Can one day blow your diet?

ElizabethRoad

With all the Thanksgiving panic going on, I started wondering just how much you would need to eat on that day to actually gain a pound. Someone can correct me if my calculations are wrong, but here is what I came up with.

For this example, let's use a person with a TDEE of 1800, who normally eats 1300. Their maintenance for the week would be 7 x 1800 = 12,600. To gain a pound in a week would be 7 x 1800 + 3500 = 16,100.

If they eat their normal 1300 for 6 days out of the week, that's 7800. To be at maintenance for the week, they need to eat another 12,600 - 7800 = 4800 calories in one day. To gain a pound, they need 16,100 - 7800 = 8300 calories in one day.

I'm not saying it's impossible. Maybe you can eat 4800 calories on Thanksgiving. (If you can eat 8300, that's impressive.) Or maybe you won't stick to your normal goal the rest of the week because of all the leftovers and so forth. But for me, these numbers give a little perspective.

Shell_7609

I'm not sure if one day can blow it or not. On the biggest loser last night they said the average American eats 4500 calories on thanksgiving, 200 grams of fat

jacksonpt

Roughly 3500 calories above your maintenance to gain a pound, assuming you're at maintenance on a consistent basis. if you're under as a general rule, then it's more.

FitMommaSnow

Very interesting..... Thank you!

JeSuisPrest

If you get right back on track, I'd say no. But personally, I have a hard time getting back on the wagon.

evil_rider

Ha...........I think you may be over analyzing a bit. Enjoy a good meal, get a workout in and move on with the rest of your week.

carrie_eggo

THANK YOU.

UponThisRock

Only if you freak out about it and let it snowball into something bigger.

As for me, I'm eating and enjoying myself, and Friday will be back to normal.

infamousmk

Without really reading, I'll just answer your title question:


No, one day can't and won't blow your diet. Especially not if it's Thanksf

LillysGranny

I don't think one day makes that much difference in the grand scheme of things as long as you get back on track the next day. Everyone should be aware that if you eat 5 pounds of food, it WILL show up on the scale until you..."eliminate" it. Also, excess sodium in all that extra food (think cream of mushroom soup in the green bean casserole, for instance) will make you retain some extra water. Point being, the scale may show an increase for a day or two, but it isn't REAL damage.

ItsCasey

I've never heard of anyone getting fat because of that one day when they ate a lot.

It's not Thanksgiving Day that blows your diet; it's the day after and the day after and the day after.

VeganGal84

One day won't blow it for me. However, based on past experiences, if I allow myself "one day" for T-Day and X-Mas, it usually becomes "one week" and that's where I run into trouble!

ElizabethRoad

Ha...........I think you may be over analyzing a bit. Enjoy a good meal, get a workout in and move on with the rest of your week.

Lol yes. I am not worried about it, and plan to eat what I want. But numbers are fun!

0PhAtDaDdY

NO

Articeluvsmemphis

you could gain water weight which will be gone in like a day

Ocarina

It shouldn't be a diet. It should be a lifestyle change. And it's ONE DAY!!!! You are supposed to allow days like this for celebration. I know for dang sure I'm not going to only be eating the baby carrots, green beans and salad. I'm diving right into the turkey, yams, sweet potatoes, pie, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and whatever else they have. It's all about moderation!! Just have a little bit of everything you are interested in then enjoy yourself.

myofibril

Good perspective. Flexible dieters tend to fare much better than rigid, "all or nothing" dieters. As the numbers show one day won't kill your diet (unless it leads to prolonged bingeing or falling off your routine completely).

You don't have to be perfect, just consistent.

Additionally the OP shows a rather neat way of structuring a maintenance diet if you know you're the type of person who tends to stuff your face full of beer and chicken wings over the weekend but are generally good over the week.

Say you eat at a manageable deficit of 300 calories under TDEE (maintenance calories) for 5 days over the week. That leaves you an additional 1,500 calories over TDEE to eat on the weekend. You could comfortably fit in a couple of beers or pizza every single weekend and not put on an ounce of weight.

Spitfirex007

IMO people look way too much into stuff like this. Which is why so many fail! I am going to sit down tomorrow and enjoy the family and the food. I'm going to eat all the foods I love, be lazy and watch football. Then come Friday I will just spend an extra 20 mins in the gym maybe.

ElizabethRoad

Keep in mind too, those calculations assume no exercise!

CMmrsfloyd

My maintenance is 1680 and my net goal is 1210, I really doubt I'm going to eat 5180 to gain a lb on T-day when I have to struggle to even get close to 2000 on workout days. As long as I don't hang out too long at the dessert table, anyway. LOL

My weight has been stalled out for 2 weeks (too early to call it a plateau - plus I'm fairly certain it's due to an increase in exercise anyway), I'm actually planning to go over on T-day and taking a bit of an exercise break, and kind of think I'll see a sudden loss when I get home on Friday. The last time I was stalled out for a week or two, I took a trip 'back home' and went over on my calories a few days in a row and came home to find I'd lost weight during the break.

Tori_356

I think I'll just delete my MFP account now.