how do you recover from a bad day?

Emeener

Today just wasn't great. We're putting on a fashion show at school and we were fitting all the models (I'm designing, not modeling) and it's just intimidating how thin some of my friends are, seemingly without any effort. So that's not making me feel great about the way I look.

but that's beside the point. I know not to compare myself to my friends. I'll get there eventually. My problem is, I didn't make the best food choices today. It wasn't horrible. My net was about 500 calories over my goal, but that was after a ton of exercise. Basically, I overate, then tried to burn off all the calories. I almost succeeded, but then ended up eating even more at the end of the night, and it was just some stupid pastry stuff that I honestly don't like that much. So I guess I just feel a little out of control.

I used to have an eating disorder, so I can recognize this feeling of never having control or never doing well, and it used to be 100000x worse so I know I should focus on the positive. My bad days used to be going at least 2000 calories over my goal for the day. But I just feel a little lost and confused and wish I had someone here to distract me and help me feel better.

Cr01502

Bad days aren't really that big of a deal.

I have days where I go over on my food intake and I hit the gym feeling refreshed and energized.

I would learn to have a more healthy relationship with food. Allow yourself a treat every once in a while. One bad day a week isn't going to kill you.

Robbiehollie08

I have the same issue, for the past few days i have had the urge to just eat and eat and eat!!! i look at it this way there are going to be days that you over eat and fall off the path but you have to think tomorrow is another day and all i can do is try for today and forget about yesterday!!! Just know you are not the only one that struggles!! hope this helps:)

Charlixoxo

Everybody has bad days. I totally get what you mean by feeling out of control when you have eaten over your net goal but honestly, don't worry about it, we all need a treat from time to time we are only human.
You have to think- I can't go back in time and un-eat everything today, I can only go forwards, brush it off and be better the next day!
Xoxo

taunto

Don't worry about bad days. They will eventually reduce down to nothing once you get in the habit of eating right and working out etc

Just stay persistent, keep trying the next day (or meal). If you ate too much, try to workout the excessive calories, if you ate too little, keep some nut butter or ice cream or somethign calorie dense that you like to eat up. Don't worry abotu what time of the day you eat (try not to eat too much right before some "dinky wink" time. Girls are no fun when they're too full to "do" anything) (OK that was off-topic, sorry!)

Good luck

andiechick

I find the best thing to do after a bad day is to say "right, I didn't make the best choices, but that was yesterday and today is a new day".

You didn't do it intentionally, it's hard sometimes to get it right when you're run off your feet, and like you say, in the past you've really gone over, but you've obviously moved on from those times so don't beat yourself up about it and congratulate yourself on that xx

keithmustloseweight

Usually I'll decide at that point to just go the whole hog and start eating mayonaise with a spoon from the jar

NikkieLite

I know where you're coming from. I'm also recovering from an eating disorder and I sometimes panic about going just slightly over my goal even though logically I know it's a major improvement over non-stop binging.

It helps me on bad days (of which I've had plenty) to remember two things.

1.) It's unrealistic and crazy for me to think I can eat perfectly every day for the rest of my life. I'm only human. Food tastes good. **** happens. Did I really think I was never going to eat cake or pizza or have a drink ever again? Oh please.

and

2.) A bad day compared to thousands of good days for the rest of my life is nothing, it's not going to hurt me. But if I do let my mistakes get me upset and push me off track that will mean lots of bad days which lead to bad months and bad years and I have definitely had enough of those for one lifetime.

A few bad days, even really REALLY bad days, here and there will not undo your progress but dwelling on those days and repeating them because of your anger/frustration/guilt will.

kaybelieve

It depends for me.

Some bad days I don't want to eat anything at all (I will note these are VERY rare sort of bad days but they do happen.) Other bad days I want to eat everything in site. Which in turn makes me hate myself even more which then makes me eat more. Vicious cycle. I also have a massive hissy fit, usually here on MFP to all of my friends who are very kind and patient, a lot of love to those guys. I'm going off track here.

What I mean to say is, this is a learning process. We have to learn how to deal with bad days and making mistakes like over-eating will be a lesson. A lesson we will have to learn a few times because sometimes you know, overeating does happen. Just pick yourself up and start the next day like it's the first day you started your journey. The same momentum, the same positivity (is that even a word) and you will get there. Just don't beat yourself up about it x

Charlixoxo

Usually I'll decide at that point to just go the whole hog and start eating mayonaise with a spoon from the jar

Haha! I get ya, sometimes you've just gone too far that you may aswell carry on!

richard205

I try to make tomorrow a 'slim' day, to balance the books a little -

Also - in case I get a snack attack, I keep healthy stuff in the refridge like broccoli and baby carrots and celery - you can eat a ton of that stuff and its always ok - a little ranch or hummus (sometimes) gives you some fats and you feel like you are getting away with something... I like turkey slices too for that extra protein for a snack if it happens.

If you are tracking your carb/fats/protein percentage - try adjusting your diet plan for more lean protein percentage overall, and less fat and/or carb percentage.

taunto

Usually I'll decide at that point to just go the whole hog and start eating mayonaise with a spoon from the jar

Haha! I get ya, sometimes you've just gone too far that you may aswell carry on!

"Hey, I drank an extra cup of black coffee. Damn, my entire day is messed up. Better hit Krispy Kreme and Pizza!".

"Damn, that really was a bad day. Oh well, I might as well continue now. I'll get back on track next year..."

Charlixoxo

Usually I'll decide at that point to just go the whole hog and start eating mayonaise with a spoon from the jar

Haha! I get ya, sometimes you've just gone too far that you may aswell carry on!

"Hey, I drank an extra cup of black coffee. Damn, my entire day is messed up. Better hit Krispy Kreme and Pizza!".

"Damn, that really was a bad day. Oh well, I might as well continue now. I'll get back on track next year..."

Not exactly what I meant. If you have gone way over your calories and still feel hungry, all I'm saying is, it's already been a bad day, you may aswell satisfy your cravings and have that last chocolate bar before you put it right the next day!

taunto

Usually I'll decide at that point to just go the whole hog and start eating mayonaise with a spoon from the jar

Haha! I get ya, sometimes you've just gone too far that you may aswell carry on!

"Hey, I drank an extra cup of black coffee. Damn, my entire day is messed up. Better hit Krispy Kreme and Pizza!".

"Damn, that really was a bad day. Oh well, I might as well continue now. I'll get back on track next year..."

Not exactly what I meant. If you have gone way over your calories and still feel hungry, all I'm saying is, it's already been a bad day, you may aswell satisfy your cravings and have that last chocolate bar before you put it right the next day!

And all I'm saying is to put some whip cream, jelly, icecream, pudding with that chocolate and slap em between 2 chocolate chip cookies and go to town on that bad boy! (Jelly on the side btw, not in the sammich. That would be nasty!)

JJordon

Sit in the dark, listenin' to stereotypical country music about how bad wives stole the dog.... maybe.

Or just move on, shrug, and do better the next day.

trud72

or try a better solutionish... :ohwell:
try to find what you are craving ie sweety stuff(like most women do) and go for a healthier option....i tend to go for merange nests(50 cals a pop) super sweet! also a new one have found mash a banana to pulp and add unsweetened coco power to it the more you add the chocolatier it becomes! even stick the marange nest in with it what the hell but it kills off the sweety craving! :blushing:
BUT then i noramlly go to savoury and oh god get outta the way!
just damage limitation is the key do it get it done and exersice and make up for it in the next week x :sad:
not to worry we are all human after all :noway:

rbeckner711

I know where you're coming from. I'm also recovering from an eating disorder and I sometimes panic about going just slightly over my goal even though logically I know it's a major improvement over non-stop binging.

It helps me on bad days (of which I've had plenty) to remember two things.

1.) It's unrealistic and crazy for me to think I can eat perfectly every day for the rest of my life. I'm only human. Food tastes good. **** happens. Did I really think I was never going to eat cake or pizza or have a drink ever again? Oh please.

and

2.) A bad day compared to thousands of good days for the rest of my life is nothing, it's not going to hurt me. But if I do let my mistakes get me upset and push me off track that will mean lots of bad days which lead to bad months and bad years and I have definitely had enough of those for one lifetime.

A few bad days, even really REALLY bad days, here and there will not undo your progress but dwelling on those days and repeating them because of your anger/frustration/guilt will.

excellent insight

wickedwendy6

I have one 'bad' day a week - on purpose! Every Saturday I have a free day, when I can eat whatever I feel like. Not binge like quantities but just eating whatever my tongue desires. This helps keep me on track for the other 6 days of the week when I eat as well as I possibly can. So don't be too hard on yourself if you occasionally do this by accident - it's the big picture that really matters.

Deipneus

The answer lies in your post: You ate 500 calories over but you used to overeat by a lot more than that. Sometimes we focus so much on what we do wrong that we give ourselves no credit for what we do right. I lost about 50 pounds without perfect days. It's just that my new bad days were better than my old good days. You don't have to be perfect, just consistently better than you used to be.

Donna_Houghton

Even the healthiest people over eat sometimes. Why do you think they sell so much heartburn medicine around the holidays?!! So don't beat yourself up.

The great thing about MFP is that you don't have to look at yesterday's journal! You can focus on today's and putting healthy things in that.

My advice would be don't try to compensate for yesterday by eating less today or you might end up in a vicious circle of eating and starving. Just take a deep breath and aim for today's calorie goal. You can do it! :flowerforyou:

TaniaB_79

500 calories over is roughly maintenance for me so I don't view that as a 'bad' day, in fact I deliberately have a day at maintenance level at least once a month as it often seems to stop me plateauing.

You did exercise to counteract it, if you've logged everything accurately and you are roughly 500 over it is not going to de-rail your weight lost, so move on, forget about it and go back to healthy choices today, stop feeling guilty!

Unknown

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wllwsmmr

I totally feel you!! I could have written this omg haha twinsies

Today just wasn't great. We're putting on a fashion show at school and we were fitting all the models (I'm designing, not modeling) and it's just intimidating how thin some of my friends are, seemingly without any effort. So that's not making me feel great about the way I look.

THIS!!! Kills me everytime. Everyone seems to be skinny mini without trying much, and still eating whatever they want!! They diet only to get even skinnier sigh.. It is demoralizing... ):

I am also currently focused on staying positive and not to be so bothered by the guilt that comes with a bad day... WE CAN ALL DO THIS!!!! One day at a time! Let's do it healthily this time!!!

Marie_25

I know where you're coming from. I'm also recovering from an eating disorder and I sometimes panic about going just slightly over my goal even though logically I know it's a major improvement over non-stop binging.

It helps me on bad days (of which I've had plenty) to remember two things.

1.) It's unrealistic and crazy for me to think I can eat perfectly every day for the rest of my life. I'm only human. Food tastes good. **** happens. Did I really think I was never going to eat cake or pizza or have a drink ever again? Oh please.

and

2.) A bad day compared to thousands of good days for the rest of my life is nothing, it's not going to hurt me. But if I do let my mistakes get me upset and push me off track that will mean lots of bad days which lead to bad months and bad years and I have definitely had enough of those for one lifetime.

A few bad days, even really REALLY bad days, here and there will not undo your progress but dwelling on those days and repeating them because of your anger/frustration/guilt will.

Very good, wise advice. Thank you for sharing x