Anyone who has read very many of my prior posts should be aware that
I am a 5'0" tall medium-to-small-boned woman
who spent most of my adult life over 200 lbs, with a high of 271 lbs.

I have gained and lost over 100 lbs three separate times in my life.
Usually these this re-gains happened within about a 6 month time period,
simply by choosing to eat whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.

Total freedom with food exacts a high price.

There are tall, large-boned women who can be attractive
and in good physical health at 200 lbs or more.
However, I am not one of these women.

I learned to accept and love myself, (through many years of therapy)
even when I was extremely obese.
That does not mean that I liked being enormously fat.

It has taken a great deal of very hard work to arrive at my current size,
and it takes a great deal of hard work to stay here.

I am very aware . . .from my own history. . .
that if I decide to allow myself to simply eat what I want whenever I want, 
that within 6 months to a year, I again will be 200, 270, or higher.

The only thing that would stop my body's weight ascent,
would be a return to controlled eating.
Then, I would have to control what I eat. . .
…to diet. . .just to stay 200, 250, or 300 lbs.
I know for a fact that there is no limit to how many lbs I can gain.
Therefore, I remain viligent and committed.

Like everyone else, I also want to be happy, healthy and free.
But for me, freedom with food, exacts a price I no longer want to pay.
In order to stay happy and healthy, I have to be willing to limit and control my eating.

Every Diet requires limits and controls over food intake.
In a perfect world, I could eat whatever I want, whenever I want to
and my body would adapt to a reasonable size.
But this is not a perfect world.

Sometimes I see inconsistencies between different Food Authorities
about the exact calorie count of a specific food.
I don’t think there is a way to really know which one of them is the most accurate.

It is always important to remember that Calorie Counts are ALL estimates,
even when they are written in books, online, or on menus and food labels.

I don't think it makes much difference which calorie counting source one uses.
Unless the calories are listed on the labels of the foods I use,

I ordinarily use the calorie counts listed in my software food journal, DietPower,
The source of which is a National Base. If it isn't in DietPower,
and I have no food label, there then I look at Calorie King,
or some other online source for a similar type of food.

I am doing the best I can to maintain my current weight,
or lose a few pounds. The idea of calorie counting
is just to do one's best to keep track of one’s food intake.
It is impossible to be totally accurate for a great many reasons.

First, my food measurements might not always be totally accurate,
for example, when I measure out 1/4 cup of dry oatmeal,
I fill a 1/4 cup as full as it goes.
The Oatmeal label says 1/4 cup equals x calories,
but it also says 1/4 cup is x grams...
Weighing out the grams shows that 1/4 cup is Less than full.
It is a very small difference, but these things can make quite a difference over time.

Another thing to be aware of is that the FDA only requires
food labels to be up to 20% accurate.
The reason those weights and measures laws exist
is to make certain the consumer isn’t shortchanged...
that is to make certain he/she gets at least that minimum amount of food.
Almost always, an inaccuracy is going to result in the consumer
getting MORE food ….which means a HIGHER calorie count that the label says.

Furthermore, labels aren't regulated very closely,
and there is a difference in accuracy between companies.
The very large food companies tend to be no more than 20% inaccurate,
but the smaller, mom and pop companies, can easily have up to a 50% error rate.

As a further example, fruit is now bred to be both larger and sweeter
than it used to be, but the calorie counts for fruits haven’t been increased.

What this means is,
no matter how closely one watches one's calories,
one is not going to be PERFECTLY accurate.
However, careful weighing and measuring food, and keeping track
in my food journal gives me the best chance of knowing my calorie number.

Those BMR or RMR numbers given by the charts showing the number of calories
that each of us burns, are based on either the Harris-Benedict or the Mifflin formulas.
These formulas were created from Averages, and are not necessarily accurate
for any one particular individual.

No matter what the Charts say my body's calorie burn rate should be,
if, over time, I gain weight on a specific calorie number,
I have to work to eat less than that calorie number.

Maybe I'm taking in more calories than I know,
Maybe I'm burning less calories than I know,
Bottom line, if...over time... I am gaining weight,
I have to...EAT LESS and move around a bit more.

                              
There are multiple food options available to me
from supermarkets and fast foods and restaurants
and bakeries and the cooking I do at home.

I overbuy, and I overcook.
I've not been able to control these behaviors,
....although God Knows I've tried....
and this makes the issue of Food Storage essential for me.

When I was a child, I frequently heard people say that 
their eyes were bigger than their stomach.
Although, of course, I understood what the saying meant...
some of my overweight and obese relatives clearly had very large stomachs
and generally ate as much as their eyes caused them to put on their plates.
plus more.

Well... that saying  hold true for me.
What I buy and what I cook...
is far more than the amount that should go into my stomach.

Since I haven't been able to control my behavior at the initial level,
...I overbuy and I overcook.,
I've had to address it at the next level..
the level between obtaining the food and ingesting the food.
Storage involves delaying that food ingestion.

My success at weight-loss and at maintenance of that weight-loss
requires that I don't eat everything that I buy or cook.
Sometimes I have to throw food away,
but my preference is to store it away for another eating occasion.

Food Storage is a really big issue in my life,
and making that task into a simple and easy Habit
has become essential for me.

I've addressed my food storage methods in several videos
which are located under Tips & Tricks of my RECIPE section.

Dealing with Leftovers - involves storage of leftover solid foods.
More About Dealing with Leftovers - involves storage of leftover liquid type foods.
Storing Cookies - involves storage of leftover small baked items like cookies, and cookie dough.
The video below demonstrates my technique for storing fruit and cream pies.

                      
Here is a picture of the men who were in "Starvation mode
during the famous 1940s Minnesota Starvation Research project of Dr. Ancel Keys.

People online tend to throw around the term "starvation mode" quite a bit. I've done a great deal of research on this issue,and as a result of my study,  I agree with the Experts who say that "starvation mode"...as it is commonly defined...is a Dieting Myth. Starvation mode doesn't happen until one is actually starving.

Bottom line, unless you are genetically like one of those Zucker rats that Gary Taubes talks about in "Why We Get Fat And What To Do About It"if you have more body fat than the picture above, you aren't in "starvation mode".

I very much like this quote from Brad Pilon, author of Eat Stop Eat, on the Metabolism issue:

"Unless you have a degree in human biology…and in many cases even if you do…you do not understand what ‘metabolism’ means.

Eating Less Calories isn't Dangerous for your Metabolism,

This word gets thrown around the fitness and diet media and is used to scare people into thinking there is a dangerous level of calories that will destroy their metabolism. This of course is a false premise considering your ‘metabolism’ isn’t a thing that can be destroyed or sped up or slowed down (not without drugs).

“Metabolism’ is just the sum of the processes of your body on a cellular/systemic level...that’s it…that’s all it’s ever been…nothing more. So what…who cares. Why do fitness marketers keep talking about it?!  I’ll never know.

And there is virtually nothing you can do to change this. Eating at or below your actual BMR isn’t going to ‘damage’ your metabolism any more than eating above it. And speaking of which, why don’t marketers suggest that there could be ‘metabolic damage’ when people overeat!?…anyone…anyone?

Right, just what I thought, this lie doesn’t lead to lucrative weight loss products.

The following claims are false, and are your best way to know that a person is clueless about biology and physiology and nutrition if they say:

"Eating too few calories is going to ’slow’ your metabolism" (unless they’re referring to people who are starving to death…and are in fact about to die)

"That there are foods that can ‘damage’ your metabolism"

That you can speed up or slow down your metabolism (without drugs…and that this would be a good thing in either direction)

That a slow metabolism is responsible for weight gain

That a fast metabolism is responsible for weight loss

That you have any control whatsoever over your metabolic rate

That your meal timing or exercise timing can affect your metabolic rate

…and any other garbage claim you hear from any fitness marketer with the word “metabolism” in it…

If you see any of the above claims, you can be assured that the person who said them is sorely lacking in their understanding of how the body works.

If you want to lose weight…EAT LESS than you are currently eating. End of story."

 
Successful weight-loss requires establishing new eating Habits.
For successful maintenance of that weight-loss,
one must create a new “normal” which is based on those Habits.

A Habit is a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior.
Specifically here, a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition
that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance; and
an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.

Habit comes from repeated behavior.

Willpower is defined as energetic determination.

Willpower and Habit are related.
because Habits are ESTABLISHED…
i.e. brought into existence via some act of will…
…..one’s choice or determination…
and it initially takes willpower to establish a habit.