Over the past year I have been struggling with a tear in the meniscus of my knee which has not only limited my activity in many ways when in flared up, but also has been my excuse to eat more than I should. Due to this fact I put on a fair amount of weight. Now to be fair most of that came on after I had surgery to fix the problem which was just before the Christmas season so with all the extra food I as very limited in activity through that time. By the beginning of the year I was able to return to my regular sort of workouts, and I did, starting the Turbulence Training Transformation Contest early in January.
Initially I did well with my approach of fasting one of two days a week and counting my calories near maintenance on the other days using Myfitnesspal. However, late in January and into early February we had 4 deaths in our church. The added stress, not to mention the luncheons following the funerals, resulted in a standstill on my weight loss and even a slight gain, although it was all water weight.
Looking at things following this, I realized that the stress was not going to go away for a while since I still had after care with the families of those who died, and the emotions of having people I have known and come to care for over the past 15 years no longer being around to visit. Part of the problem was I had too many options eating wise.
Now don't get me wrong, I love options. I love being able to eat what I want as long as I number 1, fit it in my calories, and number 2, fit it in my macro nutrient profile. However, when I was stressed and busy, those options became an excuse to either not log what I was eating, or make bad choices.
Enter the "One Day Diet." Not meaning a diet that does everything in one day, but one that is basically a framework for eating one day which one just continues with. http://www.getresponse.com/archive/17cheatfoods_rpt/The-ONE-Day-Diet-step-by-step-instructions-inside-9897175.html
I had received a e-mail, several actually, concerning this early in January; but had disregarded it since what I was doing was working with my life. I knew it would work. I just did not need the change. After all the deaths, I needed the change desperately. So I decided to try it. It cuts back the options, and makes it much easier to eat because I don't have to devote a lot of time to planning out my menus.
I have done it now for a little over a week, and it is working wonderfully. Took off the water weight, and I am back to losing consistently.
The lesson from this is that while pretty much any diet will work, you have to find the one that works for your life now. I will likely get back to my previous approach in the future when things get more normal, but for now, this One Day Diet works well for me. Find what works for you and do it, but don't be afraid to change it up if your situation changes.
