Logging Spike Meals/Days

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I like the idea of giving myself a mental break and metabolism boost by having a meal every now and again where I don't worry about calories. I'm just wondering how (and if) people are logging these meals. When I take a whole day off from counting (illness, vacation, etc.) I just don't log at all. But days that I'd like to do a meal w/o counting, I'm not sure how to handle it on MFP. Should I log my other meals and just make a note on my page that I had a dinner out that I didn't calculate? I don't want to mess up the weekly calorie info by "completing" the diary for the day when the calorie count I've tracked does not include the "spike" meal. Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance!
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Replies

  • Dawna954
    Dawna954 Posts: 183 Member
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    I try to log everything! It is so easy for me to let one day turn into the next and before you know it, BAMM! I'm back into my old habits. If I can't get to a computer then I won't log but other than that I put it in. Last week, I chose to have nachos, I logged it and holy crow it was a whopping 1450 cals! That was enough to make me want to get back into the groove.
    I take a spike "night" every week. I usually pick Friday nights. It's not a spike day but rather a meal and a few drinks. I also try to plan for it. Then Saturday, back on track. Sometimes I need more than one meal but I rarely if ever do an entire day of bad eating.
    Bottom line, you only get one go round so we need to enjoy it! :) Happy Friday!

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  • Stacyanne324
    Stacyanne324 Posts: 780 Member
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    I log everything I put in my mouth because if I don't I will generally go crazy with eating and drinking and go way over what I planned even if it's a Spike day. I am currently doing the spike diet so 3 days a week I eat at 1200 calories, 3 days I eat to my BMR (1500) and on Spike day (Sunday for me) I eat twice my BMR or 3000 calories. I could easily eat 6000 calories if I didn't log it so I enjoy myself and if I go a bit over 3000 it's ok but I still log it. Good luck!
  • w292737
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    I always log everything, even if it's just a quick count of over all calories and manually entered.
  • Scorpioangel
    Scorpioangel Posts: 951 Member
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    I log everything so I am honest with myself and so I can back track to see patterns, etc.
  • AReasor
    AReasor Posts: 355 Member
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    At first I didn't want to log those spike meals. But after logging them I realized that I had no idea how bad or good I was being. I thought I blew my whole day after Taco Bell and a beer. It was no where as bad as I thought. Now the cowboy burger I had a Applebee's, that's another thing. I see logging these meals now as another learning tool.
  • LoreleiWalks
    LoreleiWalks Posts: 143 Member
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    Lots of helpful responses here. Thanks, everyone! I think the general consensus is to log spike meals, even if it's just a "quick added calories" type of thing. I appreciate all of your feedback on this!
  • rockstarginaa
    rockstarginaa Posts: 1,529 Member
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    I always log everything, even if it's just a quick count of over all calories and manually entered.

    I do this.
  • TWrecks1968
    TWrecks1968 Posts: 138 Member
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    Sundays are my "free" days. I don't log anything. For me, that is the point of the mental break. I eat an obscene amount, and the scale shows it on Monday through sometimes Thursday, before I get back to what I was on Sunday morning. Since the middle of November, I have lost an average of 1.6 lbs a week, so it is working for me. Indulging on Sundays helps me to stay on track the rest of the week.
  • I've counted calories every single day since December 6th 2010. I lost 7 lbs. (I have about 90 lbs to lose). I wore a bodymedia fit so I typically logged there. I've gone over in my calorie goal 4 times in this time frame and logged everytime.

    Last night I had my first cheat meal (planned) for hubby's birthday. We went to Red Robin and I ate so bad. I came home and bawled. I didn't log it - I just felt disgusting and guilty and bad. (BAD thinking - I know, I know - I'm so stinking obsessed with trying to lose weight that I'm messing up my own mind!).

    I woke up this a.m. and lost FOUR pounds altogether.

    That was mind blowing to me.

    Now I'm thinking of having one "spike/cheat" meal a month myself and wondering myself if I should log it or not. Glad to read some of the responses here. Still thinking if I have to log it I probably won't be able to bring myself to do it....
  • ElPumaMex
    ElPumaMex Posts: 367 Member
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    At first I didn't want to log those spike meals. But after logging them I realized that I had no idea how bad or good I was being. I thought I blew my whole day after Taco Bell and a beer. It was no where as bad as I thought. Now the cowboy burger I had a Applebee's, that's another thing. I see logging these meals now as another learning tool.

    ^^ Yes
    It is a great learning tool to log spike days, so that you can better predict the calories when you don't have a PC around, etc
  • w2bab
    w2bab Posts: 353 Member
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    I log everything. I weigh myself every morning and keep a running spreadsheet with my daily weight linked to a graph. There are going to be spikes even if I don't indulge occasionally, due to water retention, etc. If I exceed my calories due to a meal out here and there I expect my weight to go up for a day or so before it drops again, but it doesn't always. It helps keep me honest, and reminds me that my weight will continue to go down. I view this as a lifestyle change, and in real life we overeat sometimes.
  • jcoco
    jcoco Posts: 143 Member
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    I am planning on starting the Spike diet on Monday. I have figured out the amount of calories I need for my high,low, & spike day. However, I do not know if I am suppose to eat my exercise calories. For example, I figured on my low days through the calculations, that I should be eating 1200 calories. I burn about 700 calories through workout, does that then give me a total of 1900 or do I just eat 1200? I read the book from the library & had to return it so I cannot look back and double check. Can anybody that is doing the Spike diet answer this for me? Thank you very much for the help.
  • linzirussell
    linzirussell Posts: 116 Member
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    i log everything i eat or drink lol, and today is my spike day!!:) i have been on a spike-type diet for over a year now and have got from 282 and i weighed myself today after my spike and im 173/174 :D yay lol my diarys open as well if u wana see how i log stuff on my spike days :)
  • Stacyanne324
    Stacyanne324 Posts: 780 Member
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    I am planning on starting the Spike diet on Monday. I have figured out the amount of calories I need for my high,low, & spike day. However, I do not know if I am suppose to eat my exercise calories. For example, I figured on my low days through the calculations, that I should be eating 1200 calories. I burn about 700 calories through workout, does that then give me a total of 1900 or do I just eat 1200? I read the book from the library & had to return it so I cannot look back and double check. Can anybody that is doing the Spike diet answer this for me? Thank you very much for the help.

    Are you part of the Spike Group on here? Great group of people and very helpful! I am fairly new to the diet but I have not been eating my exercise calories. Are you doing it by the book with the 3 low, 3 bmr, 1 spike day? Lately I have not been exercising as much as I was but when I first started and asked about it I was told that if I do exercise a lot to just follow a range those other 6 days of between 1200 and whatever your bmr is. But, either way I look at exercise calories now as added bonus to my weight loss and muscle toning and not something I need to eat back. Your body won't go into starvation mode because of the weekly spike day.
  • Sarahmeridith
    Sarahmeridith Posts: 298 Member
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    It depends, if its stuff I cook at home I usually log everything, but a lot of times I use quick calories to save time rather then loking everything up. But tomorrow I am going out of town, I will log breakfast but I am going out for a big dinner, I wont log it, I know Im going over, I will try and not go crazy, but I dont really want to log and feel horrible about a fun day out with my family, but this is a rare execption so I dont really worry about a day of not logging everything, as long as I know Ill be rigth back to it the next day!
  • modine43
    modine43 Posts: 27 Member
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    I logg everything I eat good or bad, we are here because we want to make real changes to our lives, its easy to go bad to bad habits if you don't log.
  • Stacyanne324
    Stacyanne324 Posts: 780 Member
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    It depends, if its stuff I cook at home I usually log everything, but a lot of times I use quick calories to save time rather then loking everything up. But tomorrow I am going out of town, I will log breakfast but I am going out for a big dinner, I wont log it, I know Im going over, I will try and not go crazy, but I dont really want to log and feel horrible about a fun day out with my family, but this is a rare execption so I dont really worry about a day of not logging everything, as long as I know Ill be rigth back to it the next day!

    These kind of times are the exception to my logging too. Every now and then we stay with family out of state for a night and when we do that I won't log. Partly because it's hard to know what is in the food someone else is preparing and not knowing what I'll even be eating that day and partly because like you said I just want a fun day with my family and not being worried about grabbing my phone to log all day. I just try to balance enjoying myself and not going totally crazy and get back to it once I get home again. Enjoy your day out!
  • samhelen
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    I've found that going through the process of logging foods I've eaten whether good or bad is helping to form my "calorie vocabulary" meaning the more I start learning about the foods I eat, the easier its been for me to mentally calculate just how many calories are in something whether I've cooked it or not.
  • jcoco
    jcoco Posts: 143 Member
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    I am planning on starting the Spike diet on Monday. I have figured out the amount of calories I need for my high,low, & spike day. However, I do not know if I am suppose to eat my exercise calories. For example, I figured on my low days through the calculations, that I should be eating 1200 calories. I burn about 700 calories through workout, does that then give me a total of 1900 or do I just eat 1200? I read the book from the library & had to return it so I cannot look back and double check. Can anybody that is doing the Spike diet answer this for me? Thank you very much for the help.

    Are you part of the Spike Group on here? Great group of people and very helpful! I am fairly new to the diet but I have not been eating my exercise calories. Are you doing it by the book with the 3 low, 3 bmr, 1 spike day? Lately I have not been exercising as much as I was but when I first started and asked about it I was told that if I do exercise a lot to just follow a range those other 6 days of between 1200 and whatever your bmr is. But, either way I look at exercise calories now as added bonus to my weight loss and muscle toning and not something I need to eat back. Your body won't go into starvation mode because of the weekly spike day.
  • jcoco
    jcoco Posts: 143 Member
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    I am starting on Monday & plan to do the 3 low, 3 high & 1 spike. I will look in joining the Spike Diet group, thank you for the response. I am a little nervous about it, I have been dieting & have hit a major plateau so I am going to try this.