Lynn, have you stopped losing? If not, then keep on doing what you're doing--it's working.
Eating at a deficit for five days and then upping cals for 2 ensures that the body doesn't think there's a shortage of food and thereby slow down metabolism (lower body temperature, less NEAT, etc). Some sort of variation of this (often called refeeds) are very common and not "roller coasters" at all.
One other thought is that if indeed you have stopped losing, you might want to consider tracking food intake even though, yes, it takes time and planning. It could be that if you stalled you're either eating more than you think you are or less. Simple fix to a simple problem.
Good luck!