Quote:
Originally Posted by Linsy
Does anyone think it'll hurt too badly?
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It really depends on what you mean by hurt. In the scheme of things, even a whole week of nothing snickers bars is far from a tragedy. You would probably gain some weight, feel like crap, maybe your skin would break out - but it's one week.
I'm not saying that you should say "What the heck, it's only a week, so I'll eat as much as I can," because every week, every day, every single choice "count," for something - but you have to decide what that is.
What are your goals for this week slighlty off plan? Will you be upset by a weight gain (even if you're pretty sure it's only water weight gain from the extra carbs)? Are you expectiong or wanting to lose weight this week? If you get home and see a gain, will you see it as a tragedy or just a minor detour in your journey?
Only you can decide what defines "hurt too badly." And even if you define it (less than two pounds gained, and for all the gained wieght to be lost again within a week) - none of us can determine whether you will experience that. Our bodies really do vary enough that what might cause you a one pound gain, might cause one of us a two pound loss or a seven pound gain.
Your experience will have to be your guide. And if you don't know the answer yet, after the end of this week, you'll have more information, because only experimentation will tell you how your body will react.
For me, drinking a glass of fruit juice and sugaring my yogurt would tend to drive my sugar & carb cravings (and my generic hunger level) skyward. I might be able to get away with it for a day or two, but eventually if I wasn't extremely careful, I'd experience calorie and carb creep (well since I've already gone of plan, a few more off-plan treats won't hurt...). Being hungrier, I'd probably eat more even without realizing it. I'd be "off plan" so I might be less likely to journal (I have an extraordinarily bad habit of dropping my journaling when I go too far off plan. It's a habit I'm trying to change - recording everything I eat, even if it was a single bite off-plan - even if I don't know how to "count it" on my exchange plan).
Unfortunately trial and error is all any of us have. The important thing is not to let this experiment derail you, no matter what the results. If you do gain, most if not all will probably be water weight that will be easy to get rid of after 4 to 6 days back on plan (drinking a little extra water will help).
You'll have to determine though whether or not the off-plan eating was worth it. You might decide "yes, and I'd do it again without changing a thing," or you might decide "not really, and in a similar situation in the future, I'd do x, y, or z differently."
Either way your experiment is a success (in that you successfully learn what to do, or what not to do in the future).