I ruined my healthy eating on the weekend

Codysmall1

I usually ruin my healthy eating on the weekends because I eat so well and get lots of exercise during the week and then on my days off I tend to snack on un

yirara

So what? The world won't end because you eat unhealthy food ❤️

Unhealthy or healthy food has no bearing on weightloss. Only a calorie deficit has. If you go over on your weekends then consider why. Are you restricting too much during the week? Solution is easy: eat more and have a nice snack every now and then. Are you bored? Solution is try to keep yourself busy with something you enjoy or think you might enjoy. Try things.

AnnPT77

You might be a good candidate for using average daily calories as a guide, rather than each individual day's calories. In the MFP phone/tablet app, Nutrition page, you can select the calories tab and change to weekly view. If your weekly average stays around goal calories, you're fine.

I didn't really do it this way while losing, but in maintenance I intentionally eat a very small bit below actual maintenance calories most days. It's not a huge gap, because going to extreme could set up deprivation/over-eat/regret cycles, and probably not be health-promoting when I'm already at a healthy weight. So, maybe 100-150 calories below true maintenance most days. That builds up a "calorie bank" so I can be indulgent occasionally, which I enjoy. Works fine - I've been maintaining a healthy weight for 9+ years so far.

I've seen people here use a similar strategy during loss, especially those who may have very structured weekdays (lots of job and chores stuff on a schedule) then like to be a little more free-rein on the weekend. They have a different calorie goal for weekdays than weekends. Maybe they even go to maintenance calories on the weekend, accepting that that will be slower weight loss . . . but more successful for them. It still has to be logged and managed, of course. If you have premium MFP, you can even set different calorie goals for different days. It still works in free MFP, though: Just use that weekly average to manage and adjust.

Maybe none of that is right for you. But think of the larger point here: You are an individual. You know yourself best. Think creatively about what weight loss tactics will be easiest for you personally, will keep you pretty happy and enjoying a balanced life alongside gradually heading for your goal weight. You can get suggestions from others, but figuring all that out is personal to you. IMO, personalization of tactics is key to success.

There are other things some people do that might apply, sure, like making it a point to get more exercise - fun things - on weekends or off days, using some time on off days to prep foods and plan ahead to keep their head in the game, think about preferences and accommodate them. An example of that last: If a person likes a big indulgent meal on the weekend, then maybe just eat one meal, or have snack-sized other meals. If a person likes all-day snack-grazing on off days, make a series of snacks a substitute for meals rather than an add-on. Try things. Find what works.

Also, one important point: Don't try to lose weight crazy fast by restricting all your favorite foods, cutting calories aggressively in pursuit of ultra-fast weight loss, and then maybe even stack punitively intense daily exercise on top of that. A lot of people do that, seems like, and eventually that usually breaks down and becomes an over-eat-fest, maybe even giving up and returning to old, less healthy but more fun habits.

Gradual weight loss - a manageable, reasonably happy (at least tolerable/practical!) plan - is much more likely to succeed than some extreme plan that requires white-knuckled discipline, will power, or motivation. No matter what we do, time is going to pass. Sometimes a slower weight loss rate will get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme forced march that causes deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

As a bonus, focus on moderation and a relatively easy plan can help us learn and practice the habits that will help us stay at a healthy weight long term, ideally permanently.

It's a different mindset from "lose weight fast and go back to normal". It's more like "find and practice new permanent, easy, more positive routine habits". I'm talking enjoyable, filling eating; fun ways of moving more, daily life or exercise.

Success is worth the effort: Think how you can most achievably make it happen.

Best wishes!

age_is_just_a_number

2 days does not ruin anything. What matters is the trend over time.

springlering62

pfffft. I’ve had so many days and weeks of going over. Shrug and get back to plan. I still lost a ton, and have maintained even with fairly regular calorie blowouts. .

My diary is open. You’d be shocked if you looked at my snacks last night. Am I worried? Naw.

It’s the mentality of “so what” and going back to plan. No wagon, no falling off of, no mental beatings, no self flagellation. Just have a job to do and get back to it.

If you screwed something up at work, you’d just fix it and continue on, right? You wouldn’t quit, quake in fear of being fired, hide under your desk, right?

I set the oven on fire making yogurt (don’t ask) last month. I ran around for about sixty seconds- the longest 60 of my life- like a chicken with my head cut off. After I doused the flames, I sat and chilled for a bit and then began the process of cleaning up the fire extinguisher mess. Did I stop cooking? Stop eating yogurt? Lose my mind and begin eating out every day due to Oven PTSD?

Nope, I just uttered a few choice cuss words, and carried on. I did not fall off an oven wagon, move out of my house, divorce my husband or any other drama. (Although he might’ve wanted to divorce me after accidentally getting the fire extinguisher full in the face.)

weight loss is the same. It’s only us making it bigger in our heads than it has to be.

saralp2516

This is my issue also. I meal prep most of the week but the weekend I'm running around with husband and toddler and I tend to forget about me!

I try my best to start my weekend mornings off correctly. Even if we go out to breakfast I try to stick to my usual breakfast and add an extra egg white to help keep me full.

janiceclark08

I go over on weekends too. I try to have some of my calories left, on the weekdays, so going over on the weekends, I don't gain. I have noticed a stall on my weight,not losing and not gaining, the past few weeks, like a plateau. However, I weighed this morning and I now am in the 160's. So being patient, and continuing counting my calories, I finally seen the drop, I had been looking for. Hang in there, the weight will come off eventually.

COGypsy

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48660231#Comment_48660231

Haha—I remember my first oven fire! It was one of those giant chocolate chip cookies in a pizza pan that was a mall favorite back in the 80s-90s. Exploded out of the pizza pan and dripped burning sugar all over the oven. We nearly froze to death sleeping with the windows open to get the smell out.

Good times…..

ntall3nt

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10941422/i-ruined-my-healthy-eating-on-the-weekend

I always feel guilty when I’m doing really good and then I just eat junk. But you have to realize that this is a journey and it’s •your• journey. I’ve had the gastric sleeve (4 years out) and I’m struggling with slowing gaining weight again and I’m trying to get back on track. It’s a process. So don’t beat yourself up. You got this

reggaereggie

Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. What matters most is that you’re aware of it and know how to get back on track now. Enjoy!