Very often on the forums I see someone respond to someone who has had a blow out with something like the following...
"Ah, never mind, just flexisyn it and move on".
Now, I understand that this is supposed to make the person feel better about their binge and draw a line under it, but simply, this is NOT how Flexisynning is supposed to be used.
Flexisyns are supposed to be a way of keeping you in control of your consumption at special occasions.
They are NOT designed to be an used as an excuse to write off a bad day. If you are going to flexisyn, this needs to be planned in advance of the event or occasion and you should set yourself a maximum number of syns for that day that you will not exceed. If you get to that amount of syns, you are then supposed to switch back to free and superfree for the rest of the day.
Using flexisyns as an afterthought completely defeats the object of putting YOU in control of the plan.
It is perfectly ok to say "Ah, you had a blow out, it happens to all of us, draw a line under it and move on." It DOES happen to all of us. We do lose control from time to time, whether that be because we drank too much and thought "Ah, stuff it, tomorrow is another day, I'll order that pizza, and being as I'm out of control, may as well have the tub of ice-cream too" or because we have talked ourselves into it, convincing ourselves that it really wont matter as a one-off. Perhaps we are feeling really down and only chocolate will do, by the cupboardload.
But by default, when we head down that road, we are out of control, we lose the ability to say no to the stuff we know is not on plan.
Most importantly, there is no shame in doing so. If we feel guilty about this one-off blow out, we are far more likely to eat more rubbish through guilt and "Well, I have blown it now, I am such a loser, may as well reinforce that message by continuing to eat nonsense". This is where I suspect most of us following the plan can really lose heart and fall off plan for weeks or months.
It doesnt have to be that way, of course, we can have a blow out, a day off plan, and still have the control to get back on plan right next day. And that means, ultimately, that while we did stop off at a scenic point on route, we are still in control and heading towards our destination despite the stop.
So please, STOP suggesting that people flexisyn a blow out. They are two entirely different things and people need to start taking responsibility for their own consumption, rather than just passing it off because it doesnt matter. Of course it matters, but by passing the responsibility for the lack of self-control onto a "flexisyn" day defeats the purpose of a flexisyn day, which IS designed to keep you in control.
Be honest, if you had a blow out, say so. If someone you know had a blow out, acknowledge it, encourage them to move past it, but dont encourage them to write it off using a part of the plan that it simply doesnt apply to.
/gets off soapbox.
