Going off plan and "getting away with it"

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HellomynameisMOM
HellomynameisMOM Posts: 13 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?
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  • discretekim
    discretekim Posts: 314 Member
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    Mine will usually show up the next day but get away with it in the long run because it averages out.
  • ManiacalLaugh
    ManiacalLaugh Posts: 1,048 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Hmm.... good question. I feel like I ate too much this weekend and got away with it too. I think, as long as you jump back into your deficit as soon as possible, you can avoid seeing cheats* reflect in the scale. That's what I love about the CICO philosophy. If I want cake, I can eat the damn cake. It's not the end of the world.

    *Possibly excepting high-sodium cheats. Those usually mean additional water weight for me on the next day's weigh-in, but that does eventually fall off again.

    Edit: I really want cake now... ;_; Mmmm cake....
  • sunnyside1213
    sunnyside1213 Posts: 1,205 Member
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    Who knows, but if someone finds out, let me know.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Say you are set up to loose 1.5 pounds a week which would be a daily deficit of 750 calories. And then say that you eat that cake and wind up 600 calories over your daily goal. You are still in deficit by 150 calories. So... yes you got away with it in that you were still eating at a deficit, albeit a smaller one so rather than gaining weight you will likely just loose less than you might have for the week.
  • killerqueen21
    killerqueen21 Posts: 157 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....

    Yep. Unless you go OVER your maintenance calories, you won't gain weight.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    shadowfax_c11 wrote: »
    Say you are set up to loose 1.5 pounds a week which would be a daily deficit of 1500 calories. And then say that you eat that cake and wind up 600 calories over your daily goal. You are still in deficit by 900 calories. So... yes you got away with it in that you were still eating at a deficit, albeit a smaller one so rather than gaining weight you will likely just loose less than you might have for the week.

    You need a 750 cal deficit to lose 1.5lbs per week
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....

    ^^ this^^
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    Your body doesn't necessarily react that quickly. If you didn't eat anything at all today, would you automatically be lighter tomorrow? No, of course not.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    shadowfax_c11 wrote: »
    Say you are set up to loose 1.5 pounds a week which would be a daily deficit of 1500 calories. And then say that you eat that cake and wind up 600 calories over your daily goal. You are still in deficit by 900 calories. So... yes you got away with it in that you were still eating at a deficit, albeit a smaller one so rather than gaining weight you will likely just loose less than you might have for the week.

    You need a 750 cal deficit to lose 1.5lbs per week

    Okay thanks. Fixed it. The point was still valid.

  • brandiuntz
    brandiuntz Posts: 2,717 Member
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    One day of extra cake doesn't matter. Your weekly deficit is more an indication of weight loss.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    edited June 2015
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    you don't eat a piece of cake and get fat overnight...your body doesn't work that way. your body strives very hard to maintain the status quot...it takes consistently over eating to gain weight just as it takes consistently under-eating to lose weight.

    not only that, but if you're trying to lose weight then your calorie targets are already a huge deficit to lose weight...so going over calories with a couple pieces of cake would likely leave you still in a deficit of maintenance.
  • EzRemake
    EzRemake Posts: 128 Member
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    Weight gain doesn't occur overnight, which is why people usually think in terms of average weekly calories. If you are normally at a deficit, you won't notice any real weight gain because the rest of your week is just going to counteract your binge.

    Any weight you do put on is just water retention from the extra carbs and any excess sodium.

    Now I want cake :(
  • Holly_Roman_Empire
    Holly_Roman_Empire Posts: 4,440 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....

    I wouldn't even say it's a lot of cake!
  • ColdPlum
    ColdPlum Posts: 57 Member
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    I agree with the general consensus here, that one piece of cake isn't really going to do too much. To your other point, about WHEN substantial transgressions show up on the scale; I find that my body is perfectly in sync with whatever happened two weeks ago. If I follow my plan for a week, then go crazy and am over on cals for the whole next week, the next week I will lose, and the following week I will gain. I can't explain it, but my husband happens to be the same way. I think 1 day weight fluctuations have more to do with water, at least for me.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
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    Looking at the big picture one day eating cake is not going to make that much of a difference. Now make that a huge day or two of sodium and I think you would definetly notice it. If I ever go way over on sodium I'm always up a pound or two for the next couple of days. But like someone said....its just water weight and it drops off real quick.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    killerqueen21 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....

    Yep. Unless you go OVER your maintenance calories, you won't gain weight.

    Even if you eat lots of cake, go over maintenance calories, and gain weight, it's still not a binge.
  • _lyndseybrooke_
    _lyndseybrooke_ Posts: 2,561 Member
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    hollydubs85 wrote: »
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    HellomynameisMOM wrote: »
    Just making something up here to illustrate the question, but say you eat a couple of pieces of birthday cake you didn't have calories for. The next day you weigh in and your weight's just fine. Did you 'get away with it' or can that binge show up on the scale at a later date?

    A couple of slices of cake isn't a binge. It's just eating lots of cake....

    I wouldn't even say it's a lot of cake!

    A woman after my own heart. I thought a couple of slices of cake was a serving size. No?
  • Tubbs216
    Tubbs216 Posts: 6,597 Member
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    So, the message here is Eat Cake, right?
    Got it.
  • barbecuesauce
    barbecuesauce Posts: 1,779 Member
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    You can overeat for a few days in a row and "get away with it" if you have been on plan and get back to it. You are allowed to have a life outside of weight loss. Go on vacation, have parties, entertain weekend guests. I have done all of these and my worst case scenario has been a stall.

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