Over by a thousand calories, and it's okay!

DrJanet98

Sort of a self-support message here. I've been using MFP for almost a month now. Yesterday, I had an unplanned splurge, and ate about a thousand calories above my goal. It started after midnight before going to bed, and carried on into too much food during the rest of the day, too. And today I went to a favorite Chinese buffet, worrying about going off the wagon all the while.

Well, when I looked back at the *previous* week, turns out I was about 3500 calories below my weekly goal. I was below every day, and some days by a significant amount! No wonder I needed to splurge! And when I added up all of the stuff I ate on the Chinese buffet, it turned out it didn't add up to nearly as much as I thought it would. I had picked out favorite ingredients for the Mongolian Stir-Fry, all veggies and lean meats, added my own sauce choices, and when I turned that into a Recipe on MFP, and then added all the fruit I had for dessert, *and* the little bits of favorites I just couldn't not have any of, I was *still* a few calories under for today!

The week before my extra-good one, I had deliberately saved calories so that I could indulge at a Saturday club meeting where there's always lots of food, some of it healthy but much of it not. That week, I did indeed save enough to splurge with a couple of 2-bite brownies, a chocolate chip cookies, M&Ms, and chips, as well as the carrot sticks and lean turkey meat sandwich, and still be under for the week. And I think part of the reason I was low the next week was because of carry-over from that day of indulgence -- I just wasn't feeling deprived for several days afterwards.

In other words, I'm learning that it's okay to have a day or two that's over the goal. I can accept it, even enjoy it, and get right back to being good the next day. I can indulge and even eat my fill without being "bad". And I think I can live with this new way of living my life. It's not a diet, it's a permanent change!

I "knew" all of this before, had read it many places and knew the science and biology behind it, but now I think I'm starting to actually accept it as Truth.

Now, if I can just find the time to meet my exercise goals.... :-)

bephi

Sound like u have a good plan. I cant even survive one day. I'm trying to do all liquid diet. Ya know veggie juices. But I'm failing. I wish u the best. Keep it up

leslisa

It's good to remind ourselves of our philosophy sometimes .

Now, get out there and exercise!!!

:bigsmile: