How do you handle a "bad" day?

ruthlesswr

Yesterday, we were invited up to a friend's house for a low country shrimp boil/birthday celebration for one of my best friends. I tried not to over do, but even just taking a little of everything put me 200 or so calories over for the day. So my question is, what now? Do I just do nothing different and move on? Or do I try to make up for the calorie overage over the next week? How do you guys handle it? I guess I'm also stressing a bit because this next Friday, Saturday, and Sunday we will be on the road moving our youngest daughter 10.5 hours away. I'll be eating out every meal! Which will be a struggle to keep on track. I'm almost thinking I should just give up and start over later on, but a little voice in my head is saying that's not the way to go. I'm discouraged in advance.

OhLeita

A little over 200 calories and you had a good time with friends? It sounds like you grinned off those extra calories and they'll not hurt your progress at all.

Think of it this way, if we eat out we're often dependent on their calorie counts or our own assumptions of a menu item. Neither is accurate, but kind of close so that's what we work with. So, often we over or under-estimate our calories and still see progress.

I keep a tally of calories in my head and treat it like a bank account. Some days I'm rich, others I'm poor. When I'm poor (ate too much) I trim back a little. Keeping the food diary here is the most valuable tool I have. I can't fool myself into thinking I'm eating healthy when I know I'm not.

The best thing you're doing for yourself is being aware of everything you eat and feeling a little afraid about it. That'll get you through next weekend.

Enjoy watching your daughter as she discovers adulthood. It's an amazing feeling of love and pride.

Cheers!

lovesretirement

Congrats on getting the last one on her way!
This is a lifestyle so just make good choices when you eat out and drink plenty of water to flush the sodium. You will get the exercise in from getting her stuff moved.
Enjoy it, and when you get back home, jump right in on your schedule.

bubblybabeuk

Look you cannot calorie count every single day, life gets in the way at times. Forget about being 200 calories over, write it off and carry on. As for the weekend just take it as it comes make the best choices you can and start again next week. Drink plenty of water, stay away from fried food and try and get as much healthy veg as possible.

You will be fine, next week is a new start. Good luck with the trip.

Mandy x

FrancineM62

I wouldn't call that a "bad day" at all! When I go over my calories I don't look at it as something I now have to "make up for" as if it's a punishable crime! Just get back on track the next day. That's the beauty of MFP, each day's a new day and you start over with your calories. Before I tracked calories, I would just say what the heck, I already ate too much, why keep trying. But since I've been on MFP, I go over my calories once every week or so. It doesn't make any difference in the long run--I lost the weight and I've maintained over 4 months now. You can do this! Enjoy life! I'm sure it's bittersweet with your youngest moving away. We still have 2 at home. We travel and eat out a lot. It CAN be done!

sue9900

I love the positive comments and support for your question about a "bad" day. Reading this probably kept me from getting up and heading to the kitchen for a late night snack after having a pretty good day.

I am guessing from your current weight loss that you won't like how you feel if you don't plan ahead and stick to your goals. Maybe setting up some short term goals with a great reward will help you go the extra mile??????

ruthlesswr

Thanks everybody for all the support and suggestions! Sue, my current weight loss is a bit deceiving. I didn't actually weigh myself when I started MFP -- I just took my most recent highest weight and added a bit because I'd been laid up and not able to exercise. Turns out I was waaay off, 'cause the first time I actually weighed myself, I was about 13 pounds lighter than I'd thought! I'm loosing about a pound to 1/2 pound a week, but I've only been at it for around 5 weeks so I'd guess I've only really lost at most 5 pounds. I haven't been at this long enough to really set new habits, so I've been worried if I don't stick to the plan, it would be all too easy for me to just slide back into my old habits. I like the idea of setting a shorter term goal-- I'll have to think about what that is. The goal on my ticker is actually just to get me down into "normal" BMI range. After that I'll reassess and see if I want to try to loose any more.
And thanks for all the best wishes for my youngest! It's her first job out of college and her first time living in a larger city -- at least in the US. She spent 4 months in Barcelona ( pick pocket capital of the world) on a study abroad semester in college so she has no fear of big cities or the Metro or any of that. She's also travelled on her own a bit. When she was 19 she planned and paid for a 6 week trip to New Zealand, Australia and Fiji...by herself. Well sort of - her big sister was living in New Zealand at the time, so she stayed with her there, and then visited friends in Australia, and then met up with a friend for the first few days of her Fiji adventure. She's smart and not naive about the "big lights" so I'm not really worried at all about her - just excited!
We actually still have her older sister at home (she's back in the US and employed, but living with us to keep her expenses down) so we're not empty nesters yet, but it's still a new chapter for us and we're hoping it goes well for her. We're not looking forward to driving a truck for 10.5 hours and then dealing with city traffic though! Blah.