Completely messed up this weekend

Don't do cheat days.

log it and move on

Monday is my weigh in day because I feel like it's my honest heaviest weight all week. I am horrible on weekends. The past 3 weeks have been great all week and blow it all on weekend. Challenge is real.

I log whatever I eat / drink and prepare my usual meal plan for the next day. I am now getting better with planning my days, include special meals in my meal plan and generally stay within my daily allotted calories.

Give up the cheat mentality. Embrace the process. Think in terms of finding a plan that does two things. First a good plan results in weight loss. Second a good plan is one you can live with long term.

The weight loss process is calculate your calorie number, plan a menu, try to hit your number, log the results in your food diary and problem solve or adjust as needed. A good plan is one you actually follow.

Plan each day and each week. Try to anticipate potential problems or special situations. Its fine to plan higher calorie days so long as you have a net calorie deficit for the week.

Most important- when you go over your number, and you will, log the results and try to do better next time. There are lots of ways to go over your number. Inadequate plans, loss of concentration, overwhelmed by family or or work, fatigue, misread or misunderstood menus even math mistakes.
People make mistakes. You too. But if you keep working at the process it isn’t cheating. Weight loss is long term, it’s not possible to be mistake free. It’s how we learn. It’s why experience is the best teacher. Just keep trying.

The process is more important than the numbers. Good luck.

Its that kind of thinking that led me to keep giving up on losing weight for years before I found this app. A few days eating more than we burn isn't a big deal, its what we do the majority of the time that matters.
Log it, learn from it and move on.

worriedafchick wrote: »

So I cheated instead of my one cheat day I had more than one. How do you guys bounce back and how do you prevent this in the future?

I just go back to eating my normal way, because eating in a healthy way is for life. It's inevitable that I'm going to "mess up" from time to time. I'm not going to dwell.

I suppose I might also consider whether I have been restricting myself too much, which is what happened last time I went waaaay over my calorie goal. I adjusted from 1200 calories to 1380 and eating half my exercise calories. I also started planning for treats instead of whole cheat days. But different things work for different people.

A weekend isn't gonna break you. If it's every weekend from now until next spring, you'll have a problem. But one? Nah, no big deal. Log it, move on.


If it is/becomes a habit, consider the following:
What was it that you were craving? Is it something about your schedule that sets you up for this kind of scenario, or is it a mental trap?

For example - I work 16 hour days every day, which keeps me busy enough that I'm not sitting there obsessing over what's in my refrigerator. Weekends can be more difficult, because I'm home, and there's the fridge... I used to not keep any snacks around, but that was setting myself up for failure, because instead of eating a quick snack to satisfy a craving, I'd end up eating a whole meal. I've also recently started aggressively tackling some hobbies, to help keep me active and distracted on the weekends. Win-win situation, because I'm learning new skills and not overeating. =]

I've also gotten much better at listening to what my body wants instead of trying to force her to lie to me. Maybe this is something that could help you, too? If body wants a chocolate, body gets a chocolate. I find if I ignore these cravings, I'll end up eating things I think body should want, instead (eggs and toast? A salad? How about some tofu? Anything is better than chocolate!), and I end up way overeating, rolling my eyes at the number of calories I've consumed and then binging on chocolate, anyway. Way better to just give her what she wants the first time around.

Sidenote to this - my partner (a doc) recently pointed out I really was not allowing myself enough fat in my diet. I added full-fat foods back in, and this has way cut down on cravings, for me! Don't be afraid of full-fat foods, just be aware that they are also high calorie.

Are you setting a mental trap for yourself? Do you give yourself a "cheat day," so look forward to that day that you end up seriously over-indulging, and then justify the second day by saying "well it's just a weekend, and I already blew it yesterday, anyway...."? Cus if you do - girl, you are not the only one. But you need to break that mental trap. Either discipline your cheat days, or don't have them and work your rewards into your daily calorie budget for the rest of the week. I put my entire day's worth of meals in first thing in the morning (meal prepping is key!) so that I know, come 8 pm, I can "afford" that glass of wine or that beer or that half-side of fries in my calorie allotment for that day.

As far as bouncing back -- just don't quit! Maybe keep track of being on your healthy eating plan meal-by-meal, and if you fall off the wagon, make sure your next meal is on plan, and focus on building a new streak.

As @88olds said, it's all about the process. Pay attention to what works for you. If you have to quit eating something because for you it's too hard to eat just one serving, that's fine. Some people can do moderation in anything, and if that's you, then that's great, too. Again, you are the person to watch and figure out your body and emotional wiring.

I don't really do cheat days, and for myself, I don't love that language. I just plan for indulgences, and then am careful not to choose indulgences that for me trigger a desire to keep eating past the plan.

Hang in there!