CHEATED!

imartinez11

I joined MFP on Jan.14 2012 and i already cheated but only because it was my birthday yesterday. I feel extremely guilty about it, thats basically all I've been thinking about today! I just really want to lose weight and now because of yesterday I feel like ill never lose weight. Is it bad to cheat one day out of the week? Will i still be making progress with a cheat day? My current weight is 161 and I wanna lose 45lbs.

doornumber03

don't feel guilty....most of us do a cheat meal at least once a week. It's what keeps you sane and stops you from Binjing on it. Enjoy the cheat meal once in a while. No need to feel guilty.

shovav91

It is recommended that you have one cheat meal every week. The excess calories keeps your metabolism guessing and functioning at its best. Don't dwell on the past; there is nothing you can do now but move on! Use it as motivation to make today better.

crepes_

Cheating every once in a while is to be expected. We can't all be perfect. Besides, future you isn't going to care about once in a while cheat days considering it's all about averages. Keep to the plan as best as you can so the cheat days hardly matter.

Here's something I read once:

Let's say you plan on eating 1800 calories every day till the end of the world (Dec 23, 2012). Now let's say you find out that somebody else stole your costume idea for the End of the World party, and you eat 1800 calories + 3 pints of Chunky Monkey every day for the next week.

You might think you messed up, right?

Your avg calories for the year went from 1800 to 1817.

If you fail once in a while (and unless you're some kind of robot, or you live light years away from a Cinnabon, you will), just forget about obesity and get back to your diet the next minute. It's the long term that counts, so don't get disheartened by occasional mistakes.

This applies to exercise as well. Jogging once a week ain't gonna do anything unless you want to lose like...3lbs. Shove some physical activity into your schedule daily. If you've got an hour, good, but even 10 minutes of burpees can help.

SergeantSunshine_reused

It was your birthday! That is a special day IMO and I eat what I want :]

Start over fresh today and you will be fine :]

MissFit0101

It is recommended that you have one cheat meal every week. The excess calories keeps your metabolism guessing and functioning at its best. Don't dwell on the past; there is nothing you can do now but move on! Use it as motivation to make today better.

^^ agree with this, although i think for the first month or so you should focus on making healthiest choices you can and staying in within your limits, then when you're getting comfortable with that, start having "cheat" meals once a week.

MandaJean83

Cheating every once in a while is to be expected. We can't all be perfect. Besides, future you isn't going to care about once in a while cheat days considering it's all about averages. Keep to the plan as best as you can so the cheat days hardly matter.

Here's something I read once:

Let's say you plan on eating 1800 calories every day till the end of the world (Dec 23, 2012). Now let's say you find out that somebody else stole your costume idea for the End of the World party, and you eat 1800 calories + 3 pints of Chunky Monkey every day for the next week.

You might think you messed up, right?

Your avg calories for the year went from 1800 to 1817.

If you fail once in a while (and unless you're some kind of robot, or you live light years away from a Cinnabon, you will), just forget about obesity and get back to your diet the next minute. It's the long term that counts, so don't get disheartened by occasional mistakes.

This applies to exercise as well. Jogging once a week ain't gonna do anything unless you want to lose like...3lbs. Shove some physical activity into your schedule daily. If you've got an hour, good, but even 10 minutes of burpees can help.

^^ This!!!!!

So true!

Chagama

Don't worry about it, just look forward. You can't have perfection be the standard measurement for anything; dieting, exercising, work, etc. Nobody is perfect. Learn from decisions and move on from where you are.

engineman312

It was your birthday! That is a special day IMO and I eat what I want :]

Start over fresh today and you will be fine :]

i agree with the first sentence. however, this isn't an essay where you can crumple up the paper and throw it out and start over fresh. i know the OP just started, and it was your birthday. there are plenty of special occasions out there and you are allowed to celebrate.

however, you need to learn from every day, good and bad. the bad days teach us the most, as we should learn what has triggered a food binge or other poor choices.


oh, and happy birthday!!!

Adina81

It's food!!

Moderation is allll you need.

Now live. Love. Workout.sleep.live some more. Workout and sleep.

jarae876

It was your birthday, you didn't cheat. You gave yourself a treat. If it was my birthday it would be a treat for I love cake and icecream and the meal that comes along with it. You didn't cheat so dont look at this way. Besides "cheating" makes it sounds like you did something horribly wrong and you didnt.

rwd5046

It happens to all of us. Don't beat yourself up over it and focus on getting back on track. Yesterdays Mistakes are for learning, lessons for tomorrow and are not meant to hold you back. You can do this.

Syreeta6

Are you kidding?? Celebrate your birthday!!

jarae876

Oh yeah HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you:flowerforyou:

StevLL

We have good days and bad days. The goal is to string more good ones together than bad and you'll be successful and it will last. don't worrry about it, concentrate on today and celebrate todays victory. Plus it was your birthday, I'm pretty sure thee is a law that says you have to cheat on your birthday. Good luck. Some of my best losses came in a week where I thought I messed up big time. Our bodies are funny, but I think our bodies do better when we keep it guessing. Git-R-Done!

saracoulson

Don't worry about it, I had a flapjack.......... i did make them so it's like the law that I eat one! Just get back on it tomorrow and if you really feel the need to punish yourself go for a walk in the park, feed the ducks, you'll burn off the calories you ate and ducks are lush, they make everyone happy!

ladybg81

You must have not seen the study printed last week from the ladybg81 Institute.

A recent study has found that all calories consumed on your birthday are negative calories.

mab33

I joined MFP on Jan.14 2012 and i already cheated but only because it was my birthday yesterday. I feel extremely guilty about it, thats basically all I've been thinking about today! I just really want to lose weight and now because of yesterday I feel like ill never lose weight. Is it bad to cheat one day out of the week? Will i still be making progress with a cheat day? My current weight is 161 and I wanna lose 45lbs.

Nothing you can do about yesterday, only today. I know how you feel (I have the same exact weight loss goal). You can do this!

H_Factor

It is recommended that you have one cheat meal every week. The excess calories keeps your metabolism guessing and functioning at its best. Don't dwell on the past; there is nothing you can do now but move on! Use it as motivation to make today better.

^^ agree with this, although i think for the first month or so you should focus on making healthiest choices you can and staying in within your limits, then when you're getting comfortable with that, start having "cheat" meals once a week.

^^ agree with the above...but don't sweat having a super duper birthday. remember that this is a lifestyle change. chances are that you will normally celebrate your birthday so...celebrating it this year is part of your lifestyle. nothing wrong with that. moving forward, the key here is cheat MEAL...not cheat DAY. be sensible about it.

for me, I've had some cheat meals and some cheat days. When I limit the cheats, I do better.

I want to also tell you that you CAN have a TREAT without it being a cheat. I love Yobe (frozen yogurt) with toppings. I've estimated that with the toppings I get, its roughly 500 calories. So, here's what I do to make it a TREAT and NOT a CHEAT.... On intense workout days, I eat pretty much the same throughout the day as a non-exercise day. However, all of a sudden, I have about 600-700 additional calories to use so sometimes I get my Yobe treat and I haven't cheated at all

stevwil41

So you let loose a little on your birthday, who cares? Hopefully you'll have many more birthdays, Christmases, Thanksgivings or whatever and chances are you'll eat a few things that aren't the healthiest and that's okay. You have to be able to enjoy life even if you're trying to live a healthier one. Do better next time or plan around it. Get a little more exercise this week to help make up for it. You have options but the one thing you shouldn't do is let it make you feel guilty to the point it ruins your memories of your birthday. Don't let food have that kind of power over you. Make better choices and look at it as a learning experience. I learned from my last birthday to send any leftover cake home with someone else. If it's setting in my fridge I'll eat it, the justification being that it's my cake so I can eat it if I want. This year I'll keep a piece or two and send the rest out the door

dadoffo

I go to a buffet once in a while and no problem.

makingoverkari

I don't think you should feel guilty, it's good to have that little cheat every once in while just to satisfy the craving but don't eat like half the cake yourself you know. Try not to over indulge and I'm sure you will be able to lose the weight just work at it every day.

Brittypop

We have good days and bad days. The goal is to string more good ones together than bad and you'll be successful and it will last. don't worrry about it, concentrate on today and celebrate todays victory. Plus it was your birthday, I'm pretty sure thee is a law that says you have to cheat on your birthday. Good luck. Some of my best losses came in a week where I thought I messed up big time. Our bodies are funny, but I think our bodies do better when we keep it guessing. Git-R-Done!

AGREED!!!

imartinez11

Thank you everybody, Im not gonna give up!