Needing Some Talking Down

amandawhatup62

I had a horrible day at work today. That caused me to want to eat out for dinner and not choose something healthy. Now I feel guilty and crappy. How can I make good choices on horrible days?

hroderick

when you find yourself in a hope, stop digging

nutmegoreo

I'm currently reading the Beck Diet Solution. About emotional eating. Another good author is Geneen Roth.

JessiBelleW

Tell yourself that you can have whatever you want AFTER you go for a walk? By the time you’ve walked for 30m you might feel better and not want to eat crap?

kommodevaran

Learn to not feel guilty for eating, and that no foods are in themselves healthy or unhealthy. All foods provide nutrition, in different amounts and proportions, and we just need enough of a range of nutrients every day, but not too many calories over time. Eating is not a moral issue.

Stephanie5816

Yesterday I had the same problem and told myself that if I made something at home with similar ingredients I could have the "bad" food today if I still wanted it and that worked for me. I also try to keep a lot of food around the house that I can quickly prepare and eat or prepare with minimal effort. Logging the food that I want to eat before I eat it also helps, when I see the actual overage on the app sometimes it helps be more discouraging than just knowing I'd be "over". Don't beat yourself up, you can do better today, tomorrow, and the day after that so one day isn't going to kill your progress (as long as that day was yesterday and not today, lol).

psychod787

kommodevaran wrote: »

Learn to not feel guilty for eating, and that no foods are in themselves healthy or unhealthy. All foods provide nutrition, in different amounts and proportions, and we just need enough of a range of nutrients every day, but not too many calories over time. Eating is not a moral issue.

Yep.... nothing moral about it. Layne Norton has a food video about this.....
https://youtu.be/ge3NPxoCuAI

KeepRunningFatboy

Self compassion! Those days when you feel like you are taking a beating, maybe it’s ok to let your self control and will power to ease back so your soul can feel a little better? Maybe allow a little excess with some moderation to nourish your inner self?

mamasara2

My husband grew up on fast food and Dr Pepper. It blows my mind how well he can process that stuff and still have a great bod. But he is super active and has always told me that you can eat whatever you want as long as you get enough exercise throughout the day to work it off.

You're doing great. We all get to have great days and not so great days. I totally agree with previous posters- eating is not a moral issue. It's food. Have at it, love. The great thing is we know we can work it off!

Lots of good vibes to you! You've got this!!!!

Kullerva

I am in the camp of no "good" and "bad" foods. However, I am also in the camp of obsessive data tracking. I know that if I eat a tortilla, I will want another, and possibly 3 more. Same thing with cereal, or pocky. After tracking a pattern long enough, I can tell myself that it's easier to stop before the first one than it is to stop in the middle (though I have managed that, with tremendous effort).

To a person with a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. In our culture, all emotions are connected to food in some way (even positive ones like celebration). If you're feeling lousy, the one-size-fits-all solution is to go eat something so you don't feel lousy anymore. I know why the culture is like this (and I know I was acculturated this way), but that doesn't prevent me from seeing it as wrongheaded. If you feel lousy, the logical solution is to do something to not feel lousy anymore, but that doesn't mean you have to eat if you're not especially hungry. Take a walk. Read a book. Make something (keeping my hands busy never fails; I lose hours without thinking about food that way). Take a bath. Play with your dog or your kids or volunteer somewhere. If food didn't cause the problem, it's probably not going to fix it.

That said, we're all human and it's normal to slip up sometimes. Don't beat yourself up. Commit to feeling and doing better right now. Keep your head up!

ThereAreManyNames

The advice to go for a walk first was a good one, that does wonders for me when I'm stressed and I feel great afterwards instead of sluggish from too much food or guilty.

But if you still want to treat yourself afterwards, then do it. Pretty sure most of us are tracking calories here, don't stop doing that just because you go over. It's just a matter of adjusting your totals for the next day or two until you're back where you should be. You're not magically going to lose the progress you've made overnight, although you need to be honest with yourself over whether you're letting stress eating become a habit.

Panini911

Personally I think we need to be allowed crazy meals. not weekly per say but one terrible meal isn't going to ruin your progress and is just a blip in the big picture.

Otherwise I agree with the above, go for a walk or something non food you like. Or pick a food splurge but in moderation.

we need to enjoy life in the now as well not just be so strict we feel guilty for one meal. Eating well is a lifelong journey beyond the weight loss If we make the journey miserable by not forgiving ourselves or making it so we can NEVER have just one crazy meal (just not too regularly) we will set ourselves up to fail in the long term.

I plan to have a crazy meal this summer. ONE I don't completely "fit in" my week. It's not something i do regularly (as in I haven't done it in...4 months?) but I want to be able to enjoy life. to just go out. To go and eat that horrible 500+ calorie Dairy Queen Ice cream without starving myself the entire day to "make up for it". So I loose a bit less than week (or nothing), this is a marathon not a sprint.

psychod787

I have graduated to calorie cycling some weeks with time restricted eating. I used to be a person who would freak our if i went too far under or over my cals. It's about week to week balance on the end. Even in so called maintanace. People tend to bounce back and forth between gaining slowly and then having to lose. Some people just maintain effortlessly. Some of us don't. We are going to regain. Only thing we can so is be mindful I guess. Enjoy the losing, because it's the easier part. Maintaining your loses can be crazy. Enough of me being a downer. You can do it op.

amandawhatup62

Thanks everyone for your advice and kind words ❤️ it really helped put some things into perspective for me as well as not being completely upset with myself!