Big OverFeed Ruins Everything? Nope.

AnnPT77

I'm posting this in counterpoint to the frequent "Fell off the wagon - all progress destroyed!!!!" woe-is-me "self sabotage" threads.

I'm in maintenance, but trying to lose ultra-slowly because I'm a bit above maintenance range. Last weekend, I went to a weekend workshop with art buddies, and really kicked out the jams. Here's the history:

Date - AM Weigh-in - Apprx Net Cals - Notes
Th 9/28 - 128.8 - 1892 - Low weight baseline
Fr 9/29 -130.6 - 2476 - Travel day
Sa 9/30 - NA - 6097 - No scale; cals partly guessed
Su 10/1 - NA - 4444 - No scale; some cals estimated
Mo 10/2 - 135.2 - 1960 - Back to normal routine
Tu 10/3 - 131.8 - 2401 - normal day
We 10/4 - 131.0 - 1800 - normal day
Th 10/5 - 129.8 - 1814 - normal day
Fr 10/6 -128.0 - ??? - Eating ??, day not over

I'm 5'5", 61 years old. My actual net maintenance calories are in the mid-2000s somewhere. My current net goal is 1850, but I plan to (and do) majorly exceed that at least once a week, for an average net more in the 2000-2200 kind of range.

Though there was some estimating in those weekend days, I'm pretty confident they're close. I can really eat, and there were multiple craft IPAs, fried foods, grazing freely on cookies and treats at a bounteous and caloric potluck treat table at the event, pastry/waffles at breakfast, and more.

So, ruined everything? Sabotaged myself? What do you think? I think I lost a week in my otherwise slow descent back to goal range. And I had fun.

So, meh. No drama - pointless. Just back on track.

edited: tables don't work)

middlehaitch

Great post @AnnPT77, and totally agree.
It is consistency over time that matter long term, not the odd day, or few off track.

Cheers, h.

mph323

Totally agree! Best insight ever on approaching weight loss and maintenance with a healthy mindset

MoveitlikeManda

last year I lost 32lbs between the end of june and end of November.

In August I went out for my dads birthday and I cant even imagine how many calories I had that night.
I was drinking vodka with normal coke instead of diet coke, drinking beer and all sorts of god knows what else, we had a massive meal and Id taken a hudge chocolate cake which id made so can confirm cals per slice were HIGH.
even had cheese on toast and crisps when I got home because Id got the drunk munchies lol.

that was all on top of a normal day of breakfast and lunch too.

as expected the next 2 days my weight was up by 4/5lbs, i was gutted to see that on the scale but had the best night so just got back to logging. 4 days later when I weighed in I was down....not only that 4/5lbs but also 3lbs from what Id weighed in at the morning before we went out

whoffmann

@AnnPT77 @MoveitlikeManda - yeah, I regularly have cheat days where I really tear it up. For me that's 2400+ calories (sometimes +++) vs. my normal 1500. But the temporary hit always seems to bounce back down when I'm back in losing mode. I think, anecdotally and without scientific proof, that the occasional binge actually revs your metabolism back up, forces your body out of scarcity mode. As long as "occasional" doesn't turn into "more cheat days than regular days".

VintageFeline

I think there's an element of those days doing less "damage" when rare than if they regular in the way the body uprates its needs to compensate for the sudden overfeed. So you end up not actually having as much of a surplus as would appear on paper. I may well have mis-remembered that though.

Side note: My Canadian friend is hosting Thanksgiving tomorrow (they have a different day than the US) and while I have banked some calories I'm not even going to try to log. I've whacked a quick add amount but don't care if I'm over/under. She took a hiatus to retrain as a midwife for 4 years so I am going all in tomorrow!

SummerSkier

thank you Ann for another clear and insightful post! I am one of those who over the years has fallen pretty HARD with just a few days of "crazy" and not been able to climb back up out of the hole. I know it's possible, and I am going to book mark this dang post for when I stumble to make sure it is a stumble and doesn't become a lie down drunk off your butt black out what the heck happened thing.

AnnPT77

Maybe should've added: Thus was not a defense of "cheat" days. I don't believe in "cheat days", in kind of the same sense that I don't believe in Santa Claus. Who would I be cheating? How?

Some days I eat below my target calories, some right on, some above. I nearly always log it (always did, while actively losing).

It's just food, just eating - not sin, psychiatry, or anything else. It needs to balance . . . calories, nutrition, tastiness, satiation, pleasure, celebration . . . it all needs to balance over time.

crackpotbaby

Just like that one big workout doesn't make you skinny, right?

AnnPT77

lizery wrote: »

Just like that one big workout doesn't make you skinny, right?

Exactly. But, on the workout side - I wish!

lorrpb

@AnnPT77 well said, as always!

SCoil123

Love this post!! I’m 5-10lb from where I would like to be and sometimes I’m over or under calories goals. I don’t sweat it anymore. I used to.

AnnPT77

Gonna bump this, because there have been some "OMG I've FAILED" worry posts lately. Folks, just get back on track. Everything will work out fine.

kiela64

AnnPT77 wrote: »

Maybe should've added: Thus was not a defense of "cheat" days. I don't believe in "cheat days", in kind of the same sense that I don't believe in Santa Claus. Who would I be cheating? How?

Some days I eat below my target calories, some right on, some above. I nearly always log it (always did, while actively losing).

It's just food, just eating - not sin, psychiatry, or anything else. It needs to balance . . . calories, nutrition, tastiness, satiation, pleasure, celebration . . . it all needs to balance over time.

And you’ve said it so well!

NovusDies

kiela64 wrote: »

And you’ve said it so well!

She could probably describe how her grass is growing and it would be insanely enlightening.

AnnPT77

NovusDies wrote: »

kiela64 wrote: »

And you’ve said it so well!

She could probably describe how her grass is growing and it would be insanely enlightening.

<Snort!>

NovusDies

Now who could have marked that post as insightful?

ladyhusker39

I gotta *bump* this...

AnnPT77

I think I'm just going to bump this thread myself . . . thinking of it as sort of an early Christmas present for the newer readers in MFP General, Health & Fitness.

Happy holidays! :drinker:

nicsflyingcircus

My new fun phrase is "it's eating, not cheating."

Wether I consume 1200 calories or 5000 calories, it's all just eating.

Having sex with a dude (or chick I suppose) other than my spouse? Cheating.

Copying the answers off someone else or stealing an exam answer sheet? Cheating.

Consuming 6 cookies and 2 margaritas and chips and queso and a chicken taco, cheese enchilada and half a beef burrito? Eating. Over my deficit goal for sure but actually around my maintenance. Either way, not cheating, just eating.

MelanieCN77

Great post. I've found that one or two days over cals always evens out within 4-5 whether I eat at maintenance or restrict (which I've stopped doing) afterwards. There's a YouTuber called Stephanie Buttermore who's a science based PhD and a fitness type and she's done a lot of videos about "cheat" days and the results once she just goes back to normal. There is one I will try to find where she does the maths on what is really happening to all the calories she consumes in that day, including the thermic effect of food and some other things.

MelanieCN77

Here it is! Forgive her the still, she has to drive traffic like everyone else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeDvYExqhOI

admaarie

This is truly what I needed to see. I’m over being emotional over some damn food. Can’t wait for my carrot cake tomorrow 😋

bjdavidson964

Glad I stumbled upon this. Been beating myself up about the +5.6 lbs over the Mother's Day weekend! Quality time with the kids (Friday-Sunday) who were home from out of town. Worth it but I definitely could have made better choices. Oh well...back at it!

NovusDies

You call that an overfeed, @AnnPT77?

I went away for an extended weekend a couple of weeks ago and I can top it!

These are my over maintenance amounts and like yours they include guesses but if anything they might be a little low:

Fri +849
Sat +2232
Sun +1767
Mon +2073
Tues +4091

This is enough calories for 3.14 pounds! In the week I ate them I had some deficit days and the resulting overage by math should have been 2.22 pounds.

I assumed that of the 2.22 pounds I would probably gain at least 1 pound but after the water weight receded the numbers indicate that at best I gained back .5 pounds. I would have been okay with more but I will take it.

I did move more during my getaway but not enough to burn over 9000 calories (the difference between what I should have gained and what I actually did gain).

Obviously if I kept eating this way I would start to gain back more of my calories.

ETA: This was not an experiment to see what would happen and not something I recommend someone else repeating because I have been in a calorie deficit for a very long time and so my body was not accustomed to that many calories in such a short time frame. Also, I was experiencing some diet fatigue and after a fairly rough family event I needed to go a little nuts (which I obviously did lol).

AnnPT77

NovusDies wrote: »

You call that an overfeed, @AnnPT77?

<snip good story that makes a very useful contribution to the thread>

Ah, but @NovusDies , unlike you, I am a petite, elderly flower.

(OK, a medium-sized, medium-old, medium-cranky woman, but still. ).

Either of us did something big vs. our maintenance calories, compared to the folks around here who sometimes freak out because they went 300 or even 1000 over their deficit goal one time . . . which is why I wrote the post. Thanks for underscoring the point! :flowerforyou: or should I say :drinker: ?

NovusDies

AnnPT77 wrote: »

NovusDies wrote: »

You call that an overfeed, @AnnPT77?

<snip good story that makes a very useful contribution to the thread>

Ah, but @NovusDies , unlike you, I am a petite, elderly flower.

(OK, a medium-sized, medium-old, medium-cranky woman, but still. ).

Either of us did something big vs. our maintenance calories, compared to the folks around here who sometimes freak out because they went 300 or even 1000 over their deficit goal one time . . . which is why I wrote the post. Thanks for underscoring the point! :flowerforyou: or should I say :drinker: ?

It was a great idea for a thread and it should help people who do go over by a little to calm down. I didn't have anything to add to it until recently. I normally stop at maintenance plus 50 percent on big days but on this excursion I ate and drank and was merry to a ridiculously high degree. I retain water more than some people so I came back heavy from bloat but it all went away.

MikePTY

I went on a two week diet break when I was 204.6 I ate at around maintenance some days, quite above it other days. Had a few days on vacation that had to have been in the 4000-5000 range at least. At the end of my diet break last Tuesday, I had jumped to 208.6. Oh noes! I got back on my diet, and stayed on track this last week. Today: 203.8.

One or two days, or even a week or two, will not throw us off our course. Bumps in the road are not only "not bad", but are a completely normal part of the process.

Maxematics

Behold my huge weight spike after yesterday's 3655 calorie day of fun; ~1478 calories over my maintenance for the day. I'm also due for my TOM tomorrow, so I'm sure that helped. Out of curiosity, I weighed myself when I got home from work and was already back down to 112.6.

bjdavidson964

@Maxematics Sounds like a fabulously fun weekend! And an amazingly fast recovery! It'll take me longer to recover though

yirara

Just came back from a vacation where I ate a bit more than usual, but was also busy all day exploring and hiking, and didn't really have a lot of time for relaxing on the loo. Plus 3 flights in = lots of water weight gain. 1 short flight, another two nights elsewhere and again 2 flights home. A plus of about 3kg on the scale. Yeah, right. Flying water weight usually sticks quite long with me. But I've just been going to the loo 2-3x per day at the moment, and I'm 'down' 2.4kg.