Weight Loss Support - how to get over a food hangover??

So I'm not going to list my excuses/bs reasons, but last night I caved and had a HUGE plate of pasta (white) with parmesan and cheese... I posted a thread in the Diet support forum for specifics about why I feel positively ill today (couldn't eat breakfast i feel so sick to my stomach) and possible carb/sugar sensitivity, but I'm posting here b/c I'm looking for ways to recover .. mentally, if that makes sense. I feel awful about what I ate last night, and the wknd in general I didn't do too hot. On a positive note, b/c I do feel so disgusted right now I'm determined to eat low carb this week ( I didn't even buy my usual whole grain bread yesterday at the store), but I still feel so grossed out at myself. How do you recover when you know you've over done it?

When I've gone overboard, whether it's on a regular meal or my normal - snacks between meals - I find that a good workout gets me back on track, mentally. Even an extra workout...while I'm on the elliptical or bike I'm thinking of WHY I'm suffering through another workout...the calories I consumed, etc. It's a useful tool to clear my mind, help my body and even acts as a deterrent against doing it again (sometimes)...

Firstly, I forgive myself, what's done is done and I can't change yesterday. Next I get right back on plan, I eat breakfast, or whatever the next meal is because if I don't at lunch time I feel that I've missed breakfast so I can have a bit extra at lunch and it has a knock on effect for the rest of the day/week/my life.

I drink lots of water for the bloating and go for a long gentle walk and I use that time to think about why I did what I did. I don't know if it's the same for everyone but none of my out of control cravings ever have anything to do with anything physical, there is always an emotional reason for them and knowing what the upset was helps me to avoid it next time.

Well done on being back on track.

I head for the scales. "Okay, time for a reality check." Usually, there is no increase, so I close the book on that binge and get on with life.

I like the advice given above. Most generally, when I overeat it's because I do feel like I'm missing something or feel bad about something. I usually kick it into gear when that happens, and have a good workout. I realize that this lifestyle is a huge change for me and, even though I try, I still have a lot of bad habits that I am trying to change. I do feel down on myself, but I always feel better after a good workout.

Hugs to you! I hope you get to feeling better soon, and that you get right back up on that horse, so to speak.

I think going lower carb and eating lighter the next day is the best way to get over it... just to get back to the not so stuffed stomach feeling.

MindiV, I like your sig pic, you look so gorgeous. A great motivator ;)

I can relate - a few weeks ago I had a binge that included a big dessert, chicken quesadilla, three glasses of wine, two Krispy Kreme donuts, chicken with the skin on, a mound of bread and butter and cookies, all consumed within a 3 hour period.

What I did was get up the next day, pretend like it never happened, and just got right back on plan. I did drink a special drink I made for a few days, consisting of water, Knudsen's "Just Cranberry," a scoop of colonix and a scoop of organic greens (it's basically fruits and veggies in powder form). I also made sure that my calories were super low for a few days, just 1,200 calories.

The most important thing is to not beat yourself up. You are human, you are going to backslide. You just have to make sure that your backsliding is extremely limited in scope, and not use it as an excuse to permanently go off plan. Once I started my binge, I gave myself until midnight to end it. After midnight, I stopped the binge immediately.

And I would hazard a guess that every one of us on this board has binged at least once in the course of our journey and most of us lived to tell the tale.

Good luck to you!

Thanks to everyone for the advice! I did really well today - all whole foods, fruits, veggies, lean proteins, no breads or pasta - phew! And I had a great workout tonight! Alyssamichelle and Trudiha - I think you're right about figuring out what trigger this binge... last week was really stressful workwise, and I feel like by the time the weekend came I was ready to cut loose....

I posted a thread in the Diet support forum for specifics about why I feel positively ill today (couldn't eat breakfast i feel so sick to my stomach)

It sounds like you might have a gluten allergy. Have you been tested for celiac disease? I used to feel the same way you are describing (ill...sick to my stomach) before I found out that I am celiac and must avoid gluten.

I know how u feel. I HATE food hangovers! I feel so depressed afterwards. But we learn from our mistakes that's what counts right!

If I've had a binge-like period of time, what works for me is a day of "fasting", just to remove me from the thought of eating and to give myself a break. I drink plenty of water and stay out of the kitchen for 12 to 24 hours. It's not a ritual thing. I just find it a good way to get a grip on reality again. I usually break the fast with something light, like a clear broth with some veggies simmered in it. If I go for a protein, it'll be a couple of scrambled egg whites plus a whole egg. I stay away from my trigger foods like dairy fats, salty carbs and sugar. The next day, I make sure to get back on track, eat lots of veggies and enough lean protein to manage my hunger. And lots of water.

Thanks for the help everyone!! One more question: if I do well during the week with eating and exercising, and binge on the wknds, it seems my weight will stay the same the following week no matter what i do. I feel like when i first started out i could go a little more crazy on the wknds and still lose weight the following week...Am i now getting to the point where I can't even mess up one day if i want to see a loss the following week?? How can ONE bad day outweigh 6 good ones?!

Thanks for the help everyone!! One more question: if I do well during the week with eating and exercising, and binge on the wknds, it seems my weight will stay the same the following week no matter what i do. I feel like when i first started out i could go a little more crazy on the wknds and still lose weight the following week...Am i now getting to the point where I can't even mess up one day if i want to see a loss the following week?? How can ONE bad day outweigh 6 good ones?!


Without a doubt, one "off" day can definitely derail the other 6 "good" ones. We are trying to create a calorie deficit. We do that one day at a time. Taking in appox. 3500 calories below what we burn will provide us with a pound of weight loss. In other words, every time we create a 3500 calorie deficit, we lose a pound. Let's say we create a 500 calorie deficit every single day. We do that 6 days in a row - that's 3000 calories burned - or almost a pound gone. But on that 7th day, we don't create that 500 calorie deficit. There goes that should have/could have/would have been one pound gone. Depending on how many calories we consume on that off day, we've not only wiped out our potential to lose the pound - we may create a calorie overage or surplus - and now gained weight - not lost.

Which is why staying on plan 7, 14, 21 days in a row is vital IF you want steady, consistent weight loss. You just can't have it both ways - go off plan AND expect weight loss. Nu-uh. If you're willing to have a stall, or yo-yo back and forth that's another story.

Plan out your weekends even more so, since they tend to be a bit more difficult. Treat it like any and every other day of the week.

How can ONE bad day outweigh 6 good ones?!

It's all about the math! When you were carrying around an extra 20 some pounds, your body was doing more work and therefore using more energy. Go and pick up something that 20lbs and try carrying it around for half an hour, you'll be exhausted, sweaty and miserable but you'll have had an excellent workout.

But I think the question you really need to be asking is why you need to binge on the weekend and if there is something else you can reward yourself with for getting through a tough week.

Thanks everyone. That's pretty frustrating to hear. You can spend all week sweating and working your butt off, resisting all those things you want to eat.. and then a 2 hour period where you eat what you want to eat, those things that taste so good and are actually addictive (I'm talking about me being a carb/sugar addict) - and the week was for nothing. Isn't life cruel sometimes??

Without a doubt, one "off" day can definitely derail the other 6 "good" ones. We are trying to create a calorie deficit. We do that one day at a time. Taking in appox. 3500 calories below what we burn will provide us with a pound of weight loss. In other words, every time we create a 3500 calorie deficit, we lose a pound. Let's say we create a 500 calorie deficit every single day. We do that 6 days in a row - that's 3000 calories burned - or almost a pound gone. But on that 7th day, we don't create that 500 calorie deficit. There goes that should have/could have/would have been one pound gone. Depending on how many calories we consume on that off day, we've not only wiped out our potential to lose the pound - we may create a calorie overage or surplus - and now gained weight - not lost.



I agree. The math of weight loss doesn't care how "good" you've been. I had a nutritionist express suprise that I could maintain the size I was based on the food logs she had reviewed of my eating because I appeared to be a healthy, deliberate (her word for someone that purposefully tries to get the proper amounts of food groups daily) eater. However there were 2 things working against her understanding of my weight maintenance. First, she didn't really believe my life was as sedentary as I had indicated, but a computer programmer working from home is really barely above bed rest unless makes a conscious decision to move more.

Second, she only examined a 7 day food log. When I tracked on my own I had found that my apparent 200/day calorie deficit was completely negated @ every 10 days by a day I ate 2000 calories more than required. Now any of us who calorie count know that 2000 calories over isn't even necessarily an obvious binge, can manage that just by too many calorie-dense healthy foods in one day plus a Snickers bar snack in the afternoon or a bag of chips in the evening while watching TV.

So I began tracking every day, doubled my exercise, and didn't take 1 day off every 10, and what do you know, 43 lbs. gone in 6 months eating the exact same foods. Hmmm....

Thanks everyone. That's pretty frustrating to hear. You can spend all week sweating and working your butt off, resisting all those things you want to eat.. and then a 2 hour period where you eat what you want to eat, those things that taste so good and are actually addictive (I'm talking about me being a carb/sugar addict) - and the week was for nothing. Isn't life cruel sometimes??

You need to change what it is that you WANT. Find ON PLAN foods that taste good and delicious. So that there is no going off plan.

I also needed to completely and totally ban those foods that I found *addictive* and had trouble (lots of trouble) stopping with at a small portion. Since I had trouble stopping with them, my solution was NOT TO START. Problem solved. 165 lbs of fat gone.

Really, it's VITAL to find healthy, on plan foods. If you do that, then there's no reason to veer off track. No reason to yo-yo back and forth. No reason for any week to be for *nothing*. Find um. Be creative. Experiment. They're out there. Give yourself that gift. Let your tastes change. Let your love for "those foods" die down and atrophy. Re-think what a "treat" is. A wonderful FF/SF yogurt smoothie with blueberries; a delectable veggie souffle'; a bowl of butternut squash soup; a poached pear; a baked apple with walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. Fall in love with tasty, delicious foods that are also good for you. Long after you're done chewing.

Alexandra, far be it for me to question those who have lost huge amounts of weight, because I am just beginning. But, from what I understand, calorie cycling is a good option.

Basically, calorie cycling goes like this: let's say that you have a daily calorie budget of 1,400. You take 1,400 X 7 and you get 9,800. Which means that you want to hit 9,800 for the week. Then you eat, say 1,200 for three days, and 1,400 for two days. If you do that, you have 3,400 calories to use on the weekends. So, if you want to blow it out Saturday night, you go ahead and eat, say, 2,200 calories then 1,200 calories on Sunday.

I understand that this keeps you from plateauing, because your body is always guessing, and it gives you a bit more liberty on certain days.

You might try that and see if it works.

Oh, and don't forget to exercise!