I used to feel justified...

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MireyGal76
MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Before I started being aware of calories and counting...

I used to rationalize things away by saying things like...

I went for a walk at lunch and took the stairs. It's only a chocolate bar.... I deserve the treat!

Well... I had a chocolate bar today. I ate the whole thing.

Turns out that my "only a chocolate bar" was a Cadbury fruit and nut bar... and that "only a chocolate bar" was 460 calories.
460 CALORIES!!!
fruitnut2.jpg

HOLY F**K!@#@!!! That is WAY more than a walk, or a flight or two of stairs. It's a 40 minute workout!


I killed it yesterday, and will kill it again tomorrow and Thursday.. so I am aware that I will be over by a bit tonight.

This is ok for me because in the grand scheme of things, I am tracking my calories pretty well... but I just thought it interesting how easy it is to make decisions that set us back, without even paying attention to it.

I am aware of where I stand, with that chocolate bar... but I am well aware of how many similar wrong justifications I made OFTEN before I started paying attention to what I put into my mouth, and how it impacted my end goal...

I laugh now, and yet I TOTALLY wondered why I was gaining weight and getting smooshy around the middle... I totally wondered why it was so hard for me to stay in shape. I totally wondered if maybe being pudgy was just a genetic trait.
2008-11-01-ignorance-and-bliss.jpg

Silly me. :)
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Replies

  • suziepoo1984
    suziepoo1984 Posts: 915 Member
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    Very very true!!!
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    Oh and then... I didn't want to log it... Because I was embarrassed.


    So I decided to create a thread about it.

    ^^ the extrovert's guide to handling embarrassment ^^
    :laugh:
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    When I first started out here, I went with a friend to the gym. I wore an HRM, and was logging religiously here. Still in the learning phase, but starting to get it. I assumed everyone was WAY smarter than me on this subject.

    So I go to the gym with a friend. You should see us, me 5'2" 170 lbs, she 6' and same build as me only 6 foot tall ('nuf said) We get in the dreadmill, I set mine to 3.8 and go for 45 minutes. She looks over and does the same thing. Needless to say I burned 300 calories, she 100. I mean my stride was 1/3 of hers!

    We then hit the machines (OH lord how I wish I knew then what I know now :laugh:) Altogether I burned approx. 375 calories, which I was ready to add to my MFP diary.

    "Want to come over for breakfast" my friend offers. "SURE" I reply, who would turn that down after that great workout. I am thinking eggs and fruit.

    Well, breakfast was homemade biscuits and sausage gravy (milk and sausage fat), sausage patties, eggs, cheese, bacon and pancakes with syrup. The 1500 calories consumed while saying "Man I worked up an appetite, sure glad I worked so hard at the gym this morning" had me :noway: as I ate a normal sized breakfast (for me at the time it was eggs, bacon, fruit, slice of tst as I already had a banana and PB before the gym)

    That was SUCH a lesson for me!!! I had a long talk with my friend the next time we went to the gym. Showed her the machines, who the calorie burn was listed, and she couldn't just walk the same as I was practically jogging. She got it and looks great today.

    But I am betting she tells this story differently :wink: :laugh:
  • arewethereyet
    arewethereyet Posts: 18,702 Member
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    Oh and then... I didn't want to log it... Because I was embarrassed.


    So I decided to create a thread about it.

    ^^ the extrovert's guide to handling embarrassment ^^
    :laugh:


    LMAO~~
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    Wow that's a lot of calories for a chocolate bar, lol.

    Not to say I didn't use to eat 900 calories of chocolate in one sitting.
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    My sister and I used to go to the gym on Saturdays and half heartedly push weights.... For three hours.

    And then we'd pick up a big Mac meal from McDonald's. And talk about the amazing workout we'd just had...

    Haha
  • Hearts_2015
    Hearts_2015 Posts: 12,031 Member
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    Oh and then... I didn't want to log it... Because I was embarrassed.


    So I decided to create a thread about it.

    ^^ the extrovert's guide to handling embarrassment ^^
    :laugh:
    When I first started out here, I went with a friend to the gym. I wore an HRM, and was logging religiously here. Still in the learning phase, but starting to get it. I assumed everyone was WAY smarter than me on this subject.

    So I go to the gym with a friend. You should see us, me 5'2" 170 lbs, she 6' and same build as me only 6 foot tall ('nuf said) We get in the dreadmill, I set mine to 3.8 and go for 45 minutes. She looks over and does the same thing. Needless to say I burned 300 calories, she 100. I mean my stride was 1/3 of hers!

    We then hit the machines (OH lord how I wish I knew then what I know now :laugh:) Altogether I burned approx. 375 calories, which I was ready to add to my MFP diary.

    "Want to come over for breakfast" my friend offers. "SURE" I reply, who would turn that down after that great workout. I am thinking eggs and fruit.

    Well, breakfast was homemade biscuits and sausage gravy (milk and sausage fat), sausage patties, eggs, cheese, bacon and pancakes with syrup. The 1500 calories consumed while saying "Man I worked up an appetite, sure glad I worked so hard at the gym this morning" had me :noway: as I ate a normal sized breakfast (for me at the time it was eggs, bacon, fruit, slice of tst as I already had a banana and PB before the gym)

    That was SUCH a lesson for me!!! I had a long talk with my friend the next time we went to the gym. Showed her the machines, who the calorie burn was listed, and she couldn't just walk the same as I was practically jogging. She got it and looks great today.

    But I am betting she tells this story differently :wink: :laugh:

    both of you cracked me up! Jeannie, wisdom, it's amazing stuff. I totally hear what you're saying.... so glad you shared...sometimes you think you're the only one but...then someone shares the same thing.:flowerforyou:
  • LankyYankee
    LankyYankee Posts: 260 Member
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    I used to go to Planet Fitness with a friend. Hit the elliptical for 45 mins...and then stop on the way home for a "healthy" drink. Fruit syrup based smoothie anyone?

    I shudder to think of the calorie count on that drink now. And giggle at the girl I was then from the girl I am now.

    Thank you for the reminder OP :drinker:
  • kgeyser
    kgeyser Posts: 22,505 Member
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    :happy: This was the first 5-7 weeks of my weight loss journey. I'm working out! I wasn't before! I'm doing well! The weight should be coming right off!

    :noway: NO.
  • Yanicka1
    Yanicka1 Posts: 4,564 Member
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    I hope it tasted like heaven itself!!!!! Damn. Being a tiny little thing I have to be very careful with what I eat.......because my TDEE suck monkeys ball.......it make me wish I was 6 ' tall muscular man sometime!!!!!
  • Graelwyn75
    Graelwyn75 Posts: 4,404 Member
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    I shall know to avoid that one. If I have milk chocolate, which I try to avoid now in favour of 81% chocolate from Lidl, I tend to go for Kitkat Chunky or a Yorkie. But I find myself just as happy having the slightly healthier options of a Nature Valley bar or an Eat Natural bar. I used to sometimes get through a Ib of chocolate in an evening, during unhappy moments, but fortunately, I do not seem to have the build to become overweight.
  • FitnFeistyLyness
    FitnFeistyLyness Posts: 757 Member
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    lol.. oh sweetie cadburys i lived on them when i was in the uk..

    oh now get a salad after a good workout.dont mind the croutons, cheese, bacon,.. i mean i worked out right.. i dont eat half that type foods now since going veg head, but live and learn..

    lol.. oh i remember sausage biscuits gravy growing up.. has browns fried eggs.. now breakfast is a green smoothie or oats with banana nuts date sugar.. boy you change lol
  • Marcia315
    Marcia315 Posts: 460 Member
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    I hear you. Before I found MFP, I used to stop and pick up a 16 oz chocolate milk or a McDonalds frappe at east twice a week. I'm surprised I didn't weigh more.
  • cupcakes_and_cardio
    cupcakes_and_cardio Posts: 369 Member
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    Seriously? A picture had to be posted of the candy bar ((walks out to the kitchen)) Phew, no chocolate in this house, thank God! ahha
  • DamePiglet
    DamePiglet Posts: 3,730 Member
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    I dunno. I still eat candy bars. I just eat 1/2 & save the other half or give it away.
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    I was just thinking this. It's so easy to justify a "treat" for hard work, exercise, a trial of will power, etc. I think all of us have to learn the hard way that the only thing that justifies a "treat" is having room for it in your macros. Your post also shows another level of learning about the impact of a one-time mistake in the context of a healthy lifestyle. Great post!
  • zorbaru
    zorbaru Posts: 1,077 Member
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    i may or may not have eaten a donut while reading this. but im within my calorie goal so i dont care :D
  • MireyGal76
    MireyGal76 Posts: 7,334 Member
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    i may or may not have eaten a donut while reading this. but im within my calorie goal so i dont care :D

    I have donuts regularly. :) They're less calories than that stupid chocolate bar!
    I think the thing about it that bugged me most was the fact that I love my treats, and I have them often... but I didn't really want that treat, and I had it any way. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd enjoy a donut and coffee from Tim Horton's, and so it felt like a serious waste of calories.

    The lesson that stood out from it though, was kind of worth the hit.


    Oh, and I threw in 45 mins of zumba and managed to come in 19 cals under goal! WAHOO!
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
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    i may or may not have eaten a donut while reading this. but im within my calorie goal so i dont care :D

    I have donuts regularly. :) They're less calories than that stupid chocolate bar!
    I think the thing about it that bugged me most was the fact that I love my treats, and I have them often... but I didn't really want that treat, and I had it any way. I didn't enjoy it as much as I'd enjoy a donut and coffee from Tim Horton's, and so it felt like a serious waste of calories.

    The lesson that stood out from it though, was kind of worth the hit.


    Oh, and I threw in 45 mins of zumba and managed to come in 19 cals under goal! WAHOO!

    Yay, you! Those are some hard lessons that we seem to need to keep learning again and again.

    I was reading that things like candy arouse your dopamine response. The thing is, while dopamine makes you FEEL like there's going to be a terrific payoff, there never really is because pay-off is an endorphin function. So, looking at a bar of chocolate or smelling a cake makes you FEEL like you are going to encounter mind-blowing yumminess, that's not always your experience - especially after the first few bites. So, a lot of time there's a feeling of let-down after snacking. We just don't remember that when our dopamine system kicks in over the next bag of chips.

    And I know you know what reliably gives you the endorphin high promised by the dopamine response....

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