I've been eating so clean and good lately

Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?

Replies

  • wendybird5
    wendybird5 Posts: 577 Member
    First, forgive yourself.

    Second, try to identify what made you binge. Did you eat most of your calories in the morning and you were starving afterwards? Or are you not eating enough? Or was it an emotional reaction to something? Figuring it out can help you plan ahead next time and make it easier to deal with those urges or avoid them.

    Third, get back on track. What's done is done and no amount of stressing about it can take it back so move on.
  • MissBabyJane
    MissBabyJane Posts: 538 Member
    First, forgive yourself.

    Second, try to identify what made you binge. Did you eat most of your calories in the morning and you were starving afterwards? Or are you not eating enough? Or was it an emotional reaction to something? Figuring it out can help you plan ahead next time and make it easier to deal with those urges or avoid them.

    Third, get back on track. What's done is done and no amount of stressing about it can take it back so move on.

    I think I wasn't eating enough the whole day... :(
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
    We tend to make the worst decision when we're hungry and tired. Do you plan your meals and snacks in advance? This helps me to make some smart decisions. Also, make sure your "clean eating" plan has some room for the sweets treats you desire or you're making yourself prone to binging. I'm trying to cut out processed foods, but I've been making my own muffins, granola, and cereal bars, as well as eating some packaged goods with acceptable ingredients.
  • cmeiron
    cmeiron Posts: 1,599 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?

    stop eating "clean". it's complete nonsense. any dietary regimen that makes you feel guilty about your food choices is a dietary regimen that you should avoid.

    food is just fuel.

    focus on your calories, micro-, and macro-nutrients and don't worry so much about your food choices. that's the key to happiness and success.
  • BrainyBurro
    BrainyBurro Posts: 6,129 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.

    ^ also, what she said.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.

    this times a thousand…

    I would recommend you go with the 80/20 rule…80% healthy 20% whatever you want = pizza, ice cream, cookies etc….just stay in a deficit, hit your macro goal, and work out/move more...
  • jonnythan
    jonnythan Posts: 10,161 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?

    The best thing you can do is realize that denying yourself foods you love is the path to total failure. You can't even go a few weeks without cookies and chocolate; you're certainly not going to go your entire life without them.

    There's nothing wrong with cookies, chocolate, biscuits, and sunflower seeds. Fit them into your calorie goal regularly. Every day if you want. I eat ice cream or fast food or whatever pretty much every day.

    It's silly to set certain foods off-limits and then feel like a guilty failure for eating them. Eat them in moderation, fitting them into your goals, and you can do so guilt-free.

    It's a billion times more enjoyable eating ice cream when you know it fits into your daily goals versus feeling like you're a fat failure.
  • eyemadreamer
    eyemadreamer Posts: 41 Member
    its all about moderation.... you don't have to completely cut out the foods that you love, just treat yourself once in a while, its like rewarding yourself for eating so well most of the time. If you completely deny yourself of them, you will find yourself in more days like this one. Stay in control and moderate yourself.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?
    The best thing you can do is get over the idea that foods are 'good' or 'bad' and understand that context is important, and what is the proper context to eat different foods. Otherwise the only thing you can hope to accomplish is a lifetime of deprivation. Is that something even worth achieving?
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?
    Maybe stop dividing foods into "clean" and "crap"? You're putting unrealistic expectations of perfection on yourself, not to mention that there are so many definitions of what constitutes "healthy" food that you'll end up failing somehow, no matter what you do. Look at the balance and quality of your overall diet. Are you getting enough protein? Enough fibre? Plenty of fruit/vegetables? Are you hydrated enough? If you're getting the nutrients you need, you can absolutely enjoy the foods you like - all the foods you like. Not in unlimited quantities, obviously, but there's absolutely no need to start arbitrarily cutting things out of your diet that you don't have a medical issue with.

    Also, forgive yourself for going over your calorie goal. It'll happen once in a while, and it's fine. It's how you eat most of the time that counts, not the odd day here and there.
  • twixlepennie
    twixlepennie Posts: 1,074 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.

    +1

    OP stop setting yourself up for failure by boxing yourself in with meaningless rules and restrictions. 'Clean' eating means absolutely nothing and not allowing yourself to eat the foods you enjoy is only going to cause you to crash and burn.
  • Otterluv
    Otterluv Posts: 9,083 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.

    ^ so much this.

    That said, there are certain foods that I tend to not have in the house often, like cookies. I know myself, I'll keep eating them. That doesn't mean that I never have cookies, just that I don't always have them easily available.
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?

    stop eating "clean". it's complete nonsense. any dietary regimen that makes you feel guilty about your food choices is a dietary regimen that you should avoid.

    food is just fuel.

    focus on your calories, micro-, and macro-nutrients and don't worry so much about your food choices. that's the key to happiness and success.
    This. I eat anything I want. Not because I have a metabolism that tolerates it. Because I fit it into my macros & I enjoy exercising that also releases the limits on my calorie intake.

    Shaming yourself from certain foods is truly a sin and one of the easiest ways to go on a "binge".

    How to fix it? When you do go over your calories, don't get down on yourself. Its one day, and it all averages out in the end. I've had days I left over 1500 calories uneaten because it was physically impossible to eat all the calories that particular day. Guess what? The next day my body wanted those extra calories and I made sure to eat a even bigger surplus. Because your body doesn't get fat in one day, its how you fuel it over a course of many, many days in a row.
  • jamiebxo
    jamiebxo Posts: 116
    The best thing you can do is move on. There's nothing you can do about it now. Just don't have anything else for today/tonight (I'm no good with time differences so dunno what time it is over there) and get back on track tomorrow. One day off isn't going to make a huge dent on your progress! We all have these days.

    Also, realise you don't necessarily have to eat 100% clean to lose weight and get healthy, and don't categorise clean foods as "good" and anything else as "bad". I admire your dedication to eating clean but please be aware you can have a cookie here and there and still lose weight, as long as it fits your calories and macros for the day it's fine :) don't stress yourself out.
  • QuietBloom
    QuietBloom Posts: 5,413 Member
    For everyone here who pointed out that there are no 'good' or 'bad' food foods, +1. Also, feeling guilty about eating something is not a useful mindset. We need to eat to live for goodness sake. Log it and move on. Today hubby is bringing me home some chocolate. Knowing him, it will be a large bar. I plan on eating it all and logging it. :smile:
  • vjohn04
    vjohn04 Posts: 2,276 Member
    Stop focusing so much on eating "clean" and "good" and focus more on your calorie intake. People who cut out all the treats and foods they usually enjoy, and/or those who undereat by restricting their calories too much tend to eventually fall off the wagon and "binge" because that kind of restrictive mindset is not sustainable for most people. Food is fuel. If you don't give your body enough fuel eventually your resolve will crumble and you'll eat everything in sight. Food is not "good" or "bad", it's just food. If you enjoy cookies and the like, then add a couple of cookies to your day - fit it in with your daily calorie and macronutrient goals. Of course, you MOSTLY want to eat whole, nutritious foods, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with enjoying the other stuff too.

    This.
  • pandamorous
    pandamorous Posts: 88 Member
    I absolutely agree. As long as you stay within your macro goals, your body doesn't differentiate much past the number of calories it takes in. Everything in moderation as others have said, you can't have a day where you only eat hershey's chocolate either. Work it in and let it be a treat or reward. If you get in a hard work out, and your goals can handle it, have a treat. And like others have said, it's more about the trend than the day to day. You're working hard to establish a lifestyle, not a rigid list of rules.
  • _rozamu
    _rozamu Posts: 119 Member
    I totally feel you and am in the same boat with you. I really need to find a balance but just can't seem to find it. It seems to be all or nothing. *sigh*
  • loupammac
    loupammac Posts: 194 Member
    I would also recommend looking back over your diary entries and thinking about what might have prompted you to make those "bad" decisions. I got completely derailed in the last few days because I didn't eat a proper breakfast. I'm not normally a breakfast person so I didn't think anything of it until I'd severely gone over my intake. Oops!

    Thinking about your habits helps you work out back ups for when you need them. I discovered I haven't yet kicked my sweet tooth that gets angry about 3pm so I need something with a serious sugar fix. I've tried fruit and other sweet treats but a little chocolate goes a long way into making me feel better overall :) At least that's my justification! Work out what your pitfalls are and plan accordingly. You won't undo all your progress in a day - promise.
  • edwardkim85
    edwardkim85 Posts: 438 Member
    Since Christmas, I was already on track! Nothing unhealthy! But yesterday after my workout I ate all kind of crap. Few cookies, chocolate, roasted sunflower seeds, buscuits... I did go over my calorie goal, pretty sure my maintaince, too.
    I feel so unhappy right now. What's the best thing I can do?

    80/20 works. For me, I chose 100% clean for 8-10 days, then binge/ cheat 1 day.

    Works well for me at my currenty body fat level. I'm losing 5-6kg/month.

    Look at my diary. It works.

    Don't feel guilty about it!