Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure
I think it is a good idea to give yourself one cheat meal every 2 weeks. Eat as much as you want of anything. Usually this means people go to 5 guys and binge. Or order in pizza.
Look at is as a deload week.
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What's helped me this time around and why I've stuck with it for 6 months (and nearly 50 pounds) is that I haven't eliminated things I like to eat. The bulk of my diet is of course now healthy but every day I have a little calorie room reserved for a treat. Without that daily dose I go off the deep end pretty quick.
I also don't necessarily have a cheat day but I don't worry that much if I have a "bad" meal as I make sure I'm not having multiple bad meals and part of helping me limit those meals is the knowledge that another one will be coming soon. Again it keeps me from going off the deep end. Or at least it has.
Given I stick to what I LIKE which is a 45:30:25 type carb
rotein:fat split at the desired calorie range (for me this is about 1400 right now), when i do have a bad day I find it is less than I was eating before. I find it hard right now to go beyond 2200 calories in a day at all because to do so requires me to eat something that is typically grease-laden and that now makes me feel like complete crap. So I don't do it. Instead I'll treat myself to an extra portion of salmon or steak (I love meat) rather than get the side of fries. In fact in these 6 months I've gone past 2000 calories in a day about 10 times. Before I started I'd be shocked if I ever ate anything less than 2000 calories if I wasn't sick.
At the same time I've made some behavioural changes. I don't carry cash at all. This eliminates the trip to the vending machine at work. It also eliminates the "I'll just pop in for donut" impulse type stuff because I won't use credit or debit for a 74 cent donut. It takes some extra time as well. I spend a good 4-5 hours on Saturday/Sunday shopping and preparing food for the week ahead. I pack what I need for the day the night before so i don't need to think about it in the morning. Etc.
Thus far it's working. But with all fat people trying to lose weight I can't guarantee it'll always work and I'll end up with a win at the end of this, because as has been shown your body really wants you to go back to what it was. It's a fight that's for sure. And it isn't easy so if it works for you then keep doing it.