Birthday parties - aagh!

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mantramoon
mantramoon Posts: 31 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay, I was on the right track, have been logging everything and exercising every day for almost a month, and I lost 3 lbs, which was encouraging. Then we had a birthday party for my husband this weekend in which there was cake, pie, and ice cream (he even picked my favorite kind!). I went way over my calories for the day. Next day I was up 2 lbs. Does anybody have suggestions for how to handle this kind of situation? Birthdays are tough when you're trying to lose weight.

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  • StaciMarie1974
    StaciMarie1974 Posts: 4,138 Member
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    Part of that is water weight. I am assuming of course that you did not eat 7000 calories worth of cake above your daily caloric needs.

    Get back into your regular routine, and don't worry about it. In the mean time try to come up with a plan for next time this sort of thing comes up. Perhaps aim to eat at maintenance that day, which would mean an extra 500 calories if you're aiming for a 1 pound per week loss. And have a dessert, but not a whole cake. :)

    And if it is a food/social event where you can take something, then take something you know you can enjoy. :) I have a big event coming up where my girls' high school band is hosting a competition for 55 schools, and they've asked parents to donate slow cooker food items for the 'hospitality suite' which is where parent volunteers & judges will eat between performances. So I'm taking a pot of chili, for which I have created the recipe and I know the calorie content. And its yummy!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    1) look at your weekly goal
    2) I doubt you ate 7000 cals over maintenance in one day so you're just retaining water
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 4,973 Member
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    Choose cake, pie OR ice cream? For the most part I don't worry about these things. If it is truly a special occasion then that isn't how you eat every day. I do try to eat lighter earlier in the day if I know there is going to be a special meal. For me portion control is the key. It is ok to indulge a little, I just try not to overindulge. And if you do overindulge which happens sometimes just log it and move on.
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,488 Member
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    Water weight - drink some extra water today - you'll survive. Luckily birthdays only come around once a year - unless you're finding someone every day to celebrate their birthday with, then it is an issue.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    Log it and move on.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    mantramoon wrote: »
    Okay, I was on the right track, have been logging everything and exercising every day for almost a month, and I lost 3 lbs, which was encouraging. Then we had a birthday party for my husband this weekend in which there was cake, pie, and ice cream (he even picked my favorite kind!). I went way over my calories for the day. Next day I was up 2 lbs. Does anybody have suggestions for how to handle this kind of situation? Birthdays are tough when you're trying to lose weight.

    Do the math...you would have had to eaten 7000 calories over your maintenance to put on 2 Lbs of fat..and in reality, your body doesn't really work like that anyway.

    You ate more and thus have more inherent waste in your system...you also topped off glycogen stores.

    Personally, I don't pay much mind to occasions like this...they're not particularly relevant to the bigger picture.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
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    Social food celebrations are one of the joys of life. You get to unwind, enjoy time and share food with the people you love. Turning these days into stressful guilt machines is the last thing I would want to do if I'm going to build positive associations with food for years to come. I refuse to live in a diet bubble the bursts as soon as it meets real life. That's not only unpleasant, but also not sustainable.

    Yes, you overate, but it isn't the end of the world. Other than the water weight, which should dissipate within a week or less, the worst you could reasonably expect is for your real weight loss to stall for week unless you REALLY went to town on the calories and ate amounts the typical person is not capable of eating.

    How do I handle birthdays? I enjoy them. I make sure I eat the dishes I love the most, and consider skipping the dishes that are not as awesome that wouldn't be worth the calories. Other than that, I just socialize and don't focus on the calories too much. One day will not undo months (years in my case) of dieting.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,426 Member
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    Get back to your normal routine.
  • crzycatlady1
    crzycatlady1 Posts: 1,930 Member
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    TavistockToad wrote: »
    1) look at your weekly goal
    2) I doubt you ate 7000 cals over maintenance in one day so you're just retaining water

    This-you didn't actually gain 2lbs of actual fat :)
  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 997 Member
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    The things to keep in mind for special occasions:
    1) Only eat it if you like it (not just because it's there). If you're going to go over on calories, make it food you love.
    2) Try a smaller portion than you're used to. Take a half a slice of pie, half a piece of cake.

    And then you get back up and keep going. You can do this!
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    edited January 2017
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    I usually try to anticipate what's going to be served. I check the calories for, say, an average piece of birthday cake or a dish of ice cream (what's actually going to be served might be bigger or smaller than the portion in the tracker. If multiple listings, aim for the higher side of average). Then I track it in advance and see how it fits into the rest of my daily calories. And then I go to the party, eat what I tracked, and enjoy it. If I go over, I try to remember to track that when I go home.

    When I do this, I can have a treat without feeling like it's a cheat. And any weight gain? As other posters are saying, it's not really from the over-eating, and when I've got it pre-tracked, I find it easier to believe. So, instead of getting my old negative self-talk about 'blowing my diet' or 'undoing everything I've done' (as if one or two pieces of cake can negate over 3 months on MFP), I can tell myself that I checked the calories beforehand and even if I was a bit under, it wasn't enough to scuttle anything. Maybe it's water retention. Maybe it's the typical fluctuations I get when I look at the scale daily. Whatever else it is... it's from yesterday and it will pass.

    (Full disclosure: In the past, when I've journaled after eating something high-calorie, I've caught myself leaving it off as though, 'if I don't admit I ate it, it didn't happen'. Pre-tracking 1) helps me make an informed decision about what I want to eat before it's sitting on the buffet table calling my name 2) helps me recognize that this 'evil, bad, forbidden, fattening food' isn't really as bad as I think, if I can hold myself to a moderate amount. So, instead of thinking to myself, "Don't even look at those custard donuts. They are going right to your hips. Just eat your celery and stop whining. Have a fruit," it's more, "That donut is 240 calories. You checked this ahead of time. It's a little higher than you should probably go, but you did budget 600 calories for this party. You know... if you have HALF a donut, you can sample more of the other stuff here. Easy. You got this. Enjoy.")
  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
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    yeah i was good all christmas and then we had a very late party just 2 days ago. (they wanted to host it in their new house it took a while :p)
    And i completely binged. Turkey and ham and stuffing..MMMMMMM. and a huge tray of goodies. I can never turn down goodies when theres like 100 kinds i want to try them all. twice. I put on 5 pounds overnight its gona again though just a few days later :p
  • mantramoon
    mantramoon Posts: 31 Member
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    There was cake at work today - aggh! Hard to overcome a lifetime of automatically eating stuff like that when it's around.
  • amyepdx
    amyepdx Posts: 750 Member
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    mantramoon wrote: »
    There was cake at work today - aggh! Hard to overcome a lifetime of automatically eating stuff like that when it's around.

    I go by the "no free food" rule - especially with work food. Just imagine all the people who have touched it and you won't want it!
  • mantramoon
    mantramoon Posts: 31 Member
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    The 2 lbs are back off - hurray! I do so much better when I'm not surrounded by sweets.

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