What happens if you have a bad diet day?

It's Okay , Take it as if it was your one cheat day for the week and move on . Just the Fact that you were able to comprehend that you had a bad day will make you better .

Today was a bad day for my diet, but I'm not sure what caused me to steer off course. I feel ashamed and annoyed with myself. What should I do tomorrow, or what can I do in the future to not have a bad diet day?

I felt this way especially when I started this journey. Amazingly I still feel this way at times even in maintenance when everyone tells me I shouldn't. We are all human. We have good days and bad days, all of our lives. The tools you find and use to get out of a funk will serve you the rest of your life, and you will always need them. I call it sharpening your sword for battle and you will always need to keep your blade sharp for the rest of your life. We may get to relax at times for a few moments, but life is a bit of work until the end.

There is nothing easy about this journey. Don't give up. Keep your eye on the prize. You do not have to be perfect to do this. You just have to have more good days than not. A bad day is not the end of the world. Tomorrow is a new day. Just pick it right up again. Be kind to yourself at all times and never beat yourself up.

Being on a calorie deficit is hard. You can't do this journey on will power alone. You must set up your environment for success. Have a team around you in your real life, not just online. Get trigger foods out of the house. It will take some sacrifice and it's not easy. You might have to say no to some social events sometimes.

Too many changes at once can be hard on some people. I've always eaten healthy so it easy for me to simply eat less. Eating at a calorie deficit is hard on people; even a small deficit puts your body in a state of flux with hormones and such. Everyone is different. Some people can handle a deeper calorie deficit than others, this is not right or wrong, it just is. Stress in your life affects your hunger hormones; lack of sleep, fatigue, job stress, family stress, financial stress, etc. Add in emotional eating issues and it gets even more complicated. Most people can only handle so much change/stress at once, they try to do too much and fail. Sometimes it might be a better strategy to eat at maintenance and make some small changes first, it really depends on how much stress you are taking in at the moment.


For me it's all about a calorie budget. I had less of a budget available when I was losing weight, more to spend now that I'm maintaining and all the tools I used for weight loss come into play for the rest of my life maintaining.

When you have accumulated excess fat, you have accumulated a debt. It is hard to pay off the debt (you have less calories to spend). If you are sitting next to someone your same gender and height and they are not overweight and you are, they get to eat more than you (have more calories to spend) because they are debt free. You have less calories to spend because you are paying off your debt.

Wishing you the best! -Bobbie

I am even more motivated to kick *kitten* the next day.

First off this is a life style change not a diet. If you think of it as a diet we have a tendancy to beat our selves up over little things because we take it literal like there are black and white rules. Second, when you have a bad moment (not day) you start fresh right now. Don't wait and say tomorrow to start again. Start at this moment. The past is the past. Also if you find yourself having problems staying on track start logging your moods and feelings when you eat. A lot of my problems are mental. How I eat, when I eat etc. There are lots of books that discuss different mental habits. By logging your moods and what's going on around you might help you understand what is happening too. Good luck, we are all here for the same reason. We all have problems with food and exercise. We all are learning how our bodies work and what we like. We're in this together.

Never expect perfection from yourself--you'll just be sad and angry in the end. A bad day won't happen once, but several times. Just realize it isn't the end and keep to your regular routine the next day.

For me personally, when I feel like I've done really awful, I drink a big glass of water before bed (since I normally screw up with soda or other beverages).

Today was a bad day for my diet, but I'm not sure what caused me to steer off course. I feel ashamed and annoyed with myself. What should I do tomorrow, or what can I do in the future to not have a bad diet day?

First forgive yourself- it happens. Second, next time you feel like you made a bad food choice stop and think about it. Focus on not letting a bad meal turn into a bad day. I used to think the whole day was shot if I had a cheeseburger. Now I focus on moving on immediately and eating healthy for the rest of the day- even if I'm already over my calories. Good luck!