Can 1 day ruin all your hard work?
ABHY7
Posts: 70 Member
Yes as the title says, seems yesterday I've put up nearly 4 lbs according to today's scales!
Grrrrrrrrrr so much for having a day off for mothers day - there goes all my hard work! #frustrating
Grrrrrrrrrr so much for having a day off for mothers day - there goes all my hard work! #frustrating
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Unless you actually overate by approximately 14,000 calories, which I doubt, then I would say no. ;-)
This is likely to be a standard water fluctuation, which could be from salty food, or pending TOTM or such. It perfectly normal. Weight loss isn't linear. You will get these ups and downs.0 -
1 lb of fat is 3,500 calories - so yes, if you ate an extra 14,000 calories yesterday?
Otherwise, it's more likely it's just fluctuations in the amount of water in your body and other factors. If you weigh yourself daily allow for a variations of up to 4/5 lbs higher than you lowest weight0 -
Download the happy scale app. You put your weight in every day and then it basically averages out your weight to give you a better overview of your weight loss.0
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Ask yourself this: "Did 'all my hard work' take just one day?"
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Yes and no.
Eat on track of a month and have one day where it all goes wrong and you massively overeat - No, you've not ruined everything. Sure, you will see an increase on the scale the next day but that is mainly, in transient food and water weight.
But, if each week you eat, say, a 500 calorie deficit and then on Saturday you "eat what you want", you (well I at least) could, theoretically wipe out that cumulative 6000 calorie deficit and put myself back at maintenance for the week - but it would be an epic day of overeating.
TL;DR - probably not.
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Can 1 day ruin all your hard work?
Nope.0 -
I've just come of a 3 day food bender. I can honestly say those 3 days will not undo the month of good behaviour before it. Don't sweat daily fluctuations.0
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No, one day won't ruin everything. It is probably water retention.
Just get back to your normal eating and exercise.
If you don't like seeing the temporary bump in the scale number then be more careful the next holiday, event, vacation where you are tempted to take the day off.-1 -
No.0
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No.
I had a hell of a day at the rodeo on sat. Big breakfast taco, a corn dog <mostly just for the bread>, fried oreos, half of a fried snickers bar, split a turkey leg with my kiddos, a large margarita and then about 200 cals when I got home. Had a loss of 3.1lb today. My biggest loss yet.
However If I eat pizza or shrimp fried rice <my bugaboos> on Monday and get on the scale on Tuesday I am EASILY 3-4lb heavier than the previous day. But it goes back down about 2-3 days after that.
I also have a very strict day after a very "bad" day. Was my day worth it? Hell yes, cuz, FRIED OREOS!
Just keep going.
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No. At most, you'll probably set back a week's worth of work, but even that is unlikely.0
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MommyMeggo wrote: »No.
I had a hell of a day at the rodeo on sat. Big breakfast taco, a corn dog <mostly just for the bread>, fried oreos, half of a fried snickers bar, split a turkey leg with my kiddos, a large margarita and then about 200 cals when I got home. Had a loss of 3.1lb today. My biggest loss yet.
However If I eat pizza or shrimp fried rice <my bugaboos> on Monday and get on the scale on Tuesday I am EASILY 3-4lb heavier than the previous day. But it goes back down about 2-3 days after that.
I also have a very strict day after a very "bad" day. Was my day worth it? Hell yes, cuz, FRIED OREOS!
Just keep going.
I want to hang out with you!0 -
It can, if you focus on just that one day.0
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Not really IF you're consistent. I had a client tell me that they had an off day every couple of days and was wondering why is weight loss is so slow. He loved to go to baseball games where beer and hot dogs rule.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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endlesspower wrote: »Ask yourself this: "Did 'all my hard work' take just one day?"
^^^ I like this It's a good way of looking at it.
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The only one day can ruin your hard work is if you've only been working hard for one day. I have over 100 pounds to lose. Eating better is a new lifestyle choice for me... you can't "cheat" on life... so, you made less than optimal choices one day, brush yourself off and make better choices the next. The increase in weight is likely due to water retention from a larger amount of sodium intake. I go against all that I've heard and weight myself several times a day... it makes me comfortable to know that from first thing in the morning until the time that I go to bed, it's not unusual for my bodyweight to fluctuate 5 lbs.
Logging what you ate though is important - I had a couple days where I really felt like I had been out of control and was amazed to learn that I didn't eat as many calories as I thought I did!0 -
Yes, it can. That's why I stopped giving myself cheat days... I could erase months of progress in a single high calorie day.
That doesn't mean it did in your case. It's entirely possible that 4 lbs. is just water weight / normal fluctuations. I once gained 9 lbs. in just a few hours during a time when I was in a plateau (plateau meaning I was eating in a way that should have caused weight change, but instead I just fluctuated around the same base weight for months until a sudden "whoosh" of several lbs. of sustained weight loss in a few days).
Get back with a deficit program and see if it goes away over the next week or so.0 -
Depends on how much you ate.
If you sat around and ate bacon and pancakes and coffeecake and croissants for breakfast, then pizza and cheesecake and a loaf of garlic bread and a gallon of ice cream and a six-pack of coke, then a costco-sized bag of chips and a pack of fun-size snickers, and a pack of tortillas, and then a pound of pasta with butter and cheese, yes, you might be able to.0 -
One day a month usually won't, if you're spending the rest of the month in decent deficit.
One day a week, and yes.
I have 3-4 such days coming up this month. I'm preloading spare calories (with exercise) and being fairly stricter with myself. Most of my indulgences will be alcohol though (AC/DC, George Thorogood, Universal Studios and St Patrick's day) related.
April is clear of indulgence at least until the last week of the month, and then just one day coming up. I don't really gain weight just by alcohol alone, but it definitely slows weight loss for me. So I'll possibly see a 2 week stall. Possibly not if I exercise asap the day after and abstain from alcohol the rest of the time.0 -
No, one day doesn't ruin anything. If anything you can use it as a learning experience.
For example, learning that weight fluctuates. That things like sodium, carbs, hormones, ovulation, period, sunburn, injury, etc can all influence your weight and/or cause temporary weight gain.0 -
Depends on how much you ate.
If you sat around and ate bacon and pancakes and coffeecake and croissants for breakfast, then pizza and cheesecake and a loaf of garlic bread and a gallon of ice cream and a six-pack of coke, then a costco-sized bag of chips and a pack of fun-size snickers, and a pack of tortillas, and then a pound of pasta with butter and cheese, yes, you might be able to.
I'll take one of everything you just mentioned. Just hold the bacon and diet coke Please! lol
The sad part is that this sounds like a daily menu for the old me
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I'm of the mindset that one day only ruins everything if you let it. Log it and move on. Some people let one day derail them, but stay consistent and one day is only that - one day. Also, a 4 lb gain overnight on the scale is pretty normal and sounds like a fluctuation. I don't even bother weighing in on Mondays anymore because the scale always shows a weight that is 3-5 lbs heavier than it was a few days before. But by Wednesday or Thursday, that 3-5 lbs plus more is gone.0
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^^ This!! Log it, learn from it, accept it, and move the heck on..... If you dwell on it and say, "screw it, I've ruined everything so I might as well not even try anymore....." Then, yes, 1 day can ruin everything.0
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The sad part is that this sounds like a daily menu for the old me
Right??!?
When I first picked back up the MFP habit after having baby #3 I just ate as I normally did and logged, granted I didnt lose the first couple of weeks- but it was like HOLY HELL I can pack away some food. Needlessly so. Once I saw it in front of me- in "black and white" (actually white and blue) it was more than motivating to change it.
Sometimes its easier to know where you need to go after you actually see where you've been.0 -
Yes as the title says, seems yesterday I've put up nearly 4 lbs according to today's scales!
Grrrrrrrrrr so much for having a day off for mothers day - there goes all my hard work! #frustrating
Hi
That happens to me if I eat Chinese Takeout or go to the Chinese Buffet. I can easily be up 4 pounds or more over the next two days, then it starts dropping off at 1 or 2 pounds a day. It is just water weight. Most food You do not make yourself is loaded with Sodium (Salt for taste)
Do Not let it worry You
Good Luck
Roger0 -
Thank you all for the reassurance! Need to get back on track & keep going0
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Depends on how much you ate.
If you sat around and ate bacon and pancakes and coffeecake and croissants for breakfast, then pizza and cheesecake and a loaf of garlic bread and a gallon of ice cream and a six-pack of coke, then a costco-sized bag of chips and a pack of fun-size snickers, and a pack of tortillas, and then a pound of pasta with butter and cheese, yes, you might be able to.
I'll take one of everything you just mentioned. Just hold the bacon and diet coke Please! lol
The sad part is that this sounds like a daily menu for the old me
I will take your bacon and diet coke!!!0 -
Thank you all for the reassurance! Need to get back on track & keep going
Yup. The majority of your days determine the majority of your progress.
And a recommendation: Learn to do "weight management arithmetic" in your head. It's very reassuring.
You would need to eat about 3500 calories over your maintenance calorie level to gain a pound. Anything else is water weight or weight of food still in your system. If you're losing one pound a week, 3500 calories over maintenance one day translates to zero loss for the ensuing week. If you do that once a week, your weight holds steady forever. If you do it once a quarter, meh (probably). Fewer calories over maintenance, fewer days delay in reaching your ultimate goal.
If you learn to estimate the numbers in your head, you can even do the estimate before you eat, and decide whether it's worth it to you. Just watch out for the fact that we all want to make our current self happy a little bit more strongly than we want to make our future self healthy - that conceptual problem is how we ended up needing to lose weight in the first place!
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No, as long as you get back into it the next day! I've had a lot of bad food days over the past two months for some reason. Usually on a weekend day lol. But I limit it to the day or the meal and then I pick back up the next day. I feel like for my sanity I need to have days where I can let loose a little. I try to keep logging though so I don't end up going thousands of calories over0
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I hope not, cuz I just ate almost 1000 calories worth of pizza. (And I don't regret a second of it!)
Seriously, a splurge day here and there won't hurt anything. I usually stock up exercise calories or do a little extra cardio in the days after to compensate. Any 'day after bloat' is just that- water weight helping you digest and flush out all that extra food and sodium.
My partner can't do splurge days- He has a really hard time getting back on track afterwards.0
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