I have tried since I came home to eat clean...very hard but when you have a family that loves to eat and loves to cook and cooks all your favorite foods...its like come on.
So after fighting it all morning, I decided that I am going to eat whatever I want and however much I want and try hard on Friday and Saturday to go back to my routine. If the weekend doesn't work out, I am not going to beat myself up over it.
I know a lot of people would say I am giving up or losing the war right now but I feel like as long as I get right back on the wagon, why should I feel bad? Its not like I am giving up the war, just the holiday, back home battle. It doesn't mean I love myself any less because I've detoured on my journey a bit, just living life and enjoying one of the things that brings me and my family together.
And as long as I keep focus on the prize of losing the weight and keeping my efforts going, I feel like this little setback will be nothing because its not about when I get to my goal weight but just getting there gradually.
One, two, or even three pounds is not going to deter me from winning the race and is really not that bad compared to gaining 5, 10 pounds which I don't think I could do in three days. Maybe in a week but I don't plan on staying that long. And yes gaining weight is really counterproductive but so is depriving yourself to the point you end up bingeing and I'd rather gain 3 pounds than end up bingeing later down the road and gaining 20 back.
You can totally go right back to your regular diet after. You just have to have controls in place so you want to. What method are you using? Logging calories? Weight Watchers?
Personally I reward myself for logging calories regularly, not for pounds lost. So I actually allow myself to eat whatever I want, but I must always, ALWAYS log. When I went on vacation last month, I went WAY over my calories (like 4000 calories) on the second day, but you know what? The next day I wasn't as hungry.
Just keeping the calorie log helps keep me on track, because it keeps me aware of what I'm eating. So if you're using a logging method, I'd suggest logging anyway, no matter how much you eat.
Even if you're not using a logging method, one day isn't going to make the difference. Honestly I don't think you'd be likely to gain 3 pounds - that's like 10,500 calories (I mean, yeah, I've doubtless eaten that in a day before, but on thanksgiving it's less likely because a lot of the food is actually filling and healthy). Any weight gain you see will likely be mostly water weight.
But even if you do gain three pounds, so what? You're on a long term path to losing way more than that. And three pounds can't stop you from being awesome.
You can totally go right back to your regular diet after. You just have to have controls in place so you want to. What method are you using? Logging calories? Weight Watchers?
Personally I reward myself for logging calories regularly, not for pounds lost. So I actually allow myself to eat whatever I want, but I must always, ALWAYS log. When I went on vacation last month, I went WAY over my calories (like 4000 calories) on the second day, but you know what? The next day I wasn't as hungry.
Just keeping the calorie log helps keep me on track, because it keeps me aware of what I'm eating. So if you're using a logging method, I'd suggest logging anyway, no matter how much you eat.
Even if you're not using a logging method, one day isn't going to make the difference. Honestly I don't think you'd be likely to gain 3 pounds - that's like 10,500 calories (I mean, yeah, I've doubtless eaten that in a day before, but on thanksgiving it's less likely because a lot of the food is actually filling and healthy). Any weight gain you see will likely be mostly water weight.
But even if you do gain three pounds, so what? You're on a long term path to losing way more than that. And three pounds can't stop you from being awesome.
I really don't have a particular method like I once did. I use to log in my calories like nobody's business but after gaining the weight back, I realized that wasn't working out for me. I've tried caloriecount.com and myfitnesspal which I am still very active on but I try to write what I eat in a journal whenever I can now because I don't have access to a computer or my phone all the time.
And yeah that is a lot of calories, I doubt I would eat that much in three days but I know probably 3500-7000 I could probably do especially since most of my family's food is fried or slathered in grease (live in the south). Luckily this year its just fried turkey and not fried chicken but if I could avoid it all together I would but I love turkey.
And thanks for the encouragement...I have been on and off so much that I don't think I could go back too far this time because I am really adamant in losing this weight. I can't go back to the headaches and backaches everyday...I just can't!
I try to write what I eat in a journal whenever I can now because I don't have access to a computer or my phone all the time.
Great! Just keep journaling, then. And review your journal the day after so you can get an idea of how you've been doing.
I like the visual representation MyFitnessPal gives me with the bar graph for the week so I can tell if I've been over a lot of days in a row, or if I've been doing pretty well. Maybe there is some kind of indicator you can put on your journal pages, to indicate whether you felt like you went a bit over or under? Even if it's just related to how you've been feeling - i.e., whether you ate until you were too full, or whether you probably should have eaten more meals.
Just thinking it might help to have a visual representation so you can have an idea at a glance of how you've been doing. But, not sure if it would work for you like it does for me.
I know a lot of people would say I am giving up or losing the war right now but I feel like as long as I get right back on the wagon, why should I feel bad?
If someone said this to me, they'd get told to mind their business PDQ.
You are accountable to no one but yourself when it comes to your eating habits. Why should anyone feel anything but gratitude for having a wonderful meal on Thanksgiving? I know I thoroughly enjoyed mine and I hope all of you enjoyed yours.
I read today that the average American consumes 4500 calories on Thanksgiving. Sure, it's a startling figure and great clickbait, but think about it this way. If your average American maintains on 2000 calories per day, this hypothetical American wouldn't even gain one whole pound of fat.
When people gain over the holidays, it's because they're overeating consistently for a period of 2 months, not because they had 2 big meals on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I know it can be scary when you've gained through the holidays in the past, but things can be different this time. It doesn't have to be an all or nothing proposition.
It's your business how you rock this weekend! I can't do this, if I blew off Thursday and let it keep going over the weekend, it would snowball and not stop for months. So I have to stay on track, and I did, but I applaud you for eating what you wanted, being happy and ENJOYING the holiday! You'll get back on track and be better than ever!
It's your business how you rock this weekend! I can't do this, if I blew off Thursday and let it keep going over the weekend, it would snowball and not stop for months. So I have to stay on track, and I did, but I applaud you for eating what you wanted, being happy and ENJOYING the holiday! You'll get back on track and be better than ever!
Thanks and I've eaten so much that I can't wait to get back to eating clean. Sometimes a little detour every now and then is healthy, makes you realize what your body really wants and needs and after my leftover Thanksgiving plate today, I realized how much I didn't really want or need the food and really the only reason I ate it was because my Grandma went through so much trouble in making it.
Tomorrow I am so ready to get back on the band wagon of losing smart. But yeah you shouldn't go off your clean eating if you are not confident that you can come back from it. I have gone off twice since I started in July but managed to come back within a few days instead of months like I did before and its because I am slowly but surely realizing what my body needs versus what my mind craves.
I think after a while, I will stop with the detours altogether but right now I think I will keep doing it every four weeks or so to keep from going off the deep end. The way I see it a few days or week of eating wrong versus a month of eating wrong is much less damaging and may keep you from feeling deprived to the point you feel the need to binge.
Yeah weight loss might be slower but isn't this a lifestyle change and not a diet anyways?
And to everyone else thanks so much for the encouragement! I truly appreciate it!
I ate whatever I wanted yesterday. And I didn't worry about it. And today I'm back on the wagon. I won't go off the wagon until Christmas eve and day. And I will be back on the wagon the 26th. I find it's easier If I have planned cheat days and that my cheats are nutritionally/emotionally rich. So I'm not going to cheat and have a gallon of ice cream while watching TV. But I did have a slice of pie yesterday. It was a celebration and food was part of it. It was homemade pie and I enjoyed it. I wasn't trying to fill an emotional void. And on Christmas, I'll have pie again. I just won't have pie every day or even every week in between.
Anybody else giving up on Thanksgiving?
