To maintain one's current weight,
energy input needs to match energy output.

To lose weight,
energy input needs to be less than energy output.

Despite occasional contradictory statements of a few health food gurus,
and the understanding that any person's calorie numbers are estimates
depending upon many factors--and not a cut-and-dried issue--
the established scientific principle is still: Calories in, Calories out.

Each of us burns a different amount of energy (calories),
This is based on our heights, our weights, our sex, and our ages.
A smaller part of this is also based on our activity level.
Due to each of these factors most of our individual metabolisms differ.

I am a short, small, older female.
Within the past couple of years, I took a medical Resting Metabolism Rate (RMR)
computerized breathing test at a Hospital Facility.
It showed that my metabolism is NORMAL or AVERAGE for my height, weight, age, and sex:

That my "normal" "average" RMR is around 1000 daily calories, and
after adding an 1 hr or more, for 7 days a week, of intense low-impact exercise
(plus strength training) my normal daily calorie burn should be about 1400 calories.

Unfortunately, my personal calorie records do not verify this test’s results.
My own food data indicate that my entire calorie burn is a bit under 1100 calories.
and this includes both both my RMR and the activity factor together.
However that discrepancy is not the point of this discussion.
In this discussion, we can assume that these Metabolism Tests were accurate.

Looking at the food I would normally choose to eat
if I were allowed to eat 3 normal sized dinner plates of food each day,
or the equivalent of a similar food exchange program,
my calculation of the calories in 3 normal sized dinner plates
of whatever food I might like to eat is around 2000 calories daily.

 2000 Plus calories
is what some larger people need to maintain their weights.
However, 2000 minus 1400 calories equals a 600 daily calorie excess.
3500 calories = 1 fat lb.
Therefore every six days of eating in that manner
would cause me to have a fat gain of 1 lb.
365 days a year divided by 6 equals 60,
so I could gain around 60 lbs in one year by eating in this manner.
(It would actually be a bit less since this simple calculation
ignores the slight MR increase that would occur due to a weight gain.)

There are diets that use various meal size limitations,
along with other rules, as a substitute for calorie counting.
There are also many  diets that use “food exchange” charts for the same reason.
The intention is that eating in this manner will cause a "natural limitation"
of the food we eat, and result in us eating less (or at least the same) calories
as we burn up in energy.

Eating less food is good.

However, I frequently caution people who restrict calories in this manner
of this simple Truth.

 We are NOT All the same.

Although almost everyone needs to exercise conscious portion control,
How much food to eat is an individual call.
One that is based upon our sex, our age, our height, our weight,
the activities that we engage ourselves in….and our other genetic data.

We cannot all eat the exact same amounts of food
and expect to maintain our weight or to lose weight.
It simply is not physically possible.

Never completely TRUST a diet program that sells food.
I've belonged to many such diet programs,
and have benefitted from those memberships.

But in Physical matters ...(as opposed to Spiritual matters),  
Trust based on blind faith is unproductive.

It's good to take information from everyone, 

process it all.

...Then ....

use what works, and discard the rest.

Check out the mini-meals section of Recipes for
a newly posted video: Chicken Waldorf Salad,
one of the several recipes I shot before breaking my  wrist.

The Fantasy of  Intuitive Eating  is alluring.

"Eat when you're hungry."
"Eat what you like."
"Stop when you're full".

However, for most people, these instructions are totally ineffective.
These concepts of Intuitive Eating involve letting one's BODY tell one how much to eat.

While a "slightly" obese person can have a similiar MENTAL state to a morbidly obese person, the BODY of a person who has spent a few years a bit over the BMI Obesity Border, is far, far different from the BODY of a person who has spent much of their lifetime far over that border.

New HABITS can be learned, and one can gain a new MINDSET, however, the PRIMARY PROBLEM with INTUITIVE EATING ... for those who've spent lots of time  far into the weight range of Obesity or are now "Reduced Obese"
...is the difference in their BODY's Physical Responses due to their condition, or former condition.

The body responds and changes as a result of Increased weight, and many of those inner changes are not eliminated by weight-loss, or evidently....(based on the experience of myself and others)... by maintaining that weight-loss for 5 to 10 years.

One Example of this is that Fat cells are not simple storage deposits, but each one actively relates to the body continually.

Anyone who has ever been morbidly Obese, has far, far more fat cells than someone who has never been less than 50 lbs overweight, and with weight loss, fat cells shrink, but NEVER disappear.

Body changes were addressed in the research of Dr. Rudolph Leibel, M.D. who assessed the reasons for the frequent regaining of weight by reduced-obese patients. Results of that research were:

"The mean individual energy requirement of reduced-obese subjects was less than that for the control (normal-weight) subjects, despite the fact that they still weighed 60% more than the controls.

In order to maintain a reduced weight, some reduced-obese or even partially reduced patients must restrict their food intake to approximately 25% less than that anticipated on the basis of metabolic body size."

Intuitive Eating is a MENTAL process of teaching oneself to rely on the BODY's NATURAL hunger and appetites.

However, the NATURAL BODY RESPONSE of a reduced obese person provides hunger and appetite cues that are intended to return that person to their former weight.
 My position is that ....perhaps... Intuitive Eating principles MIGHT work for those who have spent a brief period of their life in the BMI "overweight" category, or even slightly over the BMI "obesity" category, but as a weight-loss, or maintenance of weight-loss tool, Intuitive Eating principles are totally ineffective for those who have spent long periods of time well into the BMI category of "Obesity".

How do I explain the Examples used by Intuitive Eating Guru Authors? My personal opinion based on my personal research is that most of those Examples are a result of wishful thinking, wild exaggeration and outright untruthfulness.

“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.