Finally had a cheat day

I do have a slightly elevated appetite after a big day but usually just when I wake up (did this two days ago, so had the hungries first things yesterday). As long as you're disciplined with yourself it should only take a day or two to readjust the brain back to your new "normal".

As for how long it shows on the scale, that's different for everyone. In fact, it can vary with the same person. Sometimes it hangs around for a couple of weeks with me, sometimes a couple of days. Where it falls within my cycle, exercise, what I ate can all have an impact on the time.

This is exactly why I focus on moderation with things I love instead of depriving myself and bingeing later. I was never able to keep my weight down long term until I stopped eating the way you are. I am very good at deprivation, but that was never the problem I had. My problem was bingeing. Abstaining like that actually made my binge issues worse. I'd go for months without certain foods, then go totally crazy one day and after that "cheat day", it became easier and easier to excuse overeating until I was totally back to my old ways. Now I allow myself foods I used to consider "bad" but I plan how much of it I am going to eat and practice portion control. I haven't had my weight yo-yo in a long time now.

The "really hungry lately honestly" should be handled by eating at, not below, but at, maintenance for the weight you are now for a week. You shouldn't be suffering for better health.

JeromeBarry1 wrote: »

The "really hungry lately honestly" should be handled by eating at, not below, but at, maintenance for the weight you are now for a week. You shouldn't be suffering for better health.

This is very true. My blowout the other day was a rarity, I'm pretty much never hungry other than normal pre-meal hunger. It's not an ongoing issue due to eating low for a very long time. So it may be time to reassess just how strict and how low you are/have been eating.

Make sure your Aunt knows (I'm NEVER going to leave this alone). And yeah, I don't get why people assume it's a binge. You've been here a long time and know what the hell you're doing.

Anyway, my biggest gains from a "cheat" day really depends on the salt. I have more salt when I cheat so I gain 3-4 lbs and it takes me a week to lose, but I'm less active than you are.

And tomorrow is my birthday so I'm celebrating today as celebrating on a Monday would just suck. Bacon and waffles fro brunch, Keg for dinner. Not sure what lunch will be (if anything) but I looked at my week and I've been under so I can eat 2600 today, with no activity (not going to be the case) and still hit my week goal. But I will be up 2-3 lbs tomorrow, as my weight today was real low due to some "issues" yesterday and not re-hydrating.

I personally just wouldn`t weigh yourself for about a week... I bet when you weigh in next week, you`ll be the same or even have lost. Today is my birthday, and is going to be my cheat day. I won`t be logging today at all, as I don`t even want to know I weigh every Friday, and I know I won`t have gained because of one day... if anything I`ll just not have lost this week perhaps. It takes a surplus of 3500 calories in a week to gain 1 lb of fat. Breaking that down, it`s eating 500 calories more per day than you are burning. If you ate 3000 calories in 1 day, and it ALL was absorbed, that still doesn`t equal 1 lb of actual fat gain for that week. You`ll likely feel like a bloated bag of crap for a couple days, but by your next weigh in, the bloating and water retention should be gone and you`ll be ready to go!

A couple of days at least, for me it's a full week before I feel settled again.
I'm curious as you've been at your deficit for a while now too, how did the volume and kind of food make you feel short term, physically I mean? I'm finding that like whole servings of fries or bags of chips give me an upset stomach these days, now I'm used to nibbling more.