Do you have strict rules, or just kinda wing it?

[iomchris]

About 2/3 of the way through my second Whole30. Finished first one about six months ago, and for the first three months or so I was pretty happy with my eating habits. I occasionally ate things that are off-plan, but felt generally good about the frequency and it never seemed to lead to a chain reaction of bad decisions or anything.

Then slowly my habits got worse and worse. By the end, I was still eating significantly healthier than I was a year ago, but there was no doubt that the balance was nowhere near what I would consider ideal. Most concerning was certain unhealthy things had become regular (a daily latte, for example, or a small bit of chocolate most afternoons -- concerning both for the chocolate intake and for the reliance on a mid-afternoon pick me up).

So this time I want to have some firm strategies in place to be sure I don't find myself slipping up more and more the farther removed I get from from finishing the Whole30.

To that end, just curious how many people actually have hard and fast rules? Like, x number of off-plan meals /snacks per week, or only off-plan at restaurants, or things like that. Or how many people just sort of do it by feel and it works out? Ideally I'd rather be doing it by feel but not sure I can pull it off.

[Susan W]

I have been doing this for 3 years this August. Just wrapping up a W100 on Saturday. I rarely off road. I never do at home. When I go out I don't worry about what oils they use but I stick to grilled meats and vegetables. I do have sushi rice with sushi..probably once or twice a month. Sometimes I have a glass of wine in restaurants if I want to. Very occasionally I will have a special dessert. To make a long post short, I off road when it's worth it to me.

[JJB]

I think it's better for me to wing it. If I decide I can have x meals off-plan each month, then I might try to squeeze that in even if there isn't a real good occasion/need for it. On the other hand, if I have all x meals early in the month and I try to tell myself "no more until next month," I know all I will think about is eating those meals and it will derail me. If I try to allow it on special occasions, as they occur, I feel like I'll handle it better overall.

[Suzy]

I don't know what it is with me but my problem seems to lie with not wanting to eat healthy food as much after eating so much "fun" food. I am so bored with meat and avocados and coconut it's ridiculous. I really starting to crave different textures and sweetness after a long time on the diet. Honestly, I think the better part of my difficulty has to do with the food tasting so good and struggling with not wanting to put forth the effort to make things from scratch (like mayonnaise or chicken stock). I have a lot of different hobbies I like to pursue. Cooking is something I like to do sometimes but its not something, for me right now, that I throw my life into. I think I have my answer. I know a lot of you will tell me to try different recipes and getting excited again and that's probably what I will try to do. I, too, have been treating the whole30 like a quick diet instead of a lifestyle change. I'm starting to think that I don't need anymore whole30s but that I just need to concentrate on most of the principles of it without being "to the letter." I'm very tired of having inflammation in my body when I eat outside of the whole nine rules for a couple of days. Why isn't there some sort of easy, permanent fix?