I've wanted to do this thread for a long time, but I'm always conscious of the fact that a thread like this can basically turn into a permission-fest and we all go cut loose when we find out what other people are really doing. So please don't take this thread in this way.

The basic question is this: Which of the weight management 'rules,' either from common wisdom, your mother/family rules, 'Thin for Life', NWCR or any other source do you break? Which ones do you never break? Of the ones you break, how often and why? I'm genuinely curious which 'rules' are helpful, which are essential, and which are maybe nice to haves.

Rules I break almost always:

• I never make it a point to drink a lot of water, mostly because I think I get plenty of fluids naturally.
• I eat some kind of junk food each and every day, because I just like it so much.
• When I blow it, I generally blow it a day at a time, and not a bite, snack, meal, or binge--and yeah, I subscribe to the 'blow it' philosophy. I'll call this a personal weakness, and sleep kind of ends it and makes a fresh start for me. I do get better at this as time passes.
• I weigh myself at least twice a day, because it actually makes me more comfortable to understand the variations.
• I generally eat whatever I feel like on holidays or special occasions. They don't happen that often, and these days what I feel like is not what it used to be.

Rules I sometimes/occasionally break:

• I don't eat enough fruit or vegetables. I'll break this one when convenience is important (e.g. busy week) and I don't have my act together.
• I don't eat enough protein (from a diet/hunger management perspective). Meat isn't generally one of my favorite things.

Rules I almost never break:

• I write down everything I eat, even on 4000+ calorie days (yes, I've had a few of those), because I find it is the only way to monitor what goes in my mouth.
• I almost never drink more than 50 calories. This has changed very recently as I attempt to get some citrus in my diet, but I don't really like it. I just prefer to chew my food.
• I exercise 5-6 days a week, unless I'm sick. I like exercise.
• I have a support group (3FC), because it makes me feel less weird and alone.

I'm sure there are others I haven't thought of.

Anne

Rules I break almost always:

• I never care about how much water I drink, I already go to the bathroom way too much. I drink a lot of tea and try to drink a glass of water with lunch and dinner, that's it.
• I rarely exercise (but I know I should)
• I eat whatever time I want to. I have late dinners a lot, just because of my work hours. I could never handle the "no eating after 7 rule"

Rules I sometimes/occasionally break:

• I'm currently on a break from using Fitday to record the calories I eat - but this is probably just temporary. I always keep an estimate in my head.
• I rarely drink alcohol or order dessert, but I generally have at least 1 treat meal a week when I do both.
• Rarely drink calories (no juice - ever), but I can't give up my non fat latte habit, at least once a day usually.

Rules I almost never break:

• 5+ servings of vegetables everyday.
• No fast food, no junk food, no packaged baked goods, no ice cream.
• Menu plan on Sunday, pack healthy lunches/snacks for all 5 days of work. Go to the grocery store 2-3 times a week to keep up with all the produce.
• Weigh just once a week.
• Always take the stairs at work, never the elevator. Park on the bottom third floor of the parking garage every morning and use the stairs up to my floor. In parking lots, I park far away, just to walk.
• Aim for 100 grams of protein a day, 20% of calories from healthy fats.
• No junk food in the house.
• Always measure cereal.
• Always accountable, always try to make good decisions, always try to have a healthy option available.
• To copy Junebug below, no mayo, no white stuff.
• Always plan. I always know what I'm going to eat for every meal Mon - Fri by Sunday evening.

I don't break a lot of rules because I deliberately made rules I could keep.

The rules I break most often are: I don't drink enough water. I eat a late night snack if I'm hungry. Although I do low-carb, I have Oats twice a week and whole wheat bread at times. I drink a pot of coffee a day. A tablespoon of peanut butter goes a long way in satisfying me when sweet tooth hunger occurs. I drink a glass of Coke Zero almost every day.
Rules I sometimes break: allow myself a treat on holidays. I will occasionally share a dessert with my DH if we are dining out. Even with LC way of eating, I still check my calories and try to keep at about 1500/day range.
Rules I never break: I record my food in my home journal daily, even if it is a bad day. I don't get any of my calories from liquids that I drink. I haven't eaten white bread, white rice, potatoes or any pasta in over a year. I never use any sugar of flour in my cooking. I don't fry my food but will use a little olive oil on my veggies. I get a lot of protein. I never eat at fast food places. This took a while, but I now never let what others eat affect what I choose to eat. When I attend family get-togethers I take along allowable foods for myself so I know there will be things that I can eat.

This is a fun one! We're all such rebels, aren't we?

Rules I almost always break:

• Water for me too. I drink some but not the gallons recommended by weight loss gurus. It never made any difference to my weight loss.
• I drink a pot of coffee every day.
• I drink 1 - 2 diet sodas every day.
• I don't like most cooked veggies, so eat mine raw - but probably not enough of them.
• I eat the same things ALL THE TIME. And like it.
• I weigh myself more than once a day.
• I don't take rest days off from the gym.
• Even though I count calories, I don't permit myself to eat anything I want 'in moderation'. Moderation doesn't work for me, so there are a lot of foods I may want but simply won't allow myself to eat at all. Ever.
  
  Rules I sometimes/occasionally break:
  
• Cheating/not sticking to my plan. Sometimes I give in and eat something dreadful. But lately it's been more like eating too much of the healthy stuff. It's been an evolution from binging to eating an extra bowl of Fiber One with skim milk. But it's still excess calories and it's easy to gain weight from too much healthy food (note: PB).
• Writing down the bad stuff. If I go off track, sometimes I won't write it down.
  
  Rules I almost never break:
  
• Planning meals in advance, even if it's just in my head. I fail spectacularly when I just 'wing it'.
• Dressing on the side in restaurants.
• I don't take cheat days or days off, even on holidays or vacations. I'll have an occasional treat meal (once every month or two) but eat super clean/low-cal for the rest of the day to make up for it.
• Weighing and measuring portions. My 'eyeball' is huge when I'm hungry!
• Eat protein every three hours.
• Have more protein grams than carb grams in a day.
• Carry food with me when I'm away from home.
• Cardio every day - I shoot for an hour. Weights five days a week. It's easier for me to be consistent with exercise than with food (another way to say it is that controlling food is more of a struggle than exercising).
• No alcohol except on special occasions (like a glass of wine every month or two).
• Stopping a binge - I can now pull myself out in a very brief time. What used to be a 3000+ junk food calorie extravaganza is now down to maybe 300 - 500 calories of generally healthy stuff. I wish I could defeat this one completely though.

I do like this tread too, I thought about it all afternoon so here goes:

Rules I almost always break:

• Weigh myself daily

Rules I sometimes/occasionally break:

• Eating in the evenings, but I only have a snack of yogurt with Bran Buds before bed
• Like Meg, writing down the bad stuff. I hate to admit I screwed up, so I won’t journal that day (like today )
• Drinking my water. I feel so much better when I drink my water, I try to do it most of the time.

Rules I almost never break:

• Eating a portion of carb and protein every 3-4 hours,
• Eating 5 meals/day, sometimes 6 not too often though
• I love daily staples; oatmeal, egg whites, whey protein powder, soy milk
• Exercising 3-6 times/week
• Asking for special orders in the restaurant, like omitting the white rice or potato in a dish and adding more veggies instead, dressing on the side, switching chicken for salmon in a dish, poaching or grilling the salmon instead frying it, asking for egg white omelets... The kids roll their eyes when I ask for these types of requests
• Asking the kids to take their junk food to the basement “Out of sight, out of mind” works very well for me...
• Measure and weigh everything, it’s such a habit after 20 years I just can’t stop.
• Never drink soft drinks only water and coffee and of course wine
• I never eat at fast foods like McD’s or Wendy’s and if I do have to sit there with others I only have a salad. I’ll either eat before we go or when I come back home. The salad is just to keep me from starving. I don’t even like the chicken most of these places put on their salads ... I do break one rule here though I have about 4-5 fries from the kids, but that’s it!
• I don’t bake anymore... I broke this rule today and am I sorry, so the kids will have to go without muffins or bake themselves when I’m gone... Good golly they ARE 16 and 18!!
• I always have a protein shake before leaving for an evening out especially if we will have drinks before supper. This prevents me from nibbling on hors d’oeuvres.

I too can do this too took a while to get this one too and it's still not perfect, unfortunately....

Rules I always break:
*I eat something before bed. Like, every night.
*I still drink calories- I love lattes (non-fat ones), what can I say? My breakfast is also in liquid/juice form as well.
*I do not journal my daily intake. I've tried, it just doesn't work for me.
*I eat...a lot. I do not go hungry. That empty-stomach gurgling feeling is quite a turn off for me.
*I weigh every day. Sometimes twice to gauge fluctuations (I see a trend here).

Rules I sometimes break:
*I ocassionally go a few days without working out. It's not often, but it happens.
*Sometimes I could care less about strength training.
*I sometimes have to have a true Pepsi on ice, about once a month.
*My water intake goes in waves. Some weeks, I'm all over it. Others, I could care less. But my water bottle is always there, so I do mean well.

Rules I never break:
*I NEVER miss breakfast.
*I eat every few hours. Or every 2 hours.
*While I am careless about weight training, cardio is an absolute must.
*While I suck at recording, I'm a master planner. I can tell you exactly what I'm going to eat this week, every single day.
*I, too, am a staple food eater. I could live off of certain foods for months- egg whites, salad, fruit, lentils, etc...
*I never forget to tell the sandwich guy, "no mayo".
*No white stuff
*Forgot one.... no drive-throughs

I would just like to say thank-you for posting this thread. It sometimes seems so overwelming to fix "everything" I'm doing "wrong" in this battle. It is very interesting & reassuring to see from people who have done it what habits are the most important.

Thank-you!

Rules I almost always break:

* I drink diet coke (period)
* I eat late snacks (I eat 5-6 times a day)
* I eat candy and other junk (but in moderation)
* I weigh sometimes multiple times a day (I too find it reassuring to know how things are affected)
* I don't seriously train excercise. If my pedometer says I'm moving, I'm happy.

Rules I sometimes break:

* I eat something without knowing ahead of time what the calories/etc are if my day is busy and hectic.
* I have days where I need to eat more than others. I forgive myself (maybe after I get momentarily mad).
* Sometimes my diet isnt as balanced as I would like it to be. Other days balance this out. I'm not perfect. I accept that.

Rules I never break:
* I don't consume more than 8 oz of calorie filled liquids in a day. I'm just not interested. The rule breaker might be alcohol but I've only had that 2 times in the past year.
* Look at or at least consider a nutrition guide for each place I visit. (Even if I make bad choices, or make those choices but in smaller servings, I think and willfully make these choices).
* I log my foods. I skip a rare day and I totally skipped 4 months when I wasn't on my diet anymore, but while I am on it, I need something to give me guidance.
* I think in ingredients and servings when I am making dinner/food.
* I drink more than 8oz of water every day. Most days I get my 64 floz but anything more than the 8oz I was drinking to take my medicines before is a HUGE improvement so this has definately changed for me.
* Mayo and dressing have always been on the side.
* Unless I am out of town, I read 3FC forums everyday AND talk to my out of state real life friend weight loss buddy.
* I can now leave food on the plate when I don't want it, doesn't fit my diet and isn't a craveable food, or I'm not hungry anymore. My husband learns real quick when he cooks dinner, if there are 3 starches on the plate and no veggies I'm not eating more than 1 starch and I'm getting up to cook some veggies.
*Have a list of alternatives to my favorite calorie laden foods to help back me up. It's all good .

What a fun thread!

I break a lot of rules. 'Course my weight is up right now, but it's on its way back down!

Broken regularly:

*I eat desserts often.

*I drink alcohol several times a week.

*I have at least 3 cups of coffee every morning with sugar and skim milk.

*I eat out in restaurants several times a month and order what I want (though I tend to want things that are healthier. We tend to eat a lot of Thai, sushi, Indian, Korean, Middle Eastern, etc., and we order dishes heavy on the vegetables)

*I love to bake elaborate cakes and pies.

*Why is it a broken rule to weigh daily? Weighing daily is a very important feedback mechanism for me.


Never broken:

*Although there are fluctuations from time to time, I always return to hard exercise as my salvation for the above broken rules. In several years of maintenance there have been times I've gone 1-2 weeks without exercising (and felt crappy because of it). But in general, I work out hard, several times a week. I weight train and I do cardio hard enough to sweat and pant at least 5 days a week.

*I am always prepared to exercise. I have a gym membership near the office and another one near my house. I have 3 full sets of workout gear and makeup kit ready to go at any given time: one at home, one in my car, and one at the office.

*When I travel for work or for fun, I always take my workout gear. On business trips, I run every morning to deal with stress and to take the edge off a day that often ends with steaks and martinis!

Hmm - I sense a theme in my post. Seems that my "always brokens" deal exclusively with food and my "never brokens" deal exclusively with exercise.

This is something to think about.

I feel the same way. Working hard at the food thing this week, working on some rules I seem to be ignoring lately:

• Wait at least 15 minutes before eating off plan
• No work food! (My co-workers love to bring in stuff)

And I'm the opposite - no problems at all with eating, hate working out and have been avoiding it for almost a year.

Always break
* Exercise. 0-3x/week of walking (20 min), and an hour long yoga session each week. Not enough.
* Weekend food is never planned

Sometimes break
* I weigh erraticly, recently went back to monthly Weight Watchers weigh-ins though my "real" weigh in is at home, first thing Saturday morning, nekkid, no glasses, after going potty I just haven't been remembering to weigh in.
* Water. I love it, but sometimes get too lazy to walk 50 steps to the water cooler.
* tracking food. I tracked every day since I hit goal, except the last 3 weeks. I'm back on track now.
* Personal rule of no alcohol before eating (inhibitions loosen, and I eat more)

never break
* Breakfast every day
* Monday buy work food for the week: Fruits, veggies, dairy, portioned lunches.

I think I've been following those rules/breaking those rules in all the same way since I hit my goal weight 2 years ago.

Always break:
I drink a non-fat mocha (gulp...even with a little whip cream) at Starbucks when I go there to write. Well, it does keep me productive.

Other liquid calories: I sometimes drink a low-sodium V8 to count it as a vegetable.

Never break:
Fresh produce every single day
Take my resistance band with me when I travel and do my best to stay in hotels with decent fitness rooms.
Keep going to WW
Keep posting here--by far the best "never break" for me!

Always Break

• Eat dinner late, sometimes after 9:00 PM
• Take vacations and business trips off. Sometimes I try to make good choices, sometimes I don't even do that. I figure if I gain weight, I lost it once, I can lose it again.
• Almost always have some sort of dessert item as an after dinner snack. Usually it is low calorie (sometimes it is just a couple of pieces of sugar free candy) and usually I work it into my calories so that it doesn't cause me to go over my limit for the day.
• I eat one potato chip and one crouton per day without counting them.
• I eat bacon for breakfast on the weekends. I've done it from day one of my diet I'm going to keep doing it. I don't care if I never lose my tummy pouch because of it.
• I weight myself twice a day, sometimes three times day. I consider this restraint.

Sometimes Break

• Beverages with calories--if it weren't for alcohol this would be a rule I never break. Although alcohol is a rare treat, I do have it occassionally, even when I am otherwise on plan (and if I'm on vacation, you can be sure that all bets are off).
• Water--I've gotten better about this as I now drink only water from the hours of 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM, but I still have tea or coffee (with artificial sweetener and soy milk) in the morning and a diet soda with dinner. Man do I pee a lot. Sometimes I have to get up two or three times during the night; it's ridiculous.
• Eat processed foods, sometimes more than I should. There's a couple of lean cuisines in the freezer now and turkey/chicken sausage is a regular on our menu (it's so low in calories, how can it be so bad for me)
• I haven't broken the "no breakfast pastries" rule yet but I'm gonna break it one of these days. They sell some really yummy chocolate frosted muffins at the farmers market (I know they are yummy 'cause I buy a pastry every week from my SO and I had a bit of his) and one of these days I'm going to get me one and I'm gonna eat the whole thing (but not all at once).
• Logging everything I eat. I'm actually really good about this rule, but sometimes if I have a day off or if I allow myself a treat, I don't log it.
• I rarely order dessert at a restaurant, but if I am at a business function where dessert is served, I'm allowed to have one serving of it.

Never Break

• I exercise every day, even if on vacation or a business trip. If the day will be busy, I get up as early as necessary to get my exercise in.
• I plan out my menus on a weekly basis. When I am on plan (see note about vacations/business trips above) I don't eat anything without knowing how many calories are in it and whether or not it fits into my calories for the day.
• Eat breakfast every day (actually I've done this since I was a freshman in college, don't know how I ever survived with eating it). Breakfast during the week is very healthy (high fiber cereal and soy milk).
• Eat lots and lots fresh fruit and veggies. Spent $100 at farmers market last Saturday--that's more than I spent at the grocery store.
• Eat every few hours. This one is easy 'cause I'm hungry every few hours.
• Stay within recommended ranges for fat, protein, and carbs. When you only eat 1400 calories per day, this one is also easy.
• Measure/weight everything I eat, except for fruit samples at farmers market, the occasional cherry tomato, radishes, and raspberries.

- Barbara

Although I am not a maintainer just yet, I'll be here soon!

Always Break

• I just can't get myself into an exercise routine. I love to walk, but I get up at 4:30 and it's too dark to get out and my morning is busy getting food prepared for breakfasts and lunches and then I've got to get the kids to school before I go to work. After dinner, well, I'm just too tuckered out from my already full day.
• I weigh myself daily--it keeps me on track.
• I don't measure my food. I eyeball, but don't feel too guilty when I know my 1/2 cup is more like 3/4 cup

Sometimes Break

• I don't always chose the best food choices on the weekends (fast foods at least one meal)
• I sometimes allow myself alcohol (love the wine and try to stay away from that because one glass lends itself to another and another)
• I eat out fairly often and although I try for good choices, I sometimes give into temptation
• Diet soda perhaps once a month

Never Break

• Well, almost never--I don't eat dessert (maybe 4 or 5 times a year is all)
• Drink water--I get parched, especially when the summer temperatures are over 110.
• Stay under 1500 calories per day
• Eat whole foods and little or no processed foods and try to keep it all low fat (or at least good fats)
• No drive through's (this one is easy--our city does not allow them!!!!)LOL