excess =  making actual Total daily calorie burn 1424

8/2007: --- 110.0 lbs.
8/2008: ----113.6 lbs.
Gain 3.6 lbs. - 1406 average daily calorie intake
12 month period -  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
.............averaged = 35 calorie daily excess =  making actual Total daily calorie burn 1371

8/2008: ----113.6 lbs.
8/2009: --- 116.8 lbs.
Gain 3.2 lbs. . - 1015 average daily calorie intake
12 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
............averaged = 31 calorie daily excess =  making actual Total daily calorie burn 984

8/2009: --- 116.8 lbs.
8/2010: --- 116.8 lbs.
Loss/Gain 0 lbs. . - 1069 average daily calorie intake
12 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
............averaged = 0 calorie daily excess = making actual Total daily calorie burn 1069

8/2010: ----116.8 lbs.
8/2011: ----120.0 lbs.
Gain 3.2 lbs . - 1081 average daily calorie intake
12 month period –  (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb)
...........averaged = 31 calorie daily excess =  making actual Total daily calorie burn 1050

8/2011: --- 120.0 lbs.
8/2012: ----127.0 lbs.
Gain 7 lbs . - 1149 average daily calorie intake
12 month period – (calculating 3500 calories= 1 fat lb) 
...........averaged = 68 calorie daily excess = making actual Total daily calorie burn 1081

Re: calorie intake and calorie burn calorie numbers.
Note that I am a "reduced obese" female, height 5'0", over age 60.
I am sedentary, and I do not count, or attempt to count, exercise calories.
The "Normal" calorie calculations for my personal statistics per the standard formula Charts are: 
Harris Benedict formula - BMR for sedentary = Total daily calorie burn 1400
Mifflin formula - RMR for sedentary = Total daily calorie burn 1250

My exercise activities have been:

Primarily Walking with a bit of additional Strength Training.

🔺1st year of weight-loss exercise averaged 1/2 hr daily.
🔺2nd year of weight-loss exercise averaged from 1 to 2 hrs daily.
🔺During the first 4 years of maintenance exercise averaged 1 hr daily.
🔺Past 2 years of maintenance, exercise averaged 1/2 hr daily.

NOTE that the first two years of weight-loss maintenance, my daily calorie burn went as one might expect based on my height, weight, age, and exercise. (See standard chart calculations)  But NOT during the 4 subsequent maintenance years during which there has been an "unexplainable" drop in my total daily calorie burn.

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.