Cheat meal help

merveozyalin

So last night I was out with my friends. I ended up eating 1073 calories more. ( my goal is 1230 and I had 2303 calories.) I feel so bad like my stomach is about to explode. I don't feel like eating anything. How am ı gonna make up for this 1073 calories? It was the day 6 of my journey. Was all week for nothing? Should I eat like 600 calories today?

Nony_Mouse

What do you have your weekly weight loss goal set to?

Regardless, you haven't undone your entire week's deficit. Let it go and move on. You'll lose a little less this week than you would have, that's all. Trying to restrict food quite severely to make up for going over (and that is nowhere near a binge, sorry, actually about my maintenance calories) is likely to just lead to overeating again. If anything, you could do a little more exercise for the next few days (and I do mean a little, not going hard out at the gym), but cutting calories from an already low calorie intake isn't what I'd advise, and certainly not all in one day.

PAV8888

Y'ok...

So how bad was your day compared to what you were eating a week ago?!

You, yourself, used the word journey.

Journeys that track a straight path from start to finish would hardly qualify as such!

As long as your overall weekly or monthly caloric balance continues to be a deficit you will keep losing weight regardless of what happens on any single individual day.

merveozyalin

PAV8888 wrote: »

Y'ok...

So how bad was your day compared to what you were eating a week ago?!

You, yourself, used the word journey.

Journeys that track a straight path from start to finish would hardly qualify as such!

As long as your overall weekly or monthly caloric balance continues to be a deficit you will keep losing weight regardless of what happens on any single individual day.

It's my first week that's why I feel so bad about it. Whole week's deficit got wasted because of a one night.

missh1967

merveozyalin wrote: »

It's my first week that's why I feel so bad about it. Whole week's deficit got wasted because of a one night.

And so, you live and learn. Next time you're out with friends, remember how crappy you felt overeating that much.

However, try to remember that days like that will happen occasionally. The key is to make those days occasional. Don't punish yourself with severely reduced calories and/or overly intense workouts. You learn, you adapt, you change your behavior, and you move on.

Mycophilia

Since there's not much to go on I'm just going to make some assumptions to illustrate some math.

Lets say you have a 500 calorie/day deficit at 1230, that would mean you basically only undid 2 days worth of progress. So the question you gotta ask yourself is this: Are you okay with having to diet for 2 days longer before reaching your goal because you went out and had fun with your friends?

I'm sure many of the people here who've had success losing weight, including myself, would be completely fine with delaying the end goal a tiny bit in exchange for enjoying ourselves.

PAV8888

So just to make sure here. MFP already includes a daily deficit in the calories that are assigned to you.

If you chose a 1lb a week weight rate loss, this means that every day your target deficit includes a 500 Cal deficit. If you chose 0.5lbs 250 Cal, 1.5lbs 750Cal and 2lbs 1000 Cal.

Very few people tend to chose 250 Cal deficits (if you did, kudos to you--this is usually a choice made by people who have hung around for a while).

So even if you did wipe out a substantial portion of your weekly deficit by eating 1000 Cal above target... it is unlikely that you wiped all of it.

AND, EVEN IF YOU DID.

This is not a race. There is no finish line at maintenance. You don't diet and then no longer have to watch what eat vs what you spend.

So one extra week is of little consequence. As mentioned you learn, you adapt, you move on.

Just to avoid tomorrow morning's weigh in freak out Read some of the threads on water weight and start using a weight tracking app or web site...

Janice6543

Forget about it and get back on track today. Maybe some extra exercise time the rest of the week?

ladyhusker39

I'm guessing that 1200 calories is pretty aggressive for you. You toughed it out for the week then went crazy at the first excuse. It's going to happen if you're not working with a sustainable plan. Give yourself more calories during the week so you don't go overboard on the weekend.

DebLaBounty

Consider resetting your goal to lose 1 pound a week loss so you can consume more without feeling so deprived. You're in the early days of your journey and I'd say one day off the wagon was a learning experience, not a disaster. Keep going, you'll develop discipline soon.

merveozyalin

DebLaBounty wrote: »

Consider resetting your goal to lose 1 pound a week loss so you can consume more without feeling so deprived. You're in the early days of your journey and I'd say one day off the wagon was a learning experience, not a disaster. Keep going, you'll develop discipline soon.

It's already 0.5 kg a week. I have to eat 1230 calories to lose it. I didn't count my calories all day I still feel betrayed because of yesterday. When I got hungry I was like "I will just gonna order hamburger." Then you guys reminded me that this is not a temporary diet, this is a life style change. It's true I will cheat time to time so that I can enjoy hanging out with my friends. I just gotta accept it and keep going. So I cooked some veggies and eggs. Still... a little bit feeling down. But it's okay because if this community does not exist I would have already ordered some burgers.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

PAV8888

Pretty much the only sure way to NOT get to your goal is to quit.

I will repeat here what I just wrote in another thread:

"So my unrelenting focus from day one was to pick "solutions" I think I can follow long term and which are "low barrier" for me to go back to whenever I slip.

Low barrier so that I do not have an excuse for waiting for TOMORROW to get back on track.

Anytime the words "I'll get back on track tomorrow" are uttered, the safe answer is "I am going to get back on track as of the next decision point I am faced with. i.e. right **kitten** now!"

And the less barriers there are to doing that, the more likely I am to follow through."

Look at your diet and exercise plan again and try to eliminate the barriers.

Your diet plan should not be "without a cheeseburger ever again".

Maybe it could be with an "open faced lean beef burger with some fresh grated parmesan instead of slabs of process cheese on top and mustard instead of mayo" saving 300 Calories. Maybe it should be with a buffalo burger that is lettuce wrapped saving over 500 calories. Maybe it should be with bacon wrapped roast pork tenderloin with a mushroom sauce instead of a burger.

Think of it as an opportunity to try different foods and to "save calories while still enjoying most of what you want" instead of "giving up" things.

You log. You review. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is off limits. You make choices and optimise.

VintageFeline

If you're getting 1230 for 1lb loss a week then it suggests you don't have a lot to lose relatively speaking. So you have a few choices here. Tough out 1230 gross and find yourself unable to moderate "cheats". Get more active, log that activity and eat some of those calories (which is how MFP is designed to work) which will achieve a net of 1230 but allow you to eat more. Aim for somewhere in the middle of 0.5-1lb per week (sorry for working in imperial!), you could have a few more calories, plus add in some activity and you will make it a lot easier on yourself.

If you slow your losses a bit and add in activity it will allow you to either eat more of the things you want every day or "bank" a few calories from each day during the week for more of a (controlled) splurge at the weekend. The key here is to find something that is sustainable so you can overall be consistent. Better to get there slower than to end up in a cycle of restrict/lose control and never get there at all.

spiro413x

Listen, everybody has days where they go over. Hence the word "journey" in the phrase weight lose journey. The problem a lot of people have - and I suspect you might fall into this trap - is that they say "I'm going to start my weight loss journey tomorrow. I'm going to be perfect. I'm not going to mess up at all" then come later that day they actually end up going over. Then they say "this day is already ruined I might as well binge and get why the getting is good because after today I'm going to start for real" and the cycle repeats over and over. Accept mistakes. Know that you are going to make them. The important part is that you keep counting. You keep trying your best. You learn how to actually know your body and build a healthy relationship with your body instead of just giving it whatever it wants. And slowly you will learn how to work with your body and not against it. In the beginning the mistakes are going to be plentiful because you are training an unruly body that it just can't have what it wants all the time. But I promise with persistence the mistakes become fewer and fewer and it will get better and pretty soon you'll actually crave living healthy

dwilliamca

I like to keep my weekly numbers looking good. When I have a high day, which is rare and usually a special occasion, I even it out at least some the next day by eating lower calorie vegetables and low fat protein meals and reduce snacking. Plus I exercise and don't eat back those calories. I don't even notice the difference for a single day.

merveozyalin

PAV8888 wrote: »

Pretty much the only sure way to NOT get to your goal is to quit.

I will repeat here what I just wrote in another thread:

"So my unrelenting focus from day one was to pick "solutions" I think I can follow long term and which are "low barrier" for me to go back to whenever I slip.

Low barrier so that I do not have an excuse for waiting for TOMORROW to get back on track.

Anytime the words "I'll get back on track tomorrow" are uttered, the safe answer is "I am going to get back on track as of the next decision point I am faced with. i.e. right **kitten** now!"

And the less barriers there are to doing that, the more likely I am to follow through."

Look at your diet and exercise plan again and try to eliminate the barriers.

Your diet plan should not be "without a cheeseburger ever again".

Maybe it could be with an "open faced lean beef burger with some fresh grated parmesan instead of slabs of process cheese on top and mustard instead of mayo" saving 300 Calories. Maybe it should be with a buffalo burger that is lettuce wrapped saving over 500 calories. Maybe it should be with bacon wrapped roast pork tenderloin with a mushroom sauce instead of a burger.

Think of it as an opportunity to try different foods and to "save calories while still enjoying most of what you want" instead of "giving up" things.

You log. You review. Nothing is sacred. Nothing is off limits. You make choices and optimise.

Thanks a lot!

pogiguy05

Do not beat yourself up over this and just get back to the healthy eating, weighing and logging you started. We are all human and not perfect. Thanksgiving was a blowout for me and I did not log anything and I know I probably ate like 4000 calories. I just started back to weighing and logging everything as i did before.