Can one bad day really do a lot of damage?

Get right back on track, don't let one day discourage you! If you want to do some more exercises today to makeup for some calories you ate then go ahead! Just don't let the bad eating snowball into an everyday thing!

No, it really can not do a lot of damage unless you start letting every day be like that one.

It can, but usually doesn't... long term. Short term, I'm afraid you're not going to like it. The water weight can take a while to go away, and you can easily gain 2-3 lbs from it...

D-day........that was pretty bad.

I think this, like just about everything, depends.


One day every few weeks or every month, probably isn't a big deal. You'd have to really have a significant binge in order to have that create a barrier to weight loss.

However, there are people who regularly go through repeated cycles of restriction and binge eating, and the binges are either frequent enough or big enough in magnitude that they effectively are eating at maintenance. This is one rather common cause when people claim to be eating 1200 calories per day and not losing weight. The issue is that they eat 1200 calories for a few days, then fall off the wagon and go on a food rampage and undo the deficit. Rinse, repeat, and then make no progress and assume you have metabolic damage when the real culprit is lack of continual adherence.

Also, just for another example, when you're dealing with a smaller female who has already lost a significant amount of weight and may have a lower than average total energy expenditure, the deficit size you can create is much smaller. So now you're looking at someone who might be able to push for half a pound of weight loss per week because they just can't create a big enough energy gap. For someone like this, it's certainly feasible that the one day per week where they decide to go out for pizza and drinks, could certainly wipe out the week.

All of this isn't to suggest that people shouldn't have days where they eat more. It's a matter of remaining objective about the overall diet over months and making sure that when you add things up, you're still moving towards your goals. And if you aren't, make some changes.

you would have to have overate by 3500 calories over maintenance to gain one pound. Do you think you ate that much in that one day? Probably not. THe answer is that it is just water retention/bloat…drink a crap ton of water and that should flush it out.

this.. weight fluctuates, water, salt.. alot of things can make it go up and down.. jump back on track.. drink plenty of water . eat some fresh clean foods and you will be fine.

I don't know why your so worried about just one day of eating a few cal's over your normal intake, relax & enjoy what you ate that day it wont kill you. As long as you only do this every now & then it wont make any difference to your weight loss over time.

If you start getting worried about the odd meal out or take away you will just get fed up & deprived with dieting & run the risk of going right off the wagon, I don't restricted any food at all & because I do have the odd meal out etc I simply don't feel deprived & don't give myself a hard time if I do eat over, why should I, I am consistently loosing if I look at the months not the days.

Just look at it this way: can 1 good day of eating make you magically healthy and skinny? Of course not! (I wish it were that easy...) Everyone has bad days sometimes. Just keep on track, and remember that 1 lb of weight is 3500 calories so it takes time both to lose it AND to gain it! One day won't make or break you!