I didn't think I did, but I think now that I do.

I'm not in the, "Well I made one bad decision today, so I guess the day is lost - let's pig out." But with diet or exercise in general. I'm either completely on plan or completely off plan.

I'm either eating right 100% of the time and exercising right 100% or not at all. So, WHEN I start to do this, I am full in. I am changing my life. I am turning over a new leaf. I will forever more eat right and exercise right - moderately, but it's the NEW ME.

But when I get derailed, eventually I get derailed 100%. It might take awhile, but eventually it does go that route. That's not the first time that's happened to me.

I'm that way with many,many things. So, it's a personality trait... but how do I retrain myself to be more forgiving and moderate?

Anyone else in that club?

All the time! I also see a lot of posts where others have the same feeling. I just try to slow down, stop and not think and then reason with myself to just try and do the best I can with something - and that I made the best decision I could with what I could do at the time. Better to be a consistent B+ than a rare A with mostly F's!

Me.

And I've been working on changing that mentality for years. I don't know if I will completely get there, but I hope I do.

Yes it is so easy to be all or nothing. I still get in really busy periods and if I stop my daily walk it seems to all fall apart and my mind turns to "off". I was like that at the end of last year bad.

I retired in December and made up my mind to be more moderate and balanced. We have a huge yard and gardens and in the spring especially I could consume as many hours out there as I choose to devote. It's in these periods of trying to finish I unhinge.

So I am absolutely emphasizing balance now. Exercise but not excessively, eat healthy 90% of the time and don't deny a single thing I really want, work a few hours in the garden at a time, divide and conquer.

I have long embraced IE, read the Tribole book when it came out almost 20 years ago and adopted quite a few principles a long time ago, but I'm doing better with it now than ever. And honestly I feel absolutely terrific. It's such a good thing, I am just determined to avoid the yo-yo pattern honestly it is past time.

*raises hand*

I used to diet and give myself a treat day every week. But it would always morph into a treat weekend. This time, no cheats until I can learn how to handle it. I want to lose 75lbs before I test those waters.

I don't know if it is "all or nothing" or just giving into compulsions even knowing what the consequences will be. In other words, I knew in the back of my mind, eating all that junk food was going to make me fat, but I just. didn't. care. Then after about 6 months it was "what?, what did I do to myself". It is like the angel and the demon on my shoulder were fighting it out and finally the angel came back. . .. hopefully the demon will stay away for good this time, but I know I have to be vigilant. There are some people who don't have these problems. . .but we do.

Not exactly in the way you describe but it is easier for me to eat 1000 calories a day than 2000. (Maintience is about 2800) In that regard, I qualify.

Massive restriction is easier than moderate for me.

I don't think I am. I like to incorporate some of both sides. That can make me feel out of place with my friends who have absolutely no regard for portions and nutrition, as well as with my friends who are super strict about their diet. I like eating pizza, burgers, ice cream, and other high calorie foods, foods that my strict friends avoid like the plague. I know those can fit in a healthy diet for me. But I also like to eat plenty of fresh produce, strive for whole foods, and have a general awareness of calories, goals that some of my other friends consider me a "health nut" for having. I think I'd feel too confined if I ever spent too long on one side?

I can be "all or nothing" though with paying attention to all the little things. I'm very short, so being a little over in calories on a regular basis and too low on physical activity adds up quickly for me and does noticeable damage on my frame. I go through phases where I'm more or less inclined to being cognizant of the little things. I'd say though that I've always eaten well about 80% of the time. It's how careless and bad I am with the other 20% that does me harm or keeps me fit.

Me and I am working on it. If I eat 200 calories more than I should, I have the impulse to forget about my plan and eat a couple of thousand more calories.

If I ever get to maintenance (hard to imagine right now after basically getting to goal to almost gaining it all back), I think I'm going to have a whopper of a time finding a middle ground.

Especially, since I found that with exercising 5 times a week HARD and eating 1500 calories a day seemed to be about maintenance and I was ALWAYS hungry. It's hard to beat that beast if always feeling I need to eat more. I'll have to work on that and tweak a lot as I get closer, which is FAR from now.

I guess I am..it shows that I have not been able to maintain my goals for more than 2 years in a row..and that I've been a 3FC chick for 11 years! :shock:

All or nothing here. If I slip up, even once, I run the risk of driving the car right off the cliff with a box of cookies in my mouth on the way down. I don't know how to fix it, if I did I guess I wouldn't be that way, huh?! But I can guarantee you that this time I am going to try to evaluate it more realistically. Maybe go for a short drive with one cookie. Just not all the way off the cliff. Hopefully I can avoid the cookies altogether. Those are the things that start the kamikaze car up. The fuel to my self destruction. I would be interested to see how many people made a switch from all or nothing and how they did it. If some people changed it, maybe it's not a personality trait that we are stuck with?

So much this.

My mom will tell me to eat a small piece of this and that, but I would rather not have it at all than to eat it and then start "remembering" the taste.

I've been trying to change my mindset but it's been hard! The days I cheat, I also have bad workouts (meaning I'll cut it short, never get my heart rate up), but when I'm netting 1000 cals, I workout hard, feel great, and have no desire to cheat. You're not alone!

1500 a day and exercising hard for maintenance does not seem right. I'm slightly shorter and perhaps around your age and I estimate that I was eating on ave 1500 a day during maintenance without exercising at all (did not actually count but would be somewhere there). I've stuck to my eating regime and after incorporating exercise for the last 6 months, I've lost around 5-6 pounds.

So if you're hungry and it's truly hunger, which could well be the case since you were exercising so much, you might want to try upping your cals this time round.

Like you i'm either on plan or off plan. But i have modified the intensity of my plan. I no longer exercise hard or even regularly. I will but later. And this time i eat more fatty foods (good fats) and have not suffered for it.

I don't bother with the idea of moderation any more. I'm just not that way inclined. I need to never eat sweets forever (except in tightly controlled conditions). I need to monitor my intake because straight intuitive eating leads me to just eating more and more eventually.

But i am now using the ideas in a book called the Don't go Hungry Diet which talks about how to manage that appetite that comes from a low calorie diet such as what you are doing. For people who don't experience hunger on a strict low cal diet, fine. What's the problem when there's no hunger? But there's no way i can manage hunger so i minimise it by keeping my calories high as i can whilst losing weight.

Right now, though, i'm procrastinating (about my work) and that's giving me an appetite - which i am managing by eating more so long as its healthy stuff. I believe the procrastination is causing my stress hormones and other body chemicals to all get out of whack. I NEED to get back on the job. Today hopefully.