Do you log when you're in a bad place, eating-wise?

Millicent3015 wrote: »

I log whatever I can. When I don't log is when I know I've gone so over calories that I personally don't see the point in logging because I know what I ate will have caused some weight gain. My eating went out of the window in October when winter set in and my mood went downhill. I bought a light therapy lamp and have been using it all day every day because I need that simulated sunlight. It's helped improve my mood, which in turn has helped me stay more on track with my eating. But as it's holiday season, I don't have any issue with indulging myself a couple times a week. Even so, I've been terrified to weigh myself because I thought I'd put on tons of weight from overeating for three months. But I weighed myself today and I've put on less than 4lbs. Turns out I've been eating optimally more often than I haven't.

Winter overeating is a thing. Our ancestors would've overeaten in order to lay down fat stores that would keep them alive through harsh seasons. We still have that evolutionary hangover because humans evolve very slowly. Most of us no longer need to lay down extra fat, but our brains haven't caught up with that fairly new development, so we still feel that urge to eat more in anticipation of successfully getting through the harsher months.

You're not failing. Your mood is low, perhaps due to circumstances, weather, physical/hormonal changes, and your eating pattern has changed temporarily, perhaps due to that 40,000 years-out-of-touch caveperson brain yelling at you to put on some weight so you don't starve to death before spring or get so weak you can't hunt that woolly mammoth you've had your eye on since summer.

Log whatever you can, so you can look back and pinpoint any patterns where your diet changed, and try and formulate a strategy for coping with those pitfalls in the future. Try not to beat yourself up with thoughts of "bad/junk" foods. No food is good, bad, clean or junk. Food is essentially neutral. How you eat it is what's important. If you can gradually lessen the frequency of eating more fatty, carb loaded things, and increase your intake of lower saturated fats, complex carbs, vegetables, fruits, legumes etc, you can gradually return to the eating pattern that best suits your long term health & wellness goals. Cut yourself some slack. You've identified the issue and can start taking steps to tackle it.

garystrickland357 wrote: »

I do now. Someone mentioned on the forum that your body "logs" the calories so we might as well also. I ask myself what intelligent person would lie to themselves about the information needed to make good choices? That said, there are days like yesterday when honesty isn't possible. It was a treat day at work and I indulged. I logged as well as I could - fully aware that I was most likely WAY off.
I have learned the hard way that I can't be successful by ignoring the scale and not logging. I try to see it as data now and not a barometer of my self control/self worth. This way there is nothing to feel bad about.