Needing Motivation and Support: Day after a bad food day.

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So today i am really needing some major support and continued motivation. Yesterday I had a terrible day in terms of my calories (like WAY over). I am feeling terrible about it today and I know I could have done better yesterday. I have done really great so far this week in terms of exercise and burning over the calories I had to this week. I guess I thought since I was doing so well why not have a day that I could just not count. I know it doesn't work that way and I really shouldn't have done it but I just wanted for once to not feel like I had to count and track and pay attention to every thing that was going in my mouth. Now I just feel so ashamed for doing it in the first place. I want to look better and feel healthier so I know I should have made better eating choices yesterday. It's just sometimes it feels like all I want to do is relax and not have to constantly worry and obsess about my food and my calories.

Maybe it's because this is my second time trying to lose weight after gaining some of what I lost back. I feel like I worked so hard and then I messed up and now I'm afraid I will never be able to get back to where I want to be.
Honestly I am just feel very discouraged today. I know that when you cheat on a diet the only person you cheat is yourself. I feel like I have cheated myself now and I am ashamed. I am afraid my fitness goals will never be a reality. Any suggestions/motivations/inspiration? I really need it today. I know I will be able to do this I just need some support.

Replies

  • MostlyWater
    MostlyWater Posts: 4,294 Member
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    Loing weight and being healthy is a lifestyle change. Life includes parties, holidays, and overeating. Having said that, sometimes you need to undereat to prepare for such events.

    Don't starve yourself and don't punish yourself either. But if you ate way over, make up for it! And plan for the next time !
  • esilvera19
    esilvera19 Posts: 10
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    I have under-eaten my calories for this week except yesterday- typically I do under eat my calories, like way under eat. Particularly when I work out each day I definitely under eat my calories. I appreciate the reminder that it's a lifestyle change- I think I forget that at times honestly. I just want to lose the weight, feel fit, and proceed to do whatever I want. I know it doesn't work like that and I will have to work on it my whole like to be healthy and everything. I think sometimes though I need the reminder. Thank you for that!
  • dooplegoon
    dooplegoon Posts: 66
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    This is a common feeling. You are the one that benefits from your efforts and you feel like you let yourself down. So lets think about it this way...

    If someone else disappoints you and you love that person, you forgive them. As long as its not too outrageous of a disappointment, you can forgive them when they ask. And then you move on. So ask yourself, is this an outrageous failure? Just one day? Is this one day of over-eating going to make you irreversibly fat and never able to get thin again? Nah, its not that bad. Not anywhere close. So its just a little disappointment. You are allowed to make mistakes and have bad days. And you can still forgive yourself and move on and do better.

    ::Big hugs::
  • esilvera19
    esilvera19 Posts: 10
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    Thanks I really needed to hear that. I am feeling somewhat better at the moment but I am just hoping that I won't go back to bad eating habits! I know that I can eat better and do better with it and I really want to.
  • corgicake
    corgicake Posts: 846 Member
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    One day is one day. Regardless of everything that's happened that week, or month, or year, one day is just one day. It happens to everyone and don't waste your time and energy hating on yourself. Figure out what motivated you to have that one day (running an overly uncomfortable deficit, mass squandering of calories, backlash from food "banning" etc) and do what needs to be done to make it stop happening.

    Boredom as a way of getting food off a log works. I liked carbs too much for my own good... and what represented them to me the most? Pasta. I still eat it because I've got macros to hit and there's boxes of three minute pastas at the apartment still. The carbs all look the same now, which is good because I'm starting to feel backlash from what I haven't been eating lately and need to start dropping those down soon.
  • dooplegoon
    dooplegoon Posts: 66
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    Thanks I really needed to hear that. I am feeling somewhat better at the moment but I am just hoping that I won't go back to bad eating habits! I know that I can eat better and do better with it and I really want to.

    That "Really wanting to" is the beginning. When I feel like indulging I always think long term. What do I really want long term? What I really want is to be healthy and fit.

    Also, there are different opinions and different things that work for other people. But for me the psychology of earning a treat has been working for me. If I really think I simply must have a certain food, its an extra dose of exercise or maybe even a compromise with a smaller portion.