How do you handle bad days?

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.

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

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!

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.

Reserve guilt for those occasions when you hurt someone. Eating too many calories is not a fitting occasion for guilt.

A lot of good advice here already. What I would ask is, how did you end up eating over your calorie goal? Is your goal too restrictive? Did you fail to plan ahead? Did someone else buy pizza and eat it in front of you? How exactly did you go from, “I am going to eat X number of calories today,” to “Oops, I didn’t do what I planned to do”?

Instead of feeling guilty, focus on figuring out what you are going to do differently next time this happens. Resisting temptation isn’t very reliable; it’s better to set yourself up for success by avoiding temptation. Whether that means budgeting for pizza by eating a smaller breakfast and lunch, working out to gain extra calories, or meal prepping so you don’t order a pizza because you don’t feel like making dinner when tired, or avoiding going out with certain friends who always overeat (making plans to do something other than eat can be good!), or planning what delicious but lower calorie treat you are going to eat while your husband orders pizza, or just eating a smaller portion of pizza and a large lower calorie salad. There are a million tactics to keep this sort of thing from happening, but first you have to be aware of why it happened. No one put pizza in your mouth; you made that choice. When you take a closer look at why you made it, you will be better equipped to make better choices.

It's just one day and it's not a competition. It will be okay.

Here is the thing... I'm sure it's been said but don't do anything you aren't willing to do forever. So, don't restrict to the point you are hungry, dizzy, etc People do that and then they overeat. You can think that you are going to do whatever but your body has one goal and that is to survive. I think some people starve to the point that their body feels like it is an actual famine.. no food and at some point they go crazy and eat everything. I think it triggers a Feast/Famine thing.

Just do what you plan on doing forever. There has to be balance. You're going to want to eat pizza sometimes. Thanksgiving is in a few days and I'm totally eating some pie. BUT.. Black Friday, I'm totally eating another piece of pie but in place of my regular breakfast and it will fit in my goals. Balance.

Be kind to yourself.

This is a goal of mine too

I try to be home around midnight but need something to help me relax and wind down, besides food. I may drink tea.

Accept that even in maintenance it’s okay and even a bit healthy to indulge now and then. Start anew tomorrow and enjoy life!

I tend to just move on. I don't beat myself up about it. Just draw a line in the sand and move on. I might exercise a bit harder the next day or eat a bit less, but overall - the next day is a new start. Now that I'm in maintenance, I've also discovered that the 'bad days' don't seem to affect the scales the way I would have expected. In the same way the scales don't miraculously jump down when I've been 'good', they don't jump up magically when I've been 'bad'. Ultimately it's about a combination of behaviour over a series of days, weeks, months and longer ... Losing weight after packing it on for so many years is about the long game...