The good side of a binge day...

jamespriley1

I don't know about anyone else, but the single biggest factor for me in losing the "log in streak" and going off the reservation seems to be a day where I know it's going to be depressing to log everything I ate on a really binge day. But last year, when I had a 100 day streak going, I logged all of my net calories every day, and my weight loss, on an excel spreadsheet -- and I came up with a benchmark ratio. Over that 100 days, I averaged 1740 net calories and I lost about 1.3 lbs a week on average. (The system set a target of 1540 calories for me a day.)

What I haven't done is establish a benchmark in the other direction, how quickly (actually slowly) I gain weight when I'm just eating anything I feel like. I think that number is probably as valuable as the other number, and you can only find that if you keep track of disaster days as well. I suspect that the difference between losing slowly and gaining slowly is pretty small, and it's helping my motivation to just not give up when I really have a bad day. I'm adding to my own personal body of science by recording what happens on the eating front, good or bad. It doesn't feel as good as actually being disciplined, but at least you know more about what your boundaries are.