Cheat Day Consequence

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lilcharmer214
lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've been using MFP for 15 days and its been going well. Sticking to my calorie goal I was beginning to see a weight loss of 1 pound a week.

Last Sat I got my 2nd pound down (138), logged it, was happy. Then for Father's Day, I took my husband out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and overate for the day by 140 calories. This consisted of Mexican rice, refried beans and some chips and cheese.

Monday morning, I had gained 3 pounds according to the scale. :(

Here it is Weds and I'm still 1 pound up from the Sat (139), though I have worked out the past 2 days and have been sticking to my goal.

So how long does it take before I am back on track? Did that one cheat day and 140 calories send me back too much or is it just a normal weight fluctuation?

When you have a cheat day, does it make your weight jump up for several days? SHould this be happening?

Replies

  • Mentali
    Mentali Posts: 352 Member
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    Probably what happened is a mixture of water weight, food weight, and waste weight. It's not real. You didn't gain a pound from 140 extra calories - maybe you're coming up on your TOM and are retaining water weight, or sticking to your goal involved a bit more salt than you're used to, or your workout schedule is new which causes water retention.

    I fluctuate multiple pounds throughout the day. You'll go up and down. I like to use the Weightgrapher site because as long as I'm below the trend line I know I'm doing alright weight-wise :)
  • pbandalyssa
    pbandalyssa Posts: 86 Member
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    lilcharmer214 wrote: »
    I've been using MFP for 15 days and its been going well. Sticking to my calorie goal I was beginning to see a weight loss of 1 pound a week.

    Last Sat I got my 2nd pound down (138), logged it, was happy. Then for Father's Day, I took my husband out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and overate for the day by 140 calories. This consisted of Mexican rice, refried beans and some chips and cheese.

    Monday morning, I had gained 3 pounds according to the scale. :(

    Here it is Weds and I'm still 1 pound up from the Sat (139), though I have worked out the past 2 days and have been sticking to my goal.

    So how long does it take before I am back on track? Did that one cheat day and 140 calories send me back too much or is it just a normal weight fluctuation?

    When you have a cheat day, does it make your weight jump up for several days? SHould this be happening?

    After a cheat, my weight has jumped as high as 5-6 pounds more the next day. Weight fluctuations are totally normal. I'm about 3 lb heavier near my TOM like clockwork. Drink a ton of water and stay on track and it'll go back down. Weight loss =/= linear.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I knew I couldn't gain 3 pounds of fat from one meal. I got the lightest thing on the menu (lettuce wrapped shrimp) but when it didn't come off right away. It made me wonder.
  • hneagle1
    hneagle1 Posts: 16 Member
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    I wouldn't be too worried about that 140 calories. I think it becomes a problem if you continuously overeat each day. More than likely it is water weight that is causing the fluctuation. Especially since you have been going for only 15 days. I think consistency is the key. I would be lying through my teeth if I said I didn't have really bad cheat days. I think its part of the process. Even though I have a bad day, I consistently restart the next day and don't overthink it too much. Also, I don't weigh myself for maybe once or twice a month. I think the scale is the biggest lie and can't tell you how you feel or how healthy you are getting. Focus on the lifestyle and not the numbers. The numbers will come :)
  • TheBigFb
    TheBigFb Posts: 649 Member
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    Dont weigh yourself everyday
  • ashorey87
    ashorey87 Posts: 173 Member
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    pbandalyssa wrote: »
    lilcharmer214 wrote: »
    I've been using MFP for 15 days and its been going well. Sticking to my calorie goal I was beginning to see a weight loss of 1 pound a week.

    Last Sat I got my 2nd pound down (138), logged it, was happy. Then for Father's Day, I took my husband out for lunch at a Mexican restaurant and overate for the day by 140 calories. This consisted of Mexican rice, refried beans and some chips and cheese.

    Monday morning, I had gained 3 pounds according to the scale. :(

    Here it is Weds and I'm still 1 pound up from the Sat (139), though I have worked out the past 2 days and have been sticking to my goal.

    So how long does it take before I am back on track? Did that one cheat day and 140 calories send me back too much or is it just a normal weight fluctuation?

    When you have a cheat day, does it make your weight jump up for several days? SHould this be happening?

    After a cheat, my weight has jumped as high as 5-6 pounds more the next day. Weight fluctuations are totally normal. I'm about 3 lb heavier near my TOM like clockwork. Drink a ton of water and stay on track and it'll go back down. Weight loss =/= linear.

    This.

    I ate a 1300 calories breakfast on Father's day, not the mention the rest of the food, and booze, I consumed over the weekend. Scale was up 5 lbs by Monday morning. This morning, i was already back down 3.5 of those 5 lbs.

    Weight loss is not linear. Don't stress over it.
  • StacyChrz
    StacyChrz Posts: 865 Member
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    You would be amazed at what sodium can do to your weight from day to day. I like to weigh myself daily to get an idea of how I react to certain foods. I'm glad you were back down in 3 days. Some weeks it takes me a little longer. This week I've been eating too much salt for most of the week. Not looking pretty on the scale, but I know why.
  • Maxematics
    Maxematics Posts: 2,287 Member
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    StacyChrz wrote: »
    You would be amazed at what sodium can do to your weight from day to day. I like to weigh myself daily to get an idea of how I react to certain foods. I'm glad you were back down in 3 days. Some weeks it takes me a little longer. This week I've been eating too much salt for most of the week. Not looking pretty on the scale, but I know why.

    Sodium and food in general! I'm 110 pounds. A few weeks ago I went to a BBQ restaurant and easily ate 2000+ calories worth of food. I was planning for the day and waiting for it eagerly. That night I weighed myself out of curiosity and I was 117.5 pounds. It took around three days to recover from the 7.5 pound "gain".
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
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    Everyone says sodium but according to my scientist auntie, it's carbohydrate that causes the big difference in water retention with increasing or decreasing food intake. I'm sure salt has an effect, too, but you need several grams of water to process and store each gram of carbs - I think it's a much bigger factor.

    Be that as it may, it just means that if you eat extra, you'll get a temporary increase in how much water you're retaining. Don't panic, wait a few days and it'll go away (as you've found out).
  • dr_soda
    dr_soda Posts: 57 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Eating 140 over your goal in one single day won't hurt you.

    Remember this: you're losing 1 lbs per week. In order to lose one pound in one week, you have to have a weekly deficit of 3500 calories. With 7 days in a week, you are looking at MFP telling you to eat at a daily deficit of 500 calories in order to lose that single pound.

    That means even if you ate 140 over your goal every single day for a whole week, you would still have a deficit of 2520 by the end of the week. You would lose about 3/4 of a pound by the end of the week. If you only did it for one day of the week, you would lose 0.96 pound that week instead of 1.00 pound.

    In other words, no need to sweat it.
  • solieco1
    solieco1 Posts: 1,559 Member
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    Salt. Stay the course :) it's all good.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,981 Member
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    lilcharmer214 wrote: »
    Quick update but my weight finally went back down to 138. Only took 3 full days!

    Thanks for the update! Last time I had a pu pu platter my weight was up for at least three days.

    I also gain water weight when I ovulate and premenstrually.
  • lilcharmer214
    lilcharmer214 Posts: 75 Member
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    dr_soda wrote: »
    Eating 140 over your goal in one single day won't hurt you.

    Remember this: you're losing 1 lbs per week. In order to lose one pound in one week, you have to have a weekly deficit of 3500 calories. With 7 days in a week, you are looking at MFP telling you to eat at a daily deficit of 500 calories in order to lose that single pound.

    That means even if you ate 140 over your goal every single day for a whole week, you would still have a deficit of 2520 by the end of the week. You would lose about 3/4 of a pound by the end of the week. If you only did it for one day of the week, you would lose 0.96 pound that week instead of 1.00 pound.

    In other words, no need to sweat it.

    Hey thanks for the math! Puts it in better perspective.

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