Help me. I've gone and had a dreaded 'bad day'.

jordandroid
jordandroid Posts: 25 Member
in Motivation and Support
Hi! So this was my first bad day (food wise). I knew it was coming but I'm so angry with myself.
My morning was fine, woke up and got together some fruit and yog for breakfast, but my housemate was busy baking focaccia and other sicilian goodies. He offered me some for lunch and I told him I was on a diet and going to join a gym tomorrow and he was polite.

But just before lunch he knocked on my door with a plateful! A sandwich, two little mini focaccia with mozzarella, some little parcels stuffed with ham and ricotta...etc. The works!
And I picked up one and he says "no, the whole plate is for you lovely!"
It's very sweet of him and I didn't want to be a snob and turn him away (plus YUM) so I tucked into it for lunch. But I'm anxious now, I have no way of calculating the calories I've eaten and I HATE NOT KNOWING!
I just put in what I ate and by the looks of things I've eaten my entire day's worth of calories, maybe more. It's my fault obviously.
Damn.

Then my clothing order for some gym clothes arrived and all bar one were too small, and the one that wasn't too small was too big. I'm nervous about feeling uncomfortable in the gym and I'm really scared now, because these clothes I ordered have become added to a pile 'goal clothes' and I'm going to be wearing a ragged old shirt to the gym. I don't want to look gross.

So I thought I should go out for a long walk but it's rainy and cold. I might just go out and persevere anyway, but I feel angry because even if I go and burn 500+ calories on an adventure walk I'll still have eaten something bad.
Do I eat anything else today? Do I mope and gain today? WHAT DO I DO?

I'll wait for some answers but I kind of mostly just wanted to rant. I think I'll head for a walk around town. Three miles out, three miles back. Then I'll be home before it's too dark.

Replies

  • slynnalex
    slynnalex Posts: 38 Member
    Do your best to log the food and move on. If you get more exercise to off-set things for this that will help. Its good to take a forward looking approach - you can't take back what you've done, but you CAN change what you do in the future and getting out and exercising will help emotionally as well; put your rain coat on and get out there! Don't worry about the clothes you ordered - send back the big one and make the smaller ones your goal clothes. You'll get there. Talk to your roomate and ask for help estimating what was in the food. I sometimes deconstruct a recipe and enter it's ingredients to calculate calories, i.e. olive oil 1TBS etc. Getting an estimate will help you feel that you're in control and then you can make good food choices the rest of the day. You'll need to eat later, if you try to avoid food you'll end up thinking about it all the time. Eat some protein when you're hungry - w/ low or no fat - I usually go for non-fat yogurt and fruit when I'm in a very hungry state. Remember, this is just a little bump in a long road of changing your lifestyle and your attitude toward your body and eating. You're going to be fine.
  • mensasu
    mensasu Posts: 355 Member
    One day is not a problem, even if you can't estimate the food, just move on.

    However, you need to deal with your room-mate or the sabotage (although probably unintentional) may continue. Since it sounds like he likes to cook, why not enlist him in finding healthy options that he can make where you can also indulge. Maybe go shopping for a cookbook and bring home some of the ingredients and then even ask him to help you make the dish. Explain to him your goals and how his support would be SOOOOOO good, and he is likely to come on board.

    Good luck.
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    I'm reminded of a saying: It's not what happens to you, it's how you handle it (or deal with it).

    Chalk one up to the food demons, dust yourself off, and move on. You did the best you could with estimating what you had; you can't starve yourself the rest of the day - that'll end up being even worse still! BUT you can have "good for you stuff" the rest of the day and say, "I stumbled, but I'm back on track!!"

    Go ahead and do some sort of activity - whether it's walking or going to the gym - AND this is a big one: WHO CARES if the people at the gym think you look like a slob. It's not a fashon show runway! You're not supposed to work out in the most glorious expensive best looking clothes ever, and you're not going there to show off the latest fashons in gym-wear - you're going there to work out and work up a sweat!!

    Try not to let yourself get sidetracked...(I battle that demon a lot too!)...it's just the demons trying to keep you from doing what you want to do! :)
  • jordandroid
    jordandroid Posts: 25 Member
    Thank you guys :')
    All of you are right. It's very easy to feel like it's the end of the world!
    I've got my trainers on right now, put my hair up and got a coat on. Downloaded the pedometer app for my iPod and I'll come back in a few hours with hopefully a good burn! xxx
  • lauren3101
    lauren3101 Posts: 1,853 Member
    The biggest thing to overcome on a weight loss journey (in my opinion) is the ability to stop feeling guilty and get straight back on it.
  • daffodilsoup
    daffodilsoup Posts: 1,972 Member
    There are 365 days in a year - one "off" day is not going to kill you.

    Enjoy it, but it couldn't hurt to have a talk with your roommate - maybe take what he bakes for you and freeze them in individual portions. That way you can enjoy it later!
  • Helloitsdan
    Helloitsdan Posts: 5,564 Member
    Diary looks fine.
    Relax and youll be okay.
    Believe me.

    In fact you could trigger some much needed hormonal responses that will help you by overeating.
    Whats your TDEE?
  • HeavyLiftGirl
    HeavyLiftGirl Posts: 1,267 Member
    We all have our weak moments and bad days. Just move on and stay strong! Workout HARD today and feel better. : )
  • DanerTee
    DanerTee Posts: 263 Member
    I'm sure other people have said much the same thing, but here it is again.....move on! Say screw it....I ate it and I shouldn't have but it was damn good and I enjoyed it. Compensate by having a light supper and tomorrow is another day. If you let yourself get into that guilt mode the next time something tempting comes by you will fall into the "oh hell, why not, this week is a write-off anyhow" thing which is the real problem. If you indulge once in a while and you don't let it become a habit you will be just FINE! Keep it up!!!
  • bushidowoman
    bushidowoman Posts: 1,599 Member
    Like everyone else has said...carry on. Eat healthy foods the rest of the day. Get your exercise in. And be proud of yourself for carrying on instead of sitting down and giving up. You're still in the game! You've got this!
  • dr2k12
    dr2k12 Posts: 291 Member
    Stress free, you got your munch on and it probably tasted AWESOME, so now you get back to reality and move forward... Don't let it define you, hell you will have more bad days too but they are the exception and not the norm!
  • PayneAS
    PayneAS Posts: 669 Member
    Just estimate and move on. Don't give up because of one bad meal. And next time he brings over a whole plate, just have a single serving and thank him for the rest but tell him you really couldn't eat more.
  • CopperGalaxy
    CopperGalaxy Posts: 27 Member
    Don't worry about looking gross at the gym. It's not a fashion show. I don't buy new clothes for the gym, I just wear old baggy clothes I wouldn't wear out anymore - what's the point when you're just going to sweat all over them?
  • slimtrimgoody
    slimtrimgoody Posts: 16 Member
    Everyone has a day when they overeat. You can simply do enough exercises to counterbalance the calories that you ate. For example, if your sandwich was 400 calories, burn 400. Just don't give up!! You can do this!!:smile:
  • yowza101
    yowza101 Posts: 196 Member
    All of us have bad calorie days. Just talk to your roommate and see if he can make you healthier snacks. Let him know that you need his support on the healthy lifestyle journey. The key...not to work yourself on the guilt trip because out of how many days you did great and one day you didn't.

    I had a wonderful and delicious Milky Way candy bar today and I don't feel guilty about it, not one bit. I will have a good lunch and dinner and make sure that I work out when I get home. I put on a shirt today that I couldn't fit into and I wore it to work today, so I'm just full of prettiness in my red shirt...hahahahaha.

    You will be fine and stop feeling guilty.....!!
  • amagus
    amagus Posts: 71 Member
    Like everyone else has said...carry on. Eat healthy foods the rest of the day. Get your exercise in. And be proud of yourself for carrying on instead of sitting down and giving up. You're still in the game! You've got this!

    Eat healthy the rest of day is great advise. If you do not eat after going over your goal, you will just make yourself too hungry and likely to eat more in the end. Try something low glycemic, low calorie like berries or celery and low fat protien to keep you full.

    Also trust your body a little more. Calories eaten to calories burned is not a day by day thing. Look at the whole week. Add some (not extreme amounts) of exercise the next few days. Your body will know what to do. But don't drop your overall calorie intake lower than 1200 per day. Your body will freak out.
  • jordandroid
    jordandroid Posts: 25 Member
    Brilliant advice everybody thank you so much! I just needed to be a big baby with a rattle for a few seconds. Next time I'll exercise self-control and politely decline, store it etc. I get the idea about asking for healthier snacks but it's the first time he's done home-baking so I didn't want to be rude :) It wasn't a problem anyway!
    I went out in the rain and did a 30 min 3mph walk out one way and then 30mins back at as brisk a pace I could muster. Burnt a reasonable amount of calories! :D I feel so much better now I've done that, shown myself everything works out okay.
    I'm so lucky to have this website, where everybody offers support and advice. :) I hope you all had a good day and stuff!

    Anyway, with regards to dinner, I'm gonna have a salad and pack my lunch for tomorrow at uni and drink some water.

    Much love, you've got me out of a bad feeling, and bad feelings are usually what scupper my diets! I feel so positive. :D

    xoxox
  • doubleduofa
    doubleduofa Posts: 284 Member
    I just want to add that it's ok that you ate it. Don't beat yourself up. Did you enjoy it? I hope so. Track it the best you can and move on. Do not punish yourself...it only makes things worse. It throws me down a rabbit hole to beat myself up - a cycle of eating whatever because I've already "messed up". I have really tried to work on accepting that I will make mistakes...I learn from them and move on with a positive attitude. This is not easy...I know...I'm the queen of beating myself up. But, honestly, if you can try to be more positive with yourself, you will find yourself eating 2 of those mini sandwiches in the future and passing on the rest - or maybe you eat the whole thing, but eat a small dinner or workout for an extra 30 minutes. Enjoy life, enjoy food. When I give myself permission to eat whatever I want if I REALLY want it, I usually don't want it anymore. Weird...yes...but if nothing is "off limits" then I can pass on it because I can have it tomorrow if I want. Sorry if I sound preachy - not my intention. Just trying to share my recent epiphany since it has helped me so much. :-)
  • blacxican_too
    blacxican_too Posts: 3
    I can certainly relate. I appreciate you posting about it ..... reading all the responses gave me encouragement to not be so hard on myself when I have days like yours. As stated, we all have them - because of stress, hormones, depression or just plain old desire or lack of control. But, we move forward (I usually do a good job of beating myself up before moving-on).

    Please feel free to add me, I could some support, too. I just joined the site yesterday ... and love it already.

    I will definitely refer back to THIS topic when I feel a "dreaded bad day coming on" or in the middle of one.

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