Arbitrariness and lack of standards | Poal: Say what you want.

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Arbitrariness and lack of standards

I've been struggling with these two topics for the past few weeks. Mostly in terms on health.

Fueling my body with healthy food is great, but I also want to eat unhealthy sometimes.

How do I draw the line somewhere? I hate not having a justifiable reason for an action.

This is what I've decided on:

7 days of healthy eating earns me 1 day of really unhealthy eating or 2 days of somewhat unhealthy eating.

Yes, these numbers 7, 1, and 2, were all arbitrarily picked, but at least it's a standard I can work with.

Any ideas to make it not arbitrary?

I've been struggling with these two topics for the past few weeks. Mostly in terms on health. Fueling my body with healthy food is great, but I also want to eat unhealthy sometimes. How do I draw the line somewhere? I *hate* not having a justifiable reason for an action. This is what I've decided on: 7 days of healthy eating earns me 1 day of really unhealthy eating or 2 days of somewhat unhealthy eating. Yes, these numbers 7, 1, and 2, were all arbitrarily picked, but at least it's a standard I can work with. Any ideas to make it not arbitrary?

[–] • 2 pts

To make it non-arbitrary, compare caloric intake, types of vitamins, minerals, etc. You may want to increase exercise on certain days to counteract lower eating standards. Consult a dietitian, or book, rather than old fogey like me.

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[–] • 1 pt

Thanks

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[–] • 1 pt

What I decided is that I would allow 10% of my calories per day to be junk. I usually spend it on a small desert. It was kinda arbitrarily chosen, but it gets me a desert each day, while still being enough that it seemed worth eating, but small enough I doubt it'll hurt anything.

Sometimes you have to start arbitrary, then refine the idea later. You may not have any logic or anything behind it, but at least it's a start, and sometimes that's all you need.

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[–] • 1 pt

Thanks.

With yours, the more healthy food you eat (in terms of calories), the more junk food you eat.

You eat 10,000 calories a day, 1,000 gets to be junk

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[–] • 1 pt

Yeah, it scales. But say I'm not working out, and I taper back my diet to 2,500 calories. That's a scoop of ice cream, or a small brownie. If I'm working out, it goes up to 3,500 calories. That gets me a small post workout celebration milkshake, or a medium sized cinnamon roll.

Gotta reward yourself every now and then. Helps to motivate. I usually don't take advantage of it, though. That's just the maximum I'll allow myself if I do indulge.