I ate 3,000 calories today, and...

I feel great.

Give me a second to explain myself. This is for all the topics I see on here, on a daily basis, that declare "I went ____ calories over my goal! I'm a failure!" Or "I totally binged today and ate 300 calories of cookies! I've ruined all my hard work!" If you've ever posted one of those threads, or thought something similar, I'd like to share some thoughts with you.

My daily goal is to net about 1430 calories. Depending on exercise, this means I normally eat anywhere from 1400-1800 calories a day. I've been trying paleo recently (and actually loving it, but that's a different story), so my calorie intake has been a bit lower than normal because I've been adjusting to the new foods. Today, I was in a great mood and I decided I deserve a treat. I hadn't had a proper "cheat day" in a long time. Months, really. Maybe a couple hundred calories extra here or there, but nothing major.

So today, I ate Wendy's, ice cream, Olive Garden, and I'm about to eat more ice cream. When all is said and done I will have eaten over 3000 calories today. Given that my daily goal is half that, you'd think I'd be upset.

Nope.

Why not?

1) It was freaking delicious
2) I won't gain weight this week, because I was under my goal the other days of the week

and more importantly

3) One day really doesn't make a gosh darn lick of difference in the grand scheme of things!

Think about it. Many of you on this website have been overweight for YEARS, or maybe even your whole life. You've eaten thousands of calories on a daily basis. Now, you've turned yourself around. You're eating less, you're eating healthier, and that's great. But you're honestly going to get mad at yourself for ONE day of eating like you used to? C'mon, now. There's no need for that.

Most people are on here are at a 500 calorie per day deficit (some more, some less... but for the sake of argument let's say 500/day). First of all, this means if you go 300 calories over your goal, YOU WON'T GAIN WEIGHT. You're still under your maintenance amount of calories. You won't even maintain your weight. You'll lose weight, maybe just not as fast as you would have at the 500 calorie deficit. If you go 400 calories over your goal, you won't gain weight. If you go 500 calories over your goal, you won't gain weight. Starting to see a pattern?

If you go more than 500 calories over your goal, you probably STILL won't gain weight, because assuming you've been at your goal the rest of the week, you're still at an overall calorie deficit.

Even if you have a true "binge" and go 5000 calories over your goal, SO WHAT? You might gain, what, a pound? Which you'll probably lose again in the next week? Calm down. Deeeeep breaths. If you've got 50 pounds to lose, and you've already lost 30, and you gain ONE, is that really the end of the world? In the grand scheme of your weight loss journey, does that really make a difference?

What I'm trying to say is, too many people on this site see food and calories as the enemy. I can see where that's coming from - after all, calories are what made you fat, right? And you never want to go back to that! - but frankly, it's not healthy. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. And if you're beating yourself up about going a few hundred calories over your goal, you need to give yourself a mental break. It's OKAY. Seriously. You're going to be fine. You've done so well already, and you're going to keep doing amazing, and a bump in the road isn't going to change that.

So next time you find yourself with your hand in the box of oreos after a perfectly healthy week, just enjoy the darn oreos. Seriously. Life is too short, people.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to curl up in bed with my half gallon of Edy's Butterfinger ice cream.