We smoothly said along with the "diet" and then vacation rolls around. Or a special event. Or the holidays.
Purposefully we decide to allow ourselves some indulgences during those special days, figuring we might gain a pound or two or three, but we are not concerned. We fully intend to go right back to the weight loss food level and shed any gain and continue in our weight loss efforts.
But we get home, full of good intentions to eat less food. But...it's *so* *hard*. Aside from the obvious, why?
Well, from my reading I understand that our bodies come to expect things physiologically. Meaning that if today I eat 1000 calories for lunch, tomorrow my body will be expecting 1000 calories once again for lunch. Chemical processes beyond my control will work to make that happen. Hence, the battle. My body "demanding" a 1000 calories while I'm desiring to limit my lunch to half or less that amount.
So--I'm thinking--wouldn't it be a smart strategy to eat several smaller "meals" over the course of a day? Instead of consuming 400-500 calories at one sitting for my breakfast, eat 200-250 calories, and then mid morning have another 200-250, getting my body used to not expecting more than 250 calories per meal. This eating several small meals has been touted as a method of keeping the metabolism stoked as well.
If this is true science, then it's no wonder we find it so hard to return to pre-vacation/holiday eating levels. We are fighting nature.
When I "vacate" my diet for special times I imagine I eat around 3000 calories per day. In the future instead of consuming it "1000 calories x 3 meals", I'm going to stretch those calories out and eat them in allotments of 500 calories per meal instead, hoping that once I return home it will be easier to reduce to the weight loss level.
In the meantime I'm testing this out at home. I'm continuing my 1600 calorie per day allowance but eating several smaller meals instead of 3 larger ones. I've noted that when following intuitive eating, and checking my calorie intake at the end of a day, I am intuitively eating right around 1600 calories a day. So maybe there is something to this idea of our body expecting a repeat from the previous pattern.