When I feel empty,
when it seems that I have given all I have,
and i have nothing left to give to others.

I must fill myself
with positive thoughts and words of acceptance and hope
before I can share positivity with others.

I need to take in the words of other informed and thoughtful people,
listen to their truths, and assimilate that wisdom into myself.

This helps me refresh and rebuild myself.

This is true in all of life,
and all of life, includes doing what is needed
to lose weight and/or maintain my weight-loss,
and dealing with all of the surrounding issues that are involved
with controlling the amounts and types of my food intake.

It's all part of my ongoing Lifestyle, and my Hobby of Dieting.

For those interested, here's a link to my latest video,
"R U a Good Guest? - Ask Grandma - Episode Forty-five".
which has now been posted here at DietHobby in the GRANDMA section,
and is located in the Ask Grandma category. 

This video was taken on the patio in my back yard.  The pink flowering tree
is a stencil painting that I painted there about ten years ago.

Loving myself isn't always easy.
I have many flaws of character,
and am imperfect in innumerable ways.

 Today, I choose to accept who I am,
and love myself anyway. 

                                   
Our bodies are not Bank Accounts.
Although using financial metaphors often helps describe the dieting process, we don't get immediate feedback for calories eaten or not eaten, except from the immediate and temporary water-waste-gain-or-loss equation which is due to an excessive change in our salt intake, or our food volume.

Each of our bodies assimilates what we eat, whether it is food or a food-like substance. It uses or stores what it can, and discards, or tries to discard, what it can't.

This is a process, and it takes time. The process is complicated, involving enzymes and hormones, some of which haven't even yet been discovered. Although the process is similar for all humans, there are genetic differences between people, and this affects the way that individual bodies function.

That said, here is weight loss in a nutshell:

Eat less.


Find a calorie range for you that you can eat daily that

1.) Does not make you want to die, and

2.) Allows for a reasonable energy deficit
(meaning, you will consume moderately less than you are burning just by living and exercising).

You can start by finding out how much an "average" body like yours burns in its normal everyday state without effort. Just google: BMR and punch in your stats to get this number.  HOWEVER, this number is ONLY an estimate, and due to your own personal genetic equation, your body could easily burn far less.

Work to eat 250 calories less than that number per day.  Eating 250 calories less than your body burns every day will lead to a one-half pound per week weight loss (meaning stored fat loss)… but for most people…the scale will not reflect this loss accurately on a day-to-day basis.. and sometimes..not even on a week-to-week basis.

Move more.


Which essentially means: move more.  By move I mean move, in any way your body likes.  And by more, I mean more, as in - more than you currently do.

If you try to burn an additional 250 calories through exercise each day,  you could lose an additional one-half pound weekly.  HOWEVER, extra exercise makes the body more hungry and more tired. So if you eat a little extra because you exercised, or you spend more time resting during the rest of the day because you exercised, then exercise will be ineffective for weight-loss which is due to a release of stored fat.

Theoretically, a 500 calorie deficit will lead to 1 pound of weight loss from fat storage over a one week period. This is based on the general rule used by science: 1 lb = 3500 calories, so 7 days of burning 500 calories less than your calorie intake creates 1 lb of stored fat loss.

But CAUTION. This is a "general" rule, and the calculation is far more complicated than it appears.

Even when we weigh and measure our food, and track it in a computer program, it is impossible to calculate with precision the exact amount of calories our individual body eats, and even far less possible to precisely calculate the exact amount of calories that our individual body burns in exercise.. even when using computer exercise trackers such as a "Body Bug" etc.

Tracking food and exercise is valuable, but that information will never be precise, or totally accurate.

         Continuing is vital. 

This is what we do when we face challenges, difficulties and obstacles.

It's what we do after yet another one of those difficult days life sometimes gives us.

It's what we do after questioning ourselves as to whether we can really make it to our weight goal,
or manage to maintain our goal weight, 

or can avoid overeating at that upcoming social function, or during that life crisis.

It is, in short, the place where hard work lives.