My big rule: NOTHING UNPLANNED. I may not have the perfect plan, but I never, ever give into temptation. If I am going to work a 16 hour day, I decide before hand if I can skip exercise that day. If I am going to a party, I decide before hand what I am going to eat. If I decide I need to increase my calories by 100/day, I decide to do it and then wait 3 days to actually do it.

This has several advantages:

1) I am good at lying to myself/convincing myself of things in the moment. By waiting at least 72 hours--and more often, weeks--to change my routine, I know it's based on logic, not impulses.

2) I feel more successful. I don't have to be perfect, but I hate not living up to my own expectations. That feeling that I "gave in" really makes me sick.

3) "Giving in" reinforces itself. A dog can learn to sit up and beg if it gets a cookie each time. If you give yourself something yummy whenever you are weak, it encourages future weakness.

Anyway, this is my one unbreakable rule. It's been as good for my finances as for my waistline!

I can see Im the odd woman out here, and to each their own..but thought I would share.

I dont do rules. Not with food and not really with any aspect of my life. I find that I break rules. I dont do well with authority either, hehe. When I have tried to set rules in the past, it not only led to me breaking the rules, it led me to feeling guilty and like a failure for having no "will power".

Interesting - many people who know me would be a bit shocked to hear that as I am very, very disciplined.

This is the approach I take: awareness.

I try to be a very aware person, and then I do what I truly want (not just what any wild impulse says though). I didnt even become a vegetarian because I thought it was mean to kill animals or because I thought it was bad for my health. I guided myself to become extremely aware of what the entire process was from animal birth to being in my mouth - and QUICKLY stopped *wanting* to eat meat.

This, in essence, has been how Ive gotten healthy too. So sometimes I do drink my calories...and sometimes I do eat straight carbs...and sometimes I do eat after 9pm...and sometimes I dont workout x times per week...

I am not breaking my "rules" when I do those things...I just have general habits I keep because I like them and I like how I feel when I adhere to certain behaviors most of the time.

I'm toying with the idea of giving up white flour. It would create a lot less temptation for me.
Because of my IBS, there's some foods I never touch because I get so sick from them: garlic, onions, alcohol, artificial sweeteners, caffeine, most dairy products.
Because I now attend OA meetings, I don't eat peanut butter any more, or fried foods. They are trigger foods for me.
The only time I drink Sprite is when I'm sick, so I'm ok with that--it's a pretty rare occurrence.

AWESOME, just AWESOME!! I agree 100%, it's crazy strict adherence to rules that helped me FAIL about a million times dieting. "I can't have chocolate" so i have some chocolate because no one tells me what to do, even me LOL and then I've blown it so what's the point, eat a family sized chocolate bar CRAZY BUSINESS!!!

rules work for some, but for others it's a path to ruin! count me amongst them

1. Drink lots and lots of water, preferably a glass every hour or two. I never really drank soda, so it was easy to nix that, and then I decided to cut out drinking booze of any kind. Though, if I feel like I might be needing a little extra protein with a meal, I'll drink 1 cup of soy milk :>

2. Don't overeat. I watch my portions for this, breaking my plate up into 1/2 veggies, or fruit in the morning, and then 1/4 carbs and 1/4 proteins, with 1 tablespoon of a healthy fat, as well as making sure I chew each bite at least 20 times.

3. I must keep on schedule with my feedings. I must eat breakfast within one hour of waking up, then I must eat a snack three hours later, and then I must eat lunch three hours after that, another snack after another three hours, three hours later I must eat dinner, and then I must, must, *must* eat a treat for myself before the end of the day, and stop my eating at 7:30pm.

4. I must do strength training as soon as I wake up, after a quick trip to the bathroom and a glass of water, and before I can eat my breakfast.

5. And then last, work in an hour of walking/jogging a day. :>

xty,

You are not the odd one out at all! I'm specifically a calorie counter because I don't like to limit myself when I really want something as long as I fit it into the overall plan for the day. That is why my "rule" list is so small. Everything else is something that I can and do have. In fact, knowing I can have things actually prevents me from eating them. It is no longer taboo.

For certain things though, I can't control and so I made the decision to live by those rules. The great thing about rules is there is no argument with yourself and no struggle. For me, this whole weight loss journey has been finding a balance between what I can have and what I know I can't have.

First of all, good thread idea - Matt!!

Second, WOW!! very profound and thought provoking - Shmead

I'm not sure I have hard and fast 'rules' but I do have a strict routine for food and exercise and Rx.
I have a fruit and vegetables at EVERY meal.
Water is my beverage of choice.

Shmead - I Love the "wait 3 days" rule, I'm going to adopt that one!

I have no rules specific to food. I eat pasta, white bread, peanut butter and ice cream and sometimes pizza or even a buffet. For me, banning certain food groups would just make me miss them more. I've learned through repetition that physically I feel better after eating healthier foods, and I try to shoot for a fairly "balanced" diet. It's been working pretty darn well so far, but we'll see.

I do have one rule I don't break unless I have just come back from a smoky bar/club and smell terrible: No showers unless I have just exercised.

I try to skip wheat products because I am slightly allergic, but beyond that, it's game on. That's not to say that I don't have pizza, pasta, and food with a bun on occasion...just not regularly. Calorie Counter for Droid is a godsend. It makes me accountable for what I'm putting into my mouth. If I'm on the high end on calories for the day, I know it's salad for dinner.

I'm really trying to have no rules, as I'm like others who have stated they break their own rules and then the self-induced guilt round robin starts in etc. It's always so amazing to me how our psyches work.

Nonetheless, I guess my one rule is to count calories every day, and write them/enter in my program. I'm getting better every day so I guess this rule is evolutionary. The next "rule" I'm working towards is planning ahead for my calories.. but this just doesn't seem to work due to my schedule... but my awareness strenghtens daily!!

Good thread and good things to be aware of!

My only rule is that I must track my food every. single. day. Even if I screw up bad, I have to track it. If I don't it starts the downward spiral for me and I give up. It's my one indispensable tool and hard and fast rule.

I LOVE that I have rules. Love it, love it. LOVE IT!

A society without rules - chaos. Children with out rules - let's not even go there.

Back in the day, I had no rules. I had no limits, I had no boundaries. And that's what lead to disaster. DISASTER.

When I overhauled my lifestyle, I instituted many rules. Finally, I had something to keep me and my horrendous eating habits in check. I, ME, had boundaries and limits!!! It wasn't this wide open free for all. I raised my standards and required more from myself. Never mind the wonderful results of those rules, but just adhering to something, felt marvelous.

It's like before I was a person without (food) morals and values; it felt icky and dirty; shameful. Now - I am a person that doesn't put any old thing into her mouth. I have scruples and values. Again, it feels fabulous.

Love this quote from of all people Julie Andrews:
"Some people regard discipline as a chore. For me, it is a kind of order that sets me free to fly."

I agree 100% both for health and money.

I have different levels of rules. Some that I NEVER break and others that are general rules but sometimes I make exceptions:

NEVER break:

-no sugar. This is my trigger food and I just can't eat or a cookie or cake or anything. I have had bites on occasion (literally one minuscule bite) and I can't even stand the taste anymore it's too sweet. If I want something sweet I make my own with agave nectar/real maple syrup/honey.
-no "real" pop

General Rules:

-no juice/pop/diet soda... basically just water/coffee/tea
-no fried foods
-no artificial sweeteners/HFCS
-no products with while flour (but I do have sour dough bread on occasion because it's just way too good )
-cut back sweeteners in recipes by 1/2. I just can't abide by super sweet stuff anymore

Now. occasionally I cheat on my rules. I had one diet soda this week and that was the first time since... july? I do eat french fries (but baked) and sometimes as a treat I'll have seltzer water with a bit of juice. Also when we eat out I'll eat sushi with white rice on it. But we just kdon't keep those types of foods in the house, which helps a lot!

ETA: I'm working on my cracker/bread intake at the moment so this is a pseudo rule at the moment.