Setting a Goal Weight Range - POSTED ON: Feb 20, 2011
During my weight-loss phase, I participated in a diet forum of people who posted daily weights. Observing the behavior of the others provided me with extremely helpful information. When I neared my goal weight, I decided that it was important for me to set specific Goal weights, and to make them extremely VISUAL.
So I created this Weight Maintenance Chart,
which turned out to be a very successful way to BURN specific goal-weight-range numbers into my mind and heart.
Many people have asked me how and why I chose these particular numbers, for these specific categories. My "creative" thought process went this way....
Over time, I’d learned that my body weight tends to bounce around quite a bit due to salt/water/waste issues. Three pound gains and losses are frequent. Five pound deviations are not unusual. After a 3 day vacation I can have an 8 to 10 lb up-bounce, most of which recedes after a week of eating carefully. Due to this, I decided to set myself a 10-lb maintenance weight range.
At a height of 5’0”, the "Expert" Charts said my "Healthy Weight Range" was between 95 and 128 lbs, and specifically gave 110 lbs as the most "Healthy" weight for my height and bone-structure. I chose the specific numbers from within that range which were meaningful to me.
I set my permanent Goal weight number as 115 lbs. and decided that more than 5 lbs above that number was unacceptable. Therefore I set the 4 lbs above 115 as a “lose weight” area.
I knew that, due to my love of food, dropping too far beneath my goal weight would never be a problem, however, I watched one of my 5'0" forum members, who was maintaining between 110 and 100 lbs, be continually hassled by her family and by other forum members who were worried she was going to “develop Anexoria” and allow her weight to drop too low. My own family also began making occasional remarks like: “when will you decide to stop dieting?” So I decided to clarify my entire position by setting limits for my bottom weight,as well as limits for my top weight.
The Charts singled 110 out as the ideal number for me,and my lifetime secret fantasy was to weigh 105 lbs. So I decided to set my 10 lb maintenance range between 115 and 105 lbs,. which placed 110 lbs at the mid-point of my range.
Even the positioning of my numbers have Meaning. English is read from left to right, which means thatleft is where one has been, and right is where one is going. I put my high numbers on the left and my low numbers on the right. because the high weight is my past, and the low weight is my future,
The bottom numbers of the "Healthy" Chart were 99-95 lbs so I set this 4 lb range as a "gain weight" area.
Any weight below my "gain weight area" (less than 95 lbs) is a weight that is Totally Unacceptable to me.
Any weight above my "lose weight area" (more than 119 lbs) is a weight that is Totally Unacceptable to me.
The colors I chose also have meaning for me.
Blue for the Maintenance area, because it's my favorite color. Green for the Acceptably lower area... like Go, it's okay. Red for the Lose and Gain Weight areas...like Danger or Stop. Black for outside the high and low Boundaries...like Outer Darkness.
I put all of that information into a small Chart to make it Highly Visual. I did this primarily to firmly fix my goals in my mind, but found that this also made it easy to share the details of my plan with others. During the past 5 years, this chart has proven to be a very effective tool.
My goal is to make DietHobby an interesting and informative place, rather than a boring monologue about myself.
That said...... Here's a picture of my cat, Boodie.
The Scale and the Big Picture - POSTED ON: Feb 19, 2011
The Scale is a weight-measuring tool
Body fat is only a part of the scale number. The scale measures the weight of everything in the body, including all our bones and tissues, along with the water and waste products that the body contains at the time that we step on that scale.
Eating salty foods will affect the body's salt/water/waste levels for several days. So will bowel functions. There are other functions of the body that involve the body’s water levels as well. This means that the scale will sometimes register higher numbers than it will at other times. It is the Big Picture that counts, rather than one’s weight on one individual day.
Here is an example of how the Scale can change from day to day, This is a graph that shows my own daily weights from spring 2009 thru mid February 2011. This weight range is between 109 -128 lbs. Weight bounces happen. Everyone has salt/water/waste issues. Some have them more than others. It is a RESULT, a function of the body that is essentially outside one's control.
I’ve been tracking my food and my weight in my DietPower food journal for more than six years, which has given me an enormous amount of detailed personal data. As part of my hobby, I play around with that data, making various graphs and charts.
Weight bounces are so common for me, that a perfectly consistent weight is unusual. This morning a comparison chart I’ve been running, showed something that, for my body, is remarkable. This graphic shows my weights on 2/19, for the years 2008-2009-2010-2011.
Due to my frequent bounces, the fact that each of these 4 year records show me in the same lb range on the same date is incredibly unusual. I was pleased to see this specific evidence of successful weight-loss maintenance.
If you are interested in seeing examples of day-to-day scale variations You can access a great deal of that data by going to my ABOUT ME page and clicking the links to the charts and graphs contained there.
Some of those links show my Maintenance numbers during 2006 through 2010 in detail, and show the differences between my highest weight of each month, and my lowest weight of each month. This will show you that it is common for me, during any one month, to have a bounce range of 8 or more lbs. As I am over age 60, these weight fluctuations are not due to "female monthly issues".
These links will also show you my average monthly calorie intake, and the gain/loss from the first day of each month to the last day of each month. These numbers indicate that my bounce range is not explained by calorie excess.
I’ve posted my weights daily on the DietPower Challenge Forum for many years, and shared my daily bouncing activity etc. After time, I got tired of "excusing" and "explaining" my frequent gains and losses to new forum members, and I now choose to share my weight on that forum by posting on a variable basis, but normally at least once a week. This tends to show my "stabilized" weights, instead of my extreme highs and lows. However, inside my links, I still share that average monthly data.
Weight Bounces Happen Bounces are not EFFORT or BEHAVIOR and therefore, are not under one's personal control. ...They are simply a RESULT, an OUTCOME, which is not under one’s personal control.
There could be many reasons why one’s weight bounces. One's Body Water shifts continually, due to salt and for other reasons. Sometimes when one eats very low calorie, or low carb, and engages in heavy exercise, one drops a lot of water along with fat, and one's body eventually replaces that water. At times, one's intestines sometimes contain more than other times. i.e. Salt/Water/Waste issues.
Although most of us know this in our Minds. Our hearts …emotions… have difficulty accepting that Truth. This is one basic reason why more people don't lose weight, or maintain their weight-loss.
Losing weight or maintaining weight-loss takes an enormous amount of Consistency and Patience, along with some Faith.... and personally, I often find Faith to be the most difficult.
What About the Scales? - POSTED ON: Feb 18, 2011
What about the Scales? Should I weigh? If so, how often? Should I throw my scales away?
This issue is discussed frequently by those dealing with diet and weight-loss. After a lifelong battle with food and with weight (see ABOUT ME), I’ve established what works for me.
Regarding the scales: Over the years, I have had every reaction to them possible. I've eaten because they showed a loss, and I've eaten because they showed a gain. I've eaten because they didn't move up or down. I've felt bad because they went up, I've felt good because they went down. Sometimes I've felt bad, and sometimes I've felt good, when they didn't move at all.
Over time, I tried different variations to my use of the scales. I tried weighing whenever I felt like it, even if it was many times a day. I tried weighing once a day, and once a week, and once a month. twice a day, not weighing myself, but having a club or doctor weigh me. I spent several years not weighing at all. I've bought many scales of various kinds, and I've thrown away many scales.
The scales was never the problem. I did not like the Reality of the numbers registered by them. Like many overeaters, I have a strong tendency to lie to myself. It's easy to lie to myself about how much I eat, and I can also lie to myself about how much I weigh.
In order to face reality, I have to have an objective standard. I weigh every morning after using the bathroom, but before I dress. I write that weight down. I then record that weight on charts and graphs that I keep.
I feel emotions during this process, just like I feel emotions about lots of my other daily activities. I can emotionally eat because I do or don't like the number the scale tells me or I can emotionally eat over something I hear in the morning news. ............or over anything at all..... Facts are facts, and emotions are emotions.
I continually work to avoid emotional eating, no matter what the cause. Not facing the truth of facts isn't a solution to emotional eating.
Some mornings the scale shows me up 2-3 lbs from the prior morning. I don't like that. However, I KNOW I didn't really gain 2-3 lbs of fat overnight... because I'm not a moron.
I know that it's the Big Picture that counts, rather than one individual day or one individual weight. Since it takes approximately 3500 calories above what I burn to gain 1 fat lb. I know that the calories I took in the day before wasn't even half of that. I also know that eating salty foods, will affect my body's salt/water/waste levels for several days. This means that I will register numbers higher on the scale.
Whatever the reason, when I see higher numbers on the scale, I know that for the next few days I will need to eat smaller amounts of lower calorie foods.
Do I feel frustrated by this? Am I angry and disgusted?
I hate the Reality of the fact that I cannot eat everything I want to eat, all the time.
THAT is what I feel frustrated by. THAT is what sometimes angers and disgusts me. The number on the scale just reminds me of that Truth.
My determination to stay the course and view the numbers on the scale in a positive way, and my determination to accept the Reality of the fact that I cannot eat everything I want to eat all of the time, is an ATTITUDE CHOICE, and that choice isn’t always pleasant or easy.
This is an ultimate Truth for me: I must face Reality; Change what I can; and Accept what I can't Change.
A Thousand Words AND Pictures - POSTED ON: Feb 17, 2011
Remember that old saying, “a picture’s worth a thousand words”? Text people normally communicate by using words. I think of myself as a “text person”. However, I am enamored with emoticons- which are, of course, little pictures.
My normal lifestyle doesn’t involve cameras, except on special occasions. I own a digital camera, with mega-memory, that downloads or prints easily, but I seldom even remember to take it with me when I go on vacation. When I do take it, frequently I return from my trip with blank memory cards, because I was too absorbed in experiencing the Now to record it for later.
Sometime in the 1990s, my husband gave me a video camera for Christmas. I’ve used it less than ten times, and one of those time was at my daughter’s college graduation ceremony. Although it still works, now it’s obsolete.
My-son-the-web-genius has convinced me to enter the world of pictures. DietHobby has the capability to share Videos, in the link VIDEOS under Resources. and it also contains a Gallery for still pictures. I’ve already put up some videos that I find relevant to DietHobby, and I’ll be experimenting with that section until I get a better “feel” for it.
Recently, my son came to my home with his professional camera, camcorder, and lighting equipment. He took still-pictures of me, and filmed me cooking some of my low-calorie recipes. I haven’t seen any of these pictures or videos yet. It’s been years since I’ve seen a “home movie” of myself, and I really have no idea how I will look or sound. He says I’ll see the videos after he uploads them to YouTube. However he’s kind enough to let me see the still pictures first so I can choose which ones I want to share here on DietHobby.
So, DietHobby will be A Thousand Words AND Pictures. These will involve different aspects of Dieting, will be related to that Topic, and most videos will be created by other people.
That said…here’s an Off-Topic video that I find fascinating. Nora, The Piano Cat
Welcome to my World - POSTED ON: Feb 15, 2011
I am very pleased by the positive responses I've received about the DietHobby site,since my recent announcement that it is now operational. I plan to post frequently in this ongoing blog, and also add more pictures and videos, and recipes and links and other information here in DietHobby.
As with all technical things, some glitches don't show up prior to use, so we are still working out some problems with registration and log-in, which is supposed to be required before making comments. (to avoid spammers etc)
I hope to remain responsive to viewers, and make changes in my policies as needed. Originally I was advised to exclude signatures because people's user names are supposed to automatically appear. Due to some technical registration and log-in issues, that isn't yet operating perfectly. So I made a change this morning and am asking people to PLEASE DO put their signature INSIDE their comment. Signatures. Please DO end your comment with your user name.
My understanding of the process here is: people can access and view anything on DietHobby without registering or logging in. However, before they can participate by making comments, they must register. Registering is meant to be easy, and no data gets saved or published or sold etc.
After people fill out the short registration form, they are supposed to return to their e-mail and click the link the web-site sends them. As soon as they do that, they are registered, and from them on all they have to do is log in. When someone registers, the site automatically sends an e-mail to me, telling me that I have a new registration and who it is.
I've noticed that most of the websites I normally go to log-in with a user name, However, my web-developer-genius (son) absolutely insists on using an e-mail address for log-in. This seems to be mainly because so many people get locked out because they forget their user names, and dealing with that issue is a hassle for the site-owner (me). Your e-mail address is totally confidential and no one will ever send you anything, including me, unless you give me special permission.
You can log on or off while you're on the site, but when you leave you are automatically logged off, and will need to re-log each time you return and want to make a new comment. I'm don't understand the technical reason for this, but that's the way my son says it's going to be. So, it will be helpful to me to have my online friends register, log-in, and make comments as soon as possible, because that is the way I can discover any problems of the DietHobby site. Please send me an e-mail if you have any difficulties so I can get them fixed. My e-mail address is drcollins@diethobby.com which is also posted here under CONTACTS.
All my blogs reside here in my HOME link -- including the posts re books under discussion in BOOKTALK. My oldest posted Blogs, which are numbered from 1-22, are my "Why We Get Fat" Summaries and comments. The easiest way to read and comment on these first 22 posts, is to click the link BOOKTALK. This will take you to a list of links of all those Chapter Summaries and comments making it easier to read and comment on them. My regular ongoing comments start AFTER those first 22 "Why We Get Fat" chapter summary posts, The starting date is February 7th, and Including this one, I have 9 such blogs posted so far, and will be continually adding to them. So, if you are here, and you travel backwards to read prior posts, after the February 7th post, it will be easier to leave this area and go to BOOKTALK area.
I made the "Why We Get Fat" Chapter Summaries and comments first, and lumped them all together, for easy access, because those Blogs will be highlighted for a very long time, probably at least a year. Some of my online friends from the No S Diet forum have already read my basic summary because although a primary reason for I briefing that book was to use it here in DietHobby, I first posted it in a No S Diet forum Thread for a discussion between me and a fellow No S Diet forum member,
Again, I want to remain responsive to you, my online friends, by addressing issues that will arise as we take this DietHobby journey together. Here is a link to my newly revised Comment Guidelines
Mar 01, 2021 DietHobby: A Digital Scrapbook. 2000+ Blogs and 500+ Videos in DietHobby reflect my personal experience in weight-loss and maintenance. One-size-doesn't-fit-all, and I address many ways-of-eating whenever they become interesting or applicable to me.
Jun 01, 2020 DietHobby is my Personal Blog Website. DietHobby sells nothing; posts no advertisements; accepts no contributions. It does not recommend or endorse any specific diets, ways-of-eating, lifestyles, supplements, foods, products, activities, or memberships.
May 01, 2017 DietHobby is Mobile-Friendly. Technical changes! It is now easier to view DietHobby on iPhones and other mobile devices.