How badly did I mess up?

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Nailrep
Nailrep Posts: 966 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Been back on my "routine", eating right and working out, for about three weeks now.


Last night, my intention was to have a cheat meal, which turned into an event! So today, I'm drinking lots of water and will do cadio a little longer. But no amount of cardio is gonna make up for yesterday!! LOL!

So how much damage did I do to my efforts of the last three weeks?
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Replies

  • mayerel
    mayerel Posts: 254 Member
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    The best thing about making life changes is there's always a tomorrow!!
  • runnercheryl
    runnercheryl Posts: 1,314 Member
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    Though it's not an exact science, you would have to eat 3500 calories over your MAINTENANCE calories to have gained 1lb. If you're losing weight, you won't even be eating maintenance usually. Assuming you're working to lose 1lb a week, you'd have had to eat 4000 calories more than usual yesterday just to gain 1lb. I doubt you did that, but even if you did that's nothing in the grand scheme of a lifestyle change.
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Forget about it and start afresh!
  • Drastiic
    Drastiic Posts: 322 Member
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    In three weeks I'm sure you've probably eaten at least 63 meals (3 per day), so messing up once is hardly anything to worry about.
  • graysmom2005
    graysmom2005 Posts: 1,882 Member
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    I went to the DC Food Truck Festival yesterday. Yeah, that's right. A FOOD TRUCK FESTIVAL. I just quick added 3000 calories...which may have been overshooting it. We tried many many foods from many many trucks. Water and right back on the horse. All you can do! :-)
  • cmurray234
    cmurray234 Posts: 112 Member
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    One "bad" meal isn't going to make or break your diet. The problem with splurging for some people is once they let go of the rigid control of their diet even once, they have a hard time going back.

    As long as you don't give up, you should be fine.
  • belladonnablue
    belladonnablue Posts: 24
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    As I understand it, there's not too much damage you can do to a diet over the course of just one day. It takes a 3500 calorie surplus to gain a pound, and it's pretty doubtful you consumed that much over your normally calorie allowance. I mean, if you're at, say 1500 calories, you'd have to eat 5000 calories over the course of a single day. That's kinda hard, barring stuff like the legendary 9000 calorie taco salad, but even eating the nastiest fast food meal won't put you over by that much.

    That said, just pay attention to your general calorie needs for the week and make adjustments. I went 500 calories over my limit last night (apparently Panda Express Beijing Beef is about 700 calories for a 5 oz serving. Ouch.) and I'm just adjusting my calorie intake for the rest of the week to be a little lower each day. Five days of 100 calories less each day = back on track. :)

    So, no, you haven't outdone the good work you've had for the past 3 weeks. Give yourself a pat on the back for doing so well so far and press on without guilt!
  • LilRedRooster
    LilRedRooster Posts: 1,421 Member
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    Unless you ate back all the calories you cut out or burned off in the last three weeks (which I'm guessing would be impossible to get in just one meal), you'll be totally fine.
  • NewTeena
    NewTeena Posts: 154 Member
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    One day is not worth worrying about. We all have days where we fall off the wagon and the next day we climb back on, it's all part of learning to make better choices. It becomes a problem when you decide that one bad day has ruined all the good ones and you just give up. The worst that has most likely happened is that you went way over on sodium and if you see any gain it's simply water weight that will disappear in a day or two.

    Besides, there are many people who have cheat days and not just a cheat meal and still lose weight successfully. To explain it in simple terms they say it keeps your metabolism guessing as to how fast it should work.
  • BigMech
    BigMech Posts: 420 Member
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    Forget about it and start afresh!

    This is the key, you can't changed what happened in the past, no matter how much you worry about it, but you can change what you do today and tomorrow!

    You may see your weight fluctuate a few lbs due to water retention if you had a lot of carbs or salt, but that should fade fairly quickly. As someone else said, you need to eat about 3,500 extra calories just to gain one pound, which is tough to do in one day.
  • JeSuisPrest
    JeSuisPrest Posts: 2,005 Member
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    Impossible to say without seeing your diary, but more than likely you didn't do any damage. Keep hydrating and make good choices!
  • dhakiyya
    dhakiyya Posts: 481 Member
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    Though it's not an exact science, you would have to eat 3500 calories over your MAINTENANCE calories to have gained 1lb. If you're losing weight, you won't even be eating maintenance usually. Assuming you're working to lose 1lb a week, you'd have had to eat 4000 calories more than usual yesterday just to gain 1lb. I doubt you did that, but even if you did that's nothing in the grand scheme of a lifestyle change.

    ^^^ this
  • STrooper
    STrooper Posts: 659 Member
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    In two words: you didn't.

    Its just not something you'd want to do everyday. Notice it and move on.
  • shamdi
    shamdi Posts: 9
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    I went to the movies two days in a row last week and each time I had a big bag of salty, buttery popcorn. I remained focused the rest of the week and when I did my weekly weigh in I had lost 2 pounds!

    Sometimes a little cheating is good for you, it kickstarts your metabolism. :)
  • ArtemisMoon
    ArtemisMoon Posts: 144
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    If it makes you feel any better, I had a 2,000 calorie over mess up a week ago. I never gained any weight though. I actually started losing weight faster after that.
  • smor27
    smor27 Posts: 87
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    Pick yourself up dust yourself off and continue on your journey. If you don't have a cheat day every now an then it makes it worse on you and you want them more and more.
    Tomorrow is another day. I find myself a better person because of them. Thing is you must log it to hold yourself accountable.
  • jonchew
    jonchew Posts: 239 Member
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    Mehh, learn-from, but don't fret-about it... there's nothing that you can do about it anyways. I know that once I start to obsess about overindulging at a meal, I get "the guilts" and then (yep) start to guilt-munch. Sounds stupid when explained in a sentence, but it's true - go figure.

    Just let it go!
  • msliu7911
    msliu7911 Posts: 639 Member
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    You didn't mess up anything. Forget about it and move on! :-)

    I say this because really- unless you had over 3500 calories you are fine. For a few days you will probably see a gain on the scale (anywhere from 2-5lbs depending on how you retain sodium/water), however it will go away. Just do what you said you are doing... lots of water and get back on track! You will be back to normal in a few days.
  • Gwenski
    Gwenski Posts: 348 Member
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    Glad to hear you are back on track! Wondering if you felt any different this morning.
    Weird question, I know... but.. one time I ate extremely healthy... I ate at an Ethiopian restaurant of all places.. anyway, I ate a TON at the lunchtime meal..wasn't hungry for supper, and that night and the next day, I felt AMAZING! Don't know what was in that food.. but WOW!
  • Nailrep
    Nailrep Posts: 966 Member
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    Thanks you all! I normally eat a cheat meal per week after I've been dieting for two. But I really outdid myself last night!! (it was the alcohol doing the talking and eating!! lol)

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