Good for you! It is hard! Anyone who thinks losing weight is not hard has never had a weight problem. If it was easy, we would all be our "ideal" weight. It does take determination and persistence, not always easy to come by but your are on the right path. Keeping busy is a terrific "tool" but like you, my hand function is not what it used to be, between arthritis and some nerve issues (carpal tunnel type) working with them for very long can be difficult. I need to push myself to work more on things I enjoy as I have been rather lax lately and doing more art/craft things would likely elevate my mood in ways cleaning house never does.
Keep up the good work! Drop in and post any time you can use some encouragement.

@DotLewis Cleaning house? What's that? I have the same problems with arthritis and carpal tunnel. Painting and knitting I find are okay, but stitching I can only do for short times. Weeding is hard on the hands, too - it's that pinching movement I think. Handicrafts are not very calorie consuming though, so I am going to try an exercise regime, too.

Mood is the most important thing for me. If I can convince myself that I am doing well and going in the right direction, it is much easier to stick to the plan. Low mood demands the wrong sort of rewards. Well done for keeping up the struggle.

@CeliaVL I agree, when my mood drops so does my resolve. I have also found that it takes a triggering event to really kick me into gear. I have "gone on a diet" more times than I can count but a large percent of them don't last past a couple weeks. When I say, "I'm going on a diet, I'm going to lose some weight" it sounds good in my head but it doesn't take hold of the whole of me. Consequently, when it begins to be a struggle, I let it go, quickly regaining the small loss I might have had.

Over the years the "trigger" events that got me to stick with it long enough to lose significant weight were the death of Karen Carpenter, who was the same age as me and died shortly before my birthday. I heard it on the radio and it hit me that if she could have a heart attack at that age, I, an overweight, sedentary person could as well. I started "jogging" the next day. Jogging is a very generous term for what I did, which was more like shuffling about 30 quick steps then walking a bit, repeat 3 times. However, I increased those steps each day and by end of summer had lost 50 pounds and ran in a 2 mile run/walk race that I didn't have to walk at all in. Sadly, when weather turned cold and snowy and there was no place for me to run inside, I let the exercise go and before long the weight began creeping back up.

The next big loss was initiated when I realized I was less than a year from my 20th HS reunion and I wanted to go to it, looking better than I ever did in high school. I restricted calories, did some Atkins, bit of this and that but very persistent and took off about 60 pounds. Went to the reunion, no one there remembered me anyway, no shock there. Did pick up a "boyfriend" and for about 6 months had a long-distance relationship but the stress of that resulted in my letting go of the better eating habits. Plus, I guess I actually achieved my goal, which was to look better for the reunion so my motivation to keep weight off wasn't there.

I do recognize that under specific circumstances I have lost weight without working at it. Those instances involved extremes of mood. A couple times it was truly happy times, things were going well, I was content with my life at the time and I was busy with things I enjoyed. And lo and behold, weight went down. Then one time it was the opposite, when my son was born he was in intensive care for 2 weeks after major surgery. His survival chances were around 20% and my ex had returned to his job out of town so I was alone. It was truly the only time I recall just not feeling like eating. Don't recommend it to anyone.

So much of this battle is fought in our heads, not in our stomachs. Getting the right mind set and keeping it can make all the difference. I am determined to maintain my loss this time as failing to do so is going to take time off my life or, even worse make a stroke more likely and I do NOT want to be in that situation. When I reach my long term goal, I WILL maintain it within a 3-4 pound range for the rest of my years. Power of positive thinking there.