Birthday Party - Cheat or Be Good?

SlightlyMadman

I have a birthday party this weekend, and I'm agonizing over what to do. On one hand, I want to drink beer and eat party food and have a good time, but on the other hand I'm really worried about what effect that will have on my weight loss goals. The way I see it, I can either:

1) Have a good time and treat myself to whatever I want because it's my birthday
2) Have whatever I want, but still meticulously track it
3) Stay within my normal calorie goals

Honestly, all three of those sound terrible. I'm not worried about "falling off the wagon" or anything, but with #1 I could easily over-consume by a couple thousand calories or more with just a few beers and some snacks, which would negate multiple days' gains.

#3 is tempting, but I'm worried that I'll feel like I'm not allowed to have fun on my birthday, and be envious of my friends around me enjoying themselves. I imagine there will also be a good deal of peer pressure, but I can handle that.

#2 seems like the best compromise, but I still wonder if I'll be ruining my enjoyment of the party, and possibly depressing myself when I see the results the next day.

What's everyone else's experience with this? What have you tried and what worked or didn't?

thavoice

I have a birthday party this weekend, and I'm agonizing over what to do. On one hand, I want to drink beer and eat party food and have a good time, but on the other hand I'm really worried about what effect that will have on my weight loss goals. The way I see it, I can either:

1) Have a good time and treat myself to whatever I want because it's my birthday
2) Have whatever I want, but still meticulously track it
3) Stay within my normal calorie goals

Honestly, all three of those sound terrible. I'm not worried about "falling off the wagon" or anything, but with #1 I could easily over-consume by a couple thousand calories or more with just a few beers and some snacks, which would negate multiple days' gains.

#3 is tempting, but I'm worried that I'll feel like I'm not allowed to have fun on my birthday, and be envious of my friends around me enjoying themselves. I imagine there will also be a good deal of peer pressure, but I can handle that.

#2 seems like the best compromise, but I still wonder if I'll be ruining my enjoyment of the party, and possibly depressing myself when I see the results the next day.

What's everyone else's experience with this? What have you tried and what worked or didn't?

Well I do alternate day fasting so I would just schedule that as my up/feast day.

You didnt gaine your weight in one bad day, nor did you lose your weight with one good day.

IF you really want, lower your intake for a couple of days before or after and then have fun. No reason not to. Its just one day

Jestinia

My rule is: Whatever I want on my birthday, but not on everyone else's!

norcalskater

When I do a cheat day I like to go a long run early in the day just to buy myself some extra calories. I've heard it takes somewhere around 3500 excess calories to gain 1 lb of fat so one day won't hurt you. Have a happy birthday!

SlightlyMadman

It is only once a year, I guess it's just bad timing since I just started and don't want to upset my progress! I think I'll go with #2 and try to keep it close to balanced for the week. I've been coming in under target so far this week, so I'll try to keep it up and "save up" some calories for Saturday. I was also planning on going hiking Sunday, so I can try to burn off whatever else I need to hit my week's target then.

wannakimmy

Well it wasn't my birthday yesterday, but had a celebration at work with a cookout with all the fixins'. I ate whatever I wanted and tracked it all Yes, I went way over my calories, but I also found that I didn't eat as much as I used to, or the same items. I didn't use a bun for the brat for example. Just had an actual serving of chips, not the plate full I would have grabbed pre MFP. So it even at my worst day since beginning my journey, was not so bad overall....

All that to say, enjoy yourself. You didn't gain it all in a day, you won't lose it all in a day and one day will not detour your progress...

Happy Birthday, Enjoy yourself!!!

RhysMN94

Personally, i would say do #1. go wild. Its one day. BUT i would keep track of what you eat, make a limit. Like monitor how much you eat and dont eat over 3000 calories, or whatever amount you want. One day really wont do much.. And just go crazy in the the gym the next few days. You gotta have fun every now and then!!

Mommy2two_2

One day will not unwind everything. Yes you will put on weight, but it comes off way faster. Water weight. Have fun. My birthday is come up as well and I plan on not stressing that day and enjoying myself. I will make sure to get some extra burn in though!!! Workout good during the morning, and then doing a birthday hike

SlightlyMadman

Thanks everyone! This is definitely helpful, as I believe I may have been over-thinking it I'll try to keep track of my intake, but still eat/drink what I want, and hopefully I can still make the week work out close to goal.

Blacklance36

My rule is: Whatever I want on my birthday, but not on everyone else's!

Absolutely! There are no rules on MY birthday.

alabella

I would set my calories to maintenance for the day and stick to that!

jwooley13

I'm totally the devil on your shoulder, but it's your birthday! Go for it! If you know you're the type of person who can work extra hard at the gym and save some calories the week before/after, then you've got no reason not to treat yourself.

mboromom

Enjoy your day, just don't go overboard. maybe have a lighter caloried breakfast and lunch so you can have lots of sweets and booze on your day.

fitgirlandfoodie

Hmmm..I had this dilema last weekend as it was my birthday. I suppose I was lucky in that I don't really like celebrating my birthday, so I wasn't having a party, but my parents insisted on doing something to mark my 25th year.
As such they booked a meal in a 4star restaurant where the food, was, admitidly amazing but defo not low cal.
I decided that as I wouldn't be having a cake or dessert I'd eat whatever I wanted for starter and main (and drink as much wine as I wanted)

Following a delicious meal of goats cheese croquette with red wine poached fig, creme de casis jelly and chuntney, followed by a beef fillet (ppossibly 16oz if looked amazing) in a peppercorn sauce with mushrooms and a potato gratin side, I was definately full and sated - food I wouldn't eat on a normal basis.
I logged it all after.

Next day I was same weight and lost a pound this week.
My advice is eat what you want but eat mindfully. Don't just eat ALL THE FOOD becuase it's you're birthday. It's easier to get back on track that way.

But hey..that's just my opinion..it was the first year in a while that I didn;t orgnaise a big blow out for myself and friends (because I always felt I had to ) and honestly, I feel much better this week than I've ever felt after a birthday weekend (oh, and as to the wine..there was a good 8 glasses of wine drank. :-) )
Most of all, enjoy your birthday! it is only once a year afterall :-) :flowerforyou:

cara4fit

Enjoy your birthday, but just have SOME of the stuff. Instead of "a bunch of beers" just have a third to half the amount you would have before. Same with the snacks. Pick the ones that really are your favorites and just go with those. Track it all. Having your mobile with you will make it easier too with the MFP app on it if you're out and about on your birthday. Look at it as your treat day with some damage control. This way you can have some of your favorite stuff and still enjoy the day.

mboromom

Well it wasn't my birthday yesterday, but had a celebration at work with a cookout with all the fixins'. I ate whatever I wanted and tracked it all Yes, I went way over my calories, but I also found that I didn't eat as much as I used to, or the same items. I didn't use a bun for the brat for example. Just had an actual serving of chips, not the plate full I would have grabbed pre MFP. So it even at my worst day since beginning my journey, was not so bad overall....

All that to say, enjoy yourself. You didn't gain it all in a day, you won't lose it all in a day and one day will not detour your progress...

Happy Birthday, Enjoy yourself!!!

Isn't that funny?? I notice the same thing...my cheat days are not nearly as bad as the way I use to eat EVERY day!! My portions were so out of control!

delazouche

I think everyone is right that this is a perfectly legitimate excuse to indulge
I was faced with a similar situation by starting my new eating habits a few weeks before Christmas holidays started, and have encountered many celebrations since then. My policy on such events is to eat what I want, but still be conscious of portion size and don't go absolutely overboard. For me, that means have one or two drinks and remember that at this point, food binges just make me feel more sick than satiated. I've got to say I only see weight gain when I let myself have too many drinks though! The excess food intake seems to be ok in moderation.

MyChocolateDiet

Thanks everyone! This is definitely helpful, as I believe I may have been over-thinking it I'll try to keep track of my intake, but still eat/drink what I want, and hopefully I can still make the week work out close to goal.

Okay, I was gonna post but I see you've already decided. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

SlightlyMadman

Really good advice here! Now that I think about it, part of me was assuming I'd intentionally have high-calorie things just because, even though I probably wouldn't really want them anyways. Certainly no reason to binge, but at the same time I won't hold myself back just because I happen to hit my calorie limit for the day. I'm pretty sure I'll be knocking back most or all of a six-pack though

Iwishyouwell

How about for your birthday this year you give yourself the gift of throwing out the useless notions of "cheating" and "being good" when it comes to the food you eat.

Trust me, demoralizing your food choices is one of the best gifts you can give you.

BlueBombers

It's your birthday, take a day off and enjoy yourself! One day is not going to be the end of it all. Just start back up the next day.

Sovi_

Rock out with your.....well you know just enjoy!

mccindy72

Birthday + Christmas + Thanksgiving + Easter + New Year's Day = 5 days a year of indulging to max calories (whatever you want). eating a few thousand calories 5 days a year is not going to make you gain weight. Allow yourself those days of fun and indulgence and skip the guilt.

Ready2Rock206

Nothing has calories on your birthday. Enjoy! :drinker:

jayceecervenka

At least once a week you need to be eating up to your resting metabolism or your body goes into starvation mode and it gets harder to loose weight and you hit plateaus. Give yourself license to have a day off and get back on or try to balance out over a week. I am doing a reverse tapering diet and so for 5 days a week, I eat well below my resting metabolism of 1875 calories. (Generally around 1,000 to 1,200) and then I eat somewhere near 2,000 calories on non-consecutive days.

Don't go crazy, but give yourself permission to go off a bit and be okay. As long as you stay under with your daily AVERAGE for the week you should be loosing weight. Not giving yourself permission of special days is the easiest way to crash a diet. Either way do not think of it as Cheating, you are setting yourself up to view food as the enemy.

Go out and have a good time, just log it honestly and make up for it later!

linnaeus

How about having a good exit strategy? Maybe making sure you have everything you need for the day after so you don't wake up the next morning and go eat a 1,000 calorie brunch. My birthday is coming up too, I don't plan on watching what I eat but I will be exercising that morning and the next day, and I'll probably plan some light-calorie but filling meals (ie things like large salads, mountains of steamed vegetables, etc.).