What's Your Plan B?

robingmurphy wrote: »

Some days I wake up and hitting my nutrition goals is easy. Other days it seems so difficult. One problem I have is that if I start the day and it's feeling difficult that day - maybe I even make a decision to eat something off plan, or less nutritious - I have this habit of just losing all motivation for the day. I think I need a Plan B for those days. My Plan A is something like: Plan my foods, eat only what I plan, hit my calorie target, hit or exceed protein goals, hit fiber goals. I need to figure out on days when I'm clearly not going to hit those for whatever reason, what is Plan B. Do you have a Plan B? What is it?

If you require a lot of motivation to navigate your day you need an easier Plan A. I share the same thinking as @RelCanonical. I want a plan that is requires little to no effort or motivation to execute each day. Exceeding that plan is preferred but not required to make progress towards my goals. I do this because in the past I had an "all or nothing" mindset and it seems like you might have that tendency as well.

My goal most days is to stay within my calories. My secondary goal is to get 30 minutes of exercise. I can do both of these without leaving my home. I prefer to have some nutrient dense food in what I eat and exercise an additional amount outside of my home but those are bonuses.

Perhaps your plan A needs to be revised. To clarify, it's very easy to set objective goals on paper: hit calories, hit protein, hit fiber, hit activity, etc. However, in practice, it does not take deviation (like life) into account. If we were robotic, rigid, and predictable, there would be little to no room for variety. Which would be the reason why your plan A requires a plan B.

Maybe what you feel should be a plan B, should be your first priority. Put yourself first before numbers. Create positive strategies for yourself that allow you to feel accomplished in any given situation. If you know you rely on things going just right for you to hit a list of goals, then maybe focus on doing just one thing well from that list when nothing goes right. And if fat loss is your ultimate target, then calories will very much be the only thing you need to focus on, from a dietary standpoint.

In other words, stress management should be your plan A. Learn to be flexible and adaptive. The one guarantee in life is that you can only control what you can control: feelings, reactions, choices, food, etc. Once you feel comfortable knowing that you are responsible for your choices, regardless of what happens, you can dial it in to adding more objectives, such as hitting protein goals after calorie goals have been met, and so on.

This is something I have struggled with in the past, and I still struggle with from time to time. The perfectionist in me was very much all or nothing. I saw a quote that said giving up on your goal because of a setback is like slashing your other three tires because you got a flat. That was a great reminder for me to not self sabotage when things go wrong or write off the rest of the day. I just make the best choices I can with my circumstances and try to plan better/do better for tomorrow.

Shortgirlrunning wrote: »

Plan A is a great day - healthy,homemade meals, get a workout in, reach 10,000 steps

Today is a plan B day for me. I’m exhausted from a late night and early morning. I’m just doing my best. My focus is to stay under my calorie goal, even if it’s just frozen food because that’s what I have energy for today and get the workout in.

Every day is just about doing the best I can that day, not being perfect every day. And if I have a day that’s no good at all, whatever I move on and do better the next day.

I'm with shortgirlrunning on this.

My plan B is staying under calorie. While I usually try to eat nutritionally dense foods most of the time and hit at least 70 grams protein plus exercise at least 30 minutes, I will happily take staying under calories as a win.

I live with both depression and anxiety. I'm used to taking small achievements as wins! Some days just brushing my teeth is my only goal.

I don't have an "on plan" or "off plan"...I eat well most of the time...I also like pizza and pub grub and ice cream and chocolates, etc. What I'm doing most of the time is what matters as my health and nutrition go. Having a couple slices of pizza on Friday evening watching a movie with my family isn't going to magically erase my nutrition for they day or the week or whatever.