If I messed up yesterday do I eat all my calories today?

jilly1130

I really messed up yesterday. I am very addicted to sugar and am trying to get it out of my system. I had four really good days and then last night I messed up. I had pizza and candy and my calorie count was 3,335 and it should have been between 1500 and 1600.

Should I eat less than 1500 calories today? I have only had 300 calories so far and I am heading to the gym right now.

I am so frustrated with myself. I am trying to change my life, eat healthier and lose weight and I keep sabataging myself with sugar. What do you do when you have had a really bad day and get completely off plan?

britkip

No you still need to eat your recommend calorie count, if you starve yourself it messes up your metabolism. Just try to eat SUPER healthy fruits, and veggies You can do it!

nwg74

Carry on as usual.

1500 calories is half a pound so all you do is lose a little less. The pizza and candy could show weight gain temporarily.

ICarla

I agree with everyone else. Carry on as usual. Yesterday is gone. Today is a new day and another chance to get it right.

shadow2soul

Just go about today, as if you didn't splurge yesterday. I go over occasionally (most recents was 2500), but by not worrying about it and just carrying on like normal I still lose weight. The thing is you probably didn't go over enough for it to completely void out your weekly deficit. Although it may seem like a lot, in the overall picture, it was probably minimal. You may have a water weight gain for several days if the food was high in sodium, but it should pass. I sometimes hang on to water weight for a week when I've had tons sodium (evil, evil sodium).

jakidb

I agree--eat your recommended calories regardless of yesterday

cwolfman13

Just carry on...it's one day of many. This whole thing takes a lot of patience...in real life you're going to have days where you over do it...you just got back on track the next day. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a day.

jasper186

I do the same thing with white wine. Try to look at it as a temporary set back not a failure and get back on track today. You can't change what you have already done and beating yourself up about will only make you feel worse. When I mess up I used to think "I've already blown the week, why bother?", now I tell myself, if I don't get right back on track where will I be next week at this time? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't, either way you have to keep trying. Good luck to you

kristacali

Don't focus on the mistake, you did really good for four days, that is great! Now pick yourself up and get back on it, I'm sure when you decided you wanted some change in your life you were eating bad nearly every day. You can do this girl, don't let the past hold you back!

da_bears10089

when you figure the average of calories for a whole week, you would still most likely be a deficit overall.

SabrinaLily

I don't tend to shave calories off the next day when I had a bad one prior BUT if you wanted, you could go down to 1,200 calories (and no less than). But really, the 300-400 calories you'd save today doesn't make up for the 2,000 extra yesterday. So perhaps it is most wise just to pick up and move on. I think mentally that would be the best approach because you don't want to punish yourself today for that which happened yesterday and that ya' can't change. You might be setting yourself up for failure if you don't forgive yourself

jilly1130

Wow...thank you so much for the words of wisdom and encouragement. I just got home from the gym and from walking my dog and these replies were so wonderful to read. As a result I am having a really positive day and I am going to carry on as you all suggested and forgive myself for yesterday. Thank you again!

sarahkalt88

Your metabolism doesn't play catch up, its like your sleep cycle. When you over sleep or lose sleep one night, it doesn't mean you need to get more or less sleep to make up for it. I'd still eat your recommended calories for today, and just move on from yesterday. It happens, we all have those days. Pizza is delicious so I can sympathize!

tinak33

when you figure the average of calories for a whole week, you would still most likely be a deficit overall.

I usually go by this. I keep a spreadsheet with my daily calorie intake and burn, and I go over some days and under other days (depending on my mood, hunger, and social life).
By the end of the week, I'm still hitting my calorie goal, and still at a deficit.

I would say stick to your normal 1500-1600 calories and go about business as usual. :flowerforyou:

tomwatso

I would say: act normal. Eat as you normally would. Everyone here has mess up days. Just burn it off and keep going.

dlcarroll13

I really messed up yesterday. I am very addicted to sugar and am trying to get it out of my system. I had four really good days and then last night I messed up. I had pizza and candy and my calorie count was 3,335 and it should have been between 1500 and 1600.

Should I eat less than 1500 calories today? I have only had 300 calories so far and I am heading to the gym right now.

I am so frustrated with myself. I am trying to change my life, eat healthier and lose weight and I keep sabataging myself with sugar. What do you do when you have had a really bad day and get completely off plan?

Don't beat yourself up...let last night go. This isn't going to be a quick process and there will be bumps in the road. Aim for more of a lifestyle change that you can sustain long term. That INCLUDES occasional treats. I have slips here and there...just make sure you get right back on track with your next meal or snack...one mistake doesn't have to turn into a day, week, month...There's no reason to beat yourself up either. Just make moves in the right direction. I never carry one day over into another...each day is a fresh start.

buxyblue

You're human! Don't beat yourself up, carry on like everyone else said. If you don't eat today, you will get very hungary and then you will probably over eat again. Then how will you feel. Are you trying to ween yourself off sugar? I would love to do this, but it just tastes too good. But I have noticed how crappy it makes you feel.

Ramberta

I could have written this exact same post a couple weeks ago

It sucks, but the ONLY thing you can do that's constructive instead of shaming and destructive is to

1) Accept that today is a new day.
2) Work out extra hard -- within reason though, of course. It's not worth hurting yourself over.
3) Drink plenty of water.
4) Definitely DO eat all your calories-- just don't eat back the ones you burned with exercise.
5) Get a good night's sleep.

Whatever you might have gained with your binge will disappear by morning.

ShyyDNA

Prob 2 weeks ago i beat myself up about a evening i had out.I went to a nice place to eat and ate wayyyy over my calories.When i scaled a few days later i still lost weight for the week.So dont beat yourself up about one day.I stayed up half the night after the incident beating myself up for nothing cause i still lost.So dust yourself off and keep moving.If you are anything like me before i started this journey i had wayyyy more bad days than good so now thats its opposite thats very good.Keep up the good work...

JesterMFP

I'd say carry on as normal. You can compensate for days over by shaving a few cals off the rest of the days that week, but I'd say that it sounds like you're prone to bingeing, and for most people who are prone to bingeing, under-eating is really counter-productive as it makes you more likely to binge again. I would just carry on as normal.

Also, try to stop looking at it as "messing up" - this isn't a performance or something you can fail on. The only way you fail is to give up for good. Some people try to use guilt/shame as a motivator, but it isn't effective for most people. Forgive yourself, use this as a learning experience and carry on.

I've never tried to give up sugar completely as it's not something that I feel I need to do for myself. It's moderation and portion control for me. However, I recently read a book called Potatoes not Prozac. I don't agree with everything in it, but it was quite interesting. The author recommends cutting down on sugar after a long process of making smaller changes to your diet (such as switching from refined grains to whole grains etc) - she argues that these smaller changes make the eventual shift to cutting out sugar much easier to deal with.

UsernameStillLoading

Enjoy yesterday...it sounds extremely delicious.
If you are working out today; I would suggest that you do eat your recommended amount (or even more).
If you've been eating healthy for a while...or good for a while...yesterday's splurge won't have an affect on your metabolism. You might have gained a point but your body will burn it off.

Toddahlie

This is the best post eva!!

I have that problem some days and I think That you and me aren't the only person who have a bad day! and really the comments help me a lot about that!!

GracefulDancer4Christ

this
No you still need to eat your recommend calorie count, if you starve yourself it messes up your metabolism. Just try to eat SUPER healthy fruits, and veggies You can do it!

ElyseL1

YES! absolutely, one day will not make or break you, just go back to your normal routine, and things will straighten themselves out

krickeyuu

I think this is the best reason to know your TDEE. TDEE is what you need to eat to maintain your current weight. In order to gain a pound of fat, you have to eat 500 calories per day over your TDEE. So if TDEE is, say 1900 calories to maintain my current weight I would have to eat 2400 calories every day to gain a pound of fat. So...as long as you don't let one slip up cause you to continue to "binge" then you should be fine. One day will not factor much over the course of a month.

iiijeniii

Take an extra walk after dinner ...

More importantly though, try to learn from it. WHY did you splurge yesterday? Did you feel deprived the other 4 days? Cutting sugar cold turkey? Over tired maybe causing carb/sugar cravings?

Figure it out and make that splurge day into a positive learning process.

AbsoluteNG

You could do what everyone else says and balance out one bad day over a span of two weeks or you can balance out one bad day by eating high protein and extremely low or no carbs the next day at 600 calories max.