Weigh & Measure EVERYTHING vs. It's just one day!!!
BFDeal
Posts: 3,160 Member
So I see these two canned responses alot. Obviously on threads asking two different questions. On threads asking "Why am I not losing?" the first response is "You're eating too much. Weigh and measure everything." Around the holidays especially, but also regarding birthdays and what not, I see tons of "This day is coming up. What should I eat?! Help!" To which the response is "It's just one day! Enjoy yourself! Go nuts!" I guess my question, from a practical weight loss standpoint, is how often is it OK break from the former and follow the latter?
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It's going to vary person to person. The point is maintaining a deficit overall. So it really depends on how you (general) do day to day, IMO.
For me, I allow myself non-tracking days for my birthday, TDay and Christmas. But that's just within *my* comfort zone.0 -
The answer probably depends on each individual and their tolerance for taking a break and then getting back into a routine. Personally, I usually take 1-2 days per week to slack off from logging and then I'm very careful about logging the other 5-6 days. I've been doing this for a few months now and it tends to yield a pretty consistent 1-2 pound per week loss. I generally "gain" 1-3 pounds on my cheat day(s) and then lose that weight back plus the additional 1-2 pounds in the 5-6 days per week that I accurately log and keep within my daily allotted calorie limit.0
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I don't think there is an exact number of times it is okay to just splurge.
My rule of thumb is on a day I am going to splurge and not measure I measure the other meals I have so with luck I won't go ridiculously over my calories.
In theory you can have a small splurge once a week and it may even help with your weight loss as it changes things up for your body.
Personally I am religious with my scales and making sure I note everything. But if I need to go out to dinner I just think "What would I eat at home".
If it is something like Christmas I don't weigh or measure at all (Mostly because my parents won't let me saying I am ruining the experience)0 -
I do not think they are necessarily diametrically opposed.
If you give yourself permission to go nuts for birthdays and major holidays (call it a generous 24 days a year), you're doing it 6.575% of the time.
If you're strict and careful the other ~93.4% of the time, I sincerely doubt there is a problem.
The PROBLEM comes in when you try to be all or nothing, or if you let those 24 days spill over into more.
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The holiday season usually leads to more parties, and more parties lead to more cheat days for me. But MFP has helped me to keep my cheat days from turning into falling off the wagon for good. I just hop back on after my mini break and keep on trucking along.0
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This advice does not contradict itself.
If a person has a non-tracking day where more calories are consumed, there are no deficits in the following day that can erase the effects. So it's dust yourself off and make better choices today.
I have managed to lose weight in a week where I had one higher-calorie non-tracking day. But mileage will vary.0 -
So I see these two canned responses alot. Obviously on threads asking two different questions. On threads asking "Why am I not losing?" the first response is "You're eating too much. Weigh and measure everything." Around the holidays especially, but also regarding birthdays and what not, I see tons of "This day is coming up. What should I eat?! Help!" To which the response is "It's just one day! Enjoy yourself! Go nuts!" I guess my question, from a practical weight loss standpoint, is how often is it OK break from the former and follow the latter?
I think it depends on you.
I feel it is important for me to learn that I can eat pretty close to my normal calories and still celebrate all the special days. I am going to plan and log what I eat and drink as much as I can. I'm going to enjoy myself without worrying or going nuts.
I think people are really saying that if you are on track most days the occasional day that you don't log or eat more are not going to set you back so you can relax. On the hundreds of other days each year, logging and weighing/measuring can help you lose weight.0 -
I think the meaning is celebrating an important day with food (Thanksgiving/Christmas/birthdays/etc.) is not what brought people here; it's overeating/not exercising the other days that was the problem. I'm not really logging this week because it's going to be hard to, what with the extra treats around/dishes from other people/going out, but I am trying to stay under my maintenance. Saturday morning, though, I'll be back at it losing weight.0
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I kind of feel like its about 3 - 4 times a year.0
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I try to weigh and measure everything even on days when I know there's going to be extra temptation. I'll plan my other meals accordingly to maximize what I can have later. But if I go a little over I have two choices.... work it off with exercise or just say, "Tomorrow is a new day." and I don't stress over it.
Besides you would have to eat a HUGE number of calories to gain even one pound compared to what you eat for weight loss. You would probably feel like crap halfway through and stop.0 -
NoelFigart1 wrote: »I do not think they are necessarily diametrically opposed.
If you give yourself permission to go nuts for birthdays and major holidays (call it a generous 24 days a year), you're doing it 6.575% of the time.
If you're strict and careful the other ~93.4% of the time, I sincerely doubt there is a problem.
The PROBLEM comes in when you try to be all or nothing, or if you let those 24 days spill over into more.
I think this sums it up pretty well.0 -
TheVirgoddess wrote: »It's going to vary person to person. The point is maintaining a deficit overall. So it really depends on how you (general) do day to day, IMO.
I agree with this. How much impact one high calorie day makes depends how much of a deficit you carry from day to day. It is possible to undo an entire week of dieting in one day if your daily deficit is small and that one day is very high.0 -
NoelFigart1 wrote: »I do not think they are necessarily diametrically opposed.
If you give yourself permission to go nuts for birthdays and major holidays (call it a generous 24 days a year), you're doing it 6.575% of the time.
If you're strict and careful the other ~93.4% of the time, I sincerely doubt there is a problem.
The PROBLEM comes in when you try to be all or nothing, or if you let those 24 days spill over into more.
Pretty much this.
The point is to enjoy the few occasions that call for a higher calorie intake, but don't turn all 365 days of the year into it. Enjoy those select few days and continue with the deficit when they're over.0 -
This may be terrible advice."This day is coming up. What should I eat?! Help!" To which the response is "It's just one day! Enjoy yourself! Go nuts!" I guess my question, from a practical weight loss standpoint, is how often is it OK break from the former and follow the latter?
e.g.: if you are a female with a caloric balance of 1600 and you eat 3500+ one day because of that advice and you have a hard time getting back on track it may result in 6000+ calories over your need in one week instead of one cheat day.
have a cheat meal to replace a regular meal and maybe cut down on carbs in a later meal.
i do eat 5-6 meals a day with 400-700 cals each. (3300cals total at the moment) If i would replace a 500cal meal with a 1000cal cheat meal it would still be only 500 over my goal instead of completely messing up the whole day.
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It's just one day means that in the grand scheme, if you periodically have a high day it doesn't matter. clearly the more high days you have, the more this will affect weight loss/management. So if your unweighed/logged days are outnumbering your well-logged days or you are not losing, then that's clearly something you need to address.
I eat food that I love every day, though, so usually when it comes time to eating on holidays or special occasions or just going out impromptu eating, it doesn't really mess me up all that much because I don't wind up binging on anything now. At christmas I will eat one of my pieces of chocolate (it's like 100+ calories) versus eating the whole box, because i don't have binge habits anymore. Holidays have not yet been an issue for me. I went to see The Hobbit yesterday and ordered a small fries, looked up the cals, and it was probably off but I didn't really care too much. Then I ate normal the rest of the evening. Since I am not deprived of foods that I love the majority of the time, the only caveat for me is just figuring out waht fits my macros and how much of it will fit.0 -
The correct answer is 12.
What do I win?0 -
So I see these two canned responses alot. Obviously on threads asking two different questions. On threads asking "Why am I not losing?" the first response is "You're eating too much. Weigh and measure everything." Around the holidays especially, but also regarding birthdays and what not, I see tons of "This day is coming up. What should I eat?! Help!" To which the response is "It's just one day! Enjoy yourself! Go nuts!" I guess my question, from a practical weight loss standpoint, is how often is it OK break from the former and follow the latter?
I'm pretty sure there's not an answer to your question...because ultimately it is going to come down to the math. If, "it's just a day" and you have one or two of these every single week...someone is probably going to significantly hamper their rate of loss...because math. If you are generally kicking *kitten* and taking names in regards to your overall big picture nutrition and fitness, "it's just a day" really is not a big deal.
If you're otherwise rocking it, having a periodically high calorie day or missing a workout here and there isn't a big deal in the big picture...and I'm not talking about, "oh noes, my loss this week might be slower"...I'm talking the big picture of months and years.
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I don't think the advice is conflicting or mutually exclusive.
If you are bothering to log your food, log everything as accurately as you can or it's a wasted effort. That includes logging your high calorie 'cheat' days, it's just about inputting accurate information. If your log isn't fully filled in, it's as useless as being empty.
The 'it's just one day, enjoy it' advice is usually directed at the people who still have the all or nothing attitude that makes them feel like if they are not on target everyday that they might as well scrap the whole plan. For it to be a sustainable thing you have to accept that you are not going to have only perfect well balanced meals every single day and never overindulge again.
It's also accepting that having a slice of cake that doesn't fit into your calories is not excuse to eat the rest of the cake that evening and then go and buy more cakes for a week. Then feel horrible about yourself for eating cakes for a week and buying some cakes to comfort yourself.
The advice is, it's a few bad days out of the year. They are going to keep coming every year and you just need to find a way to prepare or adapt. There is no wagon. You can not fall off a changed life, and the wagon mentality is what needs to go.0 -
Yep! Consider for example people who might decide not to eat the various dishes prepared by family during holidays or turn down items specifically because they'll be a pain to log. The math still has to work out but hopefully you don't get so lost in the calorie counting trudgery to the extent that you can't even relax and enjoy an excellent day0
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Yep! Consider for example people who might decide not to eat the various dishes prepared by family during holidays or turn down items specifically because they'll be a pain to log. The math still has to work out but hopefully you don't get so lost in the calorie counting trudgery to the extent that you can't even relax and enjoy an excellent day
I agree with this. Sometimes you just can't be sure how the food was prepared or how many calories are in it. So in that case, "it's just one day/meal" makes sense. You can't get fat in ONE day... but on the other hand... if "It's just one day" happens a lot, then that could be a problem.0 -
I weigh food on holidays even though I know it's going to be more than I typically eat. I like to know how many calories I'm putting into my body. Not only that but I need to count carbs due to being insulin resistant and hypoglycemic. During the holidays, it's even more important for me to track/weigh due to all of the extra treats that are high in carbohydrates.0
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sheepotato wrote: »
If you are bothering to log your food, log everything as accurately as you can or it's a wasted effort. That includes logging your high calorie 'cheat' days, it's just about inputting accurate information. If your log isn't fully filled in, it's as useless as being empty.
The 'it's just one day, enjoy it' advice is usually directed at the people who still have the all or nothing attitude that makes them feel like if they are not on target everyday that they might as well scrap the whole plan. For it to be a sustainable thing you have to accept that you are not going to have only perfect well balanced meals every single day and never overindulge again.
I agree. I probably have an off-the-rails day once every 10-12 days because I enjoy drinking and socialising, and I track everything. Sometimes it goes over 4,000 calories for the day and I'm on around 1,600 normally. I am really glad I've tracked all my greedy days because I now have the data to prove to myself that going off the rails doesn't seem to interfere much with my weight loss.
Sure, I'd lose faster without the greedy days, but I'm patient and I'm confident that I will be able to handle real life (which will always involve dinner parties, eating out, etc for me) in maintenance without going back to my old ways.
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Out of a purely mathematical perspective, there are three scenarios, weight unchanged, weight lost, and weight gained.
If you even stuff out over a desired time frame so that you do (total energy in) < (total energy out) you should be losing weight.
One can of course discuss in complicated ways these simple phenomenons, but I think I prefer simple. We never eat 1754 kcal or burn 329 kcal when we estimate and log those amounts anyway, so it all evens out.0 -
The weight loss process is a long one for some of us. Sometimes we reach points where we are like, "Enough of this! I need a break!" So, we take one.
If you are committed enough, you can indulge and get back on track without any major harm done.
Everyone has bad days, too. Find anyone who spent a great deal of time working to accomplish something and I promise you: They had bad days. There is no reason to send yourself through a whirlwind of emotions over something that is done and over. That's craziness. Just chalk it up and move on.
Also, assuming one is physically able, losing weight is primarily about wanting to lose weight. People can't buy that desire. We can't talk them into it. They want to undereat or they don't...and whatever they choose, they should be happy with it.
So, yeah, if you want that Key Lime Pie, go eat it. Have a piece for me!
It might not be the responsible, healthiest advice, but it's a long road, lol.0 -
fearlessleader104 wrote: »The correct answer is 12.
What do I win?
Actually, the correct answer is 42.0 -
The weight loss process is a long one for some of us.
...
So, yeah, if you want that Key Lime Pie, go eat it. Have a piece for me!
It might not be the responsible, healthiest advice, but it's a long road, lol.
Out of a physiological perspective it may not be the smartest move, but here on MFP it isn't seldom that I see the mental-health aspect of this journey almost ignored. If something keeps us happy and balanced, how can it be bad for us in the long run? A slice of pie might put such lightness to the steps that no cold and harsh treatment of self could ever achieve.0 -
fearlessleader104 wrote: »The correct answer is 12.
What do I win?
Actually, the correct answer is 42.
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Weigh and measure everything on a daily basis. Splurge on holidays and special occasions (my birthday, thanksgiving and Christmas)0
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Look, think about it this way. There are healthy and naturally thin people out there who clearly don't think twice about what they consume at a party or on a holiday. And they can do that because their natural eating and exercise habits over time have put them at a comfortable, easy to manage weight. A thin person isn't going to suddenly be overweight because they have three slices of pie and a bottle of wine at their family holiday party. They may feel crappy the next day, but then they will return to the healthy lifestyle that has supported them for years without even thinking about it. Any temporary gain will drop over a few days.
That is really the ultimate goal here. I don't know about anyone else, but I for one sure as hell don't want to be obsessing over calorie counting my whole life. I want to be able to eat intuitively and enjoy special treats and engage in fun healthy exercise without worrying about how I look or the number on the scale. MFP is a means to that end because tracking food can help you learn how much you really need and where you may be accidentally eating too much. Right now I'm not there yet, so MFP helps.
For example, using MFP has given me a good perspective on the actual calorie count of a big meal, so now at a Christmas party I can be more mindful of enjoying myself but not STUFFING myself and getting that uncomfortable, way-too-full feeling because MFP has taught me that means I consumed likely close to a 1000 calories and that is no good!
So the answer, as many folks have said, is really that both are true. On a day to day basis if someone isn't seeing success it is often because they aren't logging everything and are eating a lot more than they realize. But ultimately, if you are doing things right, you should never need to stress about or miss out on a happy occasion, because your overall good eating habits will balance out any temporary gain and your mental state will be a lot better when you can enjoy special times in your life!0
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