Mad At Myself

It's frustrating, but it's just a bump in the road. Make sure you take the steps you need to get back on track right away, and then use this as a learning opportunity. Work out ways to prevent it happening again. I've been logging on MFP over a year, been maintaining for a few months, and I still have bumps in the road sometimes that catch me unaware. It's usually something like you've described, where I'm out of my normal routine. What works for me is planning as much as possible, not beating myself up when things go a bit astray, and just having the determination to get right back on track as soon as possible - back into my normal routine. And, if the routine changes, work around it.

If this staying late at work thing is really unusual, and not likely to happen again, then don't worry about it. If it's likely to happen more often, then obviously you'll have to find a way around it. If it was me in that situation, I'd probably try to get the workout in as soon as I got home, before dinner, even if it means postponing dinner slightly.

Like you say, it takes time to make seriously lifestyle changes and iron out the kinks. You'll get there.

Don't stress too much about going over for a day or two. It WILL even out in the long run as long as you are working hard the rest of the time. I have a no-banned foods policy as long as I stay within range of my calorie goal, but I go over (sometimes by a lot) on occasion and don't stress about it. I recently returned from a 7 day trip (I logged everything, every day, even the crap food - and went over by almost 800 calories on a couple days), stepped on the scale this morning, and I had lost 2 pounds.

If the late work days were just a temporary fluke, then don't worry about it. Life gets in the way sometimes. You learn from it, shake it off, and move on.

I agree with the above poster. If working late is going to be a regular thing that you can't change, then you have to make adjustments in the areas of your life that CAN change. If it takes coming home and working out immediately after work, well then, there's your new routine. Dinner will have to wait a little while.

Try not to worry about "making up" lost workouts. That was the past. You can't change it, and your body doesn't know that you're "making up" anything. It just knows that you're burning calories and fat. Try to look forward.

This whole process really is about tweaking everything to work to your advantage, so that you're healthy AND happy. You can do this!

I seems like everyone's hitting bumps in the road lately. For the first month or so I was at this I was completely able to stick to my calories and averaged about 600 under their goals for the week. Then I had one exquisite week where I never went over, but since then I've gone over twice a week and can't seem to get back into the swing of things. ugh. Just stick with it. You'll get back on track. Two or three days isn't going to hurt you any more than two or three days of exercise will help. Everything is long term.

You're not the first.
You're not the last.
You're just the latest.

I tell me second graders that I want them resilient and bounce back from adversity. (I use a tennis balls and and an egg.)

You can be a tennis ball.

I love this analogy! I have a teenager who wants to give up at the slightest set back when it comes to school, job search etc. I'll have to use this in my pep talks with him.

To the OP. You can dwell on what happened or you can get back on plan and move on. Try to set realistic goals for yourself and then when you reach those goals reward yourself. But don't reward yourself with food....your not a dog. Get your hair done or buy a new top or new pants, go to see a movie you've been wanting to see. I set small obtainable goals for myself like eating better for the week, losing 5 lbs at a time, going for more walks or riding my bike more. If you look at the full picture all at once you're going to get discouraged. Get through one hurtle at a time.