but today has been great! and so i'm happy. i plan to finish the day strong and then have another good day tomorrow. i think i'll be posting daily for a little while.

how's everyone else doing today?

Great job jumping right back on the wagon! I'm doing great today, though I'm a little bummed that I'm not really going to get a workout in. Friday is my usual rest day, but I've been having such a great week that I sort of miss it.

And what do you do when you have a "bad day?" Because the harder you restrict the harder you fall off of this imaginary wagon everyone seems to believe is the saving wagon or something.

"The wagon" is just an expression for the intended eating plan. "Falling off the wagon" is just an expression for deviating from your intended plan. You seem to view restricting your eating as a bad thing, but I view having a sensible and healthful plan as a good thing.

It's good and sensible until you fall off that wagon and gain more weight than you lost. Which is what happens to about 95% of dieters, statistics don't lie. So yeah, ultimately restricting is not sensible at all.

Sometimes you have to restrict,,,,,especially since not restricting can lead to diabetes. I tried to just eat whatever I wanted when I wanted it and it led me to pre-diabetes. Ouch, I will watch it now!

Palestrina - You and I disagree, which is fine. In choosing the "wagon", it is important to choose a sustainable, satisfying, healthful program so that adhering to it is feasible. For me it is indeed restrictive; I don't intend to eat any bread, pasta, essentially anything with sugar or refined carbs. However, I find that by avoiding sugar and refined carbs routinely, and concentrating on protein and vegetables, over time my desire for the high carb foods declines. I think it is sustainable.