How do you handle bad days?
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weight3049
Posts: 72 Member
I was on track all day exercise and on track with my calories but gave in at the end of the day to some pizza (went over calories) and made me feel really guilty.
What tips do you guys have to not feel guilty just because you ate something?
What tips do you guys have to not feel guilty just because you ate something?
3
Replies
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Yum, I had pizza for lunch. I had enough to fit my calories.
I have a cheeky little theory I'd like to run past MFP:
The guilt (say, of a 'binge') is a rush, perhaps like exercise, smoking, drinking, etc.
People do it for the thrill, not so much for any "bad" food.
(5 donuts at a free afternoon tea if you've been starving yourself all day not included. That's a different sort of compulsion, though it makes me wonder what you mean by being "on track with exercise and calories".)
Be proud of your actions. Fear guilt, not food.1 -
I usually feel guilty and get mad at myself, and then the next day dust myself off, give myself kudos for all the hard work I’ve been doing, and get back on track. One bad day will not derail you. Months (and sometime years) of consistency is what yields results.9
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Just move on there’s a limit to the amount t of damage you can do in one day. It’s only a problem if you continue doing the same for weeks and weeks.7
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- Log it
- Try to find out what the trigger was (emotional trigger, too restrictive diet, physical proximity of a food you can't resist,...)
- Move on, tomorrow is a new day
By the way, it's fine to eat pizza! It's just a matter of planning it and determining in advance how much of it you can eat within your calorie goal.10 -
Worth considering if you just exceeded your weight loss goal or also exceeded your weight maintenance goal.
Say for example your pizza took you over your weight loss goal but you ended up eating around your TDEE - you will get to goal weight one day later than planned. Not really a big deal is it?
Perfection is nice but is not required to achieve a long term goal. Be a bit more forgiving of slips ups.
My tip would be to take a longer term view, single days have very little significance.
18 -
Having a "bad" day happens to us all. After you've been logging for a long time you realize what everyone else is saying--analyze why, it's a blip on your radar and just keep going. Pizza is a wonderful food. It's very tasty and when you think about it you should have enjoyed every morsel without guilt. Once guilt sets in, it starts a spiral of binging and then guilt. Enjoy something good ONCE IN A WHILE and you'll be much happier.5
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I never really feel guilty after going over, mainly because I calorie cycle so I will eat more some days and less on others. It's about long term vs just one day. As long as you don't let going over become the "I blew it so may as well eat over the rest of the week" then you will be fine. Start fresh the next day.3
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as long as you don't let it become an everyday or every other day scenario, you'll be fine. That being said, you could always workout or go for a long walk to offset those extra calories.2
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I think one of the worst things you can do when you have a few extra calories is to feel bad about it. If you go over you need to enjoy it.
I don't feel guilt when I go over. It is just food and we need food to live. I realize that being deprived is no good and in the past made my weight loss efforts fail. With that in mind I embrace the GOOD days when I have delicious treats even if I go over my calories. Those days can give me a mental break and they help me stay on track. I am more likely to succeed if I have a rare day off. Sustainability is more important than a few ounces I didn't lose one day out of many.
If you can lose the guilt you might be able to reflect back on the day objectively and decide what, if anything, you could have done to have your pizza and stay within your calorie goals. However, you can choose to go over your calorie goal too when you feel the need.
If you are new to this you may also need to ask questions like:
Am I being kind enough to myself?
Am I having enough treats while staying in my goal?
Am I hungry too often?
Am I at the right balance of eating enough to feel good vs staying in a deficit?
If there are no red flags in your efforts then just log it and move on. It is really no big deal. Perfection is not needed and it definitely gets in the way of just being good enough.18 -
Put the day behind you. Use it as a learning tool and move forward. You had your fun, time to get back at it!
IOW give yourself a kick in the caboose. Lol 0 -
I had (homemade) pizza last night for dinner!!!
My husband had IBS and has a problem with lactose so it's easier to make a pizza at home so he doesn't get sick and easier to control my calories. I buy the pre-made crust at my grocery store, ragu homestyle pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, kraft pizza cheese, sometimes I put banana peppers on my side of the pizza.
As far as going over your calories.... why beat yourself up about it? You slipped up and can't change it... you can only learn from it. I pre-log my calories most of the time so I can physically see how many calories I'm going to eat and where that would put me in my day (over/under/enough for the rest of the day?)1 -
No guilt here. Simple process:
- complete the binge; enjoy every second of it, cause I don't get them often
- wake up the next morning and get on scale first thing
- log weight on MFP and marvel at how much scale weight (not fat!!) can be added in one day
- start over by getting on cardio machine
- eat every calorie of the quota the next day - not more than 20 calories under, or over - everything back to normal
having now gone through this 10+ times and learned that, in fact, I do get *right back* on track the very next morning as if the binge never happened, I've become even more comfortable without shame or regret about the occasional binge. Which unfortunately might've led to a couple extra binges LOL but at the same time, they do little damage because they are always confined to the day they happen, and there's only so much damage you can do in a day.
It's all about getting RIGHT BACK ON PLAN the next morning. Binges are just little speed bumps; the point is to stay on the road!
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If you're feeling guilty, it's because you believed you failed. There will be days where you're going to just let it go and it's fine. ONE DAY or ONE MEAL will not disrupt your progress if you're consistent.weight3049 wrote: »I was on track all day exercise and on track with my calories but gave in at the end of the day to some pizza (went over calories) and made me feel really guilty.
What tips do you guys have to not feel guilty just because you ate something?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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For perspective, I just had a MONTH like that. Peaked at 6.5 pounds above the top of my goal range (I'm in maintenance). Decided enough was enough 10 days ago, and I'm already back within my range.
All that to say, it takes a lot more than a few slices of pizza to undo your hard work. These days will happen, whether you're actively losing or in maintenance. Acknowledge it and move on 9 -
Lots of times when people say they were good all day and then overate, they were actually undereating.
- What percentage of the calories you earn from exercise do you eat back?
- How many pounds do you have to lose total and what weekly weight loss goal did you select?
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I log the food, let MFP do it's little shaming ("this food has a lot of saturated fat") and move on. I believe that so long as you are honestly logging it's not "cheating" and you have nothing to feel guilty about. You are in this for the long haul, one day won't derail you. But wallowing in guilt and feeling like you've failed somehow can derail you.7
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I don't feel guilty about eating. When I was in "losing weight mode", if I ate more than my calorie goal, I'd log it and make sure to stick to my goal more carefully for the next few days. Unless you are eating food that belongs to someone else, feeling guilty about food doesn't make sense.5
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If you’ve been in a mindset for a long time that you need to be “good” and anything less is failure/bad (which is Very common), it takes a long time and a lot of conscious effort to understand that you weren’t bad-you ate more than is ideal-that doesn’t make you “bad” (nor does eating the ideal number of calories and/or only organic grass fed nonGMO extra blessed lettuce make you “good”).
Work on taking the moral value away from food (and your calorie goals). You didn’t break a law, you didn’t cause another human harm, you didn’t act with malice, you just ate more calories than ideal.
Life is going to include days where you will eat more calories than ideal-sometimes because you’re extra hungry, sometimes because you’re in a situation where your food choices are limited, sometimes it’s a holiday or a celebration and it’s ok to eat too many calories every so often.
You’re not “bad”. You didn’t do anything “bad”. You don’t have anything to feel guilty about.
You wake up tomorrow and have another day.12 -
I eat out every Tuesday with my folks at a local Mexican restaurant. I plan ahead but know that I will be eating closer to maintenance that day. Over time, I have learned to accept and embrace a higher calorie day because I am still being mindful and intentional. It has been a great mental exercise for me.2
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I don't consider any day to be a bad day. Sometimes I have higher calorie days and lower calorie days. I eat well for the most part...but Friday nights are usually pizza and movie night with the family and there's nothing "bad" about that to feel guilty.
Also, keep things in perspective...for one thing, it's one day and it's pretty meaningless to the bigger picture. Also, your calorie target is a deficit and often a substantial one depending on what you selected as your rate of loss...in most cases, going over your calorie target is still going to be a deficit or maybe maintenance...but even over maintenance, you're not really doing any damage with one measly day.0
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