What's the deal with no logging a bad day.

13

Replies

  • halejr23
    halejr23 Posts: 294
    I believe it is extremely important to log everything you eat every day until you meet your goals - whether it is to lose weight or gain muscle. AND ... don't be afraid of or worry about going over in calories. I do it at least once a week now ... on purpose ... to "shock" the body. What I have read (not an expert but works for me) is that by doing this your body learns to burn fat more efficiently. Is it true? Dunno, but I do believe it helped me reach my goal and I am now in maintenance mode - weight-wise.

    Also, I think we all need to take in to account that holidays, brays, etc ... chances are you are going to go over your calorie goal. Don't sweat it. Use it as motivation the next workout and kick it up a notch!
  • Bunnybeesweet
    Bunnybeesweet Posts: 165 Member
    Just to play devil's advocate, I don't see the point of logging, good or bad, after the fact. I use the food diary as a planning tool, so I log everything before I eat it. I'd say 95 percent of the time, I stick to what I log. If something goes off track and I eat either more or less than what I'd planned, I don't bother to go back and change it. It has nothing to do with shame, embarrassment, or not being honest with myself. It's just that once it's eaten, logging my food ceases to be of value to me. I don't go back and reflect on what I've had, so it would be a waste of time to log what's in the past. I just get on with it and use my diary to plan my next day.

    I like your style!!!
  • NoWeighJose74
    NoWeighJose74 Posts: 581 Member
    I SO need to get over this stigma.
    When I'm bad, I'm BAAAAAAD. As a result, I don't log it.

    Shame on me! :grumble:

    So if you'r on my friends list, and you don't see a "Mexipino has completed his food and excercise diary for...". update, you know why.

    Fortunately, they're not very frequent.
  • Cold_Steel
    Cold_Steel Posts: 897 Member
    Answer #1 Who gives rats *kitten* why people do or don't do something on their log. It does not effect you.

    Answer # 2 See answer 1
  • gurganuss
    gurganuss Posts: 78 Member
    I had a bad day yesterday but I logged it and found it wasnt near as bad as I thought it would be.
  • JackieAllan1
    JackieAllan1 Posts: 15
    I log everything....good or bad, what is the point of not doing it, Once you starting cheating yourself it's a slippery slope that you are on!
  • PJilly
    PJilly Posts: 22,114 Member
    Just to play devil's advocate, I don't see the point of logging, good or bad, after the fact. I use the food diary as a planning tool, so I log everything before I eat it. I'd say 95 percent of the time, I stick to what I log. If something goes off track and I eat either more or less than what I'd planned, I don't bother to go back and change it. It has nothing to do with shame, embarrassment, or not being honest with myself. It's just that once it's eaten, logging my food ceases to be of value to me. I don't go back and reflect on what I've had, so it would be a waste of time to log what's in the past. I just get on with it and use my diary to plan my next day.

    I like your style!!!

    Thanks! I like your profile pic. :tongue: We have two resident bunnies at our house. They're pretty stinking cute.
  • sherrirb
    sherrirb Posts: 1,649 Member

    Personally, I log everything because my body does.

    ^^^^ This!
  • alienblonde1
    alienblonde1 Posts: 749 Member
    Thanks for the posts everyone.

    I guess in my case by logging the bad days, I have learned over time to make those bad days not as bad as they once were. Actually my bad day is going over by 500 or so, not 1500 or so back in days past. :)

    Exactly! This site has helped me learn a lot by logging what I did each day good or bad.
  • histora
    histora Posts: 287 Member
    Sometimes when I don't log, it because I ate mostly homemade food that I can't accurately count the calories of. I know it's fairly healthy (I made it!) but short of measuring everything to the last drop (which is not how I cook) and typing it all into a recipe calculator, then to estimate serving sizes...I know I ate well, so I don't give enough *#$*@ to go through it all.

    As far as being held accountable: I don't need to publish my day to hold myself accountable. I don't rely on shame to make good or bad food choices. I'm not doing it out of guilt, or shame, or whatever stupid armchair psychology some people like to ascribe to everyone who does this.

    I'm sure there are people who didn't log because they were ashamed. And I'm sure starting a whole thread ridiculing them for being unaccountable sad sacks will really encourage them to "do better".

    I don't think those who obsessively chart and then feel superior about it are much better, if any, than those who occasionally cringe from the Finish This Day button.
  • bluemorpho1247
    bluemorpho1247 Posts: 300 Member
    in my experience, people wont log it as it looks bad- have a friend who wont log bad foods as she is very competative and tries to look good!
  • joeq722
    joeq722 Posts: 86 Member
    I agree, I came close to not logging yesterday because of that.
    But the knowledge that you have to log no matter what is one of the motivaters about this site.

    So if you eat it log it !
    ill be doing a house to house search, and trust me: you dont want me there!

    ;))))))
  • KandieLantz
    KandieLantz Posts: 423 Member
    I agree and have commented much the same. If we only log the good days and ignore the bad, what's the point in logging? It's the bad days we need to look at, change, confront and own. Celebrate the good, acknowledge the bad... but don't ignore bad days.. that's what got many of us here to start with. Thanks for posting!
  • FlaxMilk
    FlaxMilk Posts: 3,452 Member
    Yesterday I said I wasn't going to log because I was going to a restaurant and knew it would be tough to estimate the calories and stress me out more than it was worth. I made healthy choices during the day and at the restaurant and then after all was said and done I decided to log after the fact so I could have a consistent record. I know it's not quite accurate, but it's probably roughly accurate.
  • TheWinman
    TheWinman Posts: 684 Member
    Answer #1 Who gives rats *kitten* why people do or don't do something on their log. It does not effect you.

    Answer # 2 See answer 1

    But you give enough of a rats *kitten* to read this and comment on it. lol You can always move on to the next topic.
  • Huffdogg
    Huffdogg Posts: 1,934 Member
    I see people saying you have to log everything you ate to be "accountable." To me, being accountable is eating what you ought to, not eating a bunch of junk and then patting yourself on the back for being honest and logging it. It's not how you log that determines your success but how you eat.

    Edited to add: I reread what I wrote, and it came across as being more harsh than I intended. If logging a bad day after the fact helps someone make better choices next time, then I think it makes sense to log a bad day. For me personally, it wouldn't make any difference in what I do going forward, so it seems like an exercise in futility. I like the idea that each of us can use these tools in a way that works best for us as individuals. It's easy for all of us, myself included, to make assumptions about people's motivations based on what they do, but those assumptions aren't always accurate.

    Also remember that some people go by weekly trends rather than each individual day's accuracy.
  • autumnk921
    autumnk921 Posts: 1,374 Member
    I log it all....The GOOD, The BAD & The UGLY!! It keeps me accountable plus if I gain or lose I want to be able to look back & see why that happened - what I did right or wrong....

    I understand some people not logging though....To each their own... :)
  • Serah87
    Serah87 Posts: 5,481 Member
    I agree!!
  • ajanmillie
    ajanmillie Posts: 241 Member
    I also think some people have days that are so bad that they actually forgot what they ate. When I do that, I do crazy things like logging 20,000 over because I freak out.
  • dlminnerjr
    dlminnerjr Posts: 9
    It seems to me that if you dont log a bad day the only person you are fooling is yourself because your body will react if you log it or not :)
  • Alice_Liddell
    Alice_Liddell Posts: 78
    I had a bad day yesterday. I just wasn't feeling it AT ALL. I didn't want to exercise, I just didn't care. I was overwhelmed. So I took a day off and did what I wanted without worrying about it. No, I didn't log my bad Chinese food or my Fuddrucker's burger. I didn't care. I didn't feel guilty eating those things, and I didn't want to look back later and suddenly feel guilty over it.

    I don't know why people get so bent out of shape about others' diaries. Let them log how they want. Why does that have any effect on your own weight loss journey?
  • Karalopolous
    Karalopolous Posts: 574
    When I have a REAL bad day, the reason I don't log it is usually because I ate so many randoms at mass quantities that I don't see a use in trying to figure out measurements and serving sizes when I already know I went over for the day:)

    This sometimes. Like if I really went over, it's gonna tax my brain far too much to try to figure out what the hell I just ate.
    I usually log most of my days though, but sometimes, like last night I was too tired, and I didn't care, I really didn't.
    Back to work today though :)
  • mochaphobic
    mochaphobic Posts: 92 Member
    I take days off ~ good ones and bad ones both. I get forgetful. I get busy. My cell phone dies and I have no tablets that can access and my kids are on the computers at home... (I have a larger family). It's not that I don't want to log them in usually, I just know it won't serve me emotionally to try and log in the bad days because I will emotionally beat myself up and it'll be worse in the long run. By the way, I am choosing to not log in this weekend. We have a family celebration and I won't even begin to guess how many calories are in some of the foods I'll be possibly eating. SOMETIMES bad days are created because we eat something at a restaurant that has like 600 calories alongside other things that are 200-300 and you just don't even know HOW to log them in.
  • cindy4mica
    cindy4mica Posts: 777 Member
    I log every drop of anything that goes into my mouth. If I don't hold myself accountable, I'm not going to succeed. Unfortunately, just because you don't log it, doesn't mean you didn't do it.
  • SteffieMark
    SteffieMark Posts: 1,719 Member
    I have only seen someone say this once or twice. If I were to have a bad day, I would log it. I log everything though, even my vitamins. It keeps me accountable and acts as a reminder too. I think it would only hurt me, if I don't track it all correctly.
  • tmarie2715
    tmarie2715 Posts: 1,111 Member
    I usually try to get it all in, but I don't hit the "complete" button. :(

    I think some of it is that it can be pretty hard to log a failed day. For me, I stop measuring, am eating without keeping even mental track of amounts, and sometimes plain forget things I've eaten. That kind of day is frustrating to try to relive. Onward and upward, right?
  • bitterfusion
    bitterfusion Posts: 82 Member
    A bad day for me is usually if I go out to eat. Due to the fact that I cannot know for certain what the calorie content was, I don't log it. (This doesn't count for chain restaurants as their nutrition info is generally on this site).

    Also, I just don't want to beat myself up too much about having the occasional bad day.
  • Sagelit
    Sagelit Posts: 78
    I don't log the stupidly bad days, like going to Stampede and random house parties where I can't even tell what to enter. MFP's database is filled with all kinds of random items that people have "homemade", so to try and figure out which one it's closest to is just a waste of time in a busy schedule. I assume I'm about a zillion calories over, and just move on to the next day.
  • cpotter4
    cpotter4 Posts: 116 Member
    I must say, in the past I have never logged my bad days. But now I see how valuable it is. All week I have been working hard because tonight I am going to the drive in with my mom to see the avengers and john carter. It's a tradition that we do and we always get KFC and take it with us. So today will be a bad day for me and I already logged what I will eat tonight. But seeing the numbers made my eyes pop. It's outrageous! After eating minimally all week I know that the meal I want to eat and am looking forward to will make me sick because it is high in fat and carbs and my body isn't used to it any more. So I made decisions about having only certain pieces of chicken and getting the original recipe instead of the extra crispy (sorry but KFC isn't KFC if it is grilled. For me there would be no reason to get it). On top of that I decided to forgoe the traditional and ritually hot chocolate that we also usually do for a diet pop.
    So after all that I got the numbers to come pretty far down and I am going to stick to it! And I am going to hop on the elliptical for a while and mow the yard. It won;t be such a bad day after all since I logged my bad day ahead of time.
  • AntShanny
    AntShanny Posts: 359 Member
    Yesterday I volunteered at my local alumi golf tournament and wasn't going to worry about logging...there was no way to know the exact count of anything, well except the beer! But I got home and logged it all anyway....just pulled stuff from the database that seemed to be close to what I had. I was over my calories by quite a bit, but was also on my feet about 6 hours so it wasn't like I was just sitting on the sofa stuffing my face. I figure once I get to my goal I might not log those types of days but for now I'm going to keep logging...even if some of it is guesstimates!

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