Random thought - compensation for marginal failures?

[bonnieUK]

The Uni where I work actually gave me this idea!

When a student who normally gets good grades and has a good to high average, we have a system of applying compensation so that they pass a failed assignment. For example, if a student gets 5 marks below the pass mark on one assignment, but has passed everything else, they are given 5 bonus marks so that their record reads all passes.

Anyway, it got me wondering if this would (or would not!) be a good idea for habit tracking. i.e. Fred Bloggs has had a good string of green days, but has one red day due to a one off event (such as having an extra piece of fruit that didn't fit on a plate) they can use their compensation allowance and consider it a green day. Maybe there could be a rule that you can only use compensation once a month.

Part of me thinks this could work, but part of me things it overcomplicates things and maybe could lead to slip ups!

I'd be interested to hear what others think?

Have a great weekend, and a great 4th of July to those accross the pond

p.s. on a student record, the pass is marked differently so you can see that they passed but only because compensation was used.

[wosnes]

I think it overcomplicates things -- even though I like the idea.

[la_loser]

I think this concept is in line with what seems like my idea that I keep posting! I reposted this idea yesterday in another thread about habit tracking. It doesn't give you a "pass" for having a red day but it does help you track just how off you might have been.

My need has been to keep myself honest with my HabitCal yet wanting to have a clearer record of what I'm really doing. I have a solution that seems to be working for me. First of all, I should clarify that my issues with food have not been "bingeing" as such-like I don't think I've ever sat down with an entire carton of ice cream or eaten a giant bag of chips at one sitting. . . but I do have issues with portion size and unconscious eating/tasting while cooking/finding a "reason" to eat a little more.

I do want to have an honest record of my No S journey. Rather than do it on the daily check-ins. . .takes too long-I get so wordy (obviously!) and I don't have time to do that all the time! So I have made additional HabitCals. . . I created:

Strictly_Speaking_No_S--as per Reinhard's Fence Around the Law line of thought (I went back and copied my original NoSDiet Habitcal and deleted the original)

Not_an_Idiot_S_Day: Reserved for S days whether it's weekends of NWS days. . . to be able to track my habit of not going crazy on those days!

GREEN_Equals_Two_R_Less_S_Slips: My way of keeping track of little slips (ok-failures!) of the strictness of the diet--but so I can note whether this was a biggie or just one extra helping of one item and one healthy type snack, perhaps. . . I give myself a RED if my slip-ups were more massive!

At least by doing it by HabitCal, it's quick to record and a great visual version of my progress. And it tells a more complete story.

I still think that being able to "SEE" the reds is pretty powerful. Ouch, I say!

[bonnieUK]

My way of keeping track of little slips (ok-failures!) of the strictness of the diet--but so I can note whether this was a biggie or just one extra helping of one item and one healthy type snack, perhaps. . . I give myself a RED if my slip-ups were more massive!

Hi LA Loser,

You're right, this is a very similar concept, I think you're idea is something I'll do too, most of my red days are from small things (e.g. eating as you said a healthy type snack such as nuts) I think these should be in a different category than the massive "stuffed face with wild abandon" transgressions though I have had my fair share of those big fat red days too!

It was something like this which caused me to implement my fourth mini meal. I was having an inordinate number of red days due to having some fruit and/or nuts mid morning. I tried eating more breakfast, but don't like feeling overloaded with food first thing. So I then thought why not just make it official and call it a mini meal/second breakfast

The mini meal hasn't had an adverse affect on my weight which is good news (I think I added it several months ago).

[wosnes]

Something I've noticed as I've read about various cultures and eating -- almost no one eats three (or fewer) meals daily. If they do, it's either because food isn't available for some reason or they can't afford it. But, they don't eat junk, either.

[spleener]

Personally, the all-or-nothing approach of the diet really works for me. I've been tempted to do some similar things, but I think the whole thing can go south pretty quickly. With only three rules, I don't want to start thinking up exceptions to them. I think part of the point of having "failure" days (and even the name) is to remind ourselves that the diet wasn't followed, and look at what we need to do differently. At least for me, creating some kind of compensation rule to avoid coloring a day red feels too much like cheating.

[kccc]

The podcast on "Strictness" (which remains one of my favorites) addresses this issue. Basically, the idea of "making up" is like extending yourself credit... which is too subject to abuse. Or it becomes "retribution," which pushes you into diet-mode-thinking. (I am re-phrasing liberally from memory... )

I really, really recommend listening to this particular podcast for anyone who hasn't yet. Link here.