From skwigg's journal: Everything has come full circle. I've basically gone back to eating and playing like I did as a kid. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Short bursts of silliness. Genuinely enjoying myself. That allowed me to be consistent enough to experience lasting results. I'd been close to this level of fitness and leanness before, but it was always for a few days at the end of months of torture. Then I'd enter a "gasping for food" stage, rebound right back up, and vow to restrict again, which is why I considered this level of leanness unrealistic and unsustainable. It was if it happened quickly as a result of restriction. It's not if I coast, yawn, and M&Ms my way there very gradually while enjoying the journey. I no longer have "good" days and "bad" days in terms of food and exercise. They're all mediocre days, not optimal, not perfect, not horrible, just aiming for the middle way over and over again.