Discouraged after cheat day

malibu927 wrote: »

For it to be fat gain, you would have needed to eat 10,500 calories over maintenance. So yes, it's water and food weight.

You do lose weight quickly at the beginning due to said water weight, so you should be starting to slow down. If not, then you'll need to up your calories.

This!!

Cheat days can actually be a good thing. Though, I hate the word cheat. I did it, and still steadily lost weight. What you have to watch is your calorie intake on that day. So, say you are at a 3,000 calorie defecit by the end of Saturday. You go over your goal by 1,000 calories on Sunday. You are still at a 2,000 calorie defecit for the week. Don't think you have to be miserable to lose weight. You can try to fit such foods into your daily calorie allowance. When eating at such a low caloric intake, that means a heavy caloric meal is taking a lot from your daily allowance.

Fursian wrote: »

BusyRaeNOTBusty wrote: »

Don't ever weigh yourself immediately following cheat days.

I do. It alerts one to the extent of 'the damage', just like logging your cheat days. Knowledge is power. Really.

It's water weight, though, so it isn't really "damage", per se.

kprimaverab wrote: »

Okay so for all of you saying I am starving myself .. Can you please tell me what I am lacking?
This is my average food diary

Breakfast: 2 eggs, english muffin, orange or apple
Lunch: protein shake (almond milk, whey protein, strawberries, spinach, banana) with a side of veggies or fish
Dinner: 1/2 cup of quinoa, chicken breast, veggies.
I usually have 1 snack in between of 2 rice cakes with some peanut butter.
I always feel full... I don't feel deprived and if i work out I usually eat 1500 calories by adding a low sugar protein bar, toast or a bigger lunch.

We have a similar amount to lose and I'm losing nicely (1.5-3lbs/week...hormones are rude) eating 1600 on average per day. My job is fairly active (retail...Lots of walking). Your daily meal plan would have me binging. Not in the early days when motivation was through the roof, but by 4-6 weeks I'd be shoving fries and reeses in my mouth like I'd just been released from starvation camp.

Cheat meals, even days, are fine. Really. Just make them mindful. A few weeks ago I had been dying for a steak dinner from a local place. My husband had the day off so we went for a date night. I ate and enjoyed every crispy fry and bite of tender steak. And that roll, with plenty of butter. Zero guilt. Up 2lbs the next morning, but so what? I knew it was 95% water weight to deal with the sodium and extra food. It was gone in a few days. I can't and don't eat like that every day. But I also know I'll crave that steak again. That's living to me. Mindfully choosing to blow my daily goal is fine on occasion.

I incorporate treats most days. A single fun size candy bar, an ice cream, chips, trail mix type snacks, etc. I do this so I don't go nutty and because I know I like those things. I'm not willing to give up treats forever so I need to learn to control my portions with them as much, or more, than I do chicken and salad. Use the extra 150 calories mfp gives you. You can use them daily or save some of them up for some weekend indulgence. You don't have to be a diet martyr. It's not fun, and not accurate for lifelong habits.

(OP) If you went high calorie on Saturday, like this past Saturday, I'd totally expect to be up a few pounds. Did you eat 10,500 calories over what you expended? Probably not.
In truth a high calorie day is the best thing you could have done for yourself since you've lost a lot of weight in a short period of time.
As far as the weight goes, I will typically be up 4-8lbs the day after my Spike Day and still up 1-3 the following day. The reason why is water weight and glycogen. When you are in a caloric deficit your body burns through glycogen very quickly. Then you you have a refeed day your body stores extra calories as glycogen. Glycogen is a good thing but for every gram of glycogen your body stores 3-4 grams of water with it. So lets say you stored 300 grams of glycogen in your "cheat day". You would have an extra 900-1200 grams of water weight or about 3 pounds. As you cut calories this week, glycogen will deplete once again and the water goes with it.

FYI: Glycogen is a big reason why so many can lose 3-5 pounds the first week of dieting and more if you go low to no carb.

Losing weight for the long-term is also a long journey. Don't worry about the little bumps in the road. The stress caused from guilt and worry are far worse than eating a donut.

cgvet37 - I call them Spike Days because I choose to spike my calories for a day and that spikes my leptin, metabolism and mindset. In a way I'm "cheating" the evolutionary system that kept me overweight but it's a negative word and Spike Days are all good.