Is it worth logging days when everything goes wrong?

novakac

So I had one of those days. Those days when you have no idea why you're even trying to eat healthy, so you just... give up. I have never been a "binge eater", so that doesn't quite describe my day, but I was easily 1000 calories over my goal. Easily. And I didn't work out. Well, I did do 2 lunges. While carrying bacon to the computer.

Is today even worth logging? Should I really re-live every mistake I made and catalog it? Do I really need to see the "if every day was like today, you would weigh xxx in 5 weeks!" Or should I just pretend it never happened, go to bed, and wake up fresh and back on my routine when I go back to work tomorrow?

Thoughts from someone else who's had a fail day?

mamadon

Absolutely. How else do we really learn? I do see some people that choose not to log on days they go over, but I think that honest logging is all part of this learning to change our lives deal.

angelzprophecy

It depends on if you're the type of person to try to make up for it the next day or just restart and try to do it right the next day.

if youre just going to reset then i wouldn't log it in. i think that once the number goes past a certain point, it looks all the same and the guilt felt is all the same.

I dont think seeing the number would really have a big psychological effect that would last either. Its kinda hard to make a connection to the number and the actual diet in reality. Like, once the food is in, its in and logging it wont really change that.

ThePlight

I log it all. I'm new to THIS site in particular, so I don't have anything logged of much importance yet.

iamaviking007

I just have to say that " I Love" that you typed that you did 2 lunges while carrying bacon to your computer!! lol ...... nothing like a good sense of humor!! lol, love it!! ............ to answer your question though, I usually don't log on days that I screw up and eat whatever I want but today for some reason I did, I think I wanted to see the actual damage today to see if maybe I could make up for it in exercise and not eating the calories a few days this coming week. With that said, I say, " do what ever makes you feel happy ". As long as you get back on the horse after you fall off then you'll be fine, that's what counts

nikilis

man, on christmas or a family gathering - ALL BETS ARE OFF.

2 full plates, 3 plates of desert! man, I go for it. no guilt man, no guilt.

BUT

yes. its important to see what your eating.

either you will be like "woah thats way too much"

or "mmm, its not that bad, maybe I should just eat a little less tomorrow".

MOST IMPORTANTLY:

you are talking like you need to punish yourself and this is a failure and you failed.

F**K THAT! you had an awesome indulgence! now you got it out of your system, eat good tomorrow, and maybe add in another gym session if you feel like it.

dont feel bad. if you are within your goal for the rest of the week you will still be in DEFICIT!

seriously. its all good.

GiGiBeans

The fact that you said days is kind of a red flag. If you are just starting out I think it's really important to weigh and log everything. It helps identify patterns too - maybe working out harder is causing more hunger, maybe a particular food, maybe stress and you need to find better alternatives.

Denial and avoidance is what got me in trouble in the first place so I log it.

AccioFitness

For me logging every day, even the ones where I go completely overboard helps tremendously. Sometimes it's the act of logging the food I'm eating the snaps me backs bit and I'll go have a glass of water realizing I'm not hungry. It's like havinf instant accountability, which is something i need to keep myself on track. Other times it helps me to see patterns of when I binge eat and why; and from that I am able to try and help myself overcome whatever it is that is creating the issues (I'm an emotional eater so much of the time when I over eat it's due to stress or another negative emotion). Am I stressed? Upset? On my period? What can I do to help make the best possible choice for me? Sometimes the best choice is just having that damn slice of cake, other times it's going for a walk.

When I do have those days though, and everyone does, I remind myself it's only one day. It's okay. Tomorrow I will jump back in track and I won't let this define me or stop me. Heck, sometimes it's just an afternoon or an evening of over indulgence. No matter what though I know I can start over in the morning.

bird_3_lee

I log it all too; And in the diary part I write the way I felt that day. You might start to see a pattern like if ur hormonal or sick or sleepy your diet habbits may be a certain way..The more you know about why you act in certain ways the better.
Tomorrow is a brand new day so dont beat yourself up over a bad day think how easy it will be to do a better job tomorrow

MizSookeh

Yep, I log it. I like having it right there in front of me to clearly see how much difference one more beer, one more slice of pizza, half a tube of Pringles adds up to, so that I remember next time I'm tempted (or drunk!)

However, I'm on vacation from this Saturday for just over a week, it's much needed R&R with lots of drinks, restaurant meals, and so on... so I'm not going to log. It's a planned mental break, and I'm okay with that.

Ophidion

It has all pretty much been said in previous reply's, just will add honest logging=best logging.

gamerkiwi

Yes, then you can tell how much you go over, and compensate for it for the next couple days'/week.

So if you go 1000 Calories over, then you can go 200 calories under for the next 5 days. You could look at it as learning to splurge for a day without sacrificing your diet.

Cinloykko

i log it up to a certain point. There is a fail day and then there are hell days.... When i start going over in the hundreds, i still log. When i hit 1,000+, I start getting sloppy with my logging but I still try really hard while I negotiate with myself about ethics/honesty and such... When I hit somewhere in the 2,500+ then its gets really bad and I stop logging and just let it fade away.... its all the same after that.

But these overeating/binge days should not be common! And since they are so rare, you can let it go and reset the next day. Feeling guilty is natural but don't let it defeat you. Always remember that!!! If it is in the hundreds, you can always work it off the next day. But if it is too high, just rest. No reason to log sleep over what cannot be un-done.

Plus, I read somewhere that it takes about 3,500 calories to gain one pound so until you hit that number, its not a total loss

ThePlight

I have honestly noticed that AS SOON as I start to log for the day, I won't mess up for the rest of it, because I am constantly thinking about logging my next meal.

2spamagnet

Hell yeah. Never give up! You can indulge while losing weight, if you make up for it. Or, forgive yourself and keep trying. Once we meet our goals, we have to maintain our weight for life. Don't worry about one day now. If you enjoy your weekend (like I surely did), no worries. Make up for it this coming week. This is a tool that will help you enjoy the rest of your life:

Look at your weekly calorie intake - not just daily. So - you ate 1,000 cal over your daily goal... Tomorrow you can start digging yourself out of that hole. Cut an extra 250 cal (or more) out tomorrow by skipping breakfast and do not over compensate for the hunger at lunch. Do that for 4 days, and you have balanced your indulgence. Cutting calories and losing weight is simple, but not easy. Dealing with hunger and urges to eat is very hard, but you can do it.

Keep in mind - 3,500 cal equals 1 lb of fat. If you cut 3,500 cal our this week (less than what your body needs), your body will extract the 3,500 cal of energy it needs from fat stores. If you eat 3,500 cal more than you need, your body will store about 1 lb of fat (that is can use for energy later).

So, your 1,000 cal indulgence has been stored to be used later. Use it this week by being better about food choices. If you log it, and at the end of the week you can look at your net calories and see a bunch of days that offset the "over" day, it will make you feel pretty good.

And don't worry much about "eating healthy". Eat what you want, but don't too much of it. Enjoy snacks, goodies, foods you love. But try to balance your calories overall and you can manipulate your weight. Eating some foods are better than others, but if you make food you love taboo, you'll feel like crap if you indulge in it, when you don't need to feel bad about it.

eazy_

I log it all. Only way this tool will be accurate and useful.

novakac

Thanks all. I guess I'll start logging it. I know why I went over, it's not hormonal. Well, yeah, it is. Boy problems. And since I started this diet because of.... well hell. It's really all about me, not him. But I was in a f*** it all mood. I can't really "make up for it", because I'm already setting my goal at the bare minimum of net calories. It did feel good to have all those days in a row of making or nearly missing my goal weight. I had one day I was 500 calories over, but that just brought me up to maintenance calories, so I didn't feel too bad. We don't' have to lose weight EVERY day. But gaining weight is another matter.

But you do bring up a good point. One of the BAD things about this site is that it overemphasizes the "day". We really should look at longer periods of time like the "week". Sure, I can pull up my weekly reports, but every time I go to my log, or my diary, the default view is "day". No one day is really all that important.

OK. Off I go to find out exactly how many calories I consumed in one day. If nothing else, once I am finished losing, and back to "maintenance", it will be good to know.

BrendaLee

For me, it depends. I generally log everything, but I've had a few days where I went completely off the rails, quick-added my maintenance-calorie number and called it a day.

novakac

OK. I logged it. And it was worse than I thought it was. I was 1500 calories over my goal.

However.... it was useful because the harm wasn't where I thought it was. Apparently you can eat half a pound of bacon for breakfast, and still be able to recover just fine. After my 8th slice of bacon, I gave up. I shouldn't have. It was what I ate AFTER that bacon that killed me. Not saying the saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, etc was great, but as far as pure calories go... bacon is actually reasonably low! Once again, I'm not saying bacon is good, I'm saying, I shouldn't have said, "Oh, I f***'ed up by eating half a pound of bacon, I'll just eat what i want for the rest of the day because it's screwed to hell and back anyways".

itsfruitcake

I try to log even the days when I know I've gone over, just to see the nutritional values of everything... It's really interesting and sometimes surprising to see how many calories things have. As you've just found out as well!

smuller73

I log everything and have been pleasantly surprised on some occasions when I realize that, although I thought I had gone way over my calorie limit, I was still under the the number of calories I would need to maintain. I then adjust my calories a little for the next few days to 'make up' for the overindulging. When I go too crazy I can see what it is that sets me off on an eating binge and try to avoid those situations or at least deal with them better in the future. If I don't acknowledge my mistakes I will make them over and over.

TruckersWifeTruckersLife

Log it all even on a bad day

lynn_glenmont

I log everything, although I think I've only gone over by more than 500 calories one day (but I've only been doing this since August). If I log everything (and I do it before I eat the next meal or snack), it helps me to be realistic and to make adjustments for that day.

Also, I worry more about staying on target over the course of a week. If I go over by a couple of hundred calories one day, I can look back and see that I've maybe been under by a hundred or so on several days, so I'm still good for the week.

Finally, now that I've got a couple months of data, I calculate my real maintenance calories over previous 8 weeks (to allow for hormonal fluctuations) by adding up my net calories consumed over that period, plus 3500 calories for each pound lost, and dividing by 56 (days in 8 weeks) to get my average maintenance calories over that period (I know it's continually falling since I'm losing weight, so my current maintenance calories are probably a little lower than the number I get this way, but I still find it helpful to know my actual number, rather than the approximation that MFP and other calculators give -- not a criticism of the calculators, just a reality of any formula that tries to account for all kinds of variations) (plus, I selected sedentary when MFP calculated my calorie needs, because I have a desk job and I thought I was probably somewhere between sedentary and lightly active, but based on my real numbers, it seems that I'm between lightly active and moderately active before taking intentional exercise into account). Anyway, I wouldn't be able to do that if I just tossed data out the window by not logging my calories on days when I go over, especially if I go over by a lot.

Samstan101

....

But you do bring up a good point. One of the BAD things about this site is that it overemphasizes the "day". We really should look at longer periods of time like the "week". Sure, I can pull up my weekly reports, but every time I go to my log, or my diary, the default view is "day". No one day is really all that important.

OK. Off I go to find out exactly how many calories I consumed in one day. If nothing else, once I am finished losing, and back to "maintenance", it will be good to know.

For me I have to disagree. My weight problem has been caused by an unhealthy relationship even and addiction to food (psychological not physical). I'm here to change my lifestyle but am addressing it like a recovering alcoholic - 1 day at a time. Today I will try to make sensible/ healthy choices. Slowly, those choices are become habits and my use of food as an emotional crutch has almost gone but seeing 1 day at a time is great. If it was a week the old me would view it as I could eat what I wanted for 5 days and then try (and fail) to play catch up for 2 days. Now I choose to make the right choices for the day or actively choose not to and I almost always log (especially if I've gone over through emotional eating as that's the area I need to learn from most).

Nimnyn

I always log it, so I think about where I could have done better. And then move the heck on! Always try to learn from your mistakes

ElizabethFuller

Absolutely log it, even though it's a bit depressing. Then, at the end of the week, you can see one bad day in context. You can do more exercise for the rest of the week and bring the average daily calories back down. Don't give up!

little_lisid

I find it helps me to admit to myself what I just ate or drank (beer, how you test me!) I tend to end up looking at weeks at a time to assist how I picture how I am going rather than day by day. Yes, track day by day, but make it longer term that you think about things. The first step is admitting what you are doing to yourself though I think. How can we change if we don't admit that there are things that need changing and measuring whether they are chaning? When I first started I probably used to binge weekly one day, that reduced over time both in calcories consummed and frequency, but I wouldb't know that if I didn't log it. Your diary is for you. Good luck my dear.

kowajenn

Seeing the bad with the good really does help. You shouldn't pretend it didn't happen, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it either. Learn from it.

I log every single day excluding when I'm on vacation because then I'm off the grid. Seeing the big red bar graph is annoying, but it all balances out in the end if you keep making the effort.

GingerLolita

If it's a special occasion and I'm making the decision not to log, I don't. Otherwise, I log everything.

caramelgyrlk

Yes you should because you see in black and white your actions and it holds you more accountable.

Chevy_Quest

For me I log everything now. In fact you can see my diary - check this weekend out. I realized in a moment of clarity that if I have a deficit of 200 calories per day and am "Green" for 25 days. The five days that I am 'not green" can easily wipe out my gains for the month.

For example:

25 Days @ 200 deficit = 5000 Green Calories "in the bank"

5 Days @1000 Surplus = 5000 Red Calories - "All funds withdrawn"

--- I am not proud.. .but for October I am totally "In The Red" right now. I have finally opened my eyes and I log everything!

However.. I am not sad or mad about any of this.. I have had several running and stairmaster NSVs this month and that is what counts to me!