Fell off the wagon

Buffles26

I've been doing SO well and was really pleased this morning when I weighted myself and was down 1.5lb on yesterday. But I had a couple of friends over this afternoon and had a HUUUUGE piece of cake, scones, oily cheesy pasta and numerous other things. I know I just need to draw a line under it and move on but would love to hear what you all do when you've had an off the wagon day. Am feeling really cross with myself!!

MzManiak

Sounds really yummy, but it does make one feel a bit guilty to go overboard. So, log it. Do you know what your maintenance calories for the week are? Figure out if it put you over that. If not, no big deal. You'll still lose weight, or at least, won't gain. Go for a run in the evening and drink lots of water. Start fresh in the morning. If you went over maintenance, figure out by how much. Add in a run or video or body weight program each night until you've burned the extra off. No biggie. You have to have yummies every once in while!

jessiferrrb

i agree - definitely log it, then move on. log it just for your own knowledge if nothing else. estimate portions high and pick higher value entries from the database if you're not sure exactly what you ate, that will give you kind of a worst case scenario. and you can start fresh today. if you want to try to make up the calories in the rest of the week by decreasing your intake by a bit each day or increasing activity go for it. but don't treat is as a punishment for indulging.

sllm1

I had a poor week last week on vacation. I still logged it. I was mortified at how much I ate. But, like you said, the key is to get back on it as soon as possible. Don't use is as an excuse to keep eating. Don't say, "I'll start back next Monday." Or next month or after ________________.

Focus on today. Get through today by sticking to the plan.

LivingtheLeanDream

log it and move on.... tomorrow you get a clean slate and one day over occasionally does not a diet break

Buffles26

Thanks so much all, not sure what my maintenance calories are but will look into it. I hadn't logged it but will try and do so now

shinycrazy

I just recently came back from of a week of eating whatever I wanted. Up 15 pounds, 5 of which is already gone. I was really surprised with how quickly I wanted to get back to it. In the past I've gone off the rails and it took months or never to get back. You know what you need to do, consider it a lesson learned! In the future, if you can, try to plan out the treats that will fit your calories or eat a little less a few days before and after to accommodate. Best of luck!

fizzletto

My top piece of advice for when you fall off the wagon is always always log it. Even if you're not sure exactly how many calories were in the thing you ate (restaurant food, etc) - search the database for similar foods and try your best to make a reasonable guess. After I fall off the wagon, there's nothing that sobers me up and gets me motivated like actually seeing the numbers in front of me.

Sure you will feel bad looking at the red numbers, but it's a reminder of what you ate and prevents you from being able to just forget it happened.

Remember the date, and if you ever get tempted to binge on crap in the future, go back to the diary entry and remember how bad you felt - that helps me to stay on track.

But DON'T beat yourself up too much - just move on and get back up. Back when I used to fall off the wagon when I first started losing weight, I would often say "Oh well I've already eaten loads, may as well just forget about the 'diet' now" and stuff myself even more. However, I realised that if you're carrying a basket of eggs and drop one on the ground and it smashes, you wouldn't just say "Oh well" and throw the rest of the basket on the ground too.

Stay strong!

pondee629

Fell off the wagon? Get back on it. Or quit. Your choice.