How to Log in on Bad Days

2

Replies

  • taytothebeach
    taytothebeach Posts: 9 Member
    Don't let your mind get this negative control over you. If you are going to be "bad" Own it, keep track of it and don't let the red number scare you. We all have bad days with food. Just look at my journal. I am good maybe 4/7 days if I'm lucky. Oh well, That stupid red number does not make me a bad person, I still love myself and so do all my friends. End of story. I log bad days because what you eat in private, you wear in public :) and I'm sick of saying things like, "i just don't know why I'm fat!" I DO know why I am fat, and I am working on it...baby steps :)
  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
    Always log. Always. We tend to underestimate how bad the damage is for the day. Start looking at your weekly goals. If you find that you have days like this a lot, you may need to rethink your plan. You may not be eating enough.
  • kar328
    kar328 Posts: 4,159 Member
    Bumping to reread when I need to remember that I need to log it all. Great words, everyone!
  • mom2tripsn2
    mom2tripsn2 Posts: 64 Member
    I love this thread! I log all of my food...but I do, occasionally "roll" my calories to the next day. So, for example, if I have an average breakfast and snack day, a big-ish lunch, and then get home and everyone else in my family wants pizza, I don't necessarily sit sulking in the corner with my salad that I had planned to have...I will maybe have 2 pieces of pizza, put one on the day I'm actually in and one in the next day. Then I start the next day already KNOWING that I have a slice of pizza to overcome...it's right there in my numbers...so I do an extra work out or I make sure I eat a lighter lunch or something. It's encouraging for me to see the numbers in the green, so this keeps me from feeling like a bad day was SUCH a bad day. Now, I have only been here for 1 month, but I will say I am starting to be more okay with red numbers some days because i have started to see some real results and I know I am eating at a large deficit. So, going over by 45 calories isn't going to break my spirit at this point, if you know what I mean. Also, there are times when I think I've had a really horrible day that, once I log, it wasn't as bad as I expected.

    So, long story short, I agree with everyone else who said the key thing is to log everything...good, bad and ugly...so you have a real picture of what you are putting in your body.
  • jennifries227
    jennifries227 Posts: 113 Member
    Yesterday I was depressed and ate over 1000 calories in cake. And I logged it. Not because I wanted to depress myself even more, but because I knew I had to log to allow myself to see patterns and to learn from my mistakes.

    Yes, it's depressing to see the calorie counts go into the red, but when you see it, ask yourself if it was worth it. If it was, good! If it wasn't, then learn from it and move on.

    You aren't going to be perfect. And that's completely fine. No one else is, either. And no one else is judging you for mistakes you make.
  • lindabeth333
    lindabeth333 Posts: 130 Member
    I log everything but if I have an over calories day and feel bummed about it -- I look at the weekly report and not just one day - its the cumulative effect that matters over time.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    I don't see the point of this. You don't like seeing the red? Then don't go over. Simple.

    You're only cheating yourself, I sure as hell don't care if someone else goes over in their diary. Everyone has bad days, they get over it, and do better tomorrow.
  • LianaG1115
    LianaG1115 Posts: 453 Member
    LOL Just don't log it...there problem solved!!

    I'm kidding....

    Log it, kick yourself in the *kitten* and dwell for a couple hours, then resume life again....
  • jennifer_a00
    jennifer_a00 Posts: 186 Member
    I am having one of those days today. And I'm logging every sad bite. Let's just day the Easter candy won today. But if I don't log it, it messes me up more in the long run, brcause I pay attention to my weekly numbers too. Logging it actually help me get back on track.
  • McKenzieLeigh
    McKenzieLeigh Posts: 113 Member
    I love this thread! I log all of my food...but I do, occasionally "roll" my calories to the next day. So, for example, if I have an average breakfast and snack day, a big-ish lunch, and then get home and everyone else in my family wants pizza, I don't necessarily sit sulking in the corner with my salad that I had planned to have...I will maybe have 2 pieces of pizza, put one on the day I'm actually in and one in the next day. Then I start the next day already KNOWING that I have a slice of pizza to overcome...it's right there in my numbers...so I do an extra work out or I make sure I eat a lighter lunch or something. It's encouraging for me to see the numbers in the green, so this keeps me from feeling like a bad day was SUCH a bad day. Now, I have only been here for 1 month, but I will say I am starting to be more okay with red numbers some days because i have started to see some real results and I know I am eating at a large deficit. So, going over by 45 calories isn't going to break my spirit at this point, if you know what I mean. Also, there are times when I think I've had a really horrible day that, once I log, it wasn't as bad as I expected.

    So, long story short, I agree with everyone else who said the key thing is to log everything...good, bad and ugly...so you have a real picture of what you are putting in your body.

    I did this last weekend. We had my husbands frat party reunion. We had a nice dinner and a few drinks and we all headed to the bar. I managed to not drink any more at the bar, but when we left we went to McDonald's. It was already 11:30 pm so I just logged those calories on my breakfast for the next day so that I could keep the next days calories down and still account for my late night snack! Weekly goals still met!
  • darkrose20
    darkrose20 Posts: 1,139 Member
    Log it anyway. I use it as a lerning tool.
  • Joanne_happygramma
    Joanne_happygramma Posts: 207 Member
    I apologize if I am repeating someone else but the best thing someone else put on my blog about this subject.
    "What we eat in private, we wear in public"

    That more than anything keeps me motivated to record -- EVERYTHING
  • tators19
    tators19 Posts: 18 Member
    This was surprisingly helpful. Thanks guys!
  • angel_of_harmony
    angel_of_harmony Posts: 188 Member
    It's like when you pull a band-aid off; I just rip it off as fast as I can and move on. Every day is a new day and I try to learn from my mistakes. :)
  • 1stday13
    1stday13 Posts: 433 Member
    I change the contrast settings on my monitor until the red numbers are green.
    :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: Thats one way to do it :drinker:
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I log everything. It's actually useful to see how much over I go, and otherwise I would have no idea if I'm even at a deficit for the week/month or not.
  • cholepapi
    cholepapi Posts: 79
    I log everything....I'm not freaken perfect so if I mess up, I clean it and move on........:D
  • SonicDeathMonkey80
    SonicDeathMonkey80 Posts: 4,489 Member
    I never report my food/exercise on the days where I ate poorly and didn't exercise. I hate watching all my calories go into the red - I know the answer to this problem is to eat better/less and to exercise more. How do you log in on days likes this?

    Well that's a good strategy. If you don't log it, it's like it magically never happened!

    Log it. Move on. Sheesh.
  • MB_Positif
    MB_Positif Posts: 8,897 Member
    You must not want to learn from your mistakes.
  • erialcelyob
    erialcelyob Posts: 341 Member
    I find them difficult to log because I pretty much eat everything in sight
  • ParkerH47
    ParkerH47 Posts: 463 Member
    I love this thread! I log all of my food...but I do, occasionally "roll" my calories to the next day. So, for example, if I have an average breakfast and snack day, a big-ish lunch, and then get home and everyone else in my family wants pizza, I don't necessarily sit sulking in the corner with my salad that I had planned to have...I will maybe have 2 pieces of pizza, put one on the day I'm actually in and one in the next day. Then I start the next day already KNOWING that I have a slice of pizza to overcome...it's right there in my numbers...so I do an extra work out or I make sure I eat a lighter lunch or something. It's encouraging for me to see the numbers in the green, so this keeps me from feeling like a bad day was SUCH a bad day. Now, I have only been here for 1 month, but I will say I am starting to be more okay with red numbers some days because i have started to see some real results and I know I am eating at a large deficit. So, going over by 45 calories isn't going to break my spirit at this point, if you know what I mean. Also, there are times when I think I've had a really horrible day that, once I log, it wasn't as bad as I expected.

    So, long story short, I agree with everyone else who said the key thing is to log everything...good, bad and ugly...so you have a real picture of what you are putting in your body.

    I never thought to do this! kinda brilliant! its not something I would do all the time but it certainly takes the daily burden off of going over calories - like today for easter dinner :)
  • maskedbelleza
    maskedbelleza Posts: 23 Member
    Consider reframing those days in the bigger picture or in the context of a week. One bad day in a week is not going to overthrow an entire week's worth of progress. If you went over a little one day, do a little less over the next two days. No need to keep punishing yourself over one over-calorie-goal day.

    You do need to log them though. It's part of the process of accountability. Otherwise how will you see patterns in your eating behavior or be reminded that you need to scale back? These things are the tools that make MFP so successful.

    Good luck.

    I think this is the best way I've ever seen this said.
  • milik617
    milik617 Posts: 4 Member
    I to am extremely guilty of this, however I am really unsure of how to log when I go out to eat. I have no idea how many calories is in the complicated meal from the non chain restaurant I went too. What do you all recommend?
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    I just face my choices. Not logging it doesn't change what I have chosen nor will it change the consequences. It will not help me change my behavior.

    Denial is useless.

    Nicely put! The log is a record of what you have already done. Not logging means you're just avoiding admitting to yourself what you did. I do like to think of my log as a weekly log, not a daily log. Some days I know I'll go over my log, but I try to compensate on the other days.
  • pinkraynedropjacki
    pinkraynedropjacki Posts: 3,027 Member
    That is he whole point of logging, to hold yourself accountable. If you are not logging your bad days then why are you here?
  • Tblackdogs
    Tblackdogs Posts: 326 Member
    I have a different approach. I usually allow myself one day a week (usually a weekend day) as a "cheat" day and I don't bother logging. I eat well six days a week and stay within my calorie limits easily. But I don't want to live my life limited and "dieting" so I try to be looser one day a week. So far it has not affected my weight loss at all. I don't log for other people, I log for myself and doing so has taught me a lot about portion control and accountability. Different things work for different people!
  • sargessexyone
    sargessexyone Posts: 494 Member
    Log it. It may not always be as bad as you think it is.
  • GiveMeCoffee
    GiveMeCoffee Posts: 3,556 Member
    I log everything, good, bad and the ugly, it's the only way to get good data. If I only log the good days how can I look back to see where I can improve, or a reminder of oh yea you ate too much so when the scale jumps I can remember oh it was the 500 or more day in chocolate.

    If you put bad data in you get useless information out.
  • dandelyon
    dandelyon Posts: 620 Member
    I am another person who looks at the whole week so I have to log every bite or I blow 7 days worth of data. But yes, it's harder on days that I overeat.
  • amirahdaboss
    amirahdaboss Posts: 921 Member
    Binge days, which happen more often than I'm willing to admit, I find extremely hard to log, but I estimate approximately how many calories I ate, log it, cry about it for a couple hours, then I get right back on track

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