Does anyone else ever have a day where it's bad eating-wise, but you still stay within your calorie limit?

Like yesterday, I had Mcdonalds fries, 2 iced coffees, a chocolate bar along wiht my breakfast.lunch of yogurt and a banana and soup for dinner...So I still stayed within my calorie limit and journaled everything, but it wasn't a very healthy day for eating.

My main question is how detrimental will this be for my diet? I mean, I don't do it often, but my weekends are sometimes messed up and I just don't eat a lot and then when I do, it's kinda crappy! So how guilty should I feel about this? lol

~Laura

I don't think you should feel guilty. Calorie counting is just one weight loss tool to work with. In the beginning I only counted calories - I didn't really analyze the quality of the calories I was ingesting. Once I found myself staying within my calorie range but no longer losing, I started looking at exactly what I was eating and making better choices. I am constantly adjusting what kind of calories I eat, even though I technically have been staying within the same calorie range for months. It's great that you are tracking what you are eating now because you will have accurate information when you find you hit a plateau (as is common in any long term weight loss effort) and need to adjust your diet.

I don't think you should feel guilty at all. And here's why - you stayed within your calorie allotment, which means you did the biggest piece of what you need to do to lose weight on the plan you've chosen. That's a big deal! And if it doesn't seem that way, think about how many times in the past you might have had McDonalds and a chocolate bar and not paid ANY attention to what you ate the rest of the day and how many total calories you were consuming? I used to eat like that... well, pretty much every day.

We're human, and even though we've made a choice to be healthier we're not going to be *perfectly* on-plan 100% of the time with both our calorie intake and every single food choice we make. I know I'm not! You're still new to this (or to this site, at least), and just staying within your calorie limit day in and day out really is a big step forward. Eating more healthfully on the weekends too will come in time as your new eating patterns become habit. In the meantime just keep sticking to your calories, choosing healthy foods most of the time, and you'll be fine.

No guilt!!!! You are counting the calories. You are a calorie counter. For the first two years that was all I counted. Now I will sometimes look at my fiber and protien counts. For example if I need or want a snack later in the day I might look at my calories for the day to see if I'm lower on protien or fiber so I'll know what to snack on. I log on my fitness pal so this is super easy for me to do.

Calorie counting means you can eat whatever you want. Obviously you shouldn't make fast food a daily thing, but you can still eat it occasionally and successfully lose weight

When I first started counting calories I made every effort to choose healthy food options. As time went on, I found it harder to avoid the bad foods that I love. I work to make as many healthy decisions as I can every week, but if a night comes up when we want pizza, I have it and then I count those calories. I figure if I stay within my numbers, I shouldn't worry about eating what I feel like eating.

I just make sure that my portion sizes aren't totally out of control and that helps keep my calorie count within range. I'm still losing weight even when I make a bad eating decision here or there.

Thanks everyone! I was having mixed feelings and starting to beat myself up about it, but then thought "well at least I'm still within my limit!"

Thanks for all of your encouragement, it means a lot!!!

I think you did great! Just keep in mind that there could be fluctuations on the scale due to possible increased sodium (water retention). I have a very hard time sticking to my calories if I'm eating more junky but it does happen sometimes....which is why I love calorie counting more than any other approach I've ever tried.

As far as I am concerned, as a calorie counter there is no such thing as a "bad eating day" if you stay within your calorie limit. When I first saw the title of this thread, I was impressed that you could find enough "bad" foods that didn't throw you over your calorie budget.

You will find after a while that you are choosing foods higher in fiber, lower in fat and sugar, because you can eat more of these types of foods than more calorie dense foods. In other words, if you stick with calorie counting, you will naturally trend towards healthier options over time, so don't beat yourself up for a day that has less nutritious foods, but is still within budget.

I agree with what everyone else has said. Healthy eating isn't supposed to be rigid and bleak. As long as I've balanced my calories and eaten a variety of nutritious foods within a given WEEK, I don't worry about it. There are some days when I eat almost exclusively carbs, including refined and sugary ones, and it hasn't stopped me from losing weight or maintaining the loss.

F.

It happens & I dare say if you let it go it's actually refreshing to get a day a like that. It's not REALLY cheating because you stay in your zone BUT you still get a treat.

Did you ever read the news about that one professor who ate nothing but gas station junk food and lost weight because he stayed under a certain calorie allotment? Not a great long-term strategy health-wise, but it does highlight the overall importance of calories in vs. calories out. Staying in your cal range while eating nutritionally poor foods is a great accomplishment in my opinion!!

It was Twinkies. I still don't know how he managed to eat those every day! Even before I lost weight if I ate too much "junk" then I would feel ill. I never really gained weight from it (I maintained in the 190-200lb range for years) but I just FELT physically ill and I would start to crave some real food.

This is one of the reasons why we have skinny unhealthy people. They don't eat much, but they eat food that isn't good for you.

Don't feel guilty at all! People who aren't dieting have off days or a junk food day, so it's only logical that people who are on a diet will too. The plus side is that you had a junk food day but were still able to stay within your calories!!