Did I just ruin my diet??
FitLaughLove
Posts: 125 Member
My daily caloric deficit is only 300. Does that mean that my whole week will go to waste if I eat too much on my cheat day? Because I just ate too much on my cheat day lol
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Replies
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If your cheat day cancelled out your deficit for the week, then yes, your whole week went to waste. Personally, I don't like cheat days, maybe a cheat meal now and then, but why risk ruining what you are working so hard to accomplish?13
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Depends on how much you went over. To undo your entire week's deficit, you would need to have eaten an additional 2100 calories. If you did that, then you'll likely stay the same, if less than that, you're still at a deficit, if more then you may gain. But remember, you need to go 3500 cals over maintenance for the week to gain a pound.
Depending on what you ate, you may see a spike on the scale tomorrow, most of it will be additional food in your system and water weight, and will come off again fairly swiftly.8 -
Probably pretty much... just out of curiosity what is the point of a cheat day? Why can’t you just fit what you want into your calories? I get 1200 a day to lose a pound a week if I want something outside my calories I either make it fit or work for it5
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How much is too much? If it were less than 2100 calories there will be a slight loss. Around 2100 calories there will be no change. Above and there will be a small gain.
Either way don't feel guilty. Just work out why you went over to help prevent it from happening too often and get back on that weight loss horse because the damage done would have been minimal.1 -
exercise a bit extra and eat smarter tomorrow do not over stress or beat yourself up over eating more than you planned
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Ruining a diet is a silly concept. Losing weight isn't one day, it's adherence over time.
Is it possible to wipe out your deficit in a day? Yes, generally. But you need to go significantly over to gain. Just get back to a deficit.6 -
What are you calling "too much" in this case?0
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You can’t “ruin”’your “diet” with one meal. Play the long game.12
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calorie wise ...maybe for the week? Depends what all you ate. But you didnt ruin the benefits of the healthier food youve probably been eating, Or the practice of a deficit youve had. I wouldnt recommend doing it often. But i wouldnt call it "ruining" your diet to occasionally go over
edit: For what its worth i think cheat days are stupid, You cheat no one but yourself. Im down for treats...Even going over calories...But my body still knows what im eating and i accept whatever consequence that brings or whatever benefit from not eating the huge amounts of calories or whatever. Calling it cheat doesnt negate the calories4 -
Thanks for all the replies! I’ve been staying between 1100 and 1200. I’ve calculated my maintenance and it’s around 1500. (Im a short person) Today I probably hit around 2500 calories.0
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FitLaughLove wrote: »Thanks for all the replies! I’ve been staying between 1100 and 1200. I’ve calculated my maintenance and it’s around 1500. (Im a short person) Today I probably hit around 2500 calories.
thn math says you canceled out around 3-3.5 ish days...if your guess is right .....still in deficit. Think about that next time though, Was it atleast something delicious and worth it
? My christmas meal canceled out a months work LOL. completely worth it 4 -
The idea of "ruining" a diet is a strange approach. Did you set yourself back? Yeah, maybe. Can you come back from this? Absolutely. Even if you overindulged a little you didn't "ruin" anything, you just made reaching your goal a little more difficult.
Evaluate, course correct and keep going. You got this.11 -
FitLaughLove wrote: »Thanks for all the replies! I’ve been staying between 1100 and 1200. I’ve calculated my maintenance and it’s around 1500. (Im a short person) Today I probably hit around 2500 calories.
How short are we talking? This is your TDEE you calculated? Using what method/site?
How long have you been using MFP and what results have you had so far? Do you use a food scale? Do you exercise?1 -
Probably pretty much... just out of curiosity what is the point of a cheat day? Why can’t you just fit what you want into your calories? I get 1200 a day to lose a pound a week if I want something outside my calories I either make it fit or work for it
Perhaps because you know in advance most of your eating will be done away from home, with food made by others, so that accurate logging is impossible?
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this is why i dont advocate cheat days. make what you want to eat fit.3
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callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »this is why i dont advocate cheat days. make what you want to eat fit.
I am also in the camp of not advocating for cheat days, but I know some people who legitimately cannot handle serious dieting without them. Each person has to do what’s right for themselves, even if it seems counterintuitive to the rest of us. The best diet is the one you stick with. If “cheat” days can help you make it to your goals, then get at it.
And before anyone tries to give me a gotcha moment, this single post about accidentally overdoing it on one day does not erase the validity of cheat days for some people.
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One day a week is too often for a real cheat day.2
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Using language like cheat days, I'm ruining my diet, my whole week is wasted now is self-defeating. How we feel about things and the actions we take are conditioned by what we think about them. There is no law of nature or law of God that says going over by 2100 calories means you've "ruined" your diet -- and there's no such thing as Diet Hell for those who fail to live up to imagined standards.
http://diet.beckinstitute.org13 -
In the bigger picture, you can't really ruin anything in a day...weight loss and weight management in general is all about the long game, not day to day minutia...4
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stanmann571 wrote: »One day a week is too often for a real cheat day.
i get 3 legitimate i dont give a *kitten* days a year.
my birthday, xmas day, and thanksgiving.
other than that, no. not to say over days dont happen, but days over MAINTENANCE are REALLY rare. I at least try to balance out those accidental days with more exercise, or cutting back a bit on subsequent days to try and even it out a bit.3 -
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moosmum1972 wrote: »
I think the point was to look at the bigger picture...when you're playing the long game, a day is completely irrelevant...1 -
Even if you ate an extra 3k on a single day the worst you'll see is a bit of extra waste weight (also water weight if it's heavy in sodium) on the scale for a day or two. I tend to eat more on Saturdays and the weight is usually gone by Monday morning.0
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I like to look at my calories in versus calories out on a weekly basis when it feels like that cheat day is going to ruin everything. We know that a lb of fat loss is typically 3500 calories of deficit. Maybe you went over today, but it's what you do for the other 6 days of the week that will make the difference.
Shifting my perspective helps me both to not feel really bad about those occasional days when things got out of control, but also to remain consistent and get back to my normal groove as quickly as I can. It's the consistency that gets you places in the long run.1 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »One day a week is too often for a real cheat day.
i get 3 legitimate i dont give a *kitten* days a year.
my birthday, xmas day, and thanksgiving.
other than that, no. not to say over days dont happen, but days over MAINTENANCE are REALLY rare. I at least try to balance out those accidental days with more exercise, or cutting back a bit on subsequent days to try and even it out a bit.
Honestly, for me, it's a little more often, but no more than 6 a year while in a deficit. And honestly, if it's more than 1 a month, you might as well just adjust your deficit. But I fit BWW inside my deficit over the holidays, so.... YEAH... Thanksgiving Went nuts, My birthday... Probably was within deficit or at least close... 4th of July... Yeah...2 -
stanmann571 wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »One day a week is too often for a real cheat day.
i get 3 legitimate i dont give a *kitten* days a year.
my birthday, xmas day, and thanksgiving.
other than that, no. not to say over days dont happen, but days over MAINTENANCE are REALLY rare. I at least try to balance out those accidental days with more exercise, or cutting back a bit on subsequent days to try and even it out a bit.
Honestly, for me, it's a little more often, but no more than 6 a year while in a deficit. And honestly, if it's more than 1 a month, you might as well just adjust your deficit. But I fit BWW inside my deficit over the holidays, so.... YEAH... Thanksgiving Went nuts, My birthday... Probably was within deficit or at least close... 4th of July... Yeah...
mine fall 3 months in a row - nov, dec, and january.
lololol0 -
FitLaughLove wrote: »My daily caloric deficit is only 300. Does that mean that my whole week will go to waste if I eat too much on my cheat day? Because I just ate too much on my cheat day lol
Depends, how many calories were in your cheat day?
Let's say you maintained your 300 calorie deficit 6 days out of 7 (6x300=1800). If you ate above your maintenance calories by 1800 then yes, you wiped out your weekly deficit. There are those who do a cheat meal instead of a cheat day.0 -
Yesterday I lost control and ate everything for lunch. To stop eating, I lay in bed with my eyes closed for an hour.
Afterward I got to work exercising and cardio burned off every thing with 3 hours of treadmill work. Yes, 3 hours. I got my food log back to green and did not bother trying to get my macros in order. Today, I checked in with a loss, so my week of dieting is not ruined, and I've paid closer attention to getting more protein today. That's how to ask, "Have I ruined it?" and answer with a most emphatic "No!".1
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