How do I get back on track?

Janellew86

Since Thanksgiving through to today I am destined to gain almost a pound. There's Thanksgiving leftovers around and a whole cake leftover. I went for a walk today..

Corina1143

Pre-log healthy leftovers now for tomorrow. Turkey's good. Did you have salad? Raw veggies (with dip for TG, maybe without now)? Green beans left over from green bean casserole? Deviled eggs? Log it all, so you have some choice, then eat what you want.
Maybe also pre-log a walk or 2 shorter ones.

Janellew86

There's turkey, dressing,mashed potatoes, potato salad, cake...there might be some green beans left.

AnnPT77

Janellew86 wrote: »

Since Thanksgiving through to today I am destined to gain almost a pound. There's Thanksgiving leftovers around and a whole cake leftover. I went for a walk today..

What makes you say you're destined to gain a pound? I'm assuming you mean you've done the math, are logging, and think you've eaten/will eat cumulatively about 3500 calories above your estimated maintenance calories (not just above your weight loss calorie goal). Is that assumption correct?

What I'd suggest is not to catastrophize or stress or beat yourself up about it. That serves no useful purpose.

Just get back to your healthy routine as soon as you can commit to the decision to do that.

If you can spread out your consumption of the leftovers (fit it in to something close to goal), or moderate portions, do that. (Most cakes freeze quite nicely, for example.) Is there anyone you can share them with responsibly? That sort of thing.

Are you still (in general) in the weight loss phase? If so, how fast have you been losing up to this point? Someone losing a pound a week who eats that 3500 extra calories has delayed reaching goal weight by one week. How much stress is that delay worth? (In my world, the answer is "not much". Sure, keep that sort of thing rare. But celebrations will occasionally happen.)

There are some reasons to believe that for at least some people, a relatively rare but major calorie overage won't have the scale impact one might expect from the pure calorie math. I'll put a video link in a spoiler that explains the science behind some of that possibility. There aren't guarantees, but it's a consideration. The net effect may be less than you anticipate.

Don't let her clickbait starting image put you off. It's good info.

https://youtu.be/SeDvYExqhOI?si=BFlGe40bQa8tK6-W

I describe a personal example in this thread, where other MFP-ers describe similar experiences:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope/p1

Almost certainly, you'll see a jump on the scale today/tomorrow (i.e., after the days of extra eating). That may be alarming. Wait it out. I predict most of it will be gone in a few days, up to maybe a couple of weeks. That's because a fair fraction of it will be water retention and extra food residue in the digestive tract that will become waste. That takes multiple days to sort out.

Stress, regret, self-recrimination: None of that burns any extra calories. It feels icky. On top of that, stress can increase cortisol which may increase water retention so increase scale weight (or mask fat loss on the scale: Totally counterproductive.

Personally, I'm in year 7+ of maintaining a healthy weight after losing from class 1 obese, after being overweight/obese for around 30 years before that. I eat indulgently sometimes. I'm talking literally thousands above my maintenance calories on one day or a couple of days. I don't do some extreme "make up for it" thing. I've learned it's not necessary, as long as I don't make a habit of it. I've relaxed a bunch about this compared to when I was losing and first maintaining. I've seen this stuff play out multiple times by now, and honestly I don't think it has to be a big deal psychologically.

TL; DR: Think about strategies you can use now and next time to enjoy the holiday, but maybe make moderation more realistic the next time a food-centric holiday rolls around. Also, don't stress about it. If you gain a pound, you know how to lose a pound. It'll be OK. It's just a delay. Sometimes a delay is worth it, in my opinion, honestly.

The holiday eating itself is less a problem as a practical thing than discouragement/stress about it that can lead us to feel like we've blown it and might as well keep eating, or give up altogether. As soon as you're able, get back to your regular routine, and see what happens. I suspect it won't be as bad as you're assuming, long term.

Best wishes!

no1racefan2

Decide which leftovers are the tastiest and leave the rest for somebody else. That's my strategy anyways!

Gisel2015

The freezer is your friend. Wrap, put in containers, label and don't forget to date them.
Slice the cake and freeze individual pieces. You can also freeze slices of turkey for further use in sandwich, salads, soups. Sweet potatoes also freeze well. Think that the left overs are future meals, and you don't have to eat them all at once.

elisa123gal

this is why I went out to eat for htis Thanksgiving. I have salmon cooking now and vegetables.. no left overs to tempt. me

Donnahatzinger

Great ideas thanks

ninerbuff

Extra eating ONE DAY isn't the issue. It's CONSISTENTLY eating extra daily. You can eat your leftovers. Just make sure you don't exceed your calorie restriction.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AmandaEdwards1

I had to get rid of it all. Thanksgiving is over time to get back on track

kshama2001

Janellew86 wrote: »

There's turkey, dressing,mashed potatoes, potato salad, cake...there might be some green beans left.

The only thing that would be a problem for me is the cake - I can moderate everything else. My normal meals have an animal protein, a starch, and a veg. When I have multiple starches, I have really small portions - like 50 grams each. I get to have some of everything, without more calories than I want.

I'd portion and freeze the cake, or get rid of it.

AmandaContalee

I would give away or throw await the foods that would sabotage your efforts; this is what I did! Out of sight out of mind.

springlering62

Listen to what you’ve just said. Is a pound really enough to derail you? Is it going to loom that large that it takes over your life?

It’s a tree.

Go look at the forest.

In a couple of weeks or months you’ll be laughing at this. I know, because I posted similar.

history_grrrl

Gisel2015 wrote: »

The freezer is your friend. Wrap, put in containers, label and don't forget to date them.
Slice the cake and freeze individual pieces. You can also freeze slices of turkey for further use in sandwich, salads, soups. Sweet potatoes also freeze well. Think that the left overs are future meals, and you don't have to eat them all at once.

All of this. I might be able to keep one or two pieces of cake in the freezer but probably would have to give the rest away.

Theoldguy1

Throw the cake out if it is an issue.

Retroguy2000

I was up 3.6 pounds from the Monday pre-Thanksgiving to the Monday after, which puts me above the range I want to be. At least half of that must be water, but even so, I definitely binged way too much over the weekend, as in about 2000 calories above maintenance for several days. Oh well, I logged it all, and moved on. The last few days have been back to regular eating and working out. I'm not concerned.

loulee997

Janellew86 wrote: »

Since Thanksgiving through to today I am destined to gain almost a pound. There's Thanksgiving leftovers around and a whole cake leftover. I went for a walk today..

Cut the portions of the Thx you want to keep into individual portions. Make meals. Freeze them. You can microwave them or reheat these preheated meals in the future when you don't feel like cooking. It helps you regulate how much of the rich food you have in the fridge. PUtting them into individual meal containers--makes them convenient. It save you time when you don't want to cook AND lets you get back on track now.

I'd cut the cake up into pieces. Eat a piece if you want it. Toss the rest. Give it to the neighbors.
Frozen cake never quite tastes good. So I don't freeze cake. Enjoy and let it go.

Good luck!

Retroguy2000

Down 2 pounds of that 3.6 I gained during the post-Thanksgiving binge weekend. That's just from getting back on track with working out and a small deficit for the last 6 days. I must have lost some of the preview weeks water gain from the extra carbs. Onwards...