How do I get back up from a really off day?

Just log it and move on. Good thing is that tomorrow is an empty slate.

Drink some extra water tomorrow and move on. If there was anything specific that caused you to go over that can be prevented next time then use it as a learning tool, but other than that don't stress. You'll be fine.

Let me be one of many to tell you to forgive yourself. We all have days like that, particularly when we're at the beginning of establishing new habits. You can try to minimize the deficit by getting in a bit more exercise, which will give you more calories to work with. Most important for today, look back at the day and see what it was that helped you go over. Was it a social setting, a particular kind of food, your mood, the activities of the day - could be anything.

Once you identify the things that make it more challenging for you, you can think about specific ways to manage those things. For example, if it's a social setting, plan in advance for it by leaving yourself some extra calories to work with, choosing what you will allow yourself an how much, and what you can do to redirect and reset yourself when you notice yourself losing focus. A lot of it comes down to preparing and having options that work for you without making you feel like you're depriving yourself. The first 30 days of any new habit are the hardest.

Another thing that helps with motivation in general is to set reasonable mini-goals for yourself. It can be exercising 3 days a week, not having any donuts for the next 5 days, losing 2 pounds or an inch off your waist, tracking your food for a week - anything you're reasonably sure you can do. Achieving these goals reminds you that you can make changes and have success, and it keeps you going for the next goal.

Focus on the 5 days you were within your calorie range, without forgetting that today you weren't quite. You can do this.

You know, many are now recommending one or two days a week with extra calories, just to keep the metabolism responsive. They are saying 500-1000kcal extra. So in that light, your 600kcal seems right on target.

Regarding your attitude, my suggestion is to let yourself off the hook. Getting to your ideal weight takes time and is not a linear process. What matters is what you do over time, not one day. More of a marathon than a sprint.

When you learned to walk, did you just magically start walking? No, you balanced, then you took a step, then you fell. Then, what did you do? Lay there, get upset with yourself? I doubt it. You were surprised, maybe to find yourself down on that floor again, but in light of your goal being to walk and "getting" that you had to stand up again and try to take a new step if you were ever going to walk, you kept your mind focused on your goal, got up and one day, you took one step, then two. Before everyone around you knew it, you were walking, then after around another year, running. Then running faster. If you learned to walk on those wobbly legs, you can get to your ideal weight and shape, starting with these wobbly efforts. The balance, ability and strength will come. Trust and believe, and let yourself be reminded, every time you see a toddler, determined to walk and run and dance: that is you, too, as you move toward your ideal shape and optimal health.

I like what you said about trying to have a better relationship with food. Could you give me a little insight as to how you have gone about doing this?

I could write half a book on this, but I'll just tell you what really helped me: seeing a therapist who specialized in eating disorders. One thing that she said, early on in our work together, was "food should not be the cause of, or solution to, your problems." I realized that I had been using food in a way that caused me problems, while at the same time, I was blaming food - an inanimate object that is not inherently good or bad, and certainly can't hurt me - for a lot of the problems I had. Only I had control over my use of food, and so therefore only I could make a choice to start using food the way it was intended, and not to meet my emotional needs.

Food was emotionally loaded for me, for a long time. I grew up in a family where messed-up relationships with food were the norm. If you got upset, someone would buy you ice cream, or make you cookies. On holidays, everyone would binge on huge amounts of calorie-laden food and then sit around moaning about how overly full they were, and how they'd "get back on their diet" the next day. There was no such thing as moderation - people were either on starvation diets, or they were binging on the most calorically-dense food imaginable. I became an adult with a head full of very weird ideas about what role food is supposed to play in people's lives. I needed to fix that - all that "head stuff" - before I could fix my weight, which I'm still working on fixing, obviously. I do pretty well most days, but there are still times when I will eat instead of dealing with whatever is causing me stress. I don't eat when I'm sad; I eat when I'm angry, or frustrated. So I'm still working on finding ways of dealing with my anger and frustration in healthier ways.

My therapist had been involved with Overeaters Anonymous, which is a 12-step program. I never attended any of the meetings but I did read some of their literature. I am not going to use the term "food addict" but I definitely, at times, used food the way alcoholics use alcohol - to make myself feel better, or to escape whatever was happening in my life that was difficult. Realizing that was the first step towards deciding that I was going to get control over my eating, and stop feeling like I was powerless.

There are lots of great books out there about the emotional side of eating - I have not read the one the other poster recommended, but have heard good things. One good one I read was called "Stuff Your Face or Face Your Stuff" by one of the cleaners from the show Hoarders, who lost 75 lbs after "facing her stuff" and realizing her eating was an emotional response and not about physical need. That is what I try to do every day: eat out of physical need, and not emotional response. It really is a "one day at a time" process, just like any major psychological change.

Hope that helps...let me know if you have any more questions. If you can't do therapy right now, I would check out Overeaters Anonymous, although I think different people have different experiences with different chapters. They do have a website with a lot of good information about the psychological side of eating.