Is it worth logging days when everything goes wrong?

Log it all even on a bad day

....

But you do bring up a good point. One of the BAD things about this site is that it overemphasizes the "day". We really should look at longer periods of time like the "week". Sure, I can pull up my weekly reports, but every time I go to my log, or my diary, the default view is "day". No one day is really all that important.

OK. Off I go to find out exactly how many calories I consumed in one day. If nothing else, once I am finished losing, and back to "maintenance", it will be good to know.

For me I have to disagree. My weight problem has been caused by an unhealthy relationship even and addiction to food (psychological not physical). I'm here to change my lifestyle but am addressing it like a recovering alcoholic - 1 day at a time. Today I will try to make sensible/ healthy choices. Slowly, those choices are become habits and my use of food as an emotional crutch has almost gone but seeing 1 day at a time is great. If it was a week the old me would view it as I could eat what I wanted for 5 days and then try (and fail) to play catch up for 2 days. Now I choose to make the right choices for the day or actively choose not to and I almost always log (especially if I've gone over through emotional eating as that's the area I need to learn from most).

Absolutely log it, even though it's a bit depressing. Then, at the end of the week, you can see one bad day in context. You can do more exercise for the rest of the week and bring the average daily calories back down. Don't give up!

Seeing the bad with the good really does help. You shouldn't pretend it didn't happen, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it either. Learn from it.

I log every single day excluding when I'm on vacation because then I'm off the grid. Seeing the big red bar graph is annoying, but it all balances out in the end if you keep making the effort.

Yes you should because you see in black and white your actions and it holds you more accountable.

Dude, I suggest logging all the things. Even on binges. Then later on, when you're back on track, go over it and review what happened. Don't just look at that day, look at patterns. Did you get low protein or other nutrients the week before? Were you on your period (if female), did you skip something you usually had (no coffee for breakfast on Monday = a bad day for me), or did you have something you normally don't (eating too many carbs early in the morning for me is a bad thing, sets off cravings big time)? If it keeps happening, look at the pattern, and when you can think of it, use the food notes section to keep track of anything unusual in your life: family visitors, trips, sick kids, unusual stress, demands on your time, whatever. These things can help you discern patterns that throw you off your plan and help you fix the problems that are sabotaging your success. If you notice that you "always" have a "plateau" right before a major milestone, then look at your logging. Are you having more cheats? If so, that's a clue to your mental state. None of us radically change our bodies without having some emotional / mental health issues around it. This is YOUR data, it belongs to you. It is your key to understanding yourself. Why would you rob yourself of the critical information you need to evaluate your process? It's not like not logging will magically make it all have no calories. It's not like looking at the numbers is REALLY any more shameful than the extra inches on your hips or waist. No one will get through this without slipping up occasionally. The key is this: Did you learn from it? Or did you take the cheapest, crappiest, worst possible advice in the history of the world, "Let's ignore it and hope it goes away."? Choose wisely.

Yes, it's worth logging. It's naive to "reset" and start over. It's also naive to avoid logging the "special occasion days". That's labeled denial. You're still eating, right? Just because it's not logged doesn't mean it equals 0 calories for the day. How many people avoid logging their "over" days, special or not, only to complain a few weeks later that they've seen no weight loss? Logging everything keeps one honest, and helps one make sense of their progress.

YES!. We ALL have those days. The only way to change the bad habits is to take accountability for them. It will imprint in your mind what was good and bad during the day. when you look back at what you ate or didn't eat it will reinforce your healthy eating habits and make you more aware of what you need to do to be the person you want to be. NEVER give up on YOURSELF!

Dude, I suggest logging all the things. Even on binges. <<snipped>>The key is this: Did you learn from it? Or did you take the cheapest, crappiest, worst possible advice in the history of the world, "Let's ignore it and hope it goes away."? Choose wisely.
^^This - by @action_figure

I think those are the MOST important days to log.
^^that from @seltzermint

How many people avoid logging their "over" days, special or not, only to complain a few weeks later that they've seen no weight loss?
^^Bingo - from @socomary

Food is not the enemy. Weight loss and lifestyle change is all about developing a healthy relationship with food.
^^ and this from @Keshisdsp

So I had one of those days. Those days when you have no idea why you're even trying to eat healthy, so you just... give up. I have never been a "binge eater", so that doesn't quite describe my day, but I was easily 1000 calories over my goal. Easily. And I didn't work out. Well, I did do 2 lunges. While carrying bacon to the computer.

Is today even worth logging? Should I really re-live every mistake I made and catalog it? Do I really need to see the "if every day was like today, you would weigh xxx in 5 weeks!" Or should I just pretend it never happened, go to bed, and wake up fresh and back on my routine when I go back to work tomorrow?

Thoughts from someone else who's had a fail day?

If you don't log it you're cheating yourself.

And denying yourself the opportunity to learn from your mistakes.

If you have one of those days when you go a couple of thousand over your cals, log it. Next time, you'll look back and think "I've had one of them recently, time to get back on it". If you look back and it shows nothing went wrong, you'll allow yourself to deviate again more easily. New behaviour patterns require feedback (both positive and negative) to establish them. Don't rob yourself of a potential part of the mechanism.