How much damage is a night of drinking/fun? Ok quite a lot of drinking and a lot of eating...

I watched the show Diet Tribe that was on Lifetime recently about a group of girls trying to lose weight together, and they had a night out and the trainer REALLY made them work the next day!

So what's the punishment for last night? Running up and down stairs, hitting the track, doing double the workouts?

I'm doing a 12 week Body for Life challenge where you draw x's on each day on a chart - and darn it, I have a day without an X - but the plan allows for a cheat day so I'm thinking on "cheat day" I'll do the missed workout and not have a cheat meal as I've been doing the past few weeks...

Need to do no more fun nights, especially mid week - doesn't help with work the next day either...

Ahem...

Contrary to "reality" shows, losing weight does not have to be a series of rewards and punishments, nor does it have to become a competition. It does, however, require a certain amount of good judgment.

I wouldn't try to offset a night out by working extra hard the next day. IMO that is the wrong model. If you want to skip your planned "cheat day" (another concept I do not like), then that's probably OK. Just get back on the track.

OK, getting off the box now.

Jay

I had a whole weekend of drinking and food, and as I leave my job this week I have a leaving party tomorrow night too. Can't say it's making me want to face the scales tomorrow but I know it has to be done. Thankfully this is an unusual week for me and I should be back on track next week.

Okay, we are pretty close to the same height and weight. I had one day last week (Wed.) were I went around 1500 calories over my calorie limit. It took less than 20 minutes. I was PERFECT the 6 other days of the week and I gained 1.4 pounds on my Friday weigh in. I learned a valuable lesson...I can not be trusted with one!

ETA: I'm sure the 1.4 pounds is NOT FAT, but it is weight nevertheless...and it's enough to make me sweat

I occasionally have a special day where I drink or eat too much. For example last week was my birthday and I had 2 b-day dinners on separate evenings. While I did not go overboard, I still ate and drank more than my allotted calories.

I had no change on the scale. Even when dieting other times, one day never caused me a problem.

Probably one of those things where it is different for everyone.

I have pretty much thrown all potential time lines out of the window for myself, and just want to focus on eating for the body I want in as painless a way as possible. It might take me longer than most, but in the end I think my approach is worth it.

And that's why I almost never feel bad about going out once or twice a month on a special occassion and indulging in food and drinks. Weddings, birthdays etc happen and quite frankly I don't want my world to revolve around losing weight. I want to have fun. And once I get to goal, I'm not going to magically not have these events.

Everything in moderation, even moderation.

I don't know about guilt as much as this headache...

Self-flagellation has not proven to be an effective weight loss strategy for me. Get back on plan. Only you can decide if the headache or temporary scale spike is worth it.

I aagree.Feeling guilty had caused me more damage than one night of poor choices.Feeling guilty has led to bingeing.Admitting I slipped and vowing to be better has led to jumping back on plan.You had a nice evening.That is allowed even if you maybe overindulged slightly.

I just came back from Vegas with a night on drinking (Capt. & Diet) and it cost me nothing. Now had I eaten poorly that would have been a different story. I also made sure I was super hydrated before, during, and after.

The first time I had alcohol (wine) since going on plan it stalled me for 7-10 days.

I enjoy a drink or two from time to time so it is important for me to make sure it "fits" my lifestyle. I am also not one for reward/punish; I just need to keep the big picture in mind and live my life.

It really depends! I don't go out to bars anymore, but when I did, I would eat:

5-8 rum and diet cokes (I was 21-22! Yikes!)
Grilled chicken burger with veggies and no sauce or cheese, with salad (1 tbsp dressing)

It didn't do tooo much damage calorie wise (although that drinking is ridiculous now that I look back), but only once every week or two.

If you are drinking 4 beers, a full on burger and fries, hot wings, etc, you can easily be looking at 3000-4000 calories (specifically with hot wings!).

So you can go out and party! But still choose!

One night off plan isn't going to matter in the long term, so long as you get right back on plan again. It's when one night turns into off plan the next day, and the day after that, and then off plan for a week, and so on...that it does a lot of damage. But if you get back on plan the next day and stay there, in a week you will have forgotten all about your one night off plan. It will feel like it never happened (and the headache will be gone too ).

I had a bad week and decided not to weigh in until I'd had a good week. I think this worked well for me as I didn't get demotivated a by a gain and by the time I weighed in again it had gone. This isn't the psychology that works for everyone I'm sure though!

It's a slippery slope. For me, one night leads to two or three, and it totally undoes a week of hard work. So I just remember...everything in moderation.

Yes I've done THAT before where ONE night turns into oh well, another day, then another and another - AND a month of this can be 8 lbs if you gain 2 lbs a week which I did... pizza and beer and junk. Back on my BFL program, all x's on my calendar except one so I'm canciling my "cheat day" (allowed on this program) and am working out that day. BUT I think I gained a lb or stayed the same when I would have lost. Imagine how many calories are in those sugary alcohol drinks? Plus pasta, plus well... not a good night. But the past is the past. Onward and back on plan. Summer's around the corner... I have some cute jeans I want to WEAR that I bought on my vacation.