Does a few days ruin it all?

Hello all!

It was my 30th birthday on Friday and i was taken out by friends and family for various meals and given presents of chocolate.

I felt like I couldn't say - thanks kind family for baking me this lovely cake but I'm not going to eat any.

I've had 3 days of not great eating and I feel super guilty about it as id been doing so well. Then again, if you can't celebrate your birthday, there's something sad about that.

I'm scared that my 3 days of bad diet will ruin my weeks of hard work.

Thoughts/opinions?
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Replies

  • misskarne
    misskarne Posts: 1,765 Member
    Why would three days ruin weeks and weeks?

    It was your birthday. Enjoy it, get back on the bandwagon, and happy birthday.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    You might gain a couple pounds... but you know how to lose them.
  • hollowayregine
    hollowayregine Posts: 9 Member
    Its ok to have a little bit of fun with eating. It will not hurt. You know you are going back to workingout again. Just dont constantly eating bad
  • snickerscharlie
    snickerscharlie Posts: 8,578 Member
    Log it and move on. Life happens. :)
  • lisasp4
    lisasp4 Posts: 73 Member
    Thanks guys. I think I just needed to hear it from someone else.

    Back to it!

    Good luck for all your own goals x
  • OfficialDSXIII
    OfficialDSXIII Posts: 91 Member
    No.. and that goes for almost everything in life. Just get back to it!
  • JustSomeEm
    JustSomeEm Posts: 20,265 MFP Moderator
    For the entire month of December, I had a free-for-all. Actually, from about Thanksgiving until my birthday last week. THIS week, I'm back to logging and back on track. I'm 2 pounds up from where I should be. That's it. Just 2 pounds, and I did what I wanted for 6 weeks. A few days won't do too much damage. It's when you don't check yourself and stop the madness that things spiral out of control. You've got this. :):flowerforyou:
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    Look at your data. Did you eat enough to put you in maintenance for the week? Or maybe just a few days with a smaller deficit for the week? Or did you eat enough to put you in a surplus for the week? Either way, you won't undo weeks and weeks of losing.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    As others said, log it and move on. Even if you gain a little bit, it's likely a shift in water weight. And if it's a true gain, you can have it off again in no time. You only turn 30 once. I hope you enjoyed your birthday!
  • memickee
    memickee Posts: 250 Member
    The problem is when those 3 days turn into 30. Which is exactly what I did. I gained 10lbs. Eek!
  • tcatcarson
    tcatcarson Posts: 227 Member
    It doesn't ruin everything, but it can feel like you have and you can end up getting into a downward spiral where you think it's all undone.

    But it's not. Just dust yourself off and get back on track.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    partys over. back to real life. no biggie
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    OP, by the way-I had my 30th birthday in November. I ate WHATEVER I wanted. I made myself those slutty brownies with a layer of chocolate chip cookie, oreo, brownie, and then chocolate frosting...with reeses pieces. I had thousands of extra calories. I knocked out my deficit for the week or so. No biggie.
  • lisasp4
    lisasp4 Posts: 73 Member
    These replies are why I love this place - support and knowing that you aren't alone in this.
  • arditarose
    arditarose Posts: 15,573 Member
    lisasp4 wrote: »
    These replies are why I love this place - support and knowing that you aren't alone in this.

    muah! happy bday
  • Fursian
    Fursian Posts: 548 Member
    lisasp4 wrote: »
    Hello all!

    It was my 30th birthday on Friday and i was taken out by friends and family for various meals and given presents of chocolate.

    I felt like I couldn't say - thanks kind family for baking me this lovely cake but I'm not going to eat any.

    I've had 3 days of not great eating and I feel super guilty about it as id been doing so well. Then again, if you can't celebrate your birthday, there's something sad about that.

    I'm scared that my 3 days of bad diet will ruin my weeks of hard work.

    Thoughts/opinions?

    Yeah. These days (birthdays, Christmas, and special events in general), really are so few, we may as well enjoy them! :D

    It's possible that those few days could "ruin it all", and they sadly do for some, but if we get straight back on track, we're golden. At the most, we'll have slowed our progress a bit, but this will be nothing in the grand scheme of things.
  • msdianan65
    msdianan65 Posts: 12 Member
    I am having the same issue. I have been doing well and slowly losing, For two days I ate horribly, when I got on the scale this morning, I am up 5 pounds, in just 2 days! It is so hard to stay positive. Suggestions?
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,321 Member
    msdianan65 wrote: »
    I am having the same issue. I have been doing well and slowly losing, For two days I ate horribly, when I got on the scale this morning, I am up 5 pounds, in just 2 days! It is so hard to stay positive. Suggestions?

    Unless you were eating only butter or something like that when the calories would huge, you are not up 5 pounds of fat. Maybe a pound of fat at most and the rest is water weight. This is why scales are so unhelpful as a measure of progress. Water weight is not the same as fat weight. Get back to it.

    To everyone who struggles with this, you didn't get fat in one day, it took years more that likely, you are not going to get fat again because of a day or two. Just get back to logging.
  • brianlundlarsen
    brianlundlarsen Posts: 49 Member
    msdianan65: just give it a day or who, you'll most likely be back down.
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  • KareninLux
    KareninLux Posts: 1,413 Member
    edited January 2016
    arditarose wrote: »
    Look at your data. Did you eat enough to put you in maintenance for the week? Or maybe just a few days with a smaller deficit for the week? Or did you eat enough to put you in a surplus for the week? Either way, you won't undo weeks and weeks of losing.

    Oh, what a great way of looking at this.Thanks!
  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    Look at your data for 30 days - I keep an eye on the rolling 30 day average (thank you FitBit for the little graph that tracks CICO).
  • lisasp4
    lisasp4 Posts: 73 Member
    Did my weekly weigh in and I maintained! Extremely happy!
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,156 Member
    It took more than a few days to gain the weight. It will take more than a few to ruin your progress. It will only ruin it if you decide that it will. Just get back to staying under your goal and it will be ok in the long run. Everyone has the occasional special events. Just don't let that be every day.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,168 Member
    At worst, something like this is only a delay, as long as you return to your healthy routine. And as you found, any gain is mostly water weight.

    If you logged the days you went over, and want to estimate your impact/delay, you can do it. I posted an example here: Is This How You Think About Over-Goal Days?
  • samchez0
    samchez0 Posts: 364 Member
    Not unless you let it! Time to get back on track and not dwell on past bad choices.
  • robertw486
    robertw486 Posts: 2,399 Member
    Those single day or even week events don't ruin things. It's the pattern of letting them become the majority that hurts things. Find the balance that works.

    I could show people days or even weeks that look fairly bad. But they didn't derail me.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
    Well if you let that kind of thinking stop you, yes. Life is going to continue to be life-y... Roll with the punches. Restart right where you are, today. You'll still get there.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    lisasp4 wrote: »
    Did my weekly weigh in and I maintained! Extremely happy!

    Awesome! Thanks for the update.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    Not unless you decide that's what's going to happen.