How do I forgive myself for overeating?

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  • lemmie177
    lemmie177 Posts: 479 Member
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    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: 10,020 Member
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    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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