Getting back on track

Recognize that "pretty good on average over a day or few" is close to as effective as strict, white-knuckled consistency, and less strain on the brain?

Sure, if you're committing to calorie counting as a method, make it a point to log daily . . . good, bad, or indifferent. Your food diary is a learning tool, not a judge and jury, or a gauge of your worth as a human being. Ditto for the body weight scale. They're tools, that's it.

Log what you eat, and review it. For me, starting out, there were obvious cuts I could make: Things that weren't tasty enough to me for the calorie "cost" I was spending, and not all that important for nutrition or any other important reason. Those were easy things to reduce portions, stop eating, or eat less frequently.

Beyond those easy first steps, keep reviewing, and make changes you can to lighten things up calorie-wise without it making you miserable. Think of this as a hunt for habits you can practice until they're nearly autopilot, to stay at a healthy weight once you get there. That effort is an investment in a healthier, happier future you.

If you have a bad day or meal, don't think "I blew it, so I might as well eat whatever, and start over later". That's like going out to drive to work, discovering you have a flat tire, then poking a hole in the other 3 tires and going back to bed, planning to call the tow truck tomorrow. You wouldn't do that, right?

Get back on a sensible track as soon as you can manage, and don't try to make up for it somehow.

Instead, learn from that. Think about why it happened. Spend at most ten minutes thinking about that, plus revise your plan going forward to handle similar situations differently. Rehears that change in your head vividly, like a mini-movie, imagining the future situation, and what you'll do in that situation. Then let it go. Don't beat yourself up.

One day is a drop in the ocean. It's the majority of our days that create the majority of our results. Our routine, repeated daily habits are the power tools for successful weight management. Focus your attention there. (That's the ocean. ). That one rare day where we eat oer maintenance calories or work out for 5 hours is just a blip, compared to the rest of life.

IMO and IME, sometimes it's worth it to eat over maintenance calories, on the rare special occasion. I've done it a bunch of times during a year of loss and around 8 years of successful weight maintenance since. I'm talking about things like my birthday, holidays, visit to a really special restaurant I don't usually get to experience, even a vacation. No need to go crazy, but one over day doesn't crash the car.

Giving up is the only way to fail. Continuing, staying on track (on average), tweaking plans to work better, making incremental progress patiently and persistently: That's what success looks like.

Fancy, trendy, extreme named diets are optional. Eat foods you enjoy that add up to reasonable calories, bonus points on the health front if they also provide reasonable overall nutrition. If you can eat a food in moderation (vs. wolf down the whole bag or whatever), and you enjoy it, have a reasonable portion at some reasonable frequency, and log it. That's fine.

Ditto on the exercise front. Exercise is good for a body health-wise, and it earns a few more calories we can eat while losing at the same rate, but strictly speaking it's optional for weight loss. Think of ways you can move more that ideally are fun, but are at least tolerable and practical. That can be official exercise, or just more daily life movement. (Daily life examples: Paint the living room, take the stairs, plant a garden, park further from the door, play actively with the kids, etc.)

Don't overcomplicate this. Don't make it any harder than it has to be. This can work.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: For me, the quality of life boost from being slim (vs. obese) and more physically fit has been huuuuuge. I want other people to have that, too. You can do it.

Best wishes!