Ooooooh boy, did I screw up...

Woodsmoke

Suffice to say, pizza to myself, dough balls and cinnamon knots. (Damn you Papa John's and damn my lack of freaking willpower!)

So. Given that I've probably screwed up the last two weeks hard work with this, any tips for working off the excess so I haven't lost two weeks of being good? (We are talking waaaaay over the calorie count I should have.)

LazSommer

delay your goals by two weeks

TracyY824

Tomorrow is a new day. Get back on track and don't beat yourself up. That is the most important thing I have learnt don't let one bad day demotivate you.

Bearbo27

The best thing you can do is just start fresh tomorrow. There is no reason to do anything drastic. I went over yesterday because I was at the lake and at a relative's house. I made bad choices and was up 2 lbs of water weight. Today I am back to it at my deficit. I'm not going to keep punishing myself for bad food choices a day before.

Try and either find out why you went overboard. Did you not eat enough protein, leaving you really hungry by the time you had pizza? Etc... Finding out why you went overboard is important to make sure it doesn't become a habit.

daniip_la

My last two weeks have been absolutely terrible. I'm under a lot of stress and dealing with a family tragedy, and I've been eating my feelings while still logging to keep my records straight.

After looking through everything today, according to my numbers, I'll have gained a half pound at most over the last two weeks. I'm trying to pick myself back up and realise that I did no lasting damage.

My point is, I'm sure you did no lasting damage. Go back to your normal deficit tomorrow.

jgnatca

Life doesn't have a reverse button. The fastest way to recover is to forgive yourself and start fresh. Guilt doesn't melt fat either.

rileysowner

Woodsmoke wrote: »

Suffice to say, pizza to myself, dough balls and cinnamon knots. (Damn you Papa John's and damn my lack of freaking willpower!)

So. Given that I've probably screwed up the last two weeks hard work with this, any tips for working off the excess so I haven't lost two weeks of being good? (We are talking waaaaay over the calorie count I should have.)

I don't know what you two weeks had resulted in, but one day generally will not mess them up in terms of fat, although water weight will likely go way up. In the long term, one day will not make a difference, so look at things in terms of several months, not just two weeks.

Ready2Rock206

Drink some extra water to flush out all that extra sodium.

ogtmama

Just keep swimming swimming swimming.

emdeesea

Meh. It happens.

I spent every day over the Labor Day weekend eating out. Breakfast at a local diner, lunch at Culvers, dinner at the local pub with beer, ice cream, donuts, etc.

I did that for FOUR DAYS.

So here's what happened. I gained about a 1.5 pounds. And Labor Day came and went and I got back to it and I've lost that 1.5 pounds. Now I'm back to where I was.

This is life. You will never be perfect. You just do the best you can every day. As long as its like 80/20 in favor of watching calories you're doing alright.

Alatariel75

Drink water, ignore the water weight on the scale and just keep going.

Don't get into the mindset that you need to restrict or work harder because you overate. It sets up a cycle where you feel like you need to punish yourself as a result of going off-book. There's no deadline for these goals, just being healthier every day we can. You might delay your goal by a couple of weeks, but in the grand scheme, that's life.

robertw486

Log it and move on. We have parties and get together type things and I eat what I want all day when we do. I've exceeded my calorie goal for a day in alcohol alone during some of them.

A few bad days here and there won't mess with your goals much. Making a habit of bad days will.

Unknown

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ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken

Unless you ate around 7,000 calories you likely did not mess up the past 2 weeks. I know it feels huge, but just call it a fun food day and keep rolling. It's totally fine to have a treat sometimes.

anl90

If it makes you feel any better - anytime I have done the same thing, it usually does not throw off my numbers too much. (Meaning my weight might go up slightly, but that is about it.) You can't take it back, but you can get right back on track to keep everything going. Don't beat yourself up too much over it, and maybe just do a little extra sweating the next few days. You got this!!

dreamsignals

Don't worry about it and carry on.

Build cheat days into your nutrition plan, which should help you not over do it when you get a craving, and still keep you accountable. After all, you're still going to have to add that 300-calorie donut to the food tracker. Cheat day could be when you reward yourself for the extra 20 minutes of cardio you just did.

Over time, knock your cheat day to half a donut, then to whole wheat muffin (which at least will have more protein), and so on. A cup of greek yogurt with two tablespoon of almond butter (something that to me tastes like desert) will have a ton more nutrition than, and about the same calorie count as a donut. And definitely satiates me more. Find your nutritious desert. Making a smoothie? Throw some cocoa powder in there.

Most of us here are trying to change our eating habits in a sustainable way, and cutting out all the foods we like is probably not realistic. Re-educating ourselves should take us straight past "being good" for two weeks, and that could still include some pizza here and there.

Log everything, even the binging. For me, nothing like seeing all those extra calories coming from saturated fat and sugar to set me back straight.

All the best.

rcktgirl05

Don't beat yourself up. Get back on track tomorrow, and I would suggest not weighing yourself tomorrow and possibly the next day. Like others have said, you won't lose all progress over a day of eating poorly, but you will likely retain water which can be depressing on the scale. You know you did it, move on. No point in verifying it tomorrow morning!

tlflag1620

Life happens. We've all been there. My husband recently deployed. In the two weeks before he left we went out almost every night, dinner, drinks with friends, etc. I put on 10 lbs in that time. Most of it was, blessedly, water. He's been gone a week and I'm back to where I was before our "bender". Just get right back up on that horse and keep riding. It'll be okay!

girlwithcurls2

SOOOOOO much good advice here. Listen to these people, OP. We've been there. We're all still moving forward. It's a bit like me taking a week off from pulling weeds. They're bigger, harder to get out, but I can still do it. I just need a little time

Kelbelb75

Move on and try to learn from this. We all (99% of us) screw up at some point. Don't beat yourself up too hard. You can do this!!

Woodsmoke

Love you guys ^.^ thankyou for the advice xx

RaptorMommy

I'm very recently in the same boat where I find I've over eaten yet again, and I'm guilty of beating myself up for it. I'm horrible to myself sometimes. But I've been working on letting myself jut start fresh, and skipping the part where i beat myself up. What these folks are saying is so right. Making myself feel bad has only ever made me quit for a time, which has delayed my progress. Listen to their advice....I'm soaking it all in myself! It's good to read, every so often.

My trainers motto is, "Strive for progress, not perfection" and I'm really beginning to understand why that's important.

Lounmoun

Just get back to normal calorie deficit and exercise and move on.

SLLRunner

Today is a new day! Carry on!

oolou

You are getting great advice. I'd also say, don't despair if you hop on the scales in the next few days and see a few pounds gained. It'll be water weight because of the type of food you ate. You may also find that tomorrow you don't feel like eating so much, or you may not be hungry for breakfast. Nothing wrong with eating less tomorrow if that is what your body is dictating. These things tend to balance out if you listen to your body.

leejoyce31

I'm usually really good about staying within a calorie goal until I get the hormonal munchies. I got them about 9 days ago (over 4,000 calories). I ate everything in sight. Thank goodness this doesn't happen often. Maybe every 6-9 weeks. I was up 4 pounds the next day. I got back to normal eating and exercising. I'm still hanging on to a pound or so. Sometimes, it may take a while for your weight to normalize after extra calorie consumption, but if you are consistent with your calories and reign it in, you will be okay. It just sucks to see the scale go up. You just have to know that the number has nothing to do with real fat gain. Be encouraged!

canadianlbs

. . . eh. look at it this way. to regain a pound of actual body fat from your papa john moment, you would have had to eat 3500 calories, right? two pounds, 7000 and so forth.

[eta: unless i'm being super-stupid, of course. but this reasoning sees me through those times gummy bears are on sale, and it does seem to more or less work out that way]

so how bad could the damage actually be? you set yourself back a little distance, but you're still heading towards where you're heading towards and that hasn't changed.

LushFix

That's just one of the things I love about MFP. as soon as midnight hits.... I get a fresh slate.

upoffthemat

The thing that has surprised me at times about bad days is as bad as they seem they are seldom actually as bad as I make them out to be in my mind when I log them and average them out over a week when it is only one bad day.

sintyrose

Guurl. I been eating my little ol hurt feelings for a WEEK! Pizza, chili dogs, ice cream...name it, I ate it in the past week...I started my healthy change on August 19. When I found out I have hypertension at only 32!! I was 175 pounds at 5"5 I had lost 13 pounds! Then last Monday came with a huge dump in my lap ( a really great job offer that I couldn't take because it was 3rd shift). Soooo... By Sunday I was sick of myself!! I gained 3 pounds!!!!!

snowflake930

Lasting damage is done when you give up and let one occasion be the rule, not the exception.
Just get back on track and continue on toward your goal. Allow yourself to be human and live your life taking one day at a time.