NSV: After years, I'm finally starting to learn what "moderation" means

So I'm probably about 6 years or so into a rollercoaster weight loss journey (hoping to tell that full story when I hit my GW). My downfall has always been that I would go for a period of time on a disciplined, well structured, VERY strict diet, and then end up binging under the guise of being "flexible." This could be split anywhere between discipline on the weekdays and binging on the weekends, or discipline for a few weeks and binging for a few weeks. This would inevitably result in constantly undoing my progress, and feeling like the diet equivalent of the hamster wheel "working for the weekend" mentality. It just wasn't sustainable.

Recently though, I've made some breakthroughs. I'm a pretty big guy (6'6" with a decent amount of muscle), so I've always justified ordering food in the largest size saying that it's just proportional to the person ordering it. But then I started ordering everything in medium. This made me realize I'm not really missing much - except for the doubling (or more) of calories!

Then I took it a bit further. I started preparing healthy meals on weekends and allowing myself to be a little less strict on what I eat a day or two during the week. I started paying attention to my body and eating until I'm not hungry as opposed to eating until I'm full. I started to not feel like it was weird for a big guy to ask for a to-go box at restaurants. All in the name of making a more conscious effort to realize how much was too much.

For example, this past Sunday I got Taco Bell for dinner, one of my favorites and a bit of a vice of mine in the past. I used to get four of my favorite menu items and a drink every time and the calorie count would easily rack up to 2200 or so. But this time, I only got two of my favorites and two soft tacos, keeping the calorie count under 1300. Obviously not "healthy," but a realistic improvement nonetheless (especially since my maintenance calories is around 2700 and I intermittent fast).

I know that simply enjoying things in moderation might sound like a bit of an obvious change to make, but it really took me a while to get a solid grasp on it. It makes weight loss and long term health seem much more sustainable.

submitted by /u/xDeezyz
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