What strange beasts we are.

GrizzledSquirrel

I blew it today.
BLEW IT.
Scoffed unthinkingly. Didn’t log. Ate to beyond full. Took no exercise. Am currently sitting on the sofa now, clutching a glass of wine and feeling physically uncomfortable.

Am also taking a moment to observe myself with a fair degree of wonder at how I can have slipped from being so brilliantly “on it” over the past 1.5 months (including some highly stressful moments) to being so utterly out of control. A big fail today.

I pledge to do better tomorrow and to get back to the place I was at recently, where the “good track” had started to feel like second nature. Please help me with a word or two of encouragement. I could really do with it tonight....

Terytha

It's taking me a long time to get this also, but there are no fails. No matter how much you ate, this day represents the tiniest blip in the line, a small bump on the road.

Here's proof:



Right around end of June, we had an anniversary trip, and I ate horribly. Fried foods and pastas and fraps and a 1600 calorie piece of cheesecake to top it off. Gained like 4 pounds. I HATED myself. The only real gain I've recorded.

Look how tiny that bump is on a 6 month graph.

On a year long graph, probably nearly invisible.

Just some perspective for you. The only fail is quitting. And you're HERE. Which means you got this.

LyndaBSS

Life happens. Forgive yourself and move on.

Maybe you could put down the glass of wine and start again right now, this very minute? 💟

kimny72

GrizzledSquirrel wrote: »

I blew it today.
BLEW IT.
Scoffed unthinkingly. Didn’t log. Ate to beyond full. Took no exercise. Am currently sitting on the sofa now, clutching a glass of wine and feeling physically uncomfortable.

Am also taking a moment to observe myself with a fair degree of wonder at how I can have slipped from being so brilliantly “on it” over the past 1.5 months (including some highly stressful moments) to being so utterly out of control. A big fail today.

I pledge to do better tomorrow and to get back to the place I was at recently, where the “good track” had started to feel like second nature. Please help me with a word or two of encouragement. I could really do with it tonight....

It happens, I suspect to everyone, but at least to most of us.

I've sat on the couch with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, or a box of Lucky Charms, observing myself like I'm not the one doing it, thinking this is so dumb I'm going to eat away all my progress, all my wiggle room. But I still eat until I'm stuffed and feel like an idiot.

If you can figure out why and strategize, that would be awesome. But if you can't and it's just a bizarre loss of control that happened because we're bizarre, then just put it behind you and get back in your lane.

:flowerforyou:

pinuplove

Sometimes the blow out is building for a while. Perfection is the enemy of good, and a little planned indulgence might head this off in the future. But, as others have stated, it's just a blip in the big picture.

RelCanonical

Just a blip in the journey. It's totally okay to be frustrated, but the forgiveness train is waiting so you can get back on. And even if you don't get back on perfectly, just making the effort to transition back is enough.

88olds

Don’t wait for tomorrow. Open your food diary and fill it in as best you can. Everything you recall with a number.

It’s the accountability. And it’s on you to do it. Went over your number, fine. Nothing you can do about that now. Exercise? Well, the wine...

But the diary is still doable. A good thing about calorie counting weight loss is it doesn’t have to be perfect to work.

Keep your diary no matter what and you’ll never have to start over.

GrizzledSquirrel

Thanks all. Amazing to receive such support, especially from strangers (albeit not strangers to the travails of weight loss by the sound of things)

@Terytha A picture tells a thousand words, right! Amazing achievements - well done - and you’re right - this is about the longer journey. Thank you for reminding me. Can be easy to lose sight.

@LyndaBSS Thank you - and thank you for being such a support to so many on these forums. I finished the glass of wine, but put a stopper in the rest of the bottle and came to bed. Have shut the door on today. Will open it again tomorrow which (as Anne of GG said) “is always fresh, with no mistakes in it”.

@kimny72 “observing myself like I’m not the one doing it” - you nailed it. That felt just like me today. I saw what I was doing, but didn’t care somehow. It was like a mini rebellion or something. I like the idea of “getting back in my lane” though. That’s the only thing for it. Thank you.

@pinuplove You’re right. I do have a tendency to be a bit “all or nothing”. See the “rebellion” point above - looks like you’re onto something. I’ll keep an eye on this. Thank you.

@RelCanonical oh wow! The “forgiveness train”? Where can I buy me a ticket? Nay - a SEASON ticket?! Am running along the platform now. Thanks for the image. It helps a lot.

MarcyMavin

Me too, Griz. It’s just a day and tomorrow is a new one. Here’s to tomorrow , we’ll slay it!

Cahgetsfit

kimny72 wrote: »

GrizzledSquirrel wrote: »

I blew it today.
BLEW IT.
Scoffed unthinkingly. Didn’t log. Ate to beyond full. Took no exercise. Am currently sitting on the sofa now, clutching a glass of wine and feeling physically uncomfortable.

Am also taking a moment to observe myself with a fair degree of wonder at how I can have slipped from being so brilliantly “on it” over the past 1.5 months (including some highly stressful moments) to being so utterly out of control. A big fail today.

I pledge to do better tomorrow and to get back to the place I was at recently, where the “good track” had started to feel like second nature. Please help me with a word or two of encouragement. I could really do with it tonight....

It happens, I suspect to everyone, but at least to most of us.

I've sat on the couch with a jar of peanut butter and a spoon, or a box of Lucky Charms, observing myself like I'm not the one doing it, thinking this is so dumb I'm going to eat away all my progress, all my wiggle room. But I still eat until I'm stuffed and feel like an idiot.

If you can figure out why and strategize, that would be awesome. But if you can't and it's just a bizarre loss of control that happened because we're bizarre, then just put it behind you and get back in your lane.

:flowerforyou:

Totally this.

I shovel food down my piehole like i'm not even me sometimes. Kind of powerless to stop until feel like absolute rubbish. But then, I dust myself off and start again the next day.

Sometimes I log it just to see how much an entire box of Ferrero Rocher and family size bag of chips set me back. Other times I just ignore it.

But I always get back on it.

NovusDies

GrizzledSquirrel wrote: »

I blew it today.
BLEW IT.
Scoffed unthinkingly. Didn’t log. Ate to beyond full. Took no exercise. Am currently sitting on the sofa now, clutching a glass of wine and feeling physically uncomfortable.

Am also taking a moment to observe myself with a fair degree of wonder at how I can have slipped from being so brilliantly “on it” over the past 1.5 months (including some highly stressful moments) to being so utterly out of control. A big fail today.

I pledge to do better tomorrow and to get back to the place I was at recently, where the “good track” had started to feel like second nature. Please help me with a word or two of encouragement. I could really do with it tonight....

Change the narrative. Make today part of your plan. Try to enjoy all that you have consumed. You took a momentary breather and tomorrow you will get back after it. The scale may go up because of water/waste fluctuations but in a few days it will go back down again.

The only problem that might exist is if you "rebel ate" because you have been to strict with yourself or trying to lose weight too fast. If you have what you believe is a sustainable system and you are being kind to yourself then this is most likely a breather.

I would try and log it but I know I was not as disciplined 6 weeks in and let a few of these types of days go mostly unrecorded so I can't say much.

GrizzledSquirrel

@MarcyMavin Thank you. A good message to wake up to this morning. I am ready to slay it today.

@Cahgetsfit It seems that getting back on it is the key to success here. i.e. not what we do when we’re at the top but how high we bounce when we hit the bottom - and all that. Thank you.

@NovusDies There’s that concept of rebel eating again. This thread has really brought it to light for me. I’m not going to change my plan off the back of it - as my first 6 weeks have been working and I like reframing it as “a breather” - but if this happens again - I’ll definitely amend things. It’s a good idea to go back and log it. I haven’t done it so far, not so much through lack of discipline - but because I didn’t want to confront it. I feel I should. Thanks for the wise words.

NovusDies

GrizzledSquirrel wrote: »

@MarcyMavin Thank you. A good message to wake up to this morning. I am ready to slay it today.

@Cahgetsfit It seems that getting back on it is the key to success here. i.e. not what we do when we’re at the top but how high we bounce when we hit the bottom - and all that. Thank you.

@NovusDies There’s that concept of rebel eating again. This thread has really brought it to light for me. I’m not going to change my plan off the back of it - as my first 6 weeks have been working and I like reframing it as “a breather” - but if this happens again - I’ll definitely amend things. It’s a good idea to go back and log it. I haven’t done it so far, not so much through lack of discipline - but because I didn’t want to confront it. I feel I should. Thanks for the wise words.

Seems like you have a good handle on it for now. What I find is that after it is logged it is never as bad as I have imagined.

Once you get your eating under control weight loss happens mostly between the ears. That is something that took me too long to figure out. Managing my mental state is my primary concern and now. I start my own controlled burn from time to time instead of letting myself get to a snapping place. It happened more often at the beginning but that is to be expected. After the third month I did need it as much. Now I am generally happy waiting until I have scheduled maintenance eating for an event/holiday/vacation/whatever.

LivingtheLeanDream

Log it, learn from it and move on....

SnifterPug

Just keep on keeping on, and forgive yourself the blip. The worst thing I ever did (other than vowing that the diet would start on a Monday that never came) was to have a setback, decide I had failed and allow everything to go off track because I saw no point in carrying on.

Take care. You can do it!

GrizzledSquirrel

@88olds Always such a source of sensible advice - thank you. As per @NovusDies advice, I DID log everything after all. I was surprised at the ACTUAL extent of the “damage”. Won’t share the actual number (for fear of judgement) but let’s just say it wasn’t nearly the disaster my head assumed it was. A bit of valuable perspective gained on my part.

@LivingtheLeanDream yes, Yes and YES! Keep it simple, right. Our silly brains do complicate matters sometimes.

Thanks @SnifterPug - you’re right. The worst thing I could do would be to look back at this moment in a few weeks’ time and realise I’ve lost the work of the last six weeks rather than only the last few days. Thanks for issuing the warning.

Brief update: today was better. Contrary to what I said, I decided to switch my weight loss goal down to only 0.5lbs a week. It bought me a valuable couple hundred calories today to “spend” on a mid-morning latte, which helped to keep me on track.

Thanks again all. Will close this now. I’ve definitely got over the worst and you all really helped when I needed it. X

Nukester88

Back in 2015, I lost about 10 pounds over 6 weeks, then thanksgiving, and thanksgiving leftovers, happened. I gained 5 back and I basically gave up because if I can ruin almost a month of work over a few days it just wasn’t worth it. Well, I gained 1-2 pounds a month for the next 3 years and ended up 48 pounds over my original goal and 29 pounds over my original starting weight. It’s taken 3 months from when I said, “enough is enough”, just to get back to the weight I was after my thanksgiving binge that happened almost 4 years ago now. So don’t be like me, do what pps are saying, make your next choice a healthy one.

elisa123gal

You don't have to be perfect.. it is getting back up on the horse and riding that matters. I can speak to you from experience.. it is perfectly natural to indulge and go off plan...but success hinges ABSOLUTELY.. on the ability to get right back on the next day. You can do this.. you needed a break for a day..and it will happen again. Trust yourself that you can jump right back to your healthy lifestyle. When you nail that.. you're going to make it all the way.

NovusDies

Good idea withholding the actual number. I would never tell anyone that in April in 5 short days I ate almost 25k calories. BTW, I only gain back half a pound during that entire planned refeed.