“I just want to live a lifestyle free from an obsession with diets”

This appears to be a common Theme among dieters.
The majority of people just want the problem to go away.


They want to eat like "normal people"
and be in the "normal" weight range.
They'd like to lose and maintain their weight
without difficulty or much thought.

Some people who are only overweight,
or just above the border of obesity, are able to do this.

Unfortunately, those who have lived with a lifetime of obesity
are unlikely to ever accomplish this...
even when the way of eating is very simple.

I am one of those people with a history of morbid obesity,
who has lost a great deal of weight,
and I have maintained my weight near my goal for the past 5 plus years.

I have found it Beneficial to incorporate
an obession with diets into my personal lifestyle,
to Embrace the Devil,
and make Dieting into an enjoyable Hobby.

With some effort, an "obsession with dieting"
can be changed from a "bad" thing, into a "good" thing.

Developing a positive mindset is a powerful life strategy.

I’ve found various positive thinking techniques to be useful.
Over time, small inspirational messages to myself, have helped me
to change the way I see the world around me,
and have helped me to Focus on those things in life that I find important and valuable.

Our words and statements about the events in our lives have a great deal of power.
The positive builds us up, heals us, and brings us joy,
while the negative
does the opposite.

Life contains both the negative and the positive.
However very few things in life are totally positive or totally negative.
Each involve personal value judgments rather than essential Truths.

I’ve learned that my own personal happiness is determined
by how much Focus I place on the positives.

 My current injury is putting this philosophy to a daily test. 

However I have frequently experienced that I  have the ability
to make myself happy through my own thoughts and behaviors.

I have been using DietPower for the past 6 1/2 years,
and I have logged in all of my food every day
during that period...ie. 2409 days.
I intend to continue using it for the rest of my life.

  During my first 16 months of DietPower use,
I lost from 190 lbs down to my goal of 115.
I have been working to maintain at or near that weight
during the 5 plus years since then.

During that time I've used a great many different diets and food plans,
but always continuing logging all my food into DietPower every day
no matter what that food plan was.
Even all my VERY HIGH-CALORIE were always logged.
I consider myself a 100% success with DietPower.
This is a Habit that proves very useful at times like now,
when my normal routine has been disturbed by an injury.
I don’t feel very well, and I have had a few higher calorie days,
but tracking my food gives me a feeling of stability, and the hope
that soon things will adjust, and I will be able to establish
a new normal, during my recovery period.

Easter has different individual meanings for many of us. 
For some of us it has great religious meaning.  
For others it means a new wardrobe and annual church attendance.
Many of us associate it with colored eggs and chocolate bunnies.
All these things symbolize a new beginning.

On Good Friday while in my yard i tripped and fell backwards on my left wrist,
breaking the two bones that connect my forearm to my wrist.
My left arm is in a temporary splint, and tomorrow it will get a cast.       
A side effect of my WLS 18 years ago is a restriction against all aspirin based drugs,
and my body's intolerance for many prescription pain killers. This currently limits me to
Tylenol for pain relief.. . . . Although I am not absolutely convinced that the ears of a
chocolate bunny would not provide additional assistance toward that goal.

Currently I must also use the one finger typing method which takes much more
time and effort.  This might result in shorter articles and comments for awhile.

I have several recipe videos already filmed, and will be posting them once a week
until they are gone.  After that there may be a delay before I can make more.

The Thinspiration Moment videos are much easier to do, and i've shot quite a few of them already,
so I don't anticipate an interruption of that function.

I am continuing to weigh daily, and to track my food.  When I get my cast, I will use that scale
number as my beginning stabilized  weight for maintenance and weight-loss. Hopefully this
will give me a small weight-loss to look forward to when my arm heals and the cast is removed.

Life happens.    Behaviors leading to Weight-loss and Maintenance need to continue
despite individual difficulties and setbacks.  Each of us goes through hard times on occasion,
and sometimes we respond with an inappropriate use of food. The same for good times.
But each day, each hour, each minute is a new beginning for us. 

 
If you expect to fail, you will.
The word “Failure”
is simply a concept meaning the Opposite of SUCCESS.

Words are the way we label concepts,
and are often very powerful.

No matter what term you use to label Failures,
it doesn't change what they are.
Failure is a label for a Concept meaning the Opposite of SUCCESS.

Many Dieters don’t like the word “failure”,
and look for different labels.
Some choose to call failures "exceptions" or "indulgences" or “cheat days”

The word “failure” is frequently used in the concept of Diets
to describe a “deviation” from the rules of that particular eating plan.
However, one might be better served to
devise rules that include an occasional “deviation”,
which would exclude that “deviation” from being a “failure”.

 Lets look at the definitions of some of these words.

Failure: to be unsuccessful.
Deviation: a noticeable departure from a rule.
Exception: a case in which a rule does not apply.
Indulge: to give free rein to, to yield to the desire of.
Cheat: to violate rules dishonestly.

Failure is the only above-listed word that conveys
the meaning of: "to be unsuccessful".
Deviation simply indicates "a departure from a rule".

However, the words “Exception”, Indulge” and “Cheat”
are not effective "replacement" labels
for the word "Failure" or for the word "Deviation".

The word Cheat means to get something by dishonesty or deception.
Cheat suggests using trickery that escapes observation.
I find the word “cheat” an especially inappropriate label to use while dieting
because it indicates an attempt to circumvent both
the need for personal ACCOUNTABILITY
as well as the need to avoid DENIAL.

In a Diet exactly WHO is one “cheating”?  
Of course, the actual answer is that one is “cheating” oneself,
and to trick or deceive oneself is to deliberately put oneself in Denial,
which is a mental method to avoid accepting responsibility for personal behavior.

The terms, "Exceptions" and "Indulgences" and “Cheat”
by definition actually give permission to noticeably depart from the rules.
Giving oneself the ability to excuse oneself from following specific rules at-will,
renders an entire Plan ineffective.

Regarding labels, there’s an old saying that one should "call a spade a spade".
It’s probably important do that.
A rule that doesn't need to be followed, is merely a suggestion.

Perhaps when dealing with the concept of Dieting,
it might be better to replace the label “rule” with the label “guideline”.

Rule: a prescribed guide for conduct or action; a regulation or law controlling conduct.
Guideline: a line by which one is guided; an indication or outline of policy or conduct.

The Bottom Line is:
You can attach many labels to the concept of Dieting.
However, no matter what label you choose to use to describe
the concept of successful BEHAVIOR within any diet or eating plan
Every minute, every day, you can choose to Succeed or to Fail.