I 've been busy lately,
engaged with the small details of life,
together with work on the DietHobby YouTube channel,
and I've put writing articles for this DietHobby website on a back-burner.

I've been reading, and writing, and watching videos,
while I work toward keeping my calories low enough
to maintain my current weight… and even drop a bit.

But although I've been keeping my calories as low as possible,
the drop isn't happening, and even maintaining my current weight
is a real challenge, because my body seems to no longer follow
the rules that the nutrition "experts" have set in stone.

My personal experimentation with Increasing my calorie average
proves that this leads to immediate weight gain,
and which refuses to drop off even when the calorie average is lowered.

Several times, I've experimented with lowering my calorie average 250 per day,
for long lengths of time, 8 to 12 weeks, which results in an immediate 2 to 3 lb loss,
but it is only water weight, because within a week of raising my calorie average 250 a day,
returning my calorie average back up to between up to 1000 - 1150 daily,
all of the weight returns, and I find that is no net weight-loss.

This is uncharted territory, because there are no research studies
involving "reduced obese" people who have reached normal weight
are maintaining over a 100 lb weight loss for more than 7 years.
Add to that, the fact that this person ( me) has kept computer food journals of
all food eaten EVERY day for that 7 years,
while weighing, measuring & working hard to be accurate.

There is no data for my current situation, and those rules
that worked for my body in the past,-- even during the first two years
of my maintenance, don't seem to be applicable.

Somedays I find this incredibly depressing, but I am grateful
that I have a normal size body, and that I can wear lovely clothing,
and that my body is minus any major aches and pains.

It is worth the work, and the frustration.
The words of wisdom "Sing Anyway" are definitely applicable here.

Somedays,

I think about myself, my weight-loss  and maintenance efforts,
and what I need to change, and what I need to continue doing,
and I find that I have nothing that I want to say. 

 Today is one of those days.  

This ia  picture of one serving of food from my new cooking video,
Baked Potato (White or Sweet)
which is located at DietHobby, under RECIPES,  Mealtime.

The way that I talk to myself can be helpful or hurtful.
Positive self-talk helps me reach goals.
Negative self-talk holds me back and drags me down.

I can choose to be kind to myself
through everything that I experience.

If you had a friend who talked to you
like you sometimes talk to yourself,
would you continue to hang around with that person?