Let's Talk About: The 80/20 Rule

Basically my diet rule is this: I try my best most of the time.

I used to swear that the only thing that “worked” for me was elimination diets.  Some past diets include somewhat militant veganism, the Atkins diet, the Candida cleanse, Nutrisystem (dude, gross), gluten free (I was “intolerant”), intermittent fasting, completely swearing off sugar (including fruit!), and in my junior high years, what some might consider straight up anorexia.  Yes, all of the above did “work” for me at some point in my life, but none of them were sustainable, and I eventually gained back every pound and then some.  Each time I found a new food group to cut out, I would lose about ten to fifteen pounds, only to have it all come back (in what seemed like a matter of minutes) as soon as I got frustrated and fell off the wagon.  True story: I once gained 20 pounds over a winter… I wish I was kidding about that!

I now eat a fairly conservative 1,300-1,500 calorie a day diet (depending on how active/hungry I am that day), most of which is fairly high in protein and low in carbs and sugar.  I meal prep, I measure, and I log it all into My Fitness Pal.  About five days a week I eat only my own cooking.  This way I can be sure exactly what I am eating and know that if I go off the rails a little bit (I work in an office, sometimes there’s cookies) it’s not that big of a deal.  That being said, I really love junk food, and on the weekends I come undone.  Friday nights are for Roberta’s.  Having what some (including myself) would call the best pizza ever a block away from your house is dangerous.  It’s gotten to the point where I walk in and they know what I’m going to order.  I also appreciate a glass of wine, or a vodka soda (or four) on Friday nights.  And then there’s burritos, that’s usually my Saturday thing.. “What about Sunday morning?” you ask: everything bagel toasted with butter.  When in weekend garbage person mode I try to keep my other meals as healthy as possible (if there are any … for some reason on the weekends I tend to only eat one meal a day, which is probably terrible, but it just happens that way).  I basically spread what most people would call their cheat day into three meals over three days.  This actually works for me.  With this system I keep myself mostly in check and in enough of a calorie deficit to lose most weeks, or at the very least maintain my weight on inactive weeks, and I don’t go crazy, and most importantly, I don’t undo all of my hard work in a matter of months!  80% healthy, 20% fried things covered with cheese.

Okay, so how do you do this?  I highly recommend My Fitness Pal, or some kind of app based food log, I honestly don’t think I would have been as consistent with my diet if it were not for logging my food every day.  Also, when you first sign up, it will help you figure out your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate): this is the general amount of calories you need to consume in order to maintain your weight.  It will then ask you how much weight you want to lose per week and tell you what caloric deficit you need to maintain in order to achieve that weight loss.  For example, if it tells you that your BMR is 2,000 calories, and you want to lose 1 pound a week, you need a deficit of roughly 500 calories a day, so that means you should be eating around 1,500 calories a day.  I recommend erring on the low side of that and putting your calorie goal at a couple hundred calories under, this way you have a built in safety net of knowing that if you sneak a cookie or a handful of chocolate chips, you are not going over your goal.  Try to stick to this to the best of your ability most of the time, and you’re golden!  Like I said before, I base my calories on how active I am that day, so base your calorie goal to work with your inactive days, and add on if you're feeling hungry on active days.  Don't be afraid to mess around with your intake and see what works best for you, while in the short term you might think that eating 1,200 calories a day is going to make you lose the most weight, you might find that your body responds better to 1,500 a day (or more if you're not a cubicle dweller), you won't know until you test it out.  I find that 1,200-1,500 is what works for me.

fitness pal keeps always looks on the bright side!

That being said, I do have one rule with my “cheat meals”: don’t be an asshole.  While I wholeheartedly recommend indulging in a cheeseburger or a piece of cake every once in a while, don’t completely go to town.  Eat the burger but maybe don’t top it with bacon and onion rings, get a beer with it, and eat all the fries, practice a little restraint (maybe take home half if the thought of leaving something on the plate is too much for you to handle).  Oh, and never eat at the Cheesecake Factory.  Seriously, look it up, a single meal there is more than any one person should eat in an entire day . . . that is not a cheat meal, that's a “she don’t love herself” meal.

Measuring and prepping everything you eat definitely takes time and discipline, but it’s something you get used to.  You find your go to meals fairly quickly (I will be posting some of mine very soon), and then you turn into a meal prep machine (as I type this I am making enough hard boiled eggs and chicken cutlets to last me all week).  It becomes second nature, and something that I actually miss on weeks when I don’t have the time.

One more thing: don’t wait until Monday.  If you wait until Monday you’ll end up having what my brother and I call a “last hurrah”.  Basically you’ll give yourself license to eat like complete shit for the rest of the week and that’s not really the point of this whole thing now is it?

Okay, now go forth and meal prep!