Feeling guilty for eating goal plus exercise calories

newlife6745

I ate a home made hamburger using 90% lean beef, a hot dog which took me to my calorie limit plus my exercise calories. I wanted to have both and planned accordingly. So why am I feelibg guilty about it? I t is the strangest feeling. I've been eating mostly clean these past three weeks and have been losing. Hating this feeling.....

leebesstoad

Rule #1: STOP BEATING YOURSELF UP!!!!!

Rule #2: Only Rule #1 matters.

You are allowed a treat. You are allowed to splurge every once in a while (okay I didn't but I'm strange and know it. I got yelled at for not treating myself). You did nothing wrong. You've been doing well so one meal isn't going to hurt you in the least bit. You probably should be treating yourself to a splurge. Most people do it weekly. So don't sweat the small stuff.

Relax. Savor what you've done already. Pat yourself on the back.

Because beating yourself up over this is the first step to stopping the journey.

tdfarmer

Because beating yourself up over this is the first step to stopping the journey.

I have to totally agree with this. I've dealt with it the past 3 months gaining back half of what I lost. Feel I'm am finally back on track this week. Yesterday being the worst with pizza. It would be easy to beat myself up, but guess what, it was only one day, and it put me at about maintenance level calories. It's all mental. Keep positive!

aliciaconcha90

Don't worry and feel guilty about it. You deserve to treat yourself.

mcibty

Agree with the above. Your body doesn't work on an exact 24 hour basis and chances are you'll hit maintenance, so no, you may not lose (depending on your deficit over the last few days, you still could), but chances are that you won't gain either.

Everyone does it, enjoy it, it's not life or death over one cheeky slip. You're allowed to have fun.

jenilla1

...So why am I feeling guilty about it? ...

Because you are still stuck in the diet mindset. You think you need to be punished while you're losing weight. Stop it!

MFP is set up to work this way. It worked perfectly for me and I've been on maintenance for over two years following the MFP "method." You eat your alotted cals PLUS exercise cals and it's OK! It's what you're supposed to do! :flowerforyou:

ETA: Not understanding why other posters are referring to this as a "slip," a "treat," or a "splurge," as if what you did was naughty. You stayed within your calories. It's all good. This is a lifestyle, not a deprivation diet.

bonelessskinless

i think of it as "handling a craving"
that food that you craved may not sound as appetizing next time, but for this time:

you ate responsibly, you planned for it, you followed through with it.

nothing wrong there

Oishii

You stayed within your limits and chose a healthier hamburger. What you did will hurt no one, not even yourself or your weightloss. There is no reason to feel any guilt as you did nothing bad. Food shouldn't make you feel guilty unless you stole it!

geebusuk

In most circumstances, from what I've seen it's probably 'healthier' to do exercise and eat 'bad' food than not do exercise and eat 'good' food.

If you're in a deficit, the body will be burning all the calories and extra food doesn't need to have lots of micronutrients as we're then talking 'fuel' - like athletes having a sugar drink etc.

My worst/best high calorie day that I've actually logged was over 5000 calories of food (had plenty higher, but not logged) - I burnt 6000 calories in total. The scales showed a drop the next day; I was happy .

newlife6745

Thank you all for the insight. It really helps getting the feedback and I will certainly keep working on that mindset.