recording calories on bad days

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  • monylove311
    monylove311 Posts: 251 Member
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    It's ok to have a "bad" day. Though I call them load up days which I think are good once every week or two. I think its up to you to log or not on that day. I have done both. I'll think on that one some more about why I've done both. Thanks for the food for thought. : ) Monica
  • k2d4p
    k2d4p Posts: 441 Member
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    Not logging it doesn't change the fact that it happened. If a person doesn't want to face what they eat, then in my opinion, they are not ready to change it.

    (Sorry, I am of the tough love mentality.)
  • sugarbeans
    sugarbeans Posts: 676 Member
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    I personally record everything. It makes you more accountable and if you had a bad week you can look back and say "oh yeah I had such and such a day"

    A week ago my friend and I went to Olive Garden I forgot how horrible the food is in terms of a caloric hit. My meal was almost 2 days worth of calories and I went there starving so I ate everything(stomach felt horrible after). Normally I save half and take it home (usually it gets tossed cause I forget about it or I enter it and say Nah don't need that).

    After doing MFP for a couple of months and eating healthy you forget what restaurants can do to you in terms of serving sizes. A year and a half ago Olive Garden meal wouldn't have phased me much.. today? wow too much food.
    Anyways enough ranting the point is that if you log in everyday and you are honest with it, you can look back and see the accomplishments in the journaling as well as weight loss.

    I haven't "lost" any weight since I've joined, I have lost inches and looking back at my food journal I can see where I've made improvements and where I still need to improve.
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
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    the worst day i have had since i started was about 2500 calories, and i logged it all.

    was bit hard to be accurate cos we went to a buffet, so it was a bit of this and a bit of that. im not super fussy about accuracy tho. as long as im around the mark im happy.
  • CatseyeHardcast
    CatseyeHardcast Posts: 224 Member
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    Log it. Who cares if we blow out now and then. (Says this after a lunch full of beer)
  • emott84
    emott84 Posts: 108
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    I say log it if you can so you feel accountable to it, but don't stress about it too much.
    I just logged a dinner at Applebees that brought me almost 1000 calories over my goal and I literally cringed as I did it, but I can't erase it. But I still gotta live (but maybe shouldn't have the cheeseburger next time :tongue: )!!
  • thektturner
    thektturner Posts: 228 Member
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    If logging bad days is going to make you obsess over it and feel guilty, then I'd say don't. Better not to dwell on the bad and then start the cycle of "I'm depressed, so I'll eat, cause it doesn't matter anymore". For some people, that is how their minds work.

    I log my "off" days (which I schedule and do on purpose) so that I can see that i didn't go beyond what I wanted and just out of curiosity so I can see what typical meals used to be like for me. Makes me feel a whole lot better about what I'm eating now.
  • blessedwith3boys
    blessedwith3boys Posts: 136 Member
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    I think it's important to be honest and for myself I do log bad days to show accountablity. For instance today I ate pretty much nothing but crap but stayed up later to burn off more calories. I coud see in black and white what I needed to do. If I went over by thousands of calories, then I was still log it but just start over fresh the next day.
  • LHarders
    LHarders Posts: 28 Member
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    It is important to log everyday GOOD or BAD.....it holds you accountable and in the months ahead you will have something to track...I have doubled my recommended calories in one night easy to do with a couple of drinks and snack foods that you just have to try each one :) Anyway logging on daily keeps your mind in the game.....it isn't always going to be easy. But MFP plan has been wonderful!!!!
  • dconner13
    dconner13 Posts: 25 Member
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    I log everything. Good and bad. And sometimes on my bad days I find it wasn't as bad as I thought! Like today. I had two Fatburgers and I thought I had done TERRIBLE! It wasn't good but not as bad as I was expecting. Besides we are not on here to be perfect. We are here to learn and be healthy. And if your not honest with yourself and your weight loss buddies. Then you won't learn a damn thing! We all have bad days, (sometimes more often than not) we are human. But not logging certain foods or on days you over indulge is not fooling your *kitten* or waistline.
  • maryrunslikeafox
    maryrunslikeafox Posts: 136 Member
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    I just ate SIX chocolate chip cookies which put me about 300 cals over! UGH.. I usually don't go over, but I feel bad about this! However... I LOVE cookies.. a weakness. I am training for a half marathon and today was my "rest" day so I didn't work out at all except playing some wii sports. I usually burn 500-1000 cals while training. I am doing a 9 mile run tomorrow so I don't feel that awful about the excessive cookie eating, but I definitely have some guilt :(
  • dconner13
    dconner13 Posts: 25 Member
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    I log every bite. I don't cheat, but I do have days where I allow myself to eat up to maintenance (4x since Jan 4th). Cheating and not logging could very well eliminate my hard earned deficit, why would I not be honest with myself?

    Also, since I've been graphing my calorie deficits and weight loss, I'm simply unwilling to screw up what's working great.

    That's a good strategy! Your not going over enough to put on what you have worked so hard for and it takes away the guilt a lil bit! I'm stealing it!
  • charlene77
    charlene77 Posts: 250 Member
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    Ugh, I feel terrible logging if I've gone over, but I do :) It's a bit of a slap on the face and keeps me honest and accountable.
  • ashleyjea1985
    ashleyjea1985 Posts: 190
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    i used to avoid logging when i went over..


    those were the times i was also mad my weight wasnt budging.

    i learned if i wanted to lose id have to be honset with myself.. now i log everything
  • emchamberlain
    emchamberlain Posts: 133 Member
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    Can i just bust in here and say that I hate to see people using the terms "good" and "bad" to refer to their eating? Those value judgements don't do anybody any good! YOU are not "good" or "bad" because of what you eat (or weak, undisciplined, lazy, etc, etc.) and repeating the same crap society tells us isn't going to help us get healthy! High-calorie days, maybe?
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    It's helpful to know by how much you go over so you can make it up over a few days. I don't always log my cheat meal but sometimes I do just to see how bad I did. Sometimes I'm surprised that it's really not as bad as I thought it was. If I go over by 400 cals, I can just eat a little less and work out a little more for a few days.
  • kimwig
    kimwig Posts: 164
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    Log it, learn from it. Otherwise what is the point
  • Mo120
    Mo120 Posts: 20
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    I log everything too. When I want to eat junk food or fast food, just the idea that I have to log it afterward no matter what makes me want to limit myself, I don't want to see the numbers too high! Plus I like to see with my own two eyes how calories sneak up on me.

    After all, logging in everything you eat in a day really makes you aware of what's going on and why you gained weight in the first place, and not logging food would only make me cheat on myself. What's the point of that right! :laugh:
  • dlaplume2
    dlaplume2 Posts: 1,658 Member
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    Yes you need to log everything. It will help you look back and see a patern. Most of the time when people do that (stop logging) they are just going to kill the whole day and use it as an excuse to pig out.
    That's what got us overweight to begin with.
  • Kristie18
    Kristie18 Posts: 332 Member
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    I think it is important to log bad days even more than the good. I used to not log when I was unhappy about what I ate, but this time...I LOG IT ALL! It keeps me accountable.

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