and lots of them!! Maybe i should say 'fries' for all you over the pond. I was badly craving them so for lunch i went to the local chip shop and ended up eating the whole 'small' portion with a bit of grilled chicken but not really much of that!! That is all I've had today along with a protein shake for breakfast and I am determined to not let this turn into a whole binge day!
I'm going to the gym tonight and I may make my dinner just another protein shake... any advice on how to make this better?!

Sometimes we just slip up. Don't worry about it too much! Just make sure you get right back on track and don't beat yourself up. I'd drink lots of water because eating too much greasy food always makes me feel gross, and water seems to counterbalance that. It sounds like you already know what you're doing though!

^Yeah.

When I slip up, by overeating or by eating something not on plan, I get right back on plan at the very next eating opportunity - the very next meal.

I don't try to "make up" for the slip by skipping a meal (if I'm truly not hungry because of the overeating, I might reduce the volume of a meal, but not in any effort to balance out the slip). Trying to make up for the slip just leaves me hungry and makes it that much harder to get back on plan - it makes it more likely that one poor eating choice will escalate into a few days off plan.

So, if I were you, I wouldn't just have a protein shake for dinner. I'd go ahead and eat whatever I had planned for dinner. The chips are in the past - you are back on plan, right now.

What do you think the calorie count for a small portion of chips is? If that was all you ate today, except for a protein shake, and you are going to the gym, you might not have messed up as much as you thought you did.

I agree with this^^. Obviously it's not something we should do everyday, but there's nothing wrong with indulging cravings now and again. Last night before bed I ate two chocolate chip cookies...I don't feel bad about it at all. I don't eat them everyday. When I have cravings and I don't indulge them a little bit it becomes an obsession and I overdo it.

I agree with this totally!

Also while I was actively losing weight and on plan I would have a splurge meal once every 5 days and it would sometimes include chips, sometimes even fish and chips, but I stuck to my plan for the other meals of the day and it didn't inhibit my weight loss trend plus it kept me sane and from bingeing. If it was a really salty meal I sometimes would have some water retention for a day or two but that's all never an actual gain of fat because it wasn't a crazy multi-day binge like it used to be in the past.

So in short my advice on how to make this better is to treat yourself with love and kindness

Thank you all! You are all so right, I am going to just carry on my day like normal, having just a protein shake for dinner may trigger binging later at night which will be worse.

A small fries from Hardees is around 350. I dunno, seems a bit low. If it were me, and I had fries with ketchup and some chicken, I'd probably count it as being somewhere between 6 - 700 calories. Your protein shake was probably around 250 - 300?

For dinner, I'd probably do a grilled protein and a nice salad (around 400-500 cal).

I've found it is easy to grossly overestimate the unknown calories in junk foods.

See! It really isn't so bleak.

Don't fret! You need to indulge now and then. Just don't let this turn into days or weeks of off-plan eating. If you were going to go off-plan, doing it with some fries and grilled chicken certainly is one of the "better" options!

FWIW, I eat fries just about every weekend, because holy crap they are good. Look where I am! Just, you know, make it work and you'll be fine!

I really wish it was that low, but a small portion from a chip shop is roughly about 2/3 large handfuls I would say. I tried to google calories based on handfuls as opposed to weight but had no luck lol.

Eh, even if it was 1000 calories, it won't break you. Just make a better choice next time you eat. Maybe try and add some extra walking in today. Like if you drive, park in the back of the lot. Or if you use public transit, get off a stop or two before your regular one and walk the rest of the way.

Maybe what you need to do is buy some fries and then throw out most of them before you start eating so you are not tempted to overeat them. I definitely do this when I'm eating "bad" foods. Sometimes it's as simple as having a taste test of a food every once in a while.

Hi all, I think we have to be careful that we don't demonise food too much whilst losing weight. So you had some chips, that means a nice carbohydrate hit for a card session at the gym Try and turn it into a positive, whilst I was in the midst of losing my weight, there were occasions where I treated myself to chips, crisps etc. Just don't make a regular thing out of it.
Sounds like, what with your gym work you deserve a treat. I now view as food, exercise like I do requires extra energy!

shishkeberry:I agree. Even if it were 1000 calories, you probably still came in that day around 1800 at the end - not bad at all. Definitely a lot less than most of your peers are eating! A lot of people on this website lose weight at 1800 cal. a day (particularly when they are active, sounds like you are also active)

Also, lossforlife has a good point. No food needs to be demonized. Fries are actually great for providing a short burst of energy for your workout.

Yesterday I weighed out some American chips on the scale. Each gram contained 4.5 calories. I had 25 grams, which was actually a pretty good portion size!

It wasn't the healthiest, but sometimes we simply crave salt and fat.

Just, for me, don't make yourself feel like a failure for every small order of chips you eat in the future! Its not exactly healthy, but its also not going to blow all your efforts.

If I really wanted to know the calorie count, I'd weight it. How? I'd buy some frozen fries, bake them, take the exact same amount (2 handfuls) and weigh them. How many calories does the frozen bag have? Then I'd add extra calories (probably around 100) for the added oil in the other fries.

Basically, if every small portion of fries/chips had 2000 calories or some outrageous number, then the Americans and the Brits would be WAY larger than they already are!