I'm feeling really grateful for past experience. Now I know the following mean nothing in relation to health or weight:
*what size I feel like in my body
*what displays on the scale
*what my eyes see in the mirror
Now over the course of a month I can just float along, eating optimally, moving normally, and knowing that somedays I will feel blobbier, some days I will appear unchanged or puffier than the previous, some days the scale will say a bigger number than it did recently.
My biggest turnaround with this came with a short stint in Overeaters Anonymous. When I ate optimally and moved naturally, and was getting healthier and healthier, I bumped into those. I was blown away to discover that I can be getting healthier *and* feel blobbier on some days or look "the same as I started". In fact, I was leaner and more compact; my perceptive brain was doing tricks! Or the scale would go up instead of down, but I learned that was completely meaningless, too.
I'm down several pounds since I started my Lenten focus, but I put little weight (haha) in that, too. What's relevant is that my clothes are easier to be in, my size is again the one most comfortable to move in, my period is easy, my sleep is lovely, I feel calmer, my skin is brighter. Those are the signs I'm living well.
Ignoring the three tricks is key for me.