How do I forgive myself for overeating?

May33338
May33338 Posts: 300 Member
edited March 2016 in Health and Weight Loss
I have in the past 40 days lost 10 pounds and have been enjoying the process of learning how to eat more reasonable portions and making better choices. I've also been exercising and keeping active in every way possible.

I felt really sad and low yesterday because a bunch of stuff was stressing me out and i ended up eating a total of 4000 calories.
My daily intake is usually 1400 calories because I'm very short.

I got back on track today and went straight back to the same workout routine and ate around 1400 calories today, but I feel really bad because I feel like I've let myself down and I can't help feeling ashamed of myself for what happened yesterday.

I know I can't have gained anything more then a pound, but seeing the 4 pounds gain of fat and water weight makes me feel so badly.

How do you deal with feeling low after overeating?

Replies

  • Buff_Man
    Buff_Man Posts: 623 Member
    Chill, it's literally a blip on your journey! Get back to your usual routine today. At your next workout go harder, few extra sets etc just to burn a few of those extra calories. You should have one cheat day a week as long as you don't go crazy! Maybe 200 extra calories on that day.
  • Buff_Man
    Buff_Man Posts: 623 Member
    Buff Man forgives you child! Go forth and continue B) your journey to buffness
  • May33338
    May33338 Posts: 300 Member
    Buff_Man wrote: »
    Chill, it's literally a blip on your journey! Get back to your usual routine today. At your next workout go harder, few extra sets etc just to burn a few of those extra calories. You should have one cheat day a week as long as you don't go crazy! Maybe 200 extra calories on that day.

    Thank you for the advice, it means the world to me. :) Yup, I'm gonna keep on working hard towards my goals.
  • brower47
    brower47 Posts: 16,356 Member
    You got right back to it? Sounds like you handled yourself perfectly. We were twins with our 'off the rails, right back to it' couple of days. We all get off track from time to time and everytime we recover gracefully, like you did, we can let go of a little bit more of that stress over failure. Five years ago, it would have freaked me out too but now, after successfully recovering from lots of little stumbles, it no longer does because I know it's not a big deal.

    Keep up the positive work by continuing to not give up after a little setback and someday it'll be no big deal. Hope that ramble helps in some way.
  • Scamd83
    Scamd83 Posts: 808 Member
    edited March 2016
    If you've been eating 1400 calories a day for 40 days and then 4000 calories for one day that averages out at 1463.41463 calories a day for those 41 days. So for your day of overeating you ate a mere extra 63 calories a day on average over that time.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    May33338 wrote: »
    I feel like I've let myself down and I can't help feeling ashamed of myself for what happened yesterday.

    I think this is because you have let yourself down. Here is why I say this. Maybe you put too much pressure on yourself and feel you need to commit 100% to this calorie limit 100% of the time. So when you fail to comply naturally you feel you let yourself down. So my advice is to rethink your commitment. Eating more (even this much) on a rare occasion means nothing - ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - if you look at the big picture. You say you are in the routine already and easily got back to it the following day. So the big picture is - you are doing what is good for you.
    As much as you can.
    You don't need to be 100% on target.
    It is fine to be 90% of the time too. :)
  • ForeverSunshine09
    ForeverSunshine09 Posts: 966 Member
    We are all human and some days you will eat more than your cals. I have fallen of numerous times in the last year but, my total loss is still 40 lbs. As long as you never give up the good will outweigh the bad.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    The first time I "fell" off (binged at an all you can eat restaurant) I also felt bad but I also discovered that I could make a (huge) difference the next days. I could reduce the next few days' calorie intake by alot just by that one day's huge surplus. I've been falling off the wagon several times since (avg. once/week). Make little difference to my wt loss :) 15 lbs+ six weeks in.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    OP the increase you saw on the scale is likely water weight from increased sodium and will likely be gone in a couple days.

    You did the right thing by getting back on track, and not overdoing it with unnecessary restriction. If you want to incorporate a little extra exercise over the next few days, and drink lots of water, that will help you shed that water weight too.

    While 4000 cals in a day is a lot, it's not that much different than a big indulgence at Thanksgiving or Christmas and people work those days in and still achieve their goals. Special events and bad days are going to happen, what matters is that you get back on track and don't look at it as a reason to give up.
  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
    You're doing great! Imagine any other skill you're trying to learn, doing it every single day for 40 days, would you feel guilty if you took a day off and didn't practice? You've got this, :)
  • vingogly
    vingogly Posts: 1,785 Member
    The decision to eat is not a moral choice. Neither is the choice to eat item X rather than item Y. Use of phrases like "cheat day" and "fall off the wagon" and "sugar is evil" is counterproductive because they feed into the myth that deviating from our plan is a sin and sticking to it is righteous.

    I do not deal with feeling low after overeating, because I've come to internalize these beliefs rather than accepting the old morality programming surrounding the concept of "dieting". Dieting doesn't work; making permanent lifestyle changes does.
  • Rick_Nelson81
    Rick_Nelson81 Posts: 205 Member
    vingogly wrote: »
    The decision to eat is not a moral choice. Neither is the choice to eat item X rather than item Y. Use of phrases like "cheat day" and "fall off the wagon" and "sugar is evil" is counterproductive because they feed into the myth that deviating from our plan is a sin and sticking to it is righteous.

    I do not deal with feeling low after overeating, because I've come to internalize these beliefs rather than accepting the old morality programming surrounding the concept of "dieting". Dieting doesn't work; making permanent lifestyle changes does.

    I agree, long term habits will sculpt your body (for better or worse) far greater than a piece of cake every now and then. Having said that, you might consider finding a different outlet to deal with your stress rather than binging, especially if it only makes you feel worse.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Personally, I do the math... 4000 is maybe 1500 over maintenance? With a 500 calorie deficit (yours is probably bigger), you'll make up for it in 3 days.

    It's not a huge deal at all, as long as you don't give up.
  • vivmom2014
    vivmom2014 Posts: 1,649 Member
    It's a long trip...just keep traveling.
  • girlwithcurls2
    girlwithcurls2 Posts: 2,281 Member
    Mentali wrote: »
    You're doing great! Imagine any other skill you're trying to learn, doing it every single day for 40 days, would you feel guilty if you took a day off and didn't practice? You've got this, :)

    ^
    ^
    ^
    This. Just because we're grown ups doesn't mean that we can just make a decision to do something and then do it from that day forward. What would you tell your best friend? Be your own best friend. If this is for life, then you'd better have a plan for slip ups.

    Take Buff_Man's blessing and keep going. You came off that day in just the right way. Keep it up!
  • hotdogimhungry
    hotdogimhungry Posts: 4 Member
    edited March 2016
    WOW! lighten up! You are human ! We all are ! Some people eat very well all week and do what ever thy want 1 day per week it's needed sometimes to eat guilt free anything you want to eat in one day and then get back on the horse the rest of the week. My day is Sundays I have a big family dinner every Sunday with the works I make one of these dinners with the works!
    roast beef dinner or ham , turkey,chicken ,potaoes ,gravy, pie chocolate even restaurants for lunch ect... Why because let's face it on 1200 calories Iam limited to what I can nourish my body with so I choose high fiber, proteins and low carbohydrates all week so come Sunday I like to be free. I don't over eat I stop when I am full but I will eat anything for breakfast ,lunch, supper, Snack on that da
    y even wine anything goes. I don't gain I still lose! So I need to feel freedom once per week some times. It feels good for a change. I am good all week so I induldge Sundays.I don't feel bad at all! Live a little once in a while life is too short for regrets!
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
    edited March 2016
    May33338 wrote: »
    How do you deal with feeling low after overeating?

    The practical way to deal with it is to pay it back over the next week. You exceeded your daily average by 4000-1400=2600 calories.

    Take the 2600/7 days=370 calories a day. Now you can choose to reduce your intake by this amount every day this week, OR go for an extra 1 hr cardio session every day.

    Problem solved. It'll be like it never happened.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Personally, I do the math... 4000 is maybe 1500 over maintenance? With a 500 calorie deficit (yours is probably bigger), you'll make up for it in 3 days.

    It's not a huge deal at all, as long as you don't give up.

    +1 to roughly estimating the math in your head. An over day like that is just a minor delay in reaching your ultimate goal. If Francl27's assumptions are correct, you've delayed your ultimate goal by 3 days. If you do this only rarely/occasionally (like once every 40 days - LOL) you'll be completely fine.

    I've done similar things from time to time while losing, maybe once a month or so. No biggie. I'm now heading into maintenance at around 118 pounds. I took a trip this past weekend, and over the 3 days, ate a total of around 5000 calories over my maintenance calories. Weighed 118.8 before I left; back at 118.4 by Wednesday, without doing anything extraordinary.

    And (IMO) don't make a big cut afterwards to make it up: You can be setting yourself up for an deprive-and-binge cycle. Just log the over amount, go back to your healthy routine as soon possible, and go on. If the extra calories give you a burst of energy, then maybe do some extra exercise the next day; if the extra calories make you feel less hungry the next day, it's OK to go a little under goal according to how you feel. Other than that, don't sweat it.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Its only one day. Nothing wrong with that at all. As long as it is just one day and not a regular thing.

    Take some time to think about your choices and what you might have done differently to help it to not be quite so over the top. But sometimes you just have one of those days. Yesterday I ate 1800 calories worth of donuts. On purpose. Just decided to go ahead and get it out of my system. Today is a different day. Funny thing is my weight still dropped again.
  • jan3h
    jan3h Posts: 55 Member
    How do you forgive yourself for making ANY mistakes? Look at what you did, see it in context with the rest of your life, realise what a tiny infraction it was in the greater scheme of things and then just get back on track. But you don't need me to tell you that because that is what you already did. Winner!
  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
    These things happen. We're only human and guilt and shame often end up being counterproductive.

    One of the most helpful things I've done is change my perspective. Instead of casting yourself as a judge of what you eat and how you behave, become a detective. Observe what happened without judgement. That way, a little stint of unstructured eating becomes a learning experience to empower and prepare yourself for next time. Stress, emotion, and surprises WILL happen. The better detective you are for your own behavior patterns, the more you'll be able to recognize them when they happen.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 10,093 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    Personally, I do the math... 4000 is maybe 1500 over maintenance? With a 500 calorie deficit (yours is probably bigger), you'll make up for it in 3 days.

    It's not a huge deal at all, as long as you don't give up.

    It's not even as bad as that, because, as you guessed, the math suggests her daily deficit is larger than 500 calories.

    10 pounds lost in 40 days (.25 lb/day) suggests an average daily deficit of about 875 calories (1/4 of 3500). OP says she eats about 1400 (no mention of net or eating back exercise calories), so 1400 + 875 yields a maintenance level of about 2275. 4000 is about 1725 over maintenance, or just shy of twice the OP's average daily deficit. She'll make up for it in two days. (Of course, this doesn't account for any water weight that was part of the 10 lb loss.)

    As for feeling badly about what I eat, that's really not something I do anymore, at least not in the way you seem to mean it, May3338. This isn't like you stole something or murdered someone. One day in six weeks you ate more than is consistent with your long-term goals. Take the opportunity to think about other ways to deal with the stress that led you to eat that much more than maintenance, and decide if it's something you want to do occasionally (once a month doing that will slow your loss about 3/4 of a lb a month), or maybe something more in the neighborhood of maintenance (you could do that three times a month for the same result).

    Math is your friend smiley:

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