What do you do when you "blow it?"

I tend to lose my motivation when I get close to my goal calorie intake early in the day.

For example, I'm back from lunch and I'm left with about 250 calories for the rest of the afternoon, evening and night. I know this isn't the end of the world, but I tend to go into "panic mode" and start stressing out which usually results in some sort of binge.

What strategies do you have for avoiding (or managing) this panic?

What types of foods do you eat to make up for a slip-up (in my case, vegetarian soft tacos, who knew how many calories tortillas have!?) early on in the afternoon?

Any advise is helpful. Binging has been the death of me for years.

(Side note, is it spelled "bingeing" or "binging?")

Same with me!  But I overate on purpose to get to that number.  I just keep remembering that I want to gain weight (although that might not apply to you)!  

But when I was trying to lose, I called it a metabolism reset day!  It gets your body back to where it wants to be—having more calories instead of less—and your body will be happy for it!  And you will probably still lose weight (I know I did!).  

Yup, and my lunch today was tacos too! :)  And on the spelling I don't think it makes a difference.  

Just remember that you will probably not gain weight from this, and your body will be happy and your metabolism will go up, causing you to burn more on days you're trying to lose weight!

First of all, make sure you are really allowing yourself an appropriate number of calories per day!  My personal trainer had me on 1,000-1,200 calories a day and I had the same feelings!  

The most important thing is to learn from this!  NOW you know how many calories are in tortillas and you can make a different choice next time.  I think that is the most important part of eating healthy, it is a learning process.

As far as the rest of today, you should eat something healthy for dinner, ie grilled chicken with a green salad with fat free/reduced fat dressing.  I would eat more protein and watch the carbs with dinner, most tortillas are HIGH in carbs.  

If you go over your "goal" calories for one day it won't be the end of the world.  The main point is don't let one day throw off a whole diet and good progress!  

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks, guys. You both offer solid advice and encouragement. I've just got to keep myself away from the vending machine downstairs and I'll be okay.

Emotional eating is terrible.

I am exactly the same way. Planning tends to save me, and when i find myself we few cals left, I plan my dinner very carefully. Admittedly, the hardest part is not eating that planned dinner too early!Maybe trying to keep busy will help?

I have an entry in my food log titled, "stupid tortillas" from a simlar discovery. I think we just learn as we go. Try not to be so hard on yourself. Now you know- fo next time.

Another thing I've found is that if I eat well at breakfast and avoid eating things that tend to lead to a derailment, the rest of the day gets easier, and saying no isn't as hard.  Thus the planning!

Yesterday was not a good eating day for me...I ate too few calories early in the day, which left me wide open for attacking a bag of chips. The chips took me to my cal goal for the day, so I ate nothing else for the day. Not a good way of doing it, I definitely don't recommend it!

As for advice (and I'll try to take it too), prepare your meals in advance, and eat plenty of high fiber, high protein food to help you feel fuller, longer. If I only had 250 cals left for the day and it was afternoon, for supper I'd have 1 1/2C mixed veggies, steamed (75 cal), a can of tuna (120 cal), and 2Tbsp lemon/herb sauce (20cal). That's a pretty filling meal for only 215 calories. Add an apple for an evening snack and you've only gone over by 30. Diet pop also is good as a filler for 0 cal.

If you're really stressed about it though, eat as you normally would for the rest of the day, but include some extra exercise.

Unfortunately, after posting this I promptly went downstairs to the break room and bought $.25 worth of Hot Tamales candy. I ate those and made a cup of tea, hoping it would calm me down.

Although when I got on campus in the evening I went to the cafeteria with my boyfriend and ended up eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on wheat bread and about half of his french-fries.

To make matters worse, when I got home, he was hungry, so I cooked him dinner and decided I, too, was "hungry" (aka stressed from a long day at work and school afterwards) and I ended up eating half of a veggie burger with sprouts, avacado and hummus on a wheat hamburger bun.

In addition to this, I really don't know the calories for all of these things (I can figure out the stuff from home, that's easy, just a little addition and division), and not knowing how many calories I'm eating tends to send me into hysteria. I used to know the calories in everything!

Regardless, today is a new day, I'm going to go and get my oatmeal with almonds, take a deep breath and start over.

*sigh*

Collier!  I would NOT stress about this day.  IT sounds like, despite being thrown off course, you still made smart choices with your meals for the rest of the day. Granted, it may have been too _much_ food, but overall, your veggie burger, PB sandwich, oatmeal, is all of the healthy variety!

You didn't go nuts and eat like a whole box of Kraft mac n cheese, or order Papa John's.. you know?

I would do exactly what you already did which was just chalk it up to a crazy day and start fresh tomorrow.

Keep up the good work and good luck!

Dana

Thanks, Dana. I appreciate your reply (and support!)

Yesterday ended up being a strange day as well. I was supposed to go out to dinner with someone so I planned accordingly and ate lightly through the morning and afternoon. Got in a fight with my boyfriend before dinner and ended up spending the rest of my night crying and couldn't bring myself to eat.

I guess the two days can balance themselves out.

One of these days I'll eat a healthy, balanced diet. One of these days.

I'll give it another shot today.

It's okay!  Heck, I went out Wed with some guys from work, got talked into 4 Jack & Diets, came home & ate 1/2 an angel food cake!  You know what?  I slept like a log & felt better the next day, ready to tackle my calorie goals =). 

Somehow, even with all my "slip-ups" this week I managed to lose over 4 pounds! I'm sure it's all water weight and it might have something to do with my new scale, but, alas, proof that a couple bad days won't ruin a lifetime.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

Original Post by collier__:

Somehow, even with all my "slip-ups" this week I managed to lose over 4 pounds! I'm sure it's all water weight and it might have something to do with my new scale, but, alas, proof that a couple bad days won't ruin a lifetime.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone!

Your metabolism is more akin to a oil tanker than a speed boat. Messing up once or twice every once in a while isnt going to kill you. It will slow your progress a bit but not by a huge amount. Once it gets burning tho it will chew through anything! =) 

When I go overbudget with the calories early in the day, I stick to the original plan for the rest of the day.  I don't try to "make up for it," because that leaves me hungry (ok, starved) and more likely to blow it more.  I feel like I'm back in the saddle much quicker by returning to the original plan.

This is something that will happen for the rest of our lives.  It's just a blip--kinda like we have to get the oil changed in our cars every so often.

Well, I guess that's kind of a weird analogy....

Two oil analogies in one thread, how funny!

Either way, I've been extremely stressed and somehow my usual emotional overeating has morphed into under eating.

I've lost nearly 6 pounds in three weeks and that doesn't seem entirely healthy.

I'm happy to be losing weight, but I don't want to do more harm than good when it comes to rapid weight loss. I know that I'll be quick to put it (and then some) back on as soon as things smooth out at home.

Any suggestions?

I give myself a calorie range with about 300 leeway.  If I go over that then it's a maintenance day.

Have plenty of salad and fruit in the house! A nice fresh fruit salad with low fat or fat free bio yogurt is delicious and filling low fat/calorie snack and helps to curb those sugar craves. Also mixed salad with some turkey breast or lean ham is another low fat meal. You don't have to skimp on the salad because there is barely anything in it! If you want to bulk it out a bit, get some mini baby new potato's, just 3 or 4 of those is only about 60cals. Preperation is the key. Having plenty of fresh fruit and salad in the house helps. It does not take long to whip up a real healthy treat.

2 lbs of weight loss isn't unhealthy. Professionals say a healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. You are right on target.

Original Post by knl:

2 lbs of weight loss isn't unhealthy. Professionals say a healthy weight loss is 1-2 lbs per week. You are right on target.

Thanks for the info, KNL. I've now lost about 7 pounds since 10/18/2008.

Do you think that's still reasonable?

Believe it or not...when I get the urge to eat past my limits I start reciting my goal weight in my head over-and-over and I can beat back the urge to eat. Simple and stupid but it works for me. I convince myself that every extra calorie just delays the ultimate goal.

Original Post by miket53:

Believe it or not...when I get the urge to eat past my limits I start reciting my goal weight in my head over-and-over and I can beat back the urge to eat. Simple and stupid but it works for me. I convince myself that every extra calorie just delays the ultimate goal.

 

I do something kind of like that, except it's more visual. Under my left hand on my wrist I write my goal weight in perm. marker, so that way any time I go to eat I glance at it before I get it to my mouth. It really helps me keep perspective.

The only downfall is when people ask, "Why do you have "140" written on your wrist?"  When I'm feeling cheeky I'll reply [nonchalantly] "that's the number the aliens tattooed on me after the abduction." but most of the time I'll go on to explain it's significance in how I'm trying to lose weight and get healthier.

The great thing about "blowing it" is that we are here telling about it...meaning we did not give up...We are still fighting the good fight!  We are all winners by doing just that.