Feeling GROSS AND SAD

I have been dieting for a week now. I am doing GREAT. I haven't cheated ONCE. I lost 5 lbs. I am feeling better and more energized!! BUT..... Right now I just cheated... badly... I ate a WHOLE can of pringles... All of it, gone... I feel so GROSS.
I am depressed that I messed up. I'll probably gain weight. 900 calories in one can... I feel like I shouldn't eat the rest of the day. I was so depressed I did 100 jumping jacks, 40 crunches, 40 leg lifts, and 40 squats. It doesn't make me feel better though. I can feel the gross chips sitting in my stomach. I want to cry.
What do you do when you feel gross / cheat (not on purpose)?
I feel like giving up. :'(
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Replies

  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    How many calories are you on? 900 isn't that bad if you are on a sensible calorie goal. Anyway you can always have something low calorie for your next meal to make up. Be careful thinking like you are leads to eating disorders. I know because decades ago I thought like you and had bulimia.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    We all have our cravings sometimes girl.
    And you only started a week ago, i promise you, the further you get, the further away the cravings go

    I was a sugar addict, now i eat about 20-25% the sugar amount of what i used to eat
    I know the feeling about grossing yourself out, but it's important to not look back at it too much.

    What helped for me is that i log EVERYTHING! Every little sugar sweets i get in i log, cause it keeps me on track wehn i look into diary.
    You should be able to threat yourself something every once in a while, but i think the main reason you ate a whole can of pringles is that it might be because you are on a too high deficit (this is a assumption btw since i can't see your diary)

    Wise words there Gustaaf.
  • samrockrocks
    samrockrocks Posts: 251 Member
    How tall are you? What is your daily calorie goal? I noticed on your profile that your goal is to be 100 pounds. You may want to rethink that..... in any case, it takes TIME to lose weight. Be patient. Cheat a few meals out of the week. Don't deprive yourself of things you enjoy, like pringles. When I completely eliminate foods I love, I binge. That's not helping anything. Eat more veggies. You'll get there!
  • Stop feeling guilty, we all cheat sometimes. You can burn some of those calories by exercising (running, walking, dancing usually works for me) and for the future try to incorporate some healthy food (fruits, vegetables, etc) with small quantities of the "bad" foods you like (chips, chocolate etc). Try to find a balance in your diet so that you're at a calorie deficit, but you still enjoy food and life.
  • We all cheat at times and it's acceptable. On my worst cheat days I can consume 2000 calories over my limit. Odd as it seems but I use that as motivation to fuel my workout for the entire week. I reserve 1-2 days a week as cheat day and I still manage to lose. So don't worry.
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    Stop feeling guilty, we all cheat sometimes. You can burn some of those calories by exercising (running, walking, dancing usually works for me) and for the future try to incorporate some healthy food (fruits, vegetables, etc) with small quantities of the "bad" foods you like (chips, chocolate etc). Try to find a balance in your diet so that you're at a calorie deficit, but you still enjoy food and life.
    Absolutely this! I have lost 122lbs in 15 months and I have ice cream everyday. Last Sunday night, I was over my calorie goal by quite a bit because I had some chips and a few Halloween candies/bars. I did not feel bad, I enjoyed it and I knew I could easily make it up with a bit of extra exercise during the week. A can of chips will not make a difference in the larger scheme of things. Step back and look at things from a weekly perspective if you need to. You really don't need to deprive yourself to meet your goals.
  • trainerwannabe
    trainerwannabe Posts: 28 Member
    I have been dieting for a week now. I am doing GREAT. I haven't cheated ONCE. I lost 5 lbs. I am feeling better and more energized!! BUT..... Right now I just cheated... badly... I ate a WHOLE can of pringles... All of it, gone... I feel so GROSS.
    I am depressed that I messed up. I'll probably gain weight. 900 calories in one can... I feel like I shouldn't eat the rest of the day. I was so depressed I did 100 jumping jacks, 40 crunches, 40 leg lifts, and 40 squats. It doesn't make me feel better though. I can feel the gross chips sitting in my stomach. I want to cry.
    What do you do when you feel gross / cheat (not on purpose)?
    I feel like giving up. :'(

    Dear Balexsisstar... Life is not all about absolutes. Good food/bad food, good person/bad person for having eaten or not eaten what you think you should or shouldn't have eaten (now there's a mouthful) :happy:. You are young yet. Give yourself at least 6 months to figure out what a healthy eating regime and exercise plan means to just YOU!! One that makes allowances for all your favourite foods including the higher calorie ones. Life isn't always about "all or nothing" either. So you ate a few too many potato chips...you put in some more exercises (good job) and now (like everyone else) you pick yourself up and dust yourself off because tomorrow is a whole other day.
  • Edensienna
    Edensienna Posts: 180 Member
    I find Pringles addictive.. It's so easy to keep going once you taste that first one!

    Be kind to yourself. One mistake won't ruin your motivation.. Keep going
  • The way I look at this is...this is NOT a diet for me...this is helping me to be the healthier person I want to be. Do I mess up? Absolutely, everyone does, but I pick myself up, dust myself off, and make better choices the rest of the day. This is a tool...that is all and it works because we use it properly...You can do this...you are doing this. You have lost 5 pounds and that is amazing. I have found that through the years, as I would lose weight I would get to feeling a little too confident in myself, and unknowingly sabotage myself, thinking I can do this in my head without writing it down...but I now know that doesn't work for me. This program holds me accountable..... i love Pringles, and there is nothing wrong with having them. What I do is buy the individual size packages, and then when I have a craving for them, I limit myself to one...(ok sometimes two :)....hang in there, there are people out here rooting for you...The wonderful thing in all of this, is that you CARE that you messed up. That means you REALLY want this. You can do this. I will be praying for you today.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    I have been dieting for a week now. I am doing GREAT. I haven't cheated ONCE. I lost 5 lbs. I am feeling better and more energized!! BUT..... Right now I just cheated... badly... I ate a WHOLE can of pringles... All of it, gone... I feel so GROSS.
    I am depressed that I messed up. I'll probably gain weight. 900 calories in one can... I feel like I shouldn't eat the rest of the day. I was so depressed I did 100 jumping jacks, 40 crunches, 40 leg lifts, and 40 squats. It doesn't make me feel better though. I can feel the gross chips sitting in my stomach. I want to cry.
    What do you do when you feel gross / cheat (not on purpose)?
    I feel like giving up. :'(
    Life is not all about absolutes. Good food/bad food, good person/bad person for having eaten or not eaten what you think you should or shouldn't have eaten (now there's a mouthful) :happy:.
    ^Totally this. Honestly, you have a better chance of success with this if you try to improve your relationship with food a bit. I don't know how your "dieting" looked this week, but it sounds like you might have been too restrictive. Try not to cut out the foods you enjoy eating. It's really not necessary. I never ever tell myself I've "cheated" when I eat food. It's just food. It's not bad. It's hard to learn to eat things in moderation, but it is definitely possible, if you practise. Start looking at foods as "good" and "bad" and looking at yourself as "good" or "bad" depending on what you're eating, then you're setting yourself up for failure. Pringles are not "bad". They're not gross either; clearly they are something that you enjoy. Telling yourself that they're gross (and by extension that you are gross) isn't going to get you anywhere good. One meal, or one day, or one can of pringles doesn't make a person fat, or stop them achieving their goals. Just like, one day of eating nothing but salad won't make someone suddenly thin. It's how you eat most of the time that counts.

    Don't do exercise to punish yourself for eating, or to compensate. Do exercise to be healthy, and to feel good. It's fine to have in mind that being more active allows you to eat more food, but directly exchanging food for exercise, especially in the way you're talking about is just going to lead to a more messed up relationship with both food and exercise.

    Maintaining a healthy weight isn't a short term thing. It's for life. Losing the excess weight is just the first part, but you don't get to give up when you reach your goal. Give yourself the best chance by giving yourself a reasonable calorie deficit, eating the foods you enjoy, tracking them here to meet your calorie goal, and exercising for health and fitness. Even then, you will probably have days where you eat more than you intended, but that's ok. You're human. We have evolved to enjoy eating. It's natural. It doesn't make you bad, or weak, or a failure. You can either beat yourself up, hate yourself and decide to give up altogether. Or you can just carry right on trying to make better choices each day. The beauty of this is that you can't fail unless you give up altogether.
  • cuttlefish11
    cuttlefish11 Posts: 4 Member
    As a wise teacher once told me (actually, told my kid), tomorrow is another opportunity to do better! Don't beat yourself up. Treat yourself with kindness and just make the next day a better one.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    Yup cheating happens, not thinking happen, and heck there are even days where I say forget this crap i am not dieting today, but I am still 30 lbs less than I used to be so I count that as success. No one is perfect and if they tell you they are then they are full of it. Gotta learn to just move on and don't let that bring you down :)
  • kowajenn
    kowajenn Posts: 274 Member
    Even though it's much more expensive, I buy single serving snack packages for my family (I'm the only one with a weight issue). Sure, you can just eat multiple packs to end up with the same binge, but generally telling yourself, "I will have one 100-calorie snack pack," is a treat and becomes enough to satisfy cravings.
  • Kitty3817
    Kitty3817 Posts: 1 Member
    If you were on the highway and you missed your turn off you wouldn't pull over and quit and you wouldn't speed up to go to another town, would you? Of course not! You'd turn it around and get back on track. You can do this. Its not too late.
  • sarah456s
    sarah456s Posts: 98 Member
    I definitely have a problem with finishing a whole box/packet/bag whatever of snacks once I start eating. The best thing I do is not to buy them in the first place, then if I'm going to binge it'll be on healthier food.

    But also, remember that gross feeling.

    It's not so much that you can never eat Pringles again, but next time you're tempted to eat the whole tube, remember how gross it made you feel. And so next time, if you can remember this, maybe you'll just have half the tube, and not feel so bad. So this time will have been a great lesson, and totally worth it!
  • msf74
    msf74 Posts: 3,498 Member
    I am depressed that I messed up.

    This is only a problem if you let it become one. "Oh, I ate too much I might as well go eat my face off then..."

    Log it. Learn from it. Move on.

    Over the course of the week it will not set your progress back one iota if you remain consistent.
  • mitchiemo
    mitchiemo Posts: 61 Member
    Wow - 5lb is a lot in one week! Be careful sweetie. Don't be sending yourself on guilt trips otherwise it might turn into a psychological problem. It happened, there's no turning back the clock and there's no point wasting time worrying about it. In the future don't buy them and then they won't be a temptation for you. Instead get some healthy snacks in and when you feel like a binge you won't get the guilt. You'll find that healthy stuff is tastier and more satisfying. (I'm into sunflower seeds in their shells at the moment - eating them takes more effort.) Although you should allow yourself to be naughty once in a while.
  • Derpes
    Derpes Posts: 2,033 Member
    Having treats and bad days is a part of the process.

    It happens and it will happen in the future.

    Consider it a cheat day - everyday you start with a clean slate.
  • sofaking6
    sofaking6 Posts: 4,589 Member
    The kind of thinking that makes you want to punish yourself for eating food can lead to very dark places.

    Don't worry about un-eating them either through exercise or anything else. Instead, focus on what caused you to binge in the first place. Did you skip a meal and let yourself get too hungry? Were you bored or depressed? Are Pringles just too tempting to have around? If you can figure out the trigger then you can make good use of this experience.
  • Been there!! Stay strong and get back on track! You can do this!! ((HUGS!!))
  • ironanimal
    ironanimal Posts: 5,922 Member
    You lost 5lbs in a week?

    It'd take approximately 17,500 calories over your maintenance for you to replace that with fat.

    900?

    Not even worth worrying about.
  • Don't give up! Cheating once is alright, but never stop your self from eating a whole day. You could pass out or faint by doing all those exercises and STILL not eat. I starved myself before, and thought it would make me lose weight. But it I gained weight instead.


    Talk to a parent or sibling about hiding salty and sugary foods. Or just don't buy them!
    It's okay to have maybe a few Pringles a day, but not a whole can.

    Get back on track and stay with it! :)

    By the way, I love your weight tracker thing. Anime is my life! ^^
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    The kind of thinking that makes you want to punish yourself for eating food can lead to very dark places.

    Don't worry about un-eating them either through exercise or anything else. Instead, focus on what caused you to binge in the first place. Did you skip a meal and let yourself get too hungry? Were you bored or depressed? Are Pringles just too tempting to have around? If you can figure out the trigger then you can make good use of this experience.

    Wise advice! You've got to work the whole package, mind and body.
  • Smeltzer2
    Smeltzer2 Posts: 210 Member
    My dear. Don't give up. For 54 years I had an eating disorder. I thought food 24 hours a day and either binges starved purged dieted. I was down to 139 up to 275. Needed new clothes every season. One day at age 60 I asked God to make a normal ater out of Mr. Next day I ate 3 Normal meals nothing on between and God did for me what I could never do firvne. When I get depressed I journal all the sadness and anger out if me. It is wonderful I lost 80 lbs and have kept it off for Ten years. Look at my photos. You will do it. Journal. Ask and it shall be given unto you.
  • sfbaumgarten
    sfbaumgarten Posts: 912 Member
    We all have setbacks... Don't beat yourself up too bad. If it's a setback you enjoyed, so what? Track it and just move forward.

    If you're feeling bloated and nauseated because you ate too much of something that doesn't even seem worth it now, try to remember this feeling before you fall for it next time. If you don't feel like it was worth the damage, it probably wasn't.

    Whatever you do, DON'T give up. One instance is not worth throwing all of your hard work down the toilet. Start fresh now, not tomorrow or next week, and put the Pringle incident behind you.
  • you gotta pick yourself up by the bootstraps and keep on going. life is never about all or nothing. you made a mistake. try to minimize it for the rest of the day. tomorrow don't eat less than you normally would. just go on as usual. I have defintely binged before and you do feel gross afterwards. I've really binged a lot less since starting mfp. I try to exercise more. and even if all the exercise in the world doesn't "cover" the binge- even some exercise will help. best of luck. and you are human. just don't let this setback define you.
  • If a can of pringles is your cheat, you still have a LOT to feel good about haha SERIOUSLY YOU ARE DOING FINE, you are fine, I second the suggestion of maybe buying the single-serving little Pringles for when you get those REALLY bad cravings. It's okay to cheat!!! You will not explode for "cheating"! You can not beat yourself up this much about a can of pringles, it's a dangerous way to manifest a more serious psychological issue with food that will be very, very hard to reverse. Instead of beating yourself up about it, maybe go do an exercise instead.
  • YAYJules
    YAYJules Posts: 282 Member
    I love how supportive and nurturing all the respondents in this thread have been. You guys are the best! :heart:
  • carrieo888
    carrieo888 Posts: 233 Member
    1) Change your mindset. You are not dieting; you are making healthiER food choices and lifestyle changes. If you are not dieting, you can not cheat; you just made a poor choice today. ONE poor choice out of, what, dozens or hundreds of good choices? Meh. Not worth the stress.

    2) A wise person once wrote on MFP (and I have posted on my cubicle wall): "If you fell halfway down the stairs, should you pick yourself up and throw yourself the rest of the way down?" Quit beating yourself up and move on.

    Just continue to make sustainable changes to your eating/exercise habits, but more importantly, enjoy your life! Healthy doesn't mean you're on lock down for the rest of your life. It means you are creating balance in your life. You are eating healthier, you are moving your body, you are changing how you feel about food, you are changing how you feel about yourself.... Being depressed over a can of Pringles is not healthy. Instead, sit down and really evaluate how you feel right now - physically, mentally, spiritually - and the next time that can of Pringles calls your name tell yourself you can have that can if you are willing to feel "that way" again. It won't work all the time, but it will quite often help you make a better choice.

    BTW: With my binge-inducing foods, I no longer tell myself I can't have it (which makes me want it more), instead I say I can have it LATER. Usually, that's enough to stop the mental craving, and I forget about it when "later" happens.

    Good luck!
  • walkinthedogs
    walkinthedogs Posts: 238 Member
    What's done is done. If you are journaling your food, journal how you felt about what you just consumed so you can remember at a later date and don't dwell on it or obsess about it. Make better choices next time and the time after that and so on. When you want to eat a whole can of Pringles again, check your diary and remember how absolutely crappy you felt and how quick the "high of pringles" went away and make better choices, but don't continue to berate yourself and give up. This is all part of making changes and better choices for life. There is no quick fix anyway and no reason to give up.