Don't get the ball rolling... it might not stop.

RecognitionT

Not so much a question as just an observation that's been continuing for about 5 days now (that's right, 5 cheat days in a row). I've been in the red for 5/7 days this week, and I'm definitely convinced it's because I've been putting myself in an unsustainable deficit for a couple of months now. It took some time, but it eventually broke me.

A little under a week ago, I weighed in at the lightest I've been in a very long time, 72.3 kg. Note that this was immediately after a day where I "stuffed my face" and woke up surprised the next morning to a light weigh-in.

I had a friend come over that day, and he convinced me to have a couple of the "guest foods" I keep in jars, only to feed my guests.

I know not everybody's willing to live this kind of lifestyle, so I buy my guests food that they'd like - and usually I do a very good job of resisting them, despite them sitting in my face in jars on the kitchen table haunting me. But it only takes a bite to crack me. Quite literally. It's an uncontrollable urge where you can't stop once you've started, and all your willpower goes out the window.

Ever notice how it's much easier to keep something moving once it's already moving? The resistive force on an already moving object (referred to as kinetic friction) is significantly weaker than the resistive force stopping a stationary object (static friction) from moving in the first place.

It just takes a little push to knock you over the edge and begin to pig out - justifying it with "whatever, I've already cheated, how much worse can it get?"

These past few days I've been weighing in at >75 kg, praying that it's mostly water retention and that a few cheat days won't do me too much harm - but truth be told, my overindulgence was far too great not to come with consequences, I expected as much.

Giving into a moment of weakness quite literally can undo months worth of progress.

Granted, if you have more self-control than I do, this probably isn't an issue, but for those of you that can relate, be careful when consuming any type of "cheat" foods... they may accidentally consume you.

EDIT: One last thing worth mentioning - it's extremely easy to overeat, but extremely difficult to undereat, so thinking you can undo one day's misbehavior by putting yourself into an equal deficit the next day is unreasonable. Eating a 900 calorie surplus in one day is like to require 2-3 days of 300-450 deficits, so realize that each day you cheat significantly, you're stalling your progress by several days at a time, not just one.

ZoneFive

All too true, my friend. Today's a new day, start fresh. If you're concerned about an unsustainable deficit for too long, take a look into the Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks thread. There's a very good thread recap in the first post.

And I'd put a muzzle on that friend.

apullum

It's probably water weight. You didn't gain three pounds of fat overnight unless you ate more than 10,000 calories over your maintenance budget.

GottaBurnEmAll

ZoneFive wrote: »

All too true, my friend. Today's a new day, start fresh. If you're concerned about an unsustainable deficit for too long, take a look into the Of Refeeds and Diet Breaks thread. There's a very good thread recap in the first post.

And I'd put a muzzle on that friend.

^^^^This right here. You will also find kindred spirits.

Crafty_camper123

I know how you feel. It took a whole week of eating at a deficit to make up for eating at pizza ranch at the beginning of the week! I cant walk out of that place for under 1000cal, and that's with trying to watch what I eat, ugh. Just gotta pick it back up the next day. Also I'm a fan of this re-feed and diet break. I read that thread, I realized it wont hurt anything to eat more for a little bit. Eating at maintenance for a week here and there has really helped me with that ravenous feeling I get when I'm eating less. I haven't had a binge yet with this current strategy. Having a maintenance week helps with the "screw it, I already had one bad thing, why not another" It seems to shift my mentality to " That treat was what I needed and I have room for some more tomorrow if I want!" Best of luck to ya!

batorkin

Giving into a moment of weakness quite literally can undo months worth of progress.

No it can't, stop beating yourself up over this.

Unless you are losing less than a pound a month, you aren't reversing months worth of progress by pigging out once in awhile. I've ate entire extra large pizzas by myself, in a single sitting, and still lost weight that week. A single day or meal means almost nothing as long as you get back on track and don't do it often.

MelanieCN77

apullum wrote: »

It's probably water weight. You didn't gain three pounds of fat overnight unless you ate more than 10,000 calories over your maintenance budget.

He didn't say anything about overnight, in fact he was quite clear that it was five straight days. I could do 10,000 cals over in a week, no problem. That's extra donuts and trail mix and booze, butter, a cupcake or two and no problem at all.

It's a combination of both, OP. It might take another week for the scale to show what you achieved, I bet it's about half of what you see now. What are you taking away from this week to help you going forward?

GottaBurnEmAll

apullum wrote: »

It's probably water weight. You didn't gain three pounds of fat overnight unless you ate more than 10,000 calories over your maintenance budget.

You've obviously never had a binging problem. In 5 days, doing that, as MelanieC noted, really isn't very hard to do. That's just 2000 calories a day over budget.

apullum

I can definitely see how my earlier post sounded insensitive and hurtful. Thank you @MelanieCN77 and @GottaBurnEmAll for pointing that out to me. I am sorry, OP--I didn't mean to sound that way at all. I wanted to be supportive: I think that it's not all fat, because eating differently than you usually do is going to cause some water weight gain. In other words, I don't think that you've undone as much progress as the scale indicates. Also, a lot of the progress you've made is in learning how to get back on track, not just movement on the scale.

Thank you all again for checking me when I come across as an unsupportive jerk!

JeromeBarry1

It wasn't 5 days. It was more like 5 months of just too frequent overeating days. It was 5 months of me telling myself that 'it's mostly water' and 'a week of being in deficit will whoosh it all away'. Well, no. I let that ball roll for 5 months+, from August 24 to January 2. I damn near had to go to Goodwill to see if I could find some of those big clothes I threw away. As it was, I have one only pair of trousers I kept from my previous size which I could still wear, and I wore them every day, washing only on weekends. Stopping the ball was hard. I binged every weekend and in the month of January still gained weight. Now that I've finally managed to complete a weekend inside my budget, I know only that I have to keep that ball stopped, I cannot relax, I cannot excuse.

Maxxitt

Planned "diet breaks" where a person eats a maintenance for a couple of weeks is a really helpful practice and it might be especially helpful for folks whose "cheat days" become weeks.

HoneyBadger302

I actually set my calorie range from my strictest deficit that I'm willing to eat at right now (with my current goals in mind) and what should be maintenance at my "goal" weight.

If I'm extra hungry, I have no problem eating at the higher end of that. Most days I'm somewhere in the middle, but that gives me some wiggle room for hangry days. If I've been craving something (say, pizza) for several days, then I just plan ahead and fit it into a day. Yes, I have consumed nearly an entire delivery pizza all by myself in one sitting and had it fit into my calories for the day. And it was delicious. And it took care of that craving.

I know some people get triggered by some things and have trouble stopping - chips and dip are one of those for me, so I typically don't keep it in the house because of that reason. Why place temptation right in front of yourself? Just extra stress. If your friends don't like your food that you are providing, too bad, pack their own if they're that worried about it!

sarahjen92

I get tripped up when I get "depressed"...first thing I go for is chocolate (or anything sugary really) and it's all downhill from there. Like you said, I already cheated so why stop? I used to have better self discipline but that went out the window evidently.

I can't have "junk" food sitting around or I will eat it. My mom will buy a carton of ice cream and she'll only eat a serving every couple of days...unless I happen to find it haha. One sitting, done! I wish I lived on my own sometimes. I can walk away from food I know I don't need/will binge on when I'm at the store, but once it's home, all bets are off!

fitoverfortymom

I let the ball get away from me about two weeks ago and I've just now gotten it in check. I think trying to do low carb during the week and higher carb+ more calories on the weekends really screwed me up. I'm definitely a person who needs constant moderation or else I go off the rails. What shocked me is after 16 months of dieting and briefly dipping below my goal weight, I just totally lost it. I also had got a Mirena a few weeks ago, so I'm wondering if that "weight gain side effect" is really code for "holy *kitten* you want to eat all the carbs."

I'm back on track now with a solid strategy, and the 7lbs or so gain I saw on the scale is now back down to my maintenance range (although I'm technically still trying to lose 5-10lbs more), but creating a deficit only with exercise.

Anyway, yes, once that ball starts rolling, it's hard to stop--even when you've been at it for a while.

Francl27

I totally agree. This is why I hate the saying 'you didn't gain the weight in a week, you won't lose the weight in a week'. I could EASILY gain way more weight in a week than I could lose in a month!

Also yeah, once I had a 'cheat week' like that on vacations, my appetite spiked up too, and it's been a real struggle to get back on track since (that was 3 years ago...).

That being said, logging everything can stop the 'I've already cheated, why stop there' mentality, when that red number gets bigger and bigger and you realize 'wow, that's an extra half a pound already'. Just a thought (and why logging EVERYTHING is so important).

whitpauly

I find the same logic when it comes to my excessive alcohol consumption,if I stay away I'm cool but if I drink even one games on! I think its somehow related in terms of thinking,,excellent post