Eating too much one day, not enough the next...

Look at the weekly average, not day-to-day basis. That's a surefire way to end up in the room covered with pillows.

If you're hungry, eat. If you're not don't. We all have crummy days... don't let that one day put you down

Okay, let's evaluate what happened:

You didn't eat at all, all day long.

Then you were obviously ravenously hungry when getting home from work, so you ate an entire pizza in one sitting.

First, we're not sure WHY you didn't eat all day long. Maybe you were just busy and didn't have a chance? (Which I think is a lame excuse except in VERY specific circumstances anyway, because even when I worked retail, I never skipped meals... like, eating is a #1 priority.) But it seems like, IF you were that busy, why would you be upset at yourself for eating so much at the end of the day? Obviously you had to make up for those missed calories, right? So, I'm assuming you were not eating all day on purpose...

Thus, you perceive that failing to continue to eat nothing at all by eating your daily calories in one sitting (because, honey, a whole pizza MAY be one day's worth of calories, but it certainly isn't two day's worth) you messed up and need to eat even less the next day.

Two things:

1) This is actually totally an eating disorder. Really. I know you don't want to hear that, but you need to seek out someone who can help.

and

2) Even if you don't want to take the #1 advice, recognize that NOT EATING ALL DAY = VERY HUNGRY PERSON BY THE END OF THE DAY = EATING. So, day 2 of what you already did is not going to solve the problem. It's just going to become an endless cycle of starving>binging>starving>binging, and so on.

One school of thought actually suggests exactly this method, zig zagging, for successful weight loss.

One school of thought actually suggests exactly this method, zig zagging, for successful weight loss.

Eating nothing all day, eating a whole pizza at night, then only eating a snickers bar for breakfast the next and skipping lunch, and then working out?

Um no.

This:

"The theory behind zig-zagging is to fool your metabolism into not knowing it's dieting. They say if you eat the same # of calories each day, your metabolism adjusts for it and will slow down.

My example is that with my activities I do, my average burn is 2000-2100 cals. Therefore I need to eat on average 1600 calories per day to get a 500 cal deficit.

So some days I'll eat 1400. Some days I'll eat 1800. Others I might eat right at 1600. I eat a little more on weekends than during the week. I stick to looking at my weekly deficit rather than daily, aiming for 3500-4000 less than what I burned. "

From here: http://caloriecount.about.com/forums/weight-loss/zig-zag-method-dieting-more-food

If ~1,800 cals is two days worth, you have bigger problems.

Pizza Hut (From Website, 9/1/12 - 12" Medium Pan Pizza With Pepperoni, 1 container (8 slice ea.) 2,000 calories 208 fat 96 carbs 88 16 protien 4,720 sodium

2 days worth

That's only one days worth for me, or at least, just under maintenance for one day. Looks short on protein. You should have gotten the meat lover's. :laugh:

Seriously, I hope you are eating more than 1000 calories a day.

LOL oh yes I do eat more than that, my intake is 1480. MFP doesn't add all of the additional meats and extra cheese (yep I went there too) and all the veggies on the pizza so I had to round up a few hundred more calories.

Then it sounds like you just had a day of eating at maintenance. No biggie. :flowerforyou:

Come on people, the OP was obviously kidding with the "anorexic for a day" comment. Was it in bad taste? Perhaps, but not anymore so than half the crap that people spout off on this site. I'm begining to think there is no question asked on MFP that SOMEONE will not take offense to.

Oh but the community is the best part...they are so "helpful".

Sorry, maybe I'm just a little hungover and *****y today.

This could also be called calorie zigzagging..

If you feel that bad about it, either go on an extra run today or just eat a normal calorie day (1400ish) with good, whole food.

Hi everyone

This might seem like a stupid question, but hopefully I'll get some smart answers.

Yesterday was a bad day for me eating wise, let's just say I had nothing for breakfast or lunch and then inhaled an entire medium pizza when I got home. Yes the WHOLE pizza. Needless to say I feel so crappy today I don't want to eat anything.

So I was thinking, since I ate pretty much 2 days of calories yesterday, should I just not eat a lot today to counteract the calories? So far I've had a banana and a miniature snickers (damn co-workers bringing in all thier leftover Halloween candy). I'm debating eating lunch, although I just finished 30 day shred and a quick 20 minute run.

Is it really bad to go one day without eating a lot, to make up for a day you ate WAY too much?

Your calorie budget does not need to be the same every day. You can have a weekly calorie budget, or daily, you can do it how ever you want. Do what works for you. You are certainly not going into starvation mode in one day, or several, you only have to worry about starvation mode when you are under 12% body fat for a female anyway (6% for the guys).

For me it was the roller coaster that got me into the mess I am in...but that was over a long period of time....really doing a job on my metabolism.
One day of binge not a big deal just note the conditions that put you into binge mode and work on consistency.

Don't let one day of questionable nutrition choices get in the way of the big picture with guilt (which can make or break ya). Today is a new day get back on that healthy horse and ride. I would say don't not eat but I would keep it balanced and healthy.

zigzagging is fine, but not from a perspective of punishing yourself for a perceived wrong.

This. Probably why so many people on MFP are borderline bulimic. They feel they have to make up for over-eating or bingeing by restricting calories or over-exercising for the sake of burning calories. If it happens regularly (which I do see A LOT of MFP, repeated over and over by the same people), you need to get yourself a therapist.

I don't think its bad for you unless you develop a eating disorder

Pretty sure that would NEVER happen to me. I love food too much! But being anorexic one day can't hurt could it?

that's not even funny.

I have an eating disorder and one cannot just " be anorexic for a day "
and we don't just not eat. we eat, just not very much. it's also about the mindset, not even the food.

ugh

here we go

sorry but people who make jokes about eating disorders make me sick. I HAVE ONE and it's nothing to joke about or say " omg i'm going anorexic for a day (; "
just no.
just stop.

I have to agree because I almost went anorexic when I was pregnant. I cried a lot and was a mess of nerves. People on here had to tell me it was okay to eat a sandwich after I had already had a bowl of cereal prior.

2,000 calories is not very high in my opinion. So, you went to somewhere near or a little over maintenance for one day. You won't gain weight if you eat less than that every other day. If you lower your calories I would only lower them by 300 calories or so.