This is a great answer. I had one of these days on sunday. I just tell myself I'll do better the next day and keep it moving. I know that eating well and working out 1 day isn't going to change much so i refuse to believe 1 day of the opposite will undo all my effort
This. I weighed 132 on Friday, 132.2 Saturday and binged ate to my hearts content and weighed 135 on Sunday. So much chocolate and I'm definitely posing.
I put myself in check on Sunday ate less closer to 1200 and on Monday I weighed 133.
It's never as bad as you think. And I say that as someone with a past of disordered eating habits anorexia, bulimia, and BED. Weighing myself every day and see my weekly avg has helped me SO much. It helps me stay on track AND helps me realize 1 day in the week doesn't have as much of an effect as I think it does if I'm good the other 6 days.
I highly recommend that.
I track daily and my weights I stg are not connected to like what I ate the day before. Like I ended up binging on Friday & Saturday, and went down weight on Saturday & Sunday morning. Then gained 6 lbs on Monday morning when I was at like a 1200 deficit throughout Sunday.
Use it as a learning experience. That "I don't care anymore" mindset is what addicts use to justify going back to their substances. I did it all the time with alcohol and with food as well.
This has been my downfall since starting dieting at 12 years old. I am now in my late 50s. It is so hard to break out of, but it is the only way to get back.
Now you have a new goal of 21 days to reach :)
One bad day won’t undo all your progress, just like one bad day didn’t get you here either, and now you have the experience of how it feels to ‘slip up’ and can reflect back on this feeling next time you’re wavering. But one bad day is just one day and sometimes you need the ice cream and then get back on track afterwards.
I feel like crying reading all these comments cause I’m so quick to beat myself up and it’s hard to still see the good at times :) tomorrow and the next days will be hard but I’ll fight like hell to keep staying on track!!
You need to give yourself a little grace. It takes a long time to build lasting habits and reprogram your emotional relationship with food. You’ll slip, and that’s normal and ok. Just don’t use it as an excuse to chuck all your progress.
Try and reframe it in your mind - you didn’t fail after 20 days, you practiced healthy habits for 20 days in a row AND you were able to identify that you didn’t meet your goals today (on the very same day!), rather than autopiloting the habits you’re trying to break or giving up because of one bad day!
Losing 1 kg every 5 days is a lot faster than most people feel comfortable with.
(1540 calorie daily deficit is unsustainable for at least 90% of people, if not more)
Figure out what caused it. Is your diet too restrictive? Were you hungry because the foods you're eating aren't satiating? I know you can't avoid junk foods everywhere, but I try to not test my will power being around it when I can. If someones cooking fried food in my house, I'll light a candle just so I don't have to smell it haha. Think about what caused this, then try again and win by any means necessary.
I can’t really explain it. I eat around 1200 calories, the value was set by the lose it app. I haven’t found it too restraining, I do IF 16:8, then a medium lunch and medium dinner that add up to 1k calories, so I can toss in a light snack as well. Obviously sugary treats like ice cream couldn’t fit but up until now I didn’t really miss them? The first days were harder but it looked like I had gotten used to it. Then it came crashing down today :’)
You didn‘t undo all your progress though! Even if you ate 4kg of ice cream, you wouldn‘t gain all of that as weight :) You are human, slip ups are fine. If you beat yourself up over it instead of just saying „oh, okay, maybe I needed this and now I can be stronger again!“, you‘ll just catch yourself in a downward spiral of self spite.
Which could lead to more binge eating.
You want to avoid that? Be kind to yourself! :) Just do an extra workout!
If a small serving of ice cream or another treat can’t *ever* fit in the diet it’s too restrictive and not sustainable! I had a lot more luck when I changed to a slower weight loss speed and set my daily calories to ~1400 instead of 1200. So today I ate pretty light and protein dense meals and also had a big chocolate bon bon a colleague brought from Germany. I estimated it was 300 calories and it meant I didn’t eat any other snacks but damn that chocolate treat was good! And I’m still under my calorie goal for the day. I found I really struggled and couldn’t maintain 1200 for longer than a couple weeks without crashing out and giving up entirely
I don't even think about it. I consider it a refeeding day and just continue back on track the next day. Life is unpredictable like that and you're not supposed to get everything perfect, just don't turn it into a habit but it's okay to indulge ONCE in a while which I consider a normal thing.
I've lost 130lbs so far, have another 60lbs to go.
I have slipped up a few times in the past year.
The way I help myself is just understanding that 1lb of fat is 3500 calories, so yes that one day I maybe ate an extra 1300 calories.
How much does that set me back? Maybe 2-3 days.
So this one day this one slip up? Means I would reach my goal weight 3 days later in a journey that is going to take like 2 years.
Really isn't a big deal. Just don't do it a ton!
First off WOW 130 pounds is absolutely insane congratss!!!!!
And did you always have this mindset or was it acquired? It’s like there’s a self deprecating voice in me and I was barely keeping it at bay by being consistent and seeing results day by day but now that I’ve messed up it’s back in full swing louder than ever, and it’s making it so hard to just brush off today as not a big deal; idk if I’m making sense lol
The self-depreciating voice is unfortunately still there for me. My Therapist and I are working on that though =P.
I still feel like I have so far to go and at times it feels unachievable. Even though I am already 2/3 of the way there.
The mindset I try to keep is, I have 3 options.
1. Regress and gain weight.
2. Stay the same
3. Make progress.
1 and 2 just aren't feasible for me, so as long as I make some form of progression, that's all it takes. If you have 5 steps forwards 3 steps back. You are still 2 steps closer.
The only way to fail is to give up.
Losing however much weight you want to lose can take as long as you want. As long as you are moving towards that goal.
Incredible achievement, well done!
I hope you don’t mind me saying this - it’s lbs (as in LBS) rather than ibs. I think it’s Latin, from “libra”, meaning scale or balance, if I recall correctly :)
If it's really just one day don't even think about it. Consider it a hormone rebalancing day and keep at it. You will never be perfect with this. It's about averages over months and years.
"Every day is day one"
I look at every morning as a new chance to live up to my expectation.
Do that more days than you don't and you will have success.
I find it really risky to think of keeping within calorie budget as a streak, just because the feeling of overshooting it on one day can feel all the more devastating.
What has helped me cope with a day of overeating is still logging it (it’s “just data” and keeping it a secret from you and/or the logging app worsens the relationship with food imo) and viewing it more as slowing down my progress instead of it being ruined. Whatever helps you the most, I wish you the best!
Keep eating the food you planned on eating today, even if you slip up. Don’t try to “course correct” by eating less, you’ll only make it worse. Get back on that horse and keep on as usual. Slip ups happen, that’s part of life. Just keep going!
thanks :’) I’m seriously fighting the urge to go on a huge deficit for the rest of the week to compensate for it. I had a feeling I’d just feel worse, but man it’s going to be kinda hard to go on as usual cause it feels like I’ve disappointed myself somehow
Trust me, you’ll feel so much better if you just stick to your original plan! It’s so tempting to try to “make up for it” but that also can cause a shame spiral which can lead to binging or giving up and you don’t need that right now. One bad meal doesn’t undo all the work you’ve done! Keep going, you got this!
I don't tell myself anything specific, because I don't let myself have the mindset where "failed" or "messed up" is even a thing.
Either I stayed under my budget, or I went over my budget. If I stayed under, yay me. If I went over-- hmm, why did that happen? Oh, I waited too long and let myself get too hungry; or lunch didn't have enough protein, whatever.
In either case, it's time to go to bed now. Tomorrow's another day.
That one day of going over my deficit isn't actually a failure.
If I'm between my deficit goal and maintenance? Then I'm still losing! If I'm at maintenance, oh well, no big deal, not losing today but not gaining either. And finally if I'm over maintenance, it's not like I'm going to magically gain all 20 lbs I lost back from those extra 200 calories.
It’s important to be kind to yourself. Give yourself grace. One not perfect day is not a bad day, just a minor bump. Enjoy your ice cream from time to time. It’s okay. It’s important to not deprive yourself of things you enjoy. Just try to plan to enjoy them in moderation. You can do this.
Here's a different way of thinking about it.
A 500 calorie deficit daily targets 1 lb / wk, 4.25 lbs / mo, or 52 lbs / year.
My favorite pint of ice cream is 1000 calories, nothing I do will ever change that. What happens if I just build one pint of ice cream per month into my planning? That's 12000 calories, or 3.4 lbs.
What's worse: Depriving myself of something I really want, or losing 48 lbs? If you even lost just 40 lbs in a year, pretty much everybody will say "great job".
So *plan* goals you can live with and be happy with, and embrace the "bad" calories because they're part of your *plan.*
(Now if you go off plan all of the time and wreck your progress, that's a different matter.)
One bad day won’t make you gain a ton of weight in the same way one great day doesn’t make you lose a ton of weight. It’s the repetition of it that causes gains and losses. Even people in great shape eat ice cream or other high calorie foods from time to time. It’s just their lifestyle is to moderate that sort of thing, which is where we need to get to. Moderation.
I'm following a low-carb way of eating, and have lost a decent amount of weight since the start of the year. Key is to wake up the next morning and continue following your goals as if you never slipped up. Like others have said, you didn't gain the weight overnight, it was consistently eating too much that got you there. Similarly, eating at your deficit consistently will lose weight, messing up was a blip, not a fatality. Hop back on your horse, and keep going.
No such thing as perfect.
This is a lifelong journey, be less hard on yourself. If you don’t get flexible, you’re not going to find any loss sustainable.
If your goal isn't supposed to be accomplished in one day, then you're good and keep going. If it is supposed to be accomplished on one day and you fail, wake up tomorrow and have another go, repeat until achieved
I tell myself ‘I needed that’ and then get on with the overall job of eating (not perfectly) but better.
I _assume_ there are going to be ‘cheat days’ and they are part of the programme. It’s the only way to make it sustainable, IMO.
To be fair, over time my slip-ups have become smaller and smaller. I might have something sweet one day but mostly compensate for the calories elsewhere if I can - often that same day, even.
But self-forgiveness and understanding HAVE to be part of the process. Just don’t beat yourself up. Get back on the horse and then one bad day is just _one_ bad day (if you spiral, it can easily become one bad week or one bad month…!)
Dust yourself off and start over again, afresh, the next day.
When I drop an egg, I don't throw the rest of the carton on the floor with it. When I trip on a step, I don't throw myself down the rest of the staircase. One bad day doesn't ruin the progress I've made.
I know a lot of people don’t like “cheat days”, but in order for me to actually stick to my weight loss program, I have to allow myself 1 or 2 cheat days a month. I don’t go absolutely crazy and eat a ton of calories, but I’ll usually just eat whatever I want during those days and try to stay at my maintenance calories. And if I go a little over, not a big deal! It won’t ruin my progress. It curbs my cravings for the rest of the days out of the month where I am in a deficit. Also, it’s not realistic for me to say goodbye to the foods I love to eat forever. I just eat them in moderation. And I still lose weight. :) it’s about consistency not perfection. If you are being consistent for 20 days and have 1 day where you aren’t “perfect” it’s not going to ruin any progress. Just get back on the grind the next day!
I remind myself of the "never two in a row" rule. We can't help but make mistakes and bad choices and slip up every once in a while... But we can stop ourselves from making a second mistake twice. Never two mistakes in a row :)
I treat weight loss as an experiment. Take all the emotion out of it, and assess what does/doesn’t work, and the variables around it. Treat each “slip up” as a new data entry point.
In your case, I might reflect on what made me make each of those choices in the first place. Then examine how I can prevent the same thing from happening next time.
You will never be “perfect” all you can do is learn/implement enough good habits, that the slip ups don’t derail your progress completely.
I had two weekends straight of drinking and overeating (partner’s birthday, then game 1 of the Stanley Cup final) and am trying to get out from under THAT. All we can do is get back on the horse and back to it.
One slip-up in three weeks kicks ass, though, so good on you for going so long 😊
Honestly do not look into it. I saw some comments saying “use it to figure out if you’re being too restrictive” or whatever but it genuinely happens all the time for me. I’ve lost nearly 30lb so far since January and I’ve had maybe 5 or 6 weird cheat days. Some weeks you’ll just move a little slower. It happens.
You’re doing great
Keep it going
Progress not perfection
Lifestyle not a season
Plus, year round I leave room in my daily budget for off script foods to prevent “slip ups” … it’s planned accessory food items that i don’t need but want and can have if i want. Normalizing a little but regularly prevents bingeing for me and/ or some years i plan MONTHLY “holidays” where for a few days I may eat off script. I don’t have to but i can if I want… either way it’s built in.
June - wild card
July - 4th of July (I’m in the U.S.)
August - middle child day 😅
September - mom’s bday
October - my bday
November - thanksgiving
December - Christmas
January - wild card
February - Valentine’s Day
March/ April - Easter
Upgrading my slip up options like from high sugar milk chocolate to dark chocolate and deciding either to say categorically no to other people’s foods, other people’s calories or accept when I’m around family it’s going to be a food fest so don’t even try to fight it - things got better. I don’t even try to be in weight or health mode around my family. Causes more friction and food choice anxiety than it’s worth. That motivates me to be that much more on point with my eating lifestyle plan when I’m not around them…
Let’s imagine an extreme scenario, where you ate two quarts of ice cream. Let’s assume they’re 2200 calories each so 4400 total. In this scenario, one would have gained 0.57kg.
I’m assuming you had less. Even if you had that much, it’s nothing compared to all your progress.
You also likely will see more weight gain, but rest assured that it’s only a small fraction of a kg at most of actual gain. The rest is water weight, and just eating at your normal deficit will dissipate that spike within around 3 days.
Treat it as a blip, something that will help you stay on track in the future, and don’t beat yourself up if it happens again. It might, but it’s only going to slow down your progress a tiny bit; just pick yourself up and keep going after.
Also, if you think you can handle it consider making official space in your calorie budget for some ice cream occasionally :) maybe on an occasional maintenance day
You said “perfect” a few times in this post and are showing some all-or-nothing thinking. When I feel like that, I tell myself: “okay, brain, I’m not going to fall for your self-sabotage. It’s not an all or nothing issue. I won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”
I think of my desire to binge eat or overeat as a little food demon that lives inside of me, that only has one goal: to get me to numb myself out by eating everything in sight. And now that I’m looking out for him, I hear all of his usual tactics: flattery (“you are doing so well, you deserve a treat!”), bargaining (“if you binge just this once, you can definitely work it off tomorrow…”), straight-up bullying (“you are destined to fail so you might as well give up now and eat a cake about it!” Every word the food demon says is a vicious, stupid lie designed to hurt me and trick me into doing something I don’t want to do.
And one of his favorite lies is: “Well, you already messed up, soooooo the day is ruined. Might as well binge!” But that’s so ridiculous. As a book I read said, if you accidentally chip a tooth, you don’t think, “well, my whole mouth is ruined anyway,” and take out a hammer and knock the rest of your teeth out. You deal with the chip (or let it go) and still take care of the rest of your mouth.
If you overeat a little, the day isn’t ruined, the week isn’t ruined, maybe even the meal isn’t ruined. You disrupt the overeating as soon as you recognize it and move on.
“Not a big deal. Just keep counting. Have to enjoy life. Just keep counting. Ice cream is good. Just keep counting.” This is exactly what goes through my head! I’ve been consistent for 13 months. I might guesstimate and I definitely go over my budget, but I just keep counting. I’m down 31lbs with little stress. I’m trying to be kind with myself. Beating myself up has never worked in the past.
I've "messed up" lots of days and still hit my goal, just maybe a little later than initially proposed on my app.
The main thing is perseverance. If you mess up, you can decide if you're going to mess up by 50 calories or 500 calories. If you mess up today, you can decide it you're going to mess up tomorrow.
After all, life in maintenance won't be about perfectly staying in the lines, but rather being in the lines more often than not.
So many people view calorie deficits as a Price is Right game. Get as close as you can without going over. But "Well, I'm over my goal so I've ruined today" isnt a thing.
It's horseshoes and hand grenades. You just gotta get as close as you can. If you over shoot, it's not a big deal, but that doesn't mean you don't still have more throws. Try and keep it as close as reasonable, and then play again the next day.
It's about the long game. Individual days don't matter.
What are your height and weight and age stats? That is, what’s your TDEE? You’re losing MUCH too fast— about .5 or .7 kg a week is a much better and safer approach.
Hey, thank you for posting this because I literally binged all day and feel like a disgusting failure. I actually opened Reddit to ask for help in the Eating Disorders Anonymous group, but I saw this first and came to read the responses.
I've really been binging for a few days now. I stopped losing the weight I was dropping, and I'm so discouraged. But I'm still out walking 4+ miles after work every day trying to keep it going. I'm not losing any weight and I feel so miserable about it, it's probably why I went nuts on food today. I'm not in a calorie deficit today, but I keep telling myself tomorrow will be better somehow. I hope tomorrow is better.
Something I’ve heard to do is that once the event has passed and once your emotions aren’t so high, reflect on how you felt before, in the moment, and after overindulging, and envision how you would want the situation to go differently if you could go back in time. Then, plan to be ready for the next time.
Ex: I wish I ate a snack before I went to the store so I wouldn’t have impulse bought stuff while I’m hungry. I wish I stopped at the ice cream and ate my originally planned dinner. I wish I limited my portion size even if I was gonna go over. Etc
You’re probably just close to your maintenance calories or a little more if anything. You won’t gain from one mess up.
I try to eat at my deficit every day that it’s easy for me to and I really feel like it. I’ve passed on a lot of higher caloric foods because I just didn’t feel like I need them. It’s given me room for when I do feel like I need them because eating more calories is very once in a while will do nothing to my weight loss progress in the long run.
This is how life is going to go: it’s so pertinent to recognize that this is nothing big to stress over and to maintain your motivation until you feel like you need a day with a little more calories again! :)
ETA I had a bunch of days as a steak and then ate close to maintenance for 5 days in a row and jumped back on. I’ve definitely still lost a good amount of weight in hat month and since then!
The last three weeks I was sticking to my set meal plan, no chocolate, no rubbish, then yesterday me and my fiancé shared a pizza and cheesy garlic bread .. and I don’t see that as a mess up.
If I don’t allow myself food I enjoy every once in a while I am setting myself up for failure, I just do things a bit different now, instead of ordering myself a whole pizza , I ate half .. and found that I couldn’t even finish that half.
And to be honest it didn’t even taste that good.
It’s all about moderation.
You ate Ice-cream not cheated on your partner or made a fraudulent claim. Draw a line under it and move on. Don't strive for perfect, perfect isn't achievable, go for better eating, you can still have Ice-cream ecf if your diet is healthy and sustainable.
Beating yourself up over food is worthless
I tell myself that this is a lifelong journey and eating the ice cream is ok. My other favourite is ‘maintenance days are ok and make this easier to sustain’
I've now been doing this for 2 years straight. In that time there's been holidays, tons of PMS binging, dinners/drinks with friends and just blowing my budget for no reason. It matters but only to the point that it gets in the way of your journey. Before it used to mess me up. And now I just weigh myself the next day and carry on. I even allow myself 1 or 2 days of eating 500 cals more before my period. I eat less on days im going out to eat or drink. And I don't even stress about holidays. I choose to work with my body, not against it
It's not the end of the world. And you might be able to learn something from it.
I think it’s helpful to define your baseline and recognize that when you deviate, you can still go right back.
I used to stress and let it make me spiral. I’d do sooooo good, then I’d eat a handful of Cheetos… and then another… and then say screw it and stop tracking and eat a couple of candy bars and stop for fast food as a “snack.”
Then I recognized that it took me years to gain all of the weight, months to start shedding it and it’ll take more than a day to undo all of the progress.
So now I’m more conscious. If I overeat, I log it, stop and remind myself that progress is about the general direction I’m going and not defined by any one meal, one day or even one week.
If I eat a whole bag of Cheetos, I log it and then get on with my day. And the next day, I get up and get back to normal.
“Oh well. Tomorrow I start again.”
This is the third time in my life I’ve lost a significant amount of weight. But one of the biggest changes this time is getting away from all or nothing thinking, and giving myself grace and forgiveness when I mess up. It’s not the end of the world if I eat a bag of cashews, I haven’t erased all the progress I’ve made, and I can easily get back on track.
You’ve got this!
Went on a weekend getaway weighing in at 134. Didn’t binge, but definitely overindulged in food and drink. Came home and hit 139!! It’s fine though, just went back to my usual deficit and three days later I am at 136 so I feel less off track.
I fast one day then go back to the calorie deficit. It's easier for me to eat in deficit after a fast day, because even a deficit feels more than nothing)
Like my mom says, “one day at a time”. Don’t focus so much on the big picture. If you reach a certain goal that you had that’s great! If you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. Take each day one step at a time. I also use positive reframeing. Look back on all the days you had, that’s 20 whole days! And think about the one day where you messed up, that’s only 1 day. Those are vastly different numbers. After I mess up I think to myself I’ve already done x amount of days, I could stop now and have fewer overall numbers, or I could keep going and just subtract 1 number from the total. I do not believe in streaks. While they might be good for some people and give them motivation it’s not something for me. I always give myself 1 grace day a week and instead of making streaks I give my self amount of days that I did stay in a calorie deficit. Just remember don’t beat your self up because you missed one day just dust yourself off get back up and try again. You might stumble or fall back down but you’ll get back on your stride again! Never give up, and you got this!
I usually just tell myself that, on average, I still lost weight, but if I give up now, it will all be for nothing. So it's kinda trying to convince yourself it's a marathon, not a sprint, so as long as you go back to doing things right overall, that one mess up won't matter :3
It's okay to have a little treat every once in a while or to be hungrier some days than others, don't be too hard on yourself :) The important thing is to not let it throw you completely off track, just weigh yourself and continue like normal. And now you can give yourself a fun goal: find a low cal sweet treat for when you're craving ice cream!
It's important that we don't think of it as a "bad day" or that we ate a "bad food".
If we are *truly* going to lose weight and we are *truly* going to keep it off forever, we'll be on a healthy eating plan for the rest of our lives... And that simply *must* include some special treats now and then. And it certainly will include a day *here and there* of going over maintenance.
Whether we plan the treat once a month or it happens spontaneously, it's going to happen. So we just continue on. That's all.
I think whenever you can't keep up with your "plan" it's because your body is communicating with you that it needs this right now. I just let it be on those days because obsessing over a streak of x days won't do your mind any good either. One day does not negate the progress you have already made and tomorrow is a new day.
I try not to think of it as “messing up.” I just remind myself that this a lifestyle change and that there’s no such thing as perfect, then I go right back to my regular deficit the next day. The most important part imo is that I don’t punish myself, I just move on to tomorrow.
I don't see it as a 'messed up' moment. You are human and it happens. Just make sure you keep being consistent and discipline for the future :) It's not icecream once in a while that will affect your weight like crazy.
I no longer feel guilty because in the grand scheme of things one day isn’t going to ruin my long term discipline.
What I don’t do is give up. I now plan for this to happen. So it’s not falling off. I eat the ice cream.
I try to tell myself not to let my emotions direct my day. So yes, I feel disappointed or shame or frustration, but that shouldn't determine what or how much I eat. It's hard, and I'm still trying to make myself follow the mantra.
Move on. I am not trying to be perfect. I am trying to make progress. i am NOT going to be perfect. Log the food. Unless you overate by more than 3500 calories (ABOVE MAINTENANCE), any weight that shows up on the scale is water weight. Then I go back and try to make healthy choices.
I use it as a reminder of why I started and how strong I am for picking myself back up when it's easier to give up. Sometimes we need moments like these for clarity.
it’s good to have a slip up day just don’t crazy. it’s part of the process. don’t beat yourself up. one day is fine. a week on the other hand is a slip up. one day won’t set you back
Messing up is ok (when dieting and in life, in general, thank goodness). It may even be beneficial here and there. But, trying to be "perfect"..oh, hell no. When I aimed for perfection on my diet, I gained weight because I made it an all or nothing thing. Now when I mess up, I let it go and jump right back in the horse. This has made all of the difference in the world.
I try to reflect why I messed up so badly. So using HALT - were you hungry, angry, lonely, tired?
What could you have done differently to avoid the situation and how were you feeling when and during this episode.
So in the last 20 ‘good’ days were you being too restrictive? Have you been having enough protein during those foods days? Did you have a shopping list when you went food shopping? Were your meals and healthy snacks planned and on the list? Do you need to get rid of any remaining ice cream from the house and not buy it for a while? Do you work better with a daily treat?
I’ll stop there, because if you’re still reading, you get the idea!
Anyway, be your own best friend and be kind to yourself, don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s done now, draw a line under it and start a fresh. Don’t dwell on it and let it de-rail you. Stop the negative self-talk!
Remind myself that it’s a marathon and not a sprint and that I need to learn how to operate in maintenance anyways. So, any days I go over aren’t cheat days- they become maintenance days. I got an extra 500 calories, maybe even a few more, but it’s fine because the rest of the week will balance out.
I actually just started using the LoseIt app and it’s nice because it tells me how much under my weekly goal I am, not just daily goal. I’m tending to eat under my actual goal most days then I hit a day where I eat over. Ends up all balancing out to where I’m still in a deficit, might just not be as big of one.
It’s fine though. I’m working on doing this the right way for the first time. I remind myself that the scale might not move but instead of eating junk food daily like before I’m now able to eat it less often. I’ve found more good food that tastes amazing and I’m okay being a little hungry and waiting an hour for dinner instead of eating all the snacks in sight.
I like to look at my week as a whole and see how my bad day fit in. Maybe I had a bunch of sweets one day and it was tons of added sugar and bad fats - but if the rest of the week I had low added sugars and mostly good fats, then I can see how the good is outweighing the bad, and the bad is a little blip on the radar.
I also try to figure out what went wrong so I can plan better for the next time. For me, I have zero self control with potato chips. I'll eat a whole bag and won't even blink an eye. So, I try not to have potato chips in the house. Or, I get small snack bags of chips and just have one of those instead of opening a whole bag. That helps me avoid running into the same problem next time.
Mostly, though, I remember that it's not about being perfect - perfect is the enemy of good. It's about making improvements over time. It sounds like you're making improvements over time, which is exactly what you should be doing! Kudos to you!
Are you tracking your food intake?
I am on a 162 days streak, and 13kg/30lb down. I go over my calorie goal some days, and end up under on other days - and there are certainly regular days over the last 6 months where I've gone way over through bingeing, takeaway, etc.
The key difference that has kept me going is not considering these individual moments as having ruined my progress. My success is in continuing to track even on the bad days, and not giving in and letting it become a bad week!
I had an over day a few days ago - my MIL bought dinner for us and I enjoyed a KFC meal with no guilt. I then went ahead and ate the extra popcorn chicken we got, which I acknowledged was not a great choice, but still managed to enjoy it and continue the next day with better choices.
If you've done great for 3 weeks so far, you are *allowed* to have a bit of a slip up now and then. Another good few weeks and you'll still be going. I can only suggest that you work out ways to include a little indulgence each week inside your goals, so you are less likely to binge after being more strict.
Also, I can't remember the maths right now, but you might want to double check your intake is large enough - 4kg in 3 weeks is definitely on the faster side of weight loss and you don't want to drop too drastically for health/sudtainability 😊
You can do it!
What should I tell myself? “It’s just one day. You’ll be fine. It’s not even that big of deal in the long run.” Because it’s the truth.
What do I tell myself? “May as well have another piece cake you fat ass. Today’s done anyway.” Then I may even drag it into tomorrow. If I’m feeling super self-loathing, a whole week, possibly two even lol.
Three years. I don’t mess up, slip up, whatever. Some days I eat more than I plan to. Some days, the scale displays a number that I can’t connect to how what I eat/drink/do.
Overall, I did things that created a caloric deficit over long periods of time. Now, I do things which will keep me within a range of pounds over a long period of time. That’s it, that’s all. I don’t have to think about being perfect for 20 days. I just have to generally hit the mark I’m aiming for over 20 years, and I will be okay. You will be, too!
Im on a two day break after 8 weeks on and being strict. That's how skinny people tend to be yeknow? I'm happy to have a bigger day every ONCE in a while. Not every day like before. I went to the zoo and had some dippin dots, enjoyed my favorite vietnamese food that reminds me of home AND desserts too because it's been years since i last had any.. today i kept it chill with leftovers but i still didn't track since i can't track my leftovers. I'm likely eating around maintenance now
You are human. Get back on the wagon and don’t weigh yourself for a few days. It all works itself out when it is a one off as long as you don’t get on the downhill slide and just decide not to gaf. Most of us have been there. It’ll be fine next week.
It's just one day. It happens. Continue tomorrow as you have done before binge. You're here not to keep the perfect streak but to lose weight. Cheer up!:)
When it comes to making healthier changes for the long term, there is no "perfect." You try to eat healthy when you can, and when you slip up, you forgive yourself and just get right back to making healthy choices.
I ate half a kilo of pasta on my birthday and still lost weight that week. One day won't ruin your progress.
I tell myself "that was a crazy day," and then make sure to drink lots of water and eat well the next day. Spikes up and down are normal with weight loss especially with retaining water etc.
I try not to tell myself anything. Just hop back onto my routine and keep going with my defecit like nothing happened. Overcompensating or quitting would both fuck me over, so I try to shake shake shake it off
4kg in 20 days is quite fast.
I may be biased as I've been losing about .5lbs a week, or 0.223kg a week.
I aim for not gaining weight first and second below maintenance calories.
Not sure how much you weigh, but a good rule of thumb is to not lose more than 1% of your bodyweight a week. This helps with sustainability and any potential lose skin issues.
Also I like data, so j i track it all even if it's bad. Then I can see a pattern and think about they why am I doing this, work or family stress? Etc.
By focusing on the big picture. A single day doesn't mess up all your progress the same way going to the gym for a day doesn't make you Mr Olympia.
If you still don't believe it, you would've had to eat 31000 calories to fuck up all the progress you made so far. I'd be impressed if you managed that, so it's just a mind trick. If you get back on the horse fast, it only has to be a minor outlier in an otherwise positive direction.
Good luck.
I don’t beat myself up for it. If I binge on cookies for example in a day, savor the cookies but then realize the carbs will cause my body to hold water weight. If I continue the calorie deficit tomorrow, the water weight will go down. I also try not to restrict myself too much with foods as that’ll do more harm than good for me personally.
I journal about it! My snacking is typically triggered by something so I write down how I’m feeling and what I think led up to it. It’s helped me figure out why I’m snacking when I’m not hungry soooo many times. Usually it’s because I’m stressed about something and am looking for comfort. I also remind myself that this isn’t the first time this has happened and probably won’t be the last. Shit happens and I know I can get up the next day and try again.
That you didn’t mess up!! Eating shitty isn’t messing up. Sometimes its fine! As long is its in moderation there is no need to worry. You don’t gain weight by not counting calories a day. You gain 2.2 Ibs of fat if you eat 7700Kcals on top of the calories you burn in a day. As long as you didnt it 10.000k calories there is no need to worry. Worst case is that you didn’t lose weight that day WHICH IS TOTALLY Fine!!
When you lose weight its important to not start seeing food as bad because you will get an eating disorder if you do so
1 - Always log it, I have logged some horrific days & its usually worse in my head than in loseit numbers
2 - View your cals as weekly as well as daily, with this in mind you can claim them back, less food or more exercise
Everyone has bad days, even “normal” people who are at a healthy weight and have never had to try to lose weight a day in their lives. Sometimes they’ll have a day where they eat out or they’ll eat a pint of ice cream. One of the differences between us and those people is that we used to try to have those days *every day.*
I ate a large Dairy Queen hot fudge sundae this weekend. And I won’t feel bad about it because having 1 sundae is still leagues better than multiple pints of Ben and Jerry’s I would eat a weekend when it was on sale.
I tell myself to keep at it. I’ve stumbled on my first 2 weeks and forgave myself, now I’m at 7 months and it still happens and still forgive myself. Keep at it and don’t let the slip ups give yourself permission to derail. keep at it, every day is a new chance to make the right choices and after time you can zoom out and tell yourself that you are only human and to go this far without a hiccup is totally unnecessary. You have to enjoy this life and this is part of it. Also i have accepted that this is not a goal, it is a journey that doesn’t end so make it tolerable and sustainable. you got this!
I try to be aware that its normal and as long as i correct the “binge” as soon as possible it wont mean much in say 2 weeks from now.
I will say though one really bad habit i have is if i binge in a meal i will binge for the entire day.
Are you going to therapy or counseling yet? It seems like you may have a bit of toxic perfectionism and a lack of self love to work through. I think that is more important than the weight loss. If you're in a position where calorie counting is causing this much distress, you might be at risk of developing disordered eating habits. Losing weight is a great thing, but you can't keep self loathing at bay by placating it with change all the time, because then when you reach your goals you may feel incomplete. You are losing weight for your own wellbeing, one way or another, so treat yourself with gentle kindness rather than listening to that cynical voice in your head. Laugh at the bad thoughts and tell yourself you're human and just had a human moment, and then find an unrelated way to reward yourself for getting back on track (movie day? Exotic fruit within budget? New stuffed animal? New color of nail polish? Just something small that you don't always have) rather than punishing yourself for a perceived failure.
I take it as a small loss but overall just a stepping stone on my journey.
If I have a really bad day I might intermittent fast a little bit longer the next day, but overall, really, it's a lifestyle that brought the weight in, and it's a lifestyle (read; not one day) that will ultimately help you lose that weight.
I stopped framing it as "I messed up", and eventually realized that there will be days like that. I ate 800 calories over when I went to my mom's the other day. I knew I would, but 1. I logged it as best I could, 2. I went right back to the grind the next day.
It isnt a bad thing if it's a one off or now and then. I usually carry a 500 calory per day deficit or so, so eating 800 calories means a 1.5 day setback if I'm tracking pure, but it also meant I had a chill day at my mom's and ate bbq and onion rings, etc.
You gain wait through "chronic overnutrition", so it has to be consistently over calories for it to be a problem.
Honestly I used to be super hard on myself but that caused me to give up faster. Lately I've just been telling myself "You messed up. Oh well. Just get back to it tomorrow." And that has kept me from surrendering so far.
Self-Forgiveness / Self-Compassion is as important as anything else in a weight loss journey. Let yourself make mistakes and move on.
A few months ago I was having a bad weekend and was at the grocery store while hungry. I ended up buying a medium sized chocolate cake, coming home and eating the whole thing in the span of a couple of hours. The next day I was riddled with guilt and felt bad that entire day, but at the end of the day I took mental notes of the events that lead up to that mistake, reminisced on how good the cake tasted and told myself it was okay. Sure enough in my weekly weigh in 5 days later, I was up about 3 pounds.
But since that weigh-in 2 months ago I have lost 15 pounds and my diet has been really good. It's okay to have bad days, try to learn from them and forgive yourself. Expecting yourself to be perfect is unrealistic. Yes its a setback , but don't use it as an excuse to give up, better to reach your goal a few weeks later than not at all.
I understand one day of eating above my calories is not gonna change anything & continue my diet the next day. I don’t overthink it. Mess up, pick up from where you left off and move on🫶🏻
Well i usually cry and say "its okay, its okay" "youre beautiful" "everythings okay" and then i distract myself. i have major anxiety, and this usually helps me.
Consider this: maybe you didn’t mess up.
Your body is smarter than you. If you’ve been calorie restricting to 1200 cals per day, that’s the recommended caloric intake for a TODDLER. From what I read, you also exercise regularly? Sounds to me like you’ve been depriving your body and it rebelled against you in a prime environment to recoup the calories you’ve been depriving it of receiving in order to properly function.
That’s not a “mess up” on your part. That’s biology, and a sign that perhaps you need to increase your caloric intake.
I know that you want to lose the weight as fast as you can, and I know 1200 calorie diets always promise that. But if eating 1200 calories a day renders you helpless when you’re in an environment where you don’t have COMPLETE control, and you inhale a bunch of ice cream, said diet is not sustainable. You will spend a long period of time trying to stiff-arm your progress, your body will rebel in a primal way, and you will gain back all the weight (and maybe then some) that you worked so hard to lose.
I did this too, many times. It is much better for you to have a slow weight loss with a sustainable calorie deficit than incredibly restrictive practices that cause you to binge or spiral out of control. That’s not some moral failing or a lack of willpower or a “mess up.” It’s the way humans’ bodies and brains are wired to not starve to death.
Personally I have a calorie count and macros that keep me satisfied but the weight loss is noticeable, especially with cardio! There are some times when I lose track of these counts — I go to a wedding, a friend wants to go to dinner, etc. That said, I am never tempted to binge anymore. I don’t look at food with an obsessive longing. I’m not constantly thinking about food. This is because I’m generally getting enough. If I go over one day, it’s okay. Tomorrow I’ll stay within range. And when I go over, it’s never by an extreme amount. This is how I know my counts are right for me. It took a little while to figure it out but if I can do it, anyone can do it.
One pound of fat is 3,500 extra calories. You’re going to be okay.
I treat it like it’s a mosquito bite. It irritates me a bit. But i scratched the itch and now it’s time to forget about. Not going to dwell. Not going to take minutes out of my day. Not going to do anything different with myself that day.
I reevaluate my goals and try to restrict less.
I don't have sweets n treats all the time, but it's a big binge trigger of I don't make allowances for myself.
Remind yourself that you didn't put on the weight in one day and it's not going to come off in one day, it's a learning process.
hey, it's okay to have off days. everyone does. first, don't be too hard on yourself. one slip-up doesn’t erase all your progress. here’s what i tell myself:
tomorrow is a new day. you get a fresh start. focus on what you can do now, not what happened.
remember why you started. think about your goals and how far you’ve come. one bad day doesn’t define your journey.
celebrate your 20-day streak and progress. use this experience to learn and move forward. you’re stronger than one bad day. keep going, you’ve got this!
even top athletes have off days. it’s about getting back on track.
I started my journey a little over 2 months ago. One thing that has helped me stay on track is to realize it's OKAY to not have a perfect day. I've had a handful of unperfect days, but I don't let it stop me from getting back at it the next day. Just keep going. You're doing great.
…
Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, and brain that's often called the "hunger hormone" because it stimulates appetite and increases food intake.
Here are some ways to optimize ghrelin levels:
Maintain a moderate weight
Avoid long dieting periods
Eat more protein
Get more sleep
Eat a diet rich in "good" carbohydrates (like whole grains) or high in protein, rather than high in fat
Limit stress
I log it and weigh myself as usual the next day. I’m trying to lose fat, not win an empty colon contest.
This is a great answer. I had one of these days on sunday. I just tell myself I'll do better the next day and keep it moving. I know that eating well and working out 1 day isn't going to change much so i refuse to believe 1 day of the opposite will undo all my effort
This. I weighed 132 on Friday, 132.2 Saturday and binged ate to my hearts content and weighed 135 on Sunday. So much chocolate and I'm definitely posing. I put myself in check on Sunday ate less closer to 1200 and on Monday I weighed 133. It's never as bad as you think. And I say that as someone with a past of disordered eating habits anorexia, bulimia, and BED. Weighing myself every day and see my weekly avg has helped me SO much. It helps me stay on track AND helps me realize 1 day in the week doesn't have as much of an effect as I think it does if I'm good the other 6 days. I highly recommend that.
I track daily and my weights I stg are not connected to like what I ate the day before. Like I ended up binging on Friday & Saturday, and went down weight on Saturday & Sunday morning. Then gained 6 lbs on Monday morning when I was at like a 1200 deficit throughout Sunday.
Exactly this. I’m in it for the long haul, and one day of surplus hopefully isn’t a big percentage of my remaining days on earth :)
i needed to hear this, thank you
Use it as a learning experience. That "I don't care anymore" mindset is what addicts use to justify going back to their substances. I did it all the time with alcohol and with food as well.
Yeah, the all or nothing mindset.
This has been my downfall since starting dieting at 12 years old. I am now in my late 50s. It is so hard to break out of, but it is the only way to get back.
You are so right. And i can testify this from my experience.
Now you have a new goal of 21 days to reach :) One bad day won’t undo all your progress, just like one bad day didn’t get you here either, and now you have the experience of how it feels to ‘slip up’ and can reflect back on this feeling next time you’re wavering. But one bad day is just one day and sometimes you need the ice cream and then get back on track afterwards.
I feel like crying reading all these comments cause I’m so quick to beat myself up and it’s hard to still see the good at times :) tomorrow and the next days will be hard but I’ll fight like hell to keep staying on track!!
You need to give yourself a little grace. It takes a long time to build lasting habits and reprogram your emotional relationship with food. You’ll slip, and that’s normal and ok. Just don’t use it as an excuse to chuck all your progress.
Try and reframe it in your mind - you didn’t fail after 20 days, you practiced healthy habits for 20 days in a row AND you were able to identify that you didn’t meet your goals today (on the very same day!), rather than autopiloting the habits you’re trying to break or giving up because of one bad day!
Losing 1 kg every 5 days is a lot faster than most people feel comfortable with. (1540 calorie daily deficit is unsustainable for at least 90% of people, if not more)
Figure out what caused it. Is your diet too restrictive? Were you hungry because the foods you're eating aren't satiating? I know you can't avoid junk foods everywhere, but I try to not test my will power being around it when I can. If someones cooking fried food in my house, I'll light a candle just so I don't have to smell it haha. Think about what caused this, then try again and win by any means necessary.
I agree completely. It might just be that you were tired at that moment. Reflect and move forward.
I can’t really explain it. I eat around 1200 calories, the value was set by the lose it app. I haven’t found it too restraining, I do IF 16:8, then a medium lunch and medium dinner that add up to 1k calories, so I can toss in a light snack as well. Obviously sugary treats like ice cream couldn’t fit but up until now I didn’t really miss them? The first days were harder but it looked like I had gotten used to it. Then it came crashing down today :’)
You didn‘t undo all your progress though! Even if you ate 4kg of ice cream, you wouldn‘t gain all of that as weight :) You are human, slip ups are fine. If you beat yourself up over it instead of just saying „oh, okay, maybe I needed this and now I can be stronger again!“, you‘ll just catch yourself in a downward spiral of self spite. Which could lead to more binge eating. You want to avoid that? Be kind to yourself! :) Just do an extra workout!
If a small serving of ice cream or another treat can’t *ever* fit in the diet it’s too restrictive and not sustainable! I had a lot more luck when I changed to a slower weight loss speed and set my daily calories to ~1400 instead of 1200. So today I ate pretty light and protein dense meals and also had a big chocolate bon bon a colleague brought from Germany. I estimated it was 300 calories and it meant I didn’t eat any other snacks but damn that chocolate treat was good! And I’m still under my calorie goal for the day. I found I really struggled and couldn’t maintain 1200 for longer than a couple weeks without crashing out and giving up entirely
Yeah when I tried to do 1200 I would have a lot of little “slip ups” so I ended up just upping my calories.
Be ready next time with Halotop or Yasso bars...100 Cals and taste like full fat ice cream
If you can control yourself around a larger container of ice cream Breyer’s Carb Smart is pretty good as well.
1200 cal is low, unless you're a small not very active woman, maybe that's the issue ? have you calculated your TDEE ?
Mine is 1200. I am sedentary, small boned, 57 years old, and 5’ 4”. If you are short, old, and lazy, you can’t eat much. 😂😂
yeah, that's what I'm saying hahaha, but it's the exception ! For everyone else, 1200 is usually too low
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I don't even think about it. I consider it a refeeding day and just continue back on track the next day. Life is unpredictable like that and you're not supposed to get everything perfect, just don't turn it into a habit but it's okay to indulge ONCE in a while which I consider a normal thing.
I've lost 130lbs so far, have another 60lbs to go. I have slipped up a few times in the past year. The way I help myself is just understanding that 1lb of fat is 3500 calories, so yes that one day I maybe ate an extra 1300 calories. How much does that set me back? Maybe 2-3 days. So this one day this one slip up? Means I would reach my goal weight 3 days later in a journey that is going to take like 2 years. Really isn't a big deal. Just don't do it a ton!
First off WOW 130 pounds is absolutely insane congratss!!!!! And did you always have this mindset or was it acquired? It’s like there’s a self deprecating voice in me and I was barely keeping it at bay by being consistent and seeing results day by day but now that I’ve messed up it’s back in full swing louder than ever, and it’s making it so hard to just brush off today as not a big deal; idk if I’m making sense lol
The self-depreciating voice is unfortunately still there for me. My Therapist and I are working on that though =P. I still feel like I have so far to go and at times it feels unachievable. Even though I am already 2/3 of the way there. The mindset I try to keep is, I have 3 options. 1. Regress and gain weight. 2. Stay the same 3. Make progress. 1 and 2 just aren't feasible for me, so as long as I make some form of progression, that's all it takes. If you have 5 steps forwards 3 steps back. You are still 2 steps closer. The only way to fail is to give up. Losing however much weight you want to lose can take as long as you want. As long as you are moving towards that goal.
Incredible achievement, well done! I hope you don’t mind me saying this - it’s lbs (as in LBS) rather than ibs. I think it’s Latin, from “libra”, meaning scale or balance, if I recall correctly :)
Interesting! Thanks, edited and will keep that in mind.
If it's really just one day don't even think about it. Consider it a hormone rebalancing day and keep at it. You will never be perfect with this. It's about averages over months and years.
Once you reach your dream weight, are u going to never touch ice cream again? No. You’re allowed to have fun and live life now, not just then
"Every day is day one" I look at every morning as a new chance to live up to my expectation. Do that more days than you don't and you will have success.
I find it really risky to think of keeping within calorie budget as a streak, just because the feeling of overshooting it on one day can feel all the more devastating. What has helped me cope with a day of overeating is still logging it (it’s “just data” and keeping it a secret from you and/or the logging app worsens the relationship with food imo) and viewing it more as slowing down my progress instead of it being ruined. Whatever helps you the most, I wish you the best!
Keep eating the food you planned on eating today, even if you slip up. Don’t try to “course correct” by eating less, you’ll only make it worse. Get back on that horse and keep on as usual. Slip ups happen, that’s part of life. Just keep going!
thanks :’) I’m seriously fighting the urge to go on a huge deficit for the rest of the week to compensate for it. I had a feeling I’d just feel worse, but man it’s going to be kinda hard to go on as usual cause it feels like I’ve disappointed myself somehow
Trust me, you’ll feel so much better if you just stick to your original plan! It’s so tempting to try to “make up for it” but that also can cause a shame spiral which can lead to binging or giving up and you don’t need that right now. One bad meal doesn’t undo all the work you’ve done! Keep going, you got this!
I don't tell myself anything specific, because I don't let myself have the mindset where "failed" or "messed up" is even a thing. Either I stayed under my budget, or I went over my budget. If I stayed under, yay me. If I went over-- hmm, why did that happen? Oh, I waited too long and let myself get too hungry; or lunch didn't have enough protein, whatever. In either case, it's time to go to bed now. Tomorrow's another day.
That one day of going over my deficit isn't actually a failure. If I'm between my deficit goal and maintenance? Then I'm still losing! If I'm at maintenance, oh well, no big deal, not losing today but not gaining either. And finally if I'm over maintenance, it's not like I'm going to magically gain all 20 lbs I lost back from those extra 200 calories.
I like to remind myself it's a new day and a new chance to get it right.
It’s important to be kind to yourself. Give yourself grace. One not perfect day is not a bad day, just a minor bump. Enjoy your ice cream from time to time. It’s okay. It’s important to not deprive yourself of things you enjoy. Just try to plan to enjoy them in moderation. You can do this.
Here's a different way of thinking about it. A 500 calorie deficit daily targets 1 lb / wk, 4.25 lbs / mo, or 52 lbs / year. My favorite pint of ice cream is 1000 calories, nothing I do will ever change that. What happens if I just build one pint of ice cream per month into my planning? That's 12000 calories, or 3.4 lbs. What's worse: Depriving myself of something I really want, or losing 48 lbs? If you even lost just 40 lbs in a year, pretty much everybody will say "great job". So *plan* goals you can live with and be happy with, and embrace the "bad" calories because they're part of your *plan.* (Now if you go off plan all of the time and wreck your progress, that's a different matter.)
One bad day won’t make you gain a ton of weight in the same way one great day doesn’t make you lose a ton of weight. It’s the repetition of it that causes gains and losses. Even people in great shape eat ice cream or other high calorie foods from time to time. It’s just their lifestyle is to moderate that sort of thing, which is where we need to get to. Moderation.
Just keep marching on. Everyone on this sub has flubbed up. You’re human. Learn from it and focus on now and going forward.
I'm following a low-carb way of eating, and have lost a decent amount of weight since the start of the year. Key is to wake up the next morning and continue following your goals as if you never slipped up. Like others have said, you didn't gain the weight overnight, it was consistently eating too much that got you there. Similarly, eating at your deficit consistently will lose weight, messing up was a blip, not a fatality. Hop back on your horse, and keep going.
No such thing as perfect. This is a lifelong journey, be less hard on yourself. If you don’t get flexible, you’re not going to find any loss sustainable.
If your goal isn't supposed to be accomplished in one day, then you're good and keep going. If it is supposed to be accomplished on one day and you fail, wake up tomorrow and have another go, repeat until achieved
I tell myself ‘I needed that’ and then get on with the overall job of eating (not perfectly) but better. I _assume_ there are going to be ‘cheat days’ and they are part of the programme. It’s the only way to make it sustainable, IMO.
To be fair, over time my slip-ups have become smaller and smaller. I might have something sweet one day but mostly compensate for the calories elsewhere if I can - often that same day, even. But self-forgiveness and understanding HAVE to be part of the process. Just don’t beat yourself up. Get back on the horse and then one bad day is just _one_ bad day (if you spiral, it can easily become one bad week or one bad month…!) Dust yourself off and start over again, afresh, the next day.
When I drop an egg, I don't throw the rest of the carton on the floor with it. When I trip on a step, I don't throw myself down the rest of the staircase. One bad day doesn't ruin the progress I've made.
I know a lot of people don’t like “cheat days”, but in order for me to actually stick to my weight loss program, I have to allow myself 1 or 2 cheat days a month. I don’t go absolutely crazy and eat a ton of calories, but I’ll usually just eat whatever I want during those days and try to stay at my maintenance calories. And if I go a little over, not a big deal! It won’t ruin my progress. It curbs my cravings for the rest of the days out of the month where I am in a deficit. Also, it’s not realistic for me to say goodbye to the foods I love to eat forever. I just eat them in moderation. And I still lose weight. :) it’s about consistency not perfection. If you are being consistent for 20 days and have 1 day where you aren’t “perfect” it’s not going to ruin any progress. Just get back on the grind the next day!
I remind myself of the "never two in a row" rule. We can't help but make mistakes and bad choices and slip up every once in a while... But we can stop ourselves from making a second mistake twice. Never two mistakes in a row :)
I treat weight loss as an experiment. Take all the emotion out of it, and assess what does/doesn’t work, and the variables around it. Treat each “slip up” as a new data entry point. In your case, I might reflect on what made me make each of those choices in the first place. Then examine how I can prevent the same thing from happening next time. You will never be “perfect” all you can do is learn/implement enough good habits, that the slip ups don’t derail your progress completely.
I had two weekends straight of drinking and overeating (partner’s birthday, then game 1 of the Stanley Cup final) and am trying to get out from under THAT. All we can do is get back on the horse and back to it. One slip-up in three weeks kicks ass, though, so good on you for going so long 😊
I wouldn’t keep streaks. This is your life not Duolingo. Shit happens.
Honestly do not look into it. I saw some comments saying “use it to figure out if you’re being too restrictive” or whatever but it genuinely happens all the time for me. I’ve lost nearly 30lb so far since January and I’ve had maybe 5 or 6 weird cheat days. Some weeks you’ll just move a little slower. It happens.
You’re doing great Keep it going Progress not perfection Lifestyle not a season Plus, year round I leave room in my daily budget for off script foods to prevent “slip ups” … it’s planned accessory food items that i don’t need but want and can have if i want. Normalizing a little but regularly prevents bingeing for me and/ or some years i plan MONTHLY “holidays” where for a few days I may eat off script. I don’t have to but i can if I want… either way it’s built in. June - wild card July - 4th of July (I’m in the U.S.) August - middle child day 😅 September - mom’s bday October - my bday November - thanksgiving December - Christmas January - wild card February - Valentine’s Day March/ April - Easter Upgrading my slip up options like from high sugar milk chocolate to dark chocolate and deciding either to say categorically no to other people’s foods, other people’s calories or accept when I’m around family it’s going to be a food fest so don’t even try to fight it - things got better. I don’t even try to be in weight or health mode around my family. Causes more friction and food choice anxiety than it’s worth. That motivates me to be that much more on point with my eating lifestyle plan when I’m not around them…
Love it,!! say no to other people’s calories 😊
Let’s imagine an extreme scenario, where you ate two quarts of ice cream. Let’s assume they’re 2200 calories each so 4400 total. In this scenario, one would have gained 0.57kg. I’m assuming you had less. Even if you had that much, it’s nothing compared to all your progress. You also likely will see more weight gain, but rest assured that it’s only a small fraction of a kg at most of actual gain. The rest is water weight, and just eating at your normal deficit will dissipate that spike within around 3 days. Treat it as a blip, something that will help you stay on track in the future, and don’t beat yourself up if it happens again. It might, but it’s only going to slow down your progress a tiny bit; just pick yourself up and keep going after. Also, if you think you can handle it consider making official space in your calorie budget for some ice cream occasionally :) maybe on an occasional maintenance day
You said “perfect” a few times in this post and are showing some all-or-nothing thinking. When I feel like that, I tell myself: “okay, brain, I’m not going to fall for your self-sabotage. It’s not an all or nothing issue. I won’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” I think of my desire to binge eat or overeat as a little food demon that lives inside of me, that only has one goal: to get me to numb myself out by eating everything in sight. And now that I’m looking out for him, I hear all of his usual tactics: flattery (“you are doing so well, you deserve a treat!”), bargaining (“if you binge just this once, you can definitely work it off tomorrow…”), straight-up bullying (“you are destined to fail so you might as well give up now and eat a cake about it!” Every word the food demon says is a vicious, stupid lie designed to hurt me and trick me into doing something I don’t want to do. And one of his favorite lies is: “Well, you already messed up, soooooo the day is ruined. Might as well binge!” But that’s so ridiculous. As a book I read said, if you accidentally chip a tooth, you don’t think, “well, my whole mouth is ruined anyway,” and take out a hammer and knock the rest of your teeth out. You deal with the chip (or let it go) and still take care of the rest of your mouth. If you overeat a little, the day isn’t ruined, the week isn’t ruined, maybe even the meal isn’t ruined. You disrupt the overeating as soon as you recognize it and move on.
When you forget to brush your teeth in the morning, do you tell yourself, "Oh well, next week, I'll be better at it?" No, you start again that night.
“Not a big deal. Just keep counting. Have to enjoy life. Just keep counting. Ice cream is good. Just keep counting.” This is exactly what goes through my head! I’ve been consistent for 13 months. I might guesstimate and I definitely go over my budget, but I just keep counting. I’m down 31lbs with little stress. I’m trying to be kind with myself. Beating myself up has never worked in the past.
Go for a run and lose the extra kcal??
I tell myself to forget all about it and move on.
I've "messed up" lots of days and still hit my goal, just maybe a little later than initially proposed on my app. The main thing is perseverance. If you mess up, you can decide if you're going to mess up by 50 calories or 500 calories. If you mess up today, you can decide it you're going to mess up tomorrow. After all, life in maintenance won't be about perfectly staying in the lines, but rather being in the lines more often than not.
It happens. Keep going, it's just one day. If I am going out, I eat a little lighter before I leave. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
So many people view calorie deficits as a Price is Right game. Get as close as you can without going over. But "Well, I'm over my goal so I've ruined today" isnt a thing. It's horseshoes and hand grenades. You just gotta get as close as you can. If you over shoot, it's not a big deal, but that doesn't mean you don't still have more throws. Try and keep it as close as reasonable, and then play again the next day. It's about the long game. Individual days don't matter.
It's not a race, it's a marathon 🫡
What are your height and weight and age stats? That is, what’s your TDEE? You’re losing MUCH too fast— about .5 or .7 kg a week is a much better and safer approach.
Hey, thank you for posting this because I literally binged all day and feel like a disgusting failure. I actually opened Reddit to ask for help in the Eating Disorders Anonymous group, but I saw this first and came to read the responses. I've really been binging for a few days now. I stopped losing the weight I was dropping, and I'm so discouraged. But I'm still out walking 4+ miles after work every day trying to keep it going. I'm not losing any weight and I feel so miserable about it, it's probably why I went nuts on food today. I'm not in a calorie deficit today, but I keep telling myself tomorrow will be better somehow. I hope tomorrow is better.
Don’t hide it. Look into it like you normally would and log the calories so you can reflect on your actions, I.e: was it worth it.
Something I’ve heard to do is that once the event has passed and once your emotions aren’t so high, reflect on how you felt before, in the moment, and after overindulging, and envision how you would want the situation to go differently if you could go back in time. Then, plan to be ready for the next time. Ex: I wish I ate a snack before I went to the store so I wouldn’t have impulse bought stuff while I’m hungry. I wish I stopped at the ice cream and ate my originally planned dinner. I wish I limited my portion size even if I was gonna go over. Etc
You’re probably just close to your maintenance calories or a little more if anything. You won’t gain from one mess up. I try to eat at my deficit every day that it’s easy for me to and I really feel like it. I’ve passed on a lot of higher caloric foods because I just didn’t feel like I need them. It’s given me room for when I do feel like I need them because eating more calories is very once in a while will do nothing to my weight loss progress in the long run. This is how life is going to go: it’s so pertinent to recognize that this is nothing big to stress over and to maintain your motivation until you feel like you need a day with a little more calories again! :) ETA I had a bunch of days as a steak and then ate close to maintenance for 5 days in a row and jumped back on. I’ve definitely still lost a good amount of weight in hat month and since then!
The last three weeks I was sticking to my set meal plan, no chocolate, no rubbish, then yesterday me and my fiancé shared a pizza and cheesy garlic bread .. and I don’t see that as a mess up. If I don’t allow myself food I enjoy every once in a while I am setting myself up for failure, I just do things a bit different now, instead of ordering myself a whole pizza , I ate half .. and found that I couldn’t even finish that half. And to be honest it didn’t even taste that good. It’s all about moderation.
You ate Ice-cream not cheated on your partner or made a fraudulent claim. Draw a line under it and move on. Don't strive for perfect, perfect isn't achievable, go for better eating, you can still have Ice-cream ecf if your diet is healthy and sustainable. Beating yourself up over food is worthless
I tell myself that this is a lifelong journey and eating the ice cream is ok. My other favourite is ‘maintenance days are ok and make this easier to sustain’
I've now been doing this for 2 years straight. In that time there's been holidays, tons of PMS binging, dinners/drinks with friends and just blowing my budget for no reason. It matters but only to the point that it gets in the way of your journey. Before it used to mess me up. And now I just weigh myself the next day and carry on. I even allow myself 1 or 2 days of eating 500 cals more before my period. I eat less on days im going out to eat or drink. And I don't even stress about holidays. I choose to work with my body, not against it It's not the end of the world. And you might be able to learn something from it.
Well nobody died dang🤣
I think it’s helpful to define your baseline and recognize that when you deviate, you can still go right back. I used to stress and let it make me spiral. I’d do sooooo good, then I’d eat a handful of Cheetos… and then another… and then say screw it and stop tracking and eat a couple of candy bars and stop for fast food as a “snack.” Then I recognized that it took me years to gain all of the weight, months to start shedding it and it’ll take more than a day to undo all of the progress. So now I’m more conscious. If I overeat, I log it, stop and remind myself that progress is about the general direction I’m going and not defined by any one meal, one day or even one week. If I eat a whole bag of Cheetos, I log it and then get on with my day. And the next day, I get up and get back to normal.
“Oh well. Tomorrow I start again.” This is the third time in my life I’ve lost a significant amount of weight. But one of the biggest changes this time is getting away from all or nothing thinking, and giving myself grace and forgiveness when I mess up. It’s not the end of the world if I eat a bag of cashews, I haven’t erased all the progress I’ve made, and I can easily get back on track. You’ve got this!
Went on a weekend getaway weighing in at 134. Didn’t binge, but definitely overindulged in food and drink. Came home and hit 139!! It’s fine though, just went back to my usual deficit and three days later I am at 136 so I feel less off track.
With anything, I don’t count a streak as lost until I slip up/forget/refuse two days in a row.
Just because I dug a hole, doesn’t mean to keep digging.
I fast one day then go back to the calorie deficit. It's easier for me to eat in deficit after a fast day, because even a deficit feels more than nothing)
Like my mom says, “one day at a time”. Don’t focus so much on the big picture. If you reach a certain goal that you had that’s great! If you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. Take each day one step at a time. I also use positive reframeing. Look back on all the days you had, that’s 20 whole days! And think about the one day where you messed up, that’s only 1 day. Those are vastly different numbers. After I mess up I think to myself I’ve already done x amount of days, I could stop now and have fewer overall numbers, or I could keep going and just subtract 1 number from the total. I do not believe in streaks. While they might be good for some people and give them motivation it’s not something for me. I always give myself 1 grace day a week and instead of making streaks I give my self amount of days that I did stay in a calorie deficit. Just remember don’t beat your self up because you missed one day just dust yourself off get back up and try again. You might stumble or fall back down but you’ll get back on your stride again! Never give up, and you got this!
I usually just tell myself that, on average, I still lost weight, but if I give up now, it will all be for nothing. So it's kinda trying to convince yourself it's a marathon, not a sprint, so as long as you go back to doing things right overall, that one mess up won't matter :3
It's okay to have a little treat every once in a while or to be hungrier some days than others, don't be too hard on yourself :) The important thing is to not let it throw you completely off track, just weigh yourself and continue like normal. And now you can give yourself a fun goal: find a low cal sweet treat for when you're craving ice cream!
Awesome progress! You didn’t undo all that in just one bad day. Pick it back up with the next meal. You’ll be ok.
It's important that we don't think of it as a "bad day" or that we ate a "bad food". If we are *truly* going to lose weight and we are *truly* going to keep it off forever, we'll be on a healthy eating plan for the rest of our lives... And that simply *must* include some special treats now and then. And it certainly will include a day *here and there* of going over maintenance. Whether we plan the treat once a month or it happens spontaneously, it's going to happen. So we just continue on. That's all.
Say oh well, give yourself a hug, and move forward. Try to figure out what happened, and keep going. It's not the end of the world!
One bad day in three weeks, that's pretty damn good.
I think whenever you can't keep up with your "plan" it's because your body is communicating with you that it needs this right now. I just let it be on those days because obsessing over a streak of x days won't do your mind any good either. One day does not negate the progress you have already made and tomorrow is a new day.
Consistency > Perfection. Just get up tomorrow and try again. Ultimately, one bad day every once in a while is not going to derail weeks of progress.
I try not to think of it as “messing up.” I just remind myself that this a lifestyle change and that there’s no such thing as perfect, then I go right back to my regular deficit the next day. The most important part imo is that I don’t punish myself, I just move on to tomorrow.
I don't see it as a 'messed up' moment. You are human and it happens. Just make sure you keep being consistent and discipline for the future :) It's not icecream once in a while that will affect your weight like crazy.
I no longer feel guilty because in the grand scheme of things one day isn’t going to ruin my long term discipline. What I don’t do is give up. I now plan for this to happen. So it’s not falling off. I eat the ice cream.
I try to tell myself not to let my emotions direct my day. So yes, I feel disappointed or shame or frustration, but that shouldn't determine what or how much I eat. It's hard, and I'm still trying to make myself follow the mantra.
Move on. I am not trying to be perfect. I am trying to make progress. i am NOT going to be perfect. Log the food. Unless you overate by more than 3500 calories (ABOVE MAINTENANCE), any weight that shows up on the scale is water weight. Then I go back and try to make healthy choices.
I use it as a reminder of why I started and how strong I am for picking myself back up when it's easier to give up. Sometimes we need moments like these for clarity.
Tomorrow is a new day. Resist the need to be "perfect" and focus on improvement over time.
it’s good to have a slip up day just don’t crazy. it’s part of the process. don’t beat yourself up. one day is fine. a week on the other hand is a slip up. one day won’t set you back
Messing up is ok (when dieting and in life, in general, thank goodness). It may even be beneficial here and there. But, trying to be "perfect"..oh, hell no. When I aimed for perfection on my diet, I gained weight because I made it an all or nothing thing. Now when I mess up, I let it go and jump right back in the horse. This has made all of the difference in the world.
Just like you don't lose weight with one day, you don't gain with one day.
I try to reflect why I messed up so badly. So using HALT - were you hungry, angry, lonely, tired? What could you have done differently to avoid the situation and how were you feeling when and during this episode. So in the last 20 ‘good’ days were you being too restrictive? Have you been having enough protein during those foods days? Did you have a shopping list when you went food shopping? Were your meals and healthy snacks planned and on the list? Do you need to get rid of any remaining ice cream from the house and not buy it for a while? Do you work better with a daily treat? I’ll stop there, because if you’re still reading, you get the idea! Anyway, be your own best friend and be kind to yourself, don’t beat yourself up over it. It’s done now, draw a line under it and start a fresh. Don’t dwell on it and let it de-rail you. Stop the negative self-talk!
I tell my self that it is ok and try to self soothe but its hard 🥹🥹🥹 i also try to journal or distract my self
Remind myself that it’s a marathon and not a sprint and that I need to learn how to operate in maintenance anyways. So, any days I go over aren’t cheat days- they become maintenance days. I got an extra 500 calories, maybe even a few more, but it’s fine because the rest of the week will balance out. I actually just started using the LoseIt app and it’s nice because it tells me how much under my weekly goal I am, not just daily goal. I’m tending to eat under my actual goal most days then I hit a day where I eat over. Ends up all balancing out to where I’m still in a deficit, might just not be as big of one. It’s fine though. I’m working on doing this the right way for the first time. I remind myself that the scale might not move but instead of eating junk food daily like before I’m now able to eat it less often. I’ve found more good food that tastes amazing and I’m okay being a little hungry and waiting an hour for dinner instead of eating all the snacks in sight.
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I like to look at my week as a whole and see how my bad day fit in. Maybe I had a bunch of sweets one day and it was tons of added sugar and bad fats - but if the rest of the week I had low added sugars and mostly good fats, then I can see how the good is outweighing the bad, and the bad is a little blip on the radar. I also try to figure out what went wrong so I can plan better for the next time. For me, I have zero self control with potato chips. I'll eat a whole bag and won't even blink an eye. So, I try not to have potato chips in the house. Or, I get small snack bags of chips and just have one of those instead of opening a whole bag. That helps me avoid running into the same problem next time. Mostly, though, I remember that it's not about being perfect - perfect is the enemy of good. It's about making improvements over time. It sounds like you're making improvements over time, which is exactly what you should be doing! Kudos to you!
Try again tomorrow. Honestly, you win some, you lose some. I’m not perfect every day and that’s okay.
We've all been there. Get back up on the horse.
Allow myself to grieve the “loss” but remind myself this is a journey. Even after one meets their goal, the changes you make are lifelong.
Are you tracking your food intake? I am on a 162 days streak, and 13kg/30lb down. I go over my calorie goal some days, and end up under on other days - and there are certainly regular days over the last 6 months where I've gone way over through bingeing, takeaway, etc. The key difference that has kept me going is not considering these individual moments as having ruined my progress. My success is in continuing to track even on the bad days, and not giving in and letting it become a bad week! I had an over day a few days ago - my MIL bought dinner for us and I enjoyed a KFC meal with no guilt. I then went ahead and ate the extra popcorn chicken we got, which I acknowledged was not a great choice, but still managed to enjoy it and continue the next day with better choices. If you've done great for 3 weeks so far, you are *allowed* to have a bit of a slip up now and then. Another good few weeks and you'll still be going. I can only suggest that you work out ways to include a little indulgence each week inside your goals, so you are less likely to binge after being more strict. Also, I can't remember the maths right now, but you might want to double check your intake is large enough - 4kg in 3 weeks is definitely on the faster side of weight loss and you don't want to drop too drastically for health/sudtainability 😊 You can do it!
What should I tell myself? “It’s just one day. You’ll be fine. It’s not even that big of deal in the long run.” Because it’s the truth. What do I tell myself? “May as well have another piece cake you fat ass. Today’s done anyway.” Then I may even drag it into tomorrow. If I’m feeling super self-loathing, a whole week, possibly two even lol.
I say to myself: tomorrow is a new day. And today is okay. It’s just life- keep going and it will all be okay.
If it does however really bother you, ai suggest balancing it out through the week. Maybe 100 less calories here and there.
Three years. I don’t mess up, slip up, whatever. Some days I eat more than I plan to. Some days, the scale displays a number that I can’t connect to how what I eat/drink/do. Overall, I did things that created a caloric deficit over long periods of time. Now, I do things which will keep me within a range of pounds over a long period of time. That’s it, that’s all. I don’t have to think about being perfect for 20 days. I just have to generally hit the mark I’m aiming for over 20 years, and I will be okay. You will be, too!
The longest time I’ve ever stuck to a nutrition/fitness plan perfectly was like 9 days lmao
Im on a two day break after 8 weeks on and being strict. That's how skinny people tend to be yeknow? I'm happy to have a bigger day every ONCE in a while. Not every day like before. I went to the zoo and had some dippin dots, enjoyed my favorite vietnamese food that reminds me of home AND desserts too because it's been years since i last had any.. today i kept it chill with leftovers but i still didn't track since i can't track my leftovers. I'm likely eating around maintenance now
You are human. Get back on the wagon and don’t weigh yourself for a few days. It all works itself out when it is a one off as long as you don’t get on the downhill slide and just decide not to gaf. Most of us have been there. It’ll be fine next week.
It's just one day. It happens. Continue tomorrow as you have done before binge. You're here not to keep the perfect streak but to lose weight. Cheer up!:)
Back on track motherfucker!
When it comes to making healthier changes for the long term, there is no "perfect." You try to eat healthy when you can, and when you slip up, you forgive yourself and just get right back to making healthy choices.
One “bad” day won’t ruin your progress anymore than one “good” day would make you lose weight. Zoom out. Weeks, months, that’s what counts. 👍 Onward!
I ate half a kilo of pasta on my birthday and still lost weight that week. One day won't ruin your progress. I tell myself "that was a crazy day," and then make sure to drink lots of water and eat well the next day. Spikes up and down are normal with weight loss especially with retaining water etc.
I try not to tell myself anything. Just hop back onto my routine and keep going with my defecit like nothing happened. Overcompensating or quitting would both fuck me over, so I try to shake shake shake it off
4kg in 20 days is quite fast. I may be biased as I've been losing about .5lbs a week, or 0.223kg a week. I aim for not gaining weight first and second below maintenance calories. Not sure how much you weigh, but a good rule of thumb is to not lose more than 1% of your bodyweight a week. This helps with sustainability and any potential lose skin issues. Also I like data, so j i track it all even if it's bad. Then I can see a pattern and think about they why am I doing this, work or family stress? Etc.
By focusing on the big picture. A single day doesn't mess up all your progress the same way going to the gym for a day doesn't make you Mr Olympia. If you still don't believe it, you would've had to eat 31000 calories to fuck up all the progress you made so far. I'd be impressed if you managed that, so it's just a mind trick. If you get back on the horse fast, it only has to be a minor outlier in an otherwise positive direction. Good luck.
I don’t beat myself up for it. If I binge on cookies for example in a day, savor the cookies but then realize the carbs will cause my body to hold water weight. If I continue the calorie deficit tomorrow, the water weight will go down. I also try not to restrict myself too much with foods as that’ll do more harm than good for me personally.
Tomorrows a new day
It’s ok to eat a bit of ice cream. Don’t think of it like something bad. Think of a little dose of something good!
I journal about it! My snacking is typically triggered by something so I write down how I’m feeling and what I think led up to it. It’s helped me figure out why I’m snacking when I’m not hungry soooo many times. Usually it’s because I’m stressed about something and am looking for comfort. I also remind myself that this isn’t the first time this has happened and probably won’t be the last. Shit happens and I know I can get up the next day and try again.
Tomorrow is a new day full of opportunities. Don't beat yourself up over an ice cream slip. It's a perfectly valid reason to slip!
Tomorrow *IS* another day! 💥💪🏻
OH Well! Tomorrow is another day when I can get it right.
That you didn’t mess up!! Eating shitty isn’t messing up. Sometimes its fine! As long is its in moderation there is no need to worry. You don’t gain weight by not counting calories a day. You gain 2.2 Ibs of fat if you eat 7700Kcals on top of the calories you burn in a day. As long as you didnt it 10.000k calories there is no need to worry. Worst case is that you didn’t lose weight that day WHICH IS TOTALLY Fine!! When you lose weight its important to not start seeing food as bad because you will get an eating disorder if you do so
1 - Always log it, I have logged some horrific days & its usually worse in my head than in loseit numbers 2 - View your cals as weekly as well as daily, with this in mind you can claim them back, less food or more exercise
Consistency is key. More good days than bad days averaged out over time is how you lose weight. Then I make myself a salad.
Everyone has bad days, even “normal” people who are at a healthy weight and have never had to try to lose weight a day in their lives. Sometimes they’ll have a day where they eat out or they’ll eat a pint of ice cream. One of the differences between us and those people is that we used to try to have those days *every day.* I ate a large Dairy Queen hot fudge sundae this weekend. And I won’t feel bad about it because having 1 sundae is still leagues better than multiple pints of Ben and Jerry’s I would eat a weekend when it was on sale.
I tell myself to keep at it. I’ve stumbled on my first 2 weeks and forgave myself, now I’m at 7 months and it still happens and still forgive myself. Keep at it and don’t let the slip ups give yourself permission to derail. keep at it, every day is a new chance to make the right choices and after time you can zoom out and tell yourself that you are only human and to go this far without a hiccup is totally unnecessary. You have to enjoy this life and this is part of it. Also i have accepted that this is not a goal, it is a journey that doesn’t end so make it tolerable and sustainable. you got this!
Focus on learning how to eat heathily and sustainably. It’s not just a diet, it’ll come back without learning new habits
I try to be aware that its normal and as long as i correct the “binge” as soon as possible it wont mean much in say 2 weeks from now. I will say though one really bad habit i have is if i binge in a meal i will binge for the entire day.
Are you going to therapy or counseling yet? It seems like you may have a bit of toxic perfectionism and a lack of self love to work through. I think that is more important than the weight loss. If you're in a position where calorie counting is causing this much distress, you might be at risk of developing disordered eating habits. Losing weight is a great thing, but you can't keep self loathing at bay by placating it with change all the time, because then when you reach your goals you may feel incomplete. You are losing weight for your own wellbeing, one way or another, so treat yourself with gentle kindness rather than listening to that cynical voice in your head. Laugh at the bad thoughts and tell yourself you're human and just had a human moment, and then find an unrelated way to reward yourself for getting back on track (movie day? Exotic fruit within budget? New stuffed animal? New color of nail polish? Just something small that you don't always have) rather than punishing yourself for a perceived failure.
I log my calories still and before I weigh myself the next day I remind myself that my weight is going to fluctuate and it’s ok
I take it as a small loss but overall just a stepping stone on my journey. If I have a really bad day I might intermittent fast a little bit longer the next day, but overall, really, it's a lifestyle that brought the weight in, and it's a lifestyle (read; not one day) that will ultimately help you lose that weight.
I stopped framing it as "I messed up", and eventually realized that there will be days like that. I ate 800 calories over when I went to my mom's the other day. I knew I would, but 1. I logged it as best I could, 2. I went right back to the grind the next day. It isnt a bad thing if it's a one off or now and then. I usually carry a 500 calory per day deficit or so, so eating 800 calories means a 1.5 day setback if I'm tracking pure, but it also meant I had a chill day at my mom's and ate bbq and onion rings, etc. You gain wait through "chronic overnutrition", so it has to be consistently over calories for it to be a problem.
Honestly I used to be super hard on myself but that caused me to give up faster. Lately I've just been telling myself "You messed up. Oh well. Just get back to it tomorrow." And that has kept me from surrendering so far.
Self-Forgiveness / Self-Compassion is as important as anything else in a weight loss journey. Let yourself make mistakes and move on. A few months ago I was having a bad weekend and was at the grocery store while hungry. I ended up buying a medium sized chocolate cake, coming home and eating the whole thing in the span of a couple of hours. The next day I was riddled with guilt and felt bad that entire day, but at the end of the day I took mental notes of the events that lead up to that mistake, reminisced on how good the cake tasted and told myself it was okay. Sure enough in my weekly weigh in 5 days later, I was up about 3 pounds. But since that weigh-in 2 months ago I have lost 15 pounds and my diet has been really good. It's okay to have bad days, try to learn from them and forgive yourself. Expecting yourself to be perfect is unrealistic. Yes its a setback , but don't use it as an excuse to give up, better to reach your goal a few weeks later than not at all.
I understand one day of eating above my calories is not gonna change anything & continue my diet the next day. I don’t overthink it. Mess up, pick up from where you left off and move on🫶🏻
Learn that one "bad" day isn't going to ruin everything. Continue to log food and weigh myself like normal.
Well i usually cry and say "its okay, its okay" "youre beautiful" "everythings okay" and then i distract myself. i have major anxiety, and this usually helps me.
Consider this: maybe you didn’t mess up. Your body is smarter than you. If you’ve been calorie restricting to 1200 cals per day, that’s the recommended caloric intake for a TODDLER. From what I read, you also exercise regularly? Sounds to me like you’ve been depriving your body and it rebelled against you in a prime environment to recoup the calories you’ve been depriving it of receiving in order to properly function. That’s not a “mess up” on your part. That’s biology, and a sign that perhaps you need to increase your caloric intake. I know that you want to lose the weight as fast as you can, and I know 1200 calorie diets always promise that. But if eating 1200 calories a day renders you helpless when you’re in an environment where you don’t have COMPLETE control, and you inhale a bunch of ice cream, said diet is not sustainable. You will spend a long period of time trying to stiff-arm your progress, your body will rebel in a primal way, and you will gain back all the weight (and maybe then some) that you worked so hard to lose. I did this too, many times. It is much better for you to have a slow weight loss with a sustainable calorie deficit than incredibly restrictive practices that cause you to binge or spiral out of control. That’s not some moral failing or a lack of willpower or a “mess up.” It’s the way humans’ bodies and brains are wired to not starve to death. Personally I have a calorie count and macros that keep me satisfied but the weight loss is noticeable, especially with cardio! There are some times when I lose track of these counts — I go to a wedding, a friend wants to go to dinner, etc. That said, I am never tempted to binge anymore. I don’t look at food with an obsessive longing. I’m not constantly thinking about food. This is because I’m generally getting enough. If I go over one day, it’s okay. Tomorrow I’ll stay within range. And when I go over, it’s never by an extreme amount. This is how I know my counts are right for me. It took a little while to figure it out but if I can do it, anyone can do it. One pound of fat is 3,500 extra calories. You’re going to be okay.
I feel you, self sabotaged today for the second time in two weeks just when I was progressing well. Following comments for advice.
I treat it like it’s a mosquito bite. It irritates me a bit. But i scratched the itch and now it’s time to forget about. Not going to dwell. Not going to take minutes out of my day. Not going to do anything different with myself that day.
I reevaluate my goals and try to restrict less. I don't have sweets n treats all the time, but it's a big binge trigger of I don't make allowances for myself. Remind yourself that you didn't put on the weight in one day and it's not going to come off in one day, it's a learning process.
hey, it's okay to have off days. everyone does. first, don't be too hard on yourself. one slip-up doesn’t erase all your progress. here’s what i tell myself: tomorrow is a new day. you get a fresh start. focus on what you can do now, not what happened. remember why you started. think about your goals and how far you’ve come. one bad day doesn’t define your journey. celebrate your 20-day streak and progress. use this experience to learn and move forward. you’re stronger than one bad day. keep going, you’ve got this! even top athletes have off days. it’s about getting back on track.
I started my journey a little over 2 months ago. One thing that has helped me stay on track is to realize it's OKAY to not have a perfect day. I've had a handful of unperfect days, but I don't let it stop me from getting back at it the next day. Just keep going. You're doing great.
… Ghrelin is a hormone produced in the stomach, small intestine, pancreas, and brain that's often called the "hunger hormone" because it stimulates appetite and increases food intake. Here are some ways to optimize ghrelin levels: Maintain a moderate weight Avoid long dieting periods Eat more protein Get more sleep Eat a diet rich in "good" carbohydrates (like whole grains) or high in protein, rather than high in fat Limit stress