Operation Be Less Fat is my layman's approach to getting in better shape. I'm certainly far from ripped and don't claim to be a nutrition expert. That said, I have dropped 70 pounds over the years and figured out what has worked for me. My hope is that sharing my trials, errors, and triumphs will help others in their journeys to be less fat.

I have been holding steady just under 260. That's my lunk alarm weight. If I see the 260's I need to really tighten up the reins. I have used that strategy successfully since getting down below 300 lbs. When I see the new low like the 290's, 280's, etc, I don't want to slide back up above that new milestone.

Well, I slid into the 260's this morning. Those of you who fight the battle of the bulge know that 261 can turn into 270 pretty quickly. Maybe not those exact numbers, but you know what I mean. With a competition coming up at the end of March, I can't allow that to happen. I'd really like to hover around 257 for a "relatively" easy cut down to the 242's.

This is the first time I have fallen back into the 260's since I have switched from a ketogenic plan to more of a flexible eating approach. Upon making the switch, I have been tracking macronutrients daily. My calories are more or less the same with one exception, cheat meals.

While keto dieting, I was following Carb Nite which allowed me a 5 hour window to basically go berserk. I didn't track any of those calories. With the flexible plan, I account for all calories, even so called "cheat meals." With those meals, if my weight was low for the week, I'd allow for a set number of extra calories. Well, last night I did not. Clearly, I went overboard and paid the price on the scale.

So this morning it was time to evaluate and figure out where it all went wrong. It came to me pretty quickly. I did not have a set menu for yesterday. I pretty much set a menu every day by plugging my planned foods into myfitensspal online. I keep a good variety and stay within my calorie limit. For those of you who don't want to set a menu, I'll tell you, functioning without one makes it harder to succeed. When working with a nutrition coach, you set a menu. So doing it on your own should follow suit in my opinion. I don't go into the gym without a plan for the session, so why go unplanned with my eating.

Today's lesson, plan my menu in advance. Even if I get to reward myself, have a set plan. When I know what I'm eating I put myself on a schedule. Like after a meal, I figure how much time I have to wait until my next meal. What can I say, I'm a food addict. My favorite thing to do between meals is work on recovery. Yeah, that's called taking a nap until I get to eat again. Good times.