I caved in and ate a lot of food...

AshFace22

I have been actively tracking my calories and always always ALWAYS staying on track and maintaining my weight for the past two years. I have lost a total of 130 pounds and kept it off for such a long, long time-- even today! I workout happily, always doing my best to stay on the move on and off the gym, and have a fairly loose eating schedule. I've always managed to stay within my range (1900-2200 a day)

Today, however-- I got the overwhelming urge to just binge eat so much chocolate, and no matter how far back I shoved those cravings in the back of my mind- I just couldn't shake it. Everything I saw-- it was pure chocolate. I must have at LEAST pounded back over a thousand calories in chocolate alone. I'm 5'11'' and about 139-142 pounds. I'm kind of freaking out a little bit because, of course, I don't want this to be a permanent habit for me or for me to ever think this was an 'ok' feat. I haven't really "cheated" or had a whole day to eat whatever I wanted (Ie, a whole pizza with a side of garlic knots and cheesecake for dessert) I know it happens to the best of us-- I just don't know what to do. And to make things worse-- I barely broke 1000 steps! It was a total Veg out day, as well. Something I've never done either! Even when I wasn't at the gym!

kbmnurse1

Move on tomorrow is a new day.

AnvilHead

Log it and move on. Minimal, if any, harm done.

kami3006

Going two years without a indulgent day is pretty darn good! As the others said, log it and move on. You probably won't even notice it as far as the scale goes.

rg4517rg

I would recommend that you do between a 24-36 hour fast from food and then get back on track. That way you won't feel guilty about all those calories you put in. If you haven't done intermittent fasting before, try the 16/8 method. It's pretty simple. You go 16 hours with no food, just water and then break your fast whenever you want. You have a window of 8 hours to get in all your calories for the day. Hope this helped!

lynn_glenmont

rg4517rg wrote: »

I would recommend that you do between a 24-36 hour fast from food and then get back on track. That way you won't feel guilty about all those calories you put in. If you haven't done intermittent fasting before, try the 16/8 method. It's pretty simple. You go 16 hours with no food, just water and then break your fast whenever you want. You have a window of 8 hours to get in all your calories for the day. Hope this helped!

I'm sorry, but this is terrible advice. You are encouraging the OP in unhealthy attitudes of feeling guilty about food and feeling the need to be punished to atone for it.

pierinifitness

I've read about relapse in the context of addiction and what I've learned is the relapse isn't the act of drinking in the case of the alcoholic who has abstained (used if a druggie or binged if a person who has food issues who has done a stellar job of controlling their consumption) but, rather, all the psychological feelings and behaviors leading up to the act. Use your act as an opportunity to study your relapse thoughts and behaviors leading up to the chocolate gorging and see what you can learn from this analysis. Then, use what you've learned to identify how you can better recognize when you're in relapse mode. Again, relapse is what leads to the act, not the act itself.

And, remember, the journey is two steps forward knowing that you'll have occasional one step backs. You're still a net one step forward when this happens. All is well. Love yourself and march forward.

rg4517rg

I'm sorry, but this is terrible advice. You are encouraging the OP in unhealthy attitudes of feeling guilty about food and feeling the need to be punished to atone for it.

Okay, I worded that wrong. I don't mean to make the OP feel guilty but in order to alleviate all that bloatedness and feeling of defeat, a fast would really help. That's not to say that she can't enjoy her favorite foods. She can but in moderation. @AshFace22 There's nothing wrong with having a big cheat day 1 or 2 days out of the week. You don't have to follow my advice, just trying to present an alternative. It works for me at least. All in all, don't feel bad. We all have those days where we crave our favorite foods. Good luck!

lynn_glenmont

rg4517rg wrote: »

I'm sorry, but this is terrible advice. You are encouraging the OP in unhealthy attitudes of feeling guilty about food and feeling the need to be punished to atone for it.

Okay, I worded that wrong. I don't mean to make the OP feel guilty but in order to alleviate all that bloatedness and feeling of defeat, a fast would really help. That's not to say that she can't enjoy her favorite foods. She can but in moderation. @AshFace22 There's nothing wrong with having a big cheat day 1 or 2 days out of the week. You don't have to follow my advice, just trying to present an alternative. It works for me at least. All in all, don't feel bad. We all have those days where we crave our favorite foods. Good luck!

OK. I don't think anyone is suggesting that she pile more food in if she's still feeling physically stuffed from the chocolate feast (which she doesn't mention, nor does she mention feeling bloated, which is a term I'm not crazy about as it seems to mean something different for everybody who uses it, and thus makes clear communication difficult). (There's a fairly new medical show on NBC in the U.S., and in one episode a doctor refused to prescribe a treatment to a patient until she would explain what she meant when she said she felt dizzy, because patients use that word to describe a wide array of symptoms. I feel that way about "bloated.")

Again, I don't see it as helpful to suggest fasting as a solution to a feeling of defeat, which OP also doesn't specifically mention feeling -- the only thing she mentions feeling is freaked out, which seems different to me than feeling defeated. But even if she does feel "defeated," the solution is recognizing that that's not an appropriate emotional response, not engaging in some kind of physical atonement to make up for doing something "wrong."

If she doesn't feel well after overeating, I think holding off on her next meal until she at least doesn't feel full anymore is a good idea.

AshFace22

Thank you all so much for your wonderful replies-- and for those standing up for me in my defense. I appreciate that so much. I would never use fasting as a means of punishment-- I used to, and I would be so miserable. It would throw me off completely because It'd lead to me pounding it so hard at the gym on a growling stomach and then wonder why I was so miserable. I wouldn't even have a sense of achievement after that, I would just look at myself like "I hope you learned your lesson!" and that's not fair to ME- Especially when I see bodybuilders pounding 10k calorie food challenges, sleeping it off, and then feeling so wonderful the next day. I just wanted some reassurance, which I'm more than grateful to receive. You all are wonderful. I am kind of psychologically messed up a bit with food- it scares me and I'm constantly in micromanagement mode, so enjoying a small cheat day would never be an option for me because I rely on those articles that state how "One cheat day turns into a cheat lifestyle and how 50lbs is quickly regained" -- Again. Thank you all for your advice

lizziequek

you 've already done awesome ! stayed on track for so long ! one day off the rails is fine , forgive yourself , workout (a bit more if you like the next few days) & get back to your normal schedule !! you are an inspiration to me , having stayed on track for so long

Ohiogirlatheart

This has probably happened to all of us. When I go off the rails I log it and move on the next day. It's kinda weird but sometimes having a high calorie day, followed by getting right back to the routine, seems to help my weight loss. When I've occasionally really mixed up my body and brain I get results a few weeks later? Has this happened to anyone else?

kellyjellybellyjelly

rg4517rg wrote: »

I would recommend that you do between a 24-36 hour fast from food and then get back on track. That way you won't feel guilty about all those calories you put in. If you haven't done intermittent fasting before, try the 16/8 method. It's pretty simple. You go 16 hours with no food, just water and then break your fast whenever you want. You have a window of 8 hours to get in all your calories for the day. Hope this helped!

That could start a worse binge & possibly create a binge/restrict cycle that is not healthy in the least (I know from experience).

A better approach would be to either chalk it up to eating over one day & getting back on track tomorrow or lowering calories a bit the next few days to average out their weekly calories.