How to Log in on Bad Days
tators19
Posts: 18 Member
I never report my food/exercise on the days where I ate poorly and didn't exercise. I hate watching all my calories go into the red - I know the answer to this problem is to eat better/less and to exercise more. How do you log in on days likes this?
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Replies
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those are the most important days to log in. You need to see what eating like that did your body and how to change from doing so. it's like taking a test and omitting all the wrong answers. you will just get 100% you need to use those days to teach yourself how to make better choices. so I urge you to record especially on those days. when you are doing great those days don't matter it's the days we don't do so great so we can analyze our problem areas and how to change them.0
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Log like any other day. There's nothing wrong with going over your calories once in a while, it won't ruin your weight loss. Just log the day and start fresh tomorrow!0
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Log it all and move on! Plus, you can always look at your goals by the week instead of by the day. Go a little lower on other days and you can even it out :flowerforyou:0
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Consider reframing those days in the bigger picture or in the context of a week. One bad day in a week is not going to overthrow an entire week's worth of progress. If you went over a little one day, do a little less over the next two days. No need to keep punishing yourself over one over-calorie-goal day.
You do need to log them though. It's part of the process of accountability. Otherwise how will you see patterns in your eating behavior or be reminded that you need to scale back? These things are the tools that make MFP so successful.
Good luck.0 -
I change the contrast settings on my monitor until the red numbers are green.0
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i feel its important to record bad days so that you can get a good idea of what changes you need to make in the reports/macros. if your only recording some day, your reports would be totally off and would have no use to you. but thats just my opinion.0
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I've set my calorie goal to what I would eat to maintain, and then I decide on my deficit on a day to day basis
Seems to work for me 0 -
Consider reframing those days in the bigger picture or in the context of a week. One bad day in a week is not going to overthrow an entire week's worth of progress. If you went over a little one day, do a little less over the next two days. No need to keep punishing yourself over one over-calorie-goal day.
You do need to log them though. It's part of the process of accountability. Otherwise how will you see patterns in your eating behavior or be reminded that you need to scale back? These things are the tools that make MFP so successful.
Good luck.
we must be on the same page.
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I feel the exact same. However, I found that if I can't be completely honest with myself this site isn't going to work for me. I aim to post everything I eat and some days I have gone over 1,000 calories. Some weeks I have gone over every day. I lost 15lbs last fall just by staying under my calorie target. Then I got sloppy about posting my food and I have gained most of it back. Remember, you joined this site so that you had to be accountable to your online friends. Today ask yourself to log every thing you eat so you can see where your calories are going and what you're not eating (fruit, vegetables, fish, grains...). YOU CAN DO IT!0
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those are the most important days to log in. You need to see what eating like that did your body and how to change from doing so. it's like taking a test and omitting all the wrong answers. you will just get 100% you need to use those days to teach yourself how to make better choices. so I urge you to record especially on those days. when you are doing great those days don't matter it's the days we don't do so great so we can analyze our problem areas and how to change them.
Great answer. I used to not log my "bad" days because I thought of it as punishing myself or "rubbing my nose in it". But guess what? I let too many of those "bad" days go unlogged and I gained my weight back plus more! So I'm slowly learning to record the bad days and analyze where I went over. But I also don't beat myself up if I go over by a couple of hundred because I realize I am working with ~500 cal deficit to begin with. I was over by 1,000 recently (I wasn't feeling well and the day got away from me) but I logged it and learned from my mistake. That was huge for me a bigger deal than actually losing weight is for me to be honest about what I'm eating!
Good luck on however you decide to handle a "bad" day!0 -
I've just started logging my bad days, and it's actually helped my mindset a lot and enabled me to have good days without feeling like I am depriving myself. For example, I love beer, but actually LOGGING my beer was something I didn't do. Now that I have, it's started to click in my brain that if I want to have a beer or two, I need to work out, or say no to the extra helpings, etc. Really, when it comes to weight loss, knowledge is power.
It's also important to recognize that you are GOING to have red days, and that's okay. This isn't about being perfect, it's about making small changes and adaptations that are going to help you in the long run.0 -
I just face my choices. Not logging it doesn't change what I have chosen nor will it change the consequences. It will not help me change my behavior.
Denial is useless.0 -
I only don't log when I have a potluck style dinner to go to where there are too many different things to even begin to guess what's in them and how to log them. It would take way too much time out of my day trying to figure it out and still wouldn't even be remotely accurate. I don't consider them ''bad'' days though even if I eat way more than I normally would because it's a total graze fest. It's just a day that I'm choosing to eat what I want without bothering to care just because I feel like it. It hasn't hurt me so far.0
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This isn't about being perfect, it's about making small changes and adaptations that are going to help you in the long run.
love this0 -
Whether you log it or not, your body has still eaten it. Its up to you what you use your log for.0
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Just do it.0
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those are the most important days to log in. You need to see what eating like that did your body and how to change from doing so. it's like taking a test and omitting all the wrong answers. you will just get 100% you need to use those days to teach yourself how to make better choices. so I urge you to record especially on those days. when you are doing great those days don't matter it's the days we don't do so great so we can analyze our problem areas and how to change them.
This. A hundred times THIS.
At the end of the day, the only person you have to be accountable to, is yourself, right? You know you ate *insert food of choice here*, whether it's logged here or not.
You KNOW you did it. So why not log it?
It's useful for noting trends, for flucuations in weight.
It's a positive sign that you are committed to your goals, even if you indulge sometimes. Not a darn thing wrong with that!
Just do it. 0 -
Denial is useless.
I agree with the above. You have to be accountable for all of your choices. You can't just pat yourself on the back when you log your food for the days you are in the green and pretend the days you are in the red didn't happen. What's the point of logging if you're not going to be honest with yourself?0 -
I understand not wanting to log it but when I have days like that I make myself, I tell myself that not logging it doesn't mean it didn't happen. You need to be honest with yourself for this to work, and it will hopefully motivate you seeing that to do better the next day. Remember every day doesn't need to be perfect, and bad days here and there doesn't mean you've failed, just means that tomorrow's a new day and you can try again to make better decisions. My whole weeks been pretty bad but I keep logging it because I know it'll push me to work harder.0
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This has been just about the best motivational thread I have read on MFP. I am guilty of not recording my bad choices, and continue to make them. I need to log every day. I know why. You know why. Thanks to all of you for not being judgmental.0
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I always log it in - sometimes it's not as bad as you think. At least if I log it in, I can then work out what I need to do for the rest of the week to make up for the binge. If I don't log it, I run the risk of giving up for the week & doing more damage - much easier to nip it in the bud quick & stay on track.0
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Sometimes you know you've indulged beyond your calories, but you really don't know by how much.
I go out for a meal once almost every weekend. I tend to eat a variety of things when I do, and accurately judging all the ingredients in accurate portions is really hard. It's darn nigh impossible to log.
When this happens, I log the highest # of calories I feel I consumed, as 'quick add' calories, and then I make a brief note of what I ate in the daily food notes.
This way, I have accounted for eating, and if I find that I maintained my weight for the week, or gained, or didn't lose what I was expecting, I at least have some sort of reference to point to what the problem may have been.
*Oh ballz... maybe those delightful little crab dumplings were WAY more than I thought, if I want those again, I best make sure I have a bit of extra calories hanging out from lunch*
Logging everything is invaluable.0 -
I myself have found that when I don't log in on bad days, one missing log in tends to turn into two, or three days, and then most of the time it's weeks or months before I log in again, and give up entirely. Then, I get angry at myself that I haven't seen any progress. I've finally decided that I'm going to start holding myself accountable for good decisions as well as my bad ones, and just do the best I can. This thread has been extremely helpful and inspirational and I really needed that!0
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You need to log everything, every day. Good days, bad days, doesn't matter. The only time I won't be logging is holidays - I won't be logging on Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Every other day, I'll be logging. I go over my calories every Saturday and Sunday because I eat my exercise calories from the week during the weekends. As long as I'm under my weekly limit, it's fair game.
How to log in on bad days? Just do it! There are no tips or tricks for that. It has to come from you, not us.0 -
I had a bad day today. I made bad choices and didn't even try to control myself. I was SO tempted to 1) not log it and 2) binge for the rest of the night. But I made myself log everything. The calories don't go away just because I pretend they didn't happen.0
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I log the good, the bad, and even the horrifying. I wear a FitBit, so I can go to that site and see how I did for the week and make adjustments the following week.0
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I had a bad day today. I made bad choices and didn't even try to control myself. I was SO tempted to 1) not log it and 2) binge for the rest of the night. But I made myself log everything. The calories don't go away just because I pretend they didn't happen.
Sucks, doesn't it?0 -
Your body keeps a perfect record of what you ate, even when you are in denial.
Log it ALL, the good, the bad, and the ugly. It will make you more accountable to yourself.0 -
You need to log everything, every day. Good days, bad days, doesn't matter. The only time I won't be logging is holidays - I won't be logging on Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas. Every other day, I'll be logging. I go over my calories every Saturday and Sunday because I eat my exercise calories from the week during the weekends. As long as I'm under my weekly limit, it's fair game.
How to log in on bad days? Just do it! There are no tips or tricks for that. It has to come from you, not us.0 -
Log it all. You can still make your weekly goals (If you have any).0
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