Easy vs. Difficult days staying on plan
 

Do you find that some days are excruciatingly difficult to stay on plan and then there are those days when it's so easy? It makes me wonder if the easy days are like those of "normal" people who don't have food addiction.

Usually, it's somewhere in between for me, but yesterday was a day when it was quite easy for me to stick to my calories and I even ended up eating a little less than usual.

I was just wondering if I"m the only one.

Some factors that make days more likely to be easy for me are:

Getting enough sleep (this is very rare for me, unforunately)
Avoiding refined sugar completely (even fructose)
Having less pain (I have chronic daily migraines)
Having less stress
Getting enough exercise
Eating enough protein, fiber and healthy fat
Drinking enough water
Being busy
Not getting too hot or to cold from weather (what can I say, I like perfection);)

I guess just wish I could have it be normal on most days rather than the other way around, but I'm grateful to be on plan and am feeling very proud of myself right now, as cheesy as that sounds, because most of the time, I do struggle a lot and manage to get through it.

luckymommy,

You have a right to be proud of yourself for each and every day on plan. :)
It looks like you know what triggers you need to avoid and what things you need to do to continue to be successful. :)

Me, I generally have no problem sticking with my daily plan once I'm in "diet mode." However, if life throws me a curve ball I'm bad to drop my diet altogether. I am an all or nothing type person in most everything I do ... even diet! I just can't do that anymore though. I'm getting older and have health issues and I'm into some insulin resistance now.

This time last year I had lost 33 lbs but then my mom got sick and I was taking care of her and then I got sick and then... 33 lbs regained plus 20! Oh my goodness!! :fr:

Like you, I have an illness that causes chronic pain. While it's tempting to try to smother that pain with comfort food I know if I do that I'll only have 5 minutes of "oh yay, it's yummy" and then 5 days of "oh no, I gained" and I don't want that!

Um, I just realized I'm rambling on about myself... :o

To answer your question... No, I don't think you are alone in having some days that are harder to stay on plan than others. Heck, half of the posts on these forums are about the daily struggles of staying on plan. ;)

"Some days are diamonds. Some days are stones."

I think it's expected to have easier days and harder days. I think it could be useful to do what you've done--identify what makes days more stressful and difficult to stay on plan.

I find to-myself-reminders and affirmations (and brainwashing) to be really helpful:

"Eating over it won't change the weather"
"My back hurts, but eating won't make it feel better"
"Cookies won't make my headache go away"

Even so, I have good days (usually structured days) and bad days (parties, mostly).

If it were easy, none of us would be struggling so much.

These days I'm kicking butt as I've had a change of mindframe. The days that are more difficult for me are when I get little sleep. I'm tired and I've used food in the past as a perk me up. Especially since I'm limiting caffeine these days so it is hard. I just remember that it is the tiredness talking and try to drink plenty of fluids and get exercise.

I completely understand the good days vs bad days, I also have chronic migraines >_<, and when I get them all I want to do is get into my pajamas, turn off all the lights and eat chocolate in the dark!

I usually catch myself on an off day before I go overboard, and have actually stuck faithfully to my diet, although I did have one day where I was licking the cap to a mason jar filled with homemade alfredo sauce before I realized what I was doing....

I've found for me that the best thing I can do for myself on an off day is find something that distracts me for a while. I'm a SAHW, on crutches, and live on the third floor, so I can't go out for a walk or anything, BUT I usually throw myself into a craft project. Personally, I love to crochet and cross stitch. A fun game I've made for myself with my very detailed cross stitch and crochet projects is that I will mark out the weight that I was when I started the project and then record what weight I was when I finished it.


Maybe, you could learn something new, whether it be crochet, jewelry making, quilting, fixing up old cars etc. Having a hobby is definitely one of the things that has kept me going on my really bad days.

Hope I've been some help!

Timely post, as I was STRUGGLING mightily to stay within calories yesterday... for no good reason. The previous day, no problemo, but yesterday I felt like I was starving. It was so bad, I complained out loud to my husband and friend, which is not like me. I also ranted about being upset with myself for being so big, since I would have to eat at a calorie deficit for likely a year instead of just a few months if I were only a little too big. I felt like a big ole whiner :/

Once I started to think about it, there WERE reasons that contributed to my struggling:

-Bad sleeping habits for several days straight, as in up too late, sleeping very late, and eating schedule way off.

-Poor planning in that I ran out of several go-to snacks/foods before my weekly grocery store trip (I go on Fridays.)

-Truth be told, I'm at my highest stress point of the summer. Kids' boredom is at maximum and it shows, and a bazillion things are coming to a head as far as preparing for orientations and school and school shopping with very little time left!

I felt better once I thought about things. Today I'm all about "action" to mitigate the effects of those three risks to my will power.

My initial smart alecky reply was going to be that every day was a hard day. And, in some ways it is because every day now requires planning, organization, and prep because I eat at home so much more than I ever have before.

But after reading these posts, it gave me pause and made me think. The bad days are when I'm really bored because I'm avoiding doing something that I should be doing like cleaning house or if I've worked really hard and just don't want to do something like fix dinner. That's when I end up fixing popcorn for dinner except that I sometimes -- not always, but too often -- defeat it by making it buttered.

So, I'd say mine are when there have been extremes in the day -- too much or too little.

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful responses. Of course I know that we all have good days and bad days but I guess I was too vague in my original post. I was trying to say that some days just feel so much easier than a usual day. Whereas most days are just so difficult. I'm coming from a place of fear because I've lost and gained the same weight so many times. I'm getting closer to goal now and whenever I think about getting there, I get so nervous about gaining and having to lose it all over again. I wish there were mostly easy days with just a few bad days but I'm definitely a food addict and I think I will have to just deal with the difficulties for the rest of my life. I'm determined....absolutely determined to never regain again. I'll keep you all posted. ;)

Absolutely! Most days are pretty easy but every once in a while I just want to slip back into old habits. And sometimes I do, but I just make sure to get back on track and keep on going.

Often there is no rhyme or reason either.

luckymommy, I've had similar thoughts myself. I don't know what triggers my "easy" days though. They seem to appear out of nowhere like magical gifts.

I have such a great time on the easy days. Some mornings I will wake up and feel like everything is so simple. The hard days are so much worse. It feels like I am never getting anywhere with all of my goals. Sometimes, when I feel that overwhelmed, I do things like try on the the clothes that are now too big or look online for opportunities to try new forms of exercise (like a new bike path, place to jog, maybe a dance class I never thought of joining before). I think more than anything, it is the monotony of doing the same stuff everyday. I just tried yoga for the first time yesterday after checking out some beginner yoga videos at the library. I am eager to try them all now since I really enjoyed it. Those are things that make the hard day better for me. :)

Definitely there are difficult and easy days. The week before my TOM is an excruciatingly difficult time for me. I want to eat, and eat lots, and I want chocolate. With that said, I just can't imagine how you manage with daily migraines. Bless your heart! And I can see by your tracker that you are doing so well! Congrats on that! I am on a new diet now that has a cheat day each week and I'm hoping that will help me mentally get through my difficult days.

I find days that i don't keep keep myself occupied it is super hard for me to stay on track. Even when i get home from work i seem to completely loose my mind and dive into food like no tomorrow. My trigger is bordem and procrastination. And yet i always fall victom to it every once and a while

The MAIN thing for me is sleep. I have a wacky work schedule and it's not uncommon for me to get less than 3 hours sleep a couple days in a row.

On those days I simply will not lose weight. Ever.

Secondly, another crazy thing that can be a bit self defeating is that, as a general rule, I keep my portion sizes really small. I like the feeling of ordering food in a restaurant and being satisfied with half or so, and giving the rest away. But, sometimes, when I am PMSing or something I am SO ravenously hungry that I can eat 3x the amount of food as normal.

Well, that makes me feel like all the work I've put into being satisfied with smaller portions is going out the window. How can I physically be able to eat so much?? Makes me feel like I'm reverting to old patterns.

But, most days, all is well :)

I also have easy days and difficult days. Some days I'm just hungrier than others, for no discernible reason, and I also have to fight the urge to overeat when I'm upset about something.

F.