Going off plan and "getting away with it"
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TavistockToad wrote: »HellomynameisMOM wrote: »Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....
I wouldn't even consider 2 slices "a lot".
But to answer the OP's question I think sometimes you do get away with overeating, even if you go over your maintenance calories. Just like you don't always lose the exact amount expected in a deficit, you don't always gain exactly as expected in a surplus. Weight is more than fat.
I've found that "getting away with it" has been a problem for me in the past. Sometimes I push my "getting away with it" luck too far.
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barbecuesauce wrote: »You can overeat for a few days in a row and "get away with it" if you have been on plan and get back to it. You are allowed to have a life outside of weight loss. Go on vacation, have parties, entertain weekend guests. I have done all of these and my worst case scenario has been a stall.
^ This ^
A stall for little bit is all that it usually amounts to.0 -
HellomynameisMOM wrote: »Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
I think you have to eat a whole cake or two for it to be a binge. Are your two pieces actually a cake that is supposed to serve 10-12 people?
Likely you won't gain anything from two pieces of cake over your limit unless you do it every single day. Likely you will eat less or exercise more another day and still lose the same, lose a little bit less than you would have or stay the same that week. So you can get away with going over your calorie goal sometimes and not gain weight.
I have birthday cake in my house right now.0 -
Was it chocolate cake?0
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I've actually thought about this, too...but a little different. One week, I went over maintenance by about 2,000 calories. The following week, I got back on track..and did so for the next 4-5 weeks, eating at my normal defecit. However, it was the around the third week that I noticed weight gain (not scale weight, but clothes tighter, noticeably larger stomach, thighs, etc... ).... and only the 4th and 5th weeks am I now down to feeling where i was before the abundance of calories. So, it seems like the extra calories took their time to become 'fat' , even though I was working on a deficit the weeks after.... Can anyone explain that?0
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I know you said this was a hypothetical situation but I really don't care for the term "getting away with it". It similarly rubs me the wrong way as "cheat day". What are you cheating on, and what are you getting away with?
This whole process is meant to be about making changes that help you reach your long term goals. If your long term goals include never eating cake again, then I guess those two pieces may feel like something that you expected to see negative consequences from and when you don't, you feel like you got away with something.
I prefer to not stress out about short term impacts of my choices, know that life includes opportunities to eat cake, and that eating a piece or two of cake on occasion is worth any minimal delays in reaching my long term goals.0 -
You didn't get away with it, you only made your deficit a bit smaller than normal.
Your body is the perfect calculator for you. It knows always and is never wrong if it is in deficit, surplus or maintenance. So there is no getting away with it....you just lose one OUNCE less the coming week lol
That last part is my warped sense of humor0 -
HellomynameisMOM wrote: »Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
I believe we never " get away " with anything. But since the consequences vary we often think we do.
Sticking to your example: If you eat at a decent deficit every day, you can get by with a couple of pieces of birthday cake, because seen all over a weigh-in period you probably are still below your calories, or if you just look at a week, you might have eaten at maintenance and therefore not gained, but also not lost anything. That's not bad....but it is what we pay for such splurges.
Many people think they " deserve " some kind of treat every day and don't worry if they are almost daily 250 calories over their normal amount. They don't realize that 250 extra calories ( which admittedly by themselves are not a lot ) add up to 1750 calories a week that could amount to another half pound weekly loss ( or two pounds a month and 20 plus pounds a year ). They often think they don't lose as fast as they should, but also are happy that they " get away " with their treats, which is perfectly fine, if they are aware.
And of course for many just losing marginally ( like the 0.9 pounds I so often see in news feeds) , or not losing at all is way better than gaining .
As one poster here mentioned and many have done so in other threads; our bodies know and that is why I believe that we don't get away with anything,,,,,maybe it takes a bit of time, but yes, I think we pay for our small luxuries in regard to food and it just depends how much we are willing to dish out ( pun intended ).
Also, eating a couple of slices of cake is by no means a binge. A neighbor of mine can eat a whole BD cake and six doughnuts in one evening after dinner. I call that a binge.
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LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »killerqueen21 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »HellomynameisMOM wrote: »Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....
Yep. Unless you go OVER your maintenance calories, you won't gain weight.
Even if you eat lots of cake, go over maintenance calories, and gain weight, it's still not a binge.
I wonder how people define binge? If I eat enough to feel sick, I consider it a binge. I'd feel sick after two pieces of cake. (I've gotten the impression that I don't handle sugar as well as a lot of other posters here.)
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TheOwlhouseDesigns wrote: »You didn't get away with it, you only made your deficit a bit smaller than normal.
Your body is the perfect calculator for you. It knows always and is never wrong if it is in deficit, surplus or maintenance. So there is no getting away with it....you just lose one OUNCE less the coming week lol
That last part is my warped sense of humor
This. You don't get away with it. You'll just lose less later.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »LyndseyLovesToLift wrote: »killerqueen21 wrote: »TavistockToad wrote: »HellomynameisMOM wrote: »Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....
Yep. Unless you go OVER your maintenance calories, you won't gain weight.
Even if you eat lots of cake, go over maintenance calories, and gain weight, it's still not a binge.
I wonder how people define binge? If I eat enough to feel sick, I consider it a binge. I'd feel sick after two pieces of cake. (I've gotten the impression that I don't handle sugar as well as a lot of other posters here.)
I think there are kind of two versions of binge around here. There is the casual term binge which is eating more than you planned. That could be the two pieces of cake or an extra grilled cheese. Basically eating something that shot your calories for the day.
And then there is the clinical definition of binge. I am one of those few rare that have BED. For me a binge is eating so much I am uncomfortable and still trying to eat more. It is an intense desire to return to a food even after you know you have had more than enough. It is often near or over 10,000 in a short setting.
First one isn't actually a binge, however I get what people mean when they say it.
If any of that actually makes sense.
Ah, ok...this is reminding me of a case in an Oliver Sacks-type book I read years ago and I get the difference - thanks!
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