How long to lose the weight after a cheat meal?

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Francl27
Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
It wasn't planned, but we went hiking and I was starving (like, going to pass out if I don't eat soon starving) so we stopped at a restaurant that couldn't give me their nutrition info (Maggiano's, although it's in MFP's database. Odd). Everything looked like a bad choice (I had 600 calories left), so I just said whatever and decided to make it a cheat meal (first time in 9.5 months I was over my goal by more than 100). It was delicious and totally worth it.

So, I went 1100 over (but we hiked for 2 hours so maybe only 500 over my TDEE?). Obviously with all that sodium I've gained water weight this morning, not a big deal, I know I won't lose weight for at least 2 weeks again because it's how I work anyway... but how long does it take usually for that weight to go away?

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  • KateK8LoseW8
    KateK8LoseW8 Posts: 824 Member
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    For me, 2-4 days. I'm sure there's a lot of variation from person to person though.
  • dlionsmane
    dlionsmane Posts: 672 Member
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    For me, 2-4 days. I'm sure there's a lot of variation from person to person though.

    ^^ This - Same for me. 2-4 depending on what was eaten and how I recover (food wise).
  • jeffpettis
    jeffpettis Posts: 865 Member
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    Being that it wasn't actually fat that you gained it just depends on how long it takes your body to use or otherwise get rid of the excess water.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    It's water, get over it and move on. I have no idea why people get so freaked out about a bit of fluid retention. If you're going to gain any fat from that meal it will be so minimal you probably wouldn't even notice. How many people ever even thought about water weight gain from sodium before they started focusing on the scales?
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    Yeah I had like 5200mg of sodium yesterday. Yikes lol.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
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    Yeah I had like 5200mg of sodium yesterday. Yikes lol.
    Haha, been there. Love the salty stuff sometimes. I'll put on a bit of water weight after a day like that, but it's gone in 2-3 days, a week at most.
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
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    It's water, get over it and move on. I have no idea why people get so freaked out about a bit of fluid retention. If you're going to gain any fat from that meal it will be so minimal you probably wouldn't even notice. How many people ever even thought about water weight gain from sodium before they started focusing on the scales?

    This. Relax, dude. You'll be fine.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
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    probably 2-4 days..you can speed this up and drink a crap ton of water..should help reduce the bloat/water retention...
  • Sashoi
    Sashoi Posts: 295 Member
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    I have no idea how long it takes I don't weigh myself everyday. But 2 weeks ago on Sunday I was over by almost 2,000 calories n I really didn't care because I'm always 500-600 lower on my 6 other days. Still lost 4lbs by weigh in on the following Sunday.
  • Nikoruo
    Nikoruo Posts: 771 Member
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    Generally i lose it really quick. Depends on if it's more water weight from lots of sodium or i stuffed myself too full.
  • motherwesser
    motherwesser Posts: 35 Member
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    About 2 days for me...but I also noticed that it depends on what the cheat meal included. Overeating on good carbs and proteins and fats have less effects than high donuts or pizza and such. Drinking extra water than normal does help the recovery back!
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,136 Member
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    It takes 10 days - 2 weeks for me to lose after a big over-my-calories day. My main frustration about weight loss.

    Edit: Match the object to the verb, dear. Basic English.
  • MuseofSong
    MuseofSong Posts: 322 Member
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    Yeah I had like 5200mg of sodium yesterday. Yikes lol.

    ^THIS

    That's what has you bloated right now. Sodium takes lots of water (or tea mmmm tea!) and a couple days to flush out. I had three high sodium days in a row this week, two days and lots of water later, I'm finally dropping some of the bloat.

    It's the biomass from the large meal and water weight more than the calories of going over TDEE by 500 that are going to affect you. Don't worry. 500 calories isn't that terrible to burn off and you could still achieve a loss over the balance of your week.

    I'm pro zig-zag for balancing my caloric goal over the course of a week because I'm a night time exerciser and often don't eat anything after late night exercise. But, I'll omnom the next day. :) I'm not getting fatter on feed days or skinner on exercise days. It all just balances out.
  • alexveksler
    alexveksler Posts: 409 Member
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    If you don't have too many of the "cheat days", it should just pass through your body. Like folks saying couple of days. Although sometimes I've done IF (and there is nothing wrong with intermittent fasting once in a while), it would put you back pretty quickly.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
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    Me too. A couple of days.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I ate probably 800 or 900 under my TDEE today... should put me back on track. I wasn't hungry at all.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    It wasn't planned, but we went hiking and I was starving (like, going to pass out if I don't eat soon starving) so we stopped at a restaurant that couldn't give me their nutrition info (Maggiano's, although it's in MFP's database. Odd). Everything looked like a bad choice (I had 600 calories left), so I just said whatever and decided to make it a cheat meal (first time in 9.5 months I was over my goal by more than 100). It was delicious and totally worth it.

    So, I went 1100 over (but we hiked for 2 hours so maybe only 500 over my TDEE?). Obviously with all that sodium I've gained water weight this morning, not a big deal, I know I won't lose weight for at least 2 weeks again because it's how I work anyway... but how long does it take usually for that weight to go away?

    You had more calories than you had alloted for the day, got bloated from the abundance of wonderful, delicious food, and retained water from the high sodium usually in restaurant foods.

    In order for you to have gained one pound, you would have had to have eaten 3,500 calories over your TDEE. I doubt you did that.

    Drink lots of water, do what you've been doing all along to lose that 65 pounds, and chalk your cheat meal up to experience.

    Today is a new day. :smile:
  • MUALaurenClark
    MUALaurenClark Posts: 296 Member
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    WHAT IS AIR??

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