First "Cheat" Day in a while

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cmcook92
cmcook92 Posts: 5
in Motivation and Support
So, I've been doing pretty well. I'm not calling this all a diet, rather, a lifestyle change. While I'm at school I work out 4-5 times a week and eat pretty well. Since coming home for the summer I've helped my family get on track with eating pretty well. I've tried aiming for going for a run at least 3-4 times a week. The past two weeks I've actually taken up swimming. I usually swim 20 laps in about 40 minutes or so and tread water for 5 minutes. This usually leaves me with a lot of calories left for the day. So today, I finally caved and allowed my dad to cook his fried chicken (made with extra virgin olive oil, not sure if it makes a difference) with mashed potatoes and green beans. I went a bit over board on the chicken as lately I've been loving all the protein and also, it has been months since I had the chicken AND mashed potatoes. I guess I'm feeling pretty guilty at the moment even though I haven't eaten such foods in a while. I just feel so gross and I guess that is a good thing to feel gross since I'm not likely to want it again for a long time. I've been at a plateau for most of the summer, so it adds to my frustration and guilt.

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  • whierd
    whierd Posts: 14,026 Member
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    Don't feel guilty. Everyone has off days and the occassional high calorie day will not affect your long term weight management goals. What is more important is breaking that negative relationship with food. Accept that the day happened and don't even think about it anymore. If it starts becoming a trend, step back and evaluate why it is happening and correct the root cause.
  • grandpoobah12
    grandpoobah12 Posts: 138
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    None of us should worry about food this much. Eat it and move on, your moving enough now to support it. If you ran that week you had enough calories to support it. No problem.:smile:
  • aliasbee
    aliasbee Posts: 27
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    I went to the melting pot with my mom the other day and ate 1500+ calories in one meal of fondue and oil cooked meat. It was glorious, it was awful. I also had some sugary drinks that I haven't had in ages. It left me with a sugar headache in the morning. I hadn't had one of those for ages!

    I'm actually feeling pretty happy however, I ate 600 calories less the next day and made up for it easy peasy, (well, mostly easy) My weight graph doesn't even show a hitch.

    It's not about doing the "right" thing every day, it's about living the right way overall and happiness is a key ingredient. A life where you can't splurge on a meal with your parents or other important people every so often is depressing.
  • m00tmike
    m00tmike Posts: 248 Member
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    A friend once told me, "you don't get fit by eating 1 good meal and you don't get fat by eating 1 bad meal". Don't sweat it. I'd say this is almost a good thing because of your reaction to a little over indulgence.
  • MyaPapaya75
    MyaPapaya75 Posts: 3,143 Member
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    don't call it a cheat day if you don't think of it as a diet....just stay within your calories regardless...its much easier on yourself emotionally that way
  • hardyjessicag
    hardyjessicag Posts: 93 Member
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    I went out to eat the other night (at TGI Fridays) and had red meat for the first time in three months! I had the jack daniels burger (which comes in at almost 1400 calories with just the burger, AND i ate the fries) and the next morning when I weighed myself i was still the same! It was packed with so much sodium that I'm still pretty baffled at how my water weight didn't at least spike, but i deigress.

    the point is one cheat day isn't going to undue all your progress. if you happen to weigh a little more tomorrow morning, you'll be right back down to where you were in a few days.

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