I have been doing really well with the holidays and doing 90-100 min of intervals on the treadmill. My son is on a ski race team and had practice today. My husband asked if I would like to walk up the ski hill instead of the treadmill. Of course I said yes. we got up the hill in 15 minutes, jacket and gloves off, sweating up a storm. Loved every minute of it, until on the way down he said want to get some fries they have the best here. I told him it defeats what I just did....

yep I ate 6 of them... stopped myself at 6. then got home and my neighbor came over, 6 christmas cookies later, chicken sausage on a hot dog roll, hot turkey sandwich with gravy and 4 mudslides later..

I tracked my calories..why? I knew I was over, I knew this blew everything I work so hard for... weigh in is Friday there is no way I can make up for this day...

sorry for the rant, but I am beating myself up.. why cant I stop myself? I want to lose this weight? I want to cry... I feel like I will always be fat.. I cant have cheat days, I cant stop myself

I couldn't agree more with martini. Please don't beat yourself up. Healthy eating and exercising is for life, wouldn't you agree? So, when you put it in that perspective, a few off-plan days here and there will not matter. In fact, sometimes I think we need such days. After all, even "naturally" thin people (i.e., those who can manage their weight without thinking about it) overdo it on vacation, on holidays, etc. My naturally thin husband ate more on Christmas Eve than he normally eats for dinner.

Also, you are not alone. Many, many of us here overdid it during the holidays. I tracked my calories from Christmas Eve dinner to Christmas day breakfast & lunch, and you know how many I ate? Four thousand!!. Yes, you read right! But you know what? I was back on plan the day after, and although these last two days have been difficult (eating that much makes me want to keep eating that much), it's getting easier, and it feels good to be back on plan. Once you get a couple of successful days under your belt, you'll feel great.

You WILL succeed if you keep going. The only way you'll fail is if you let that one off-plan day discourage you so much that you give up completely.

^Oh, that is so right^ ... we have all been there; I ate too much on Christmas Day too, but then tracked on the next and today. Like LIN says, the most important thing is to KEEP ON GOING ... We all make mistakes; we can learn from them; then move on -- for me, that was the most important non-scale victory of all!

Doing that exercise counteracts what you ate. Limiting the damage is a Victory. Plus, as you get back on track for today, you can balance things over the week. You may not lose, but you may maintain; and you may even be surprised with a loss -- can't tell you how often that happens too ...

I also want to commend you for continuing to track. When I go off plan, it's colossal and I don't even remember much of what I devoured. If you get right back on track, drink lots of water and work out a little more than usual, I'll bet that weight will just slide right off and then some. Just don't weigh yourself for 3 days or so...that's how it works for me anyway. Please just find a way to learn from the experience and move on, rather than beating yourself over the head with it and feeling like a failure. You are most definitely NOT and you WILL get this weight off. Just get up, dust yourself off and recommit to do this and believe in yourself!

Remember too that the body doesn't work in 24-hour cycles like we do. We tend to look at ONE DAY's calories and ONE DAY's exercise. The body works in a longer term continuum. Overall, I bet you are still doing wonderful at eating well and creating a caloric deficit.

So, eat less than you normally would each day for the rest of the week. Maybe move a little bit more if you can. It's very doable to balance out a high calorie day with lower calorie ones. The body won't be able to tell a difference.

(By won't tell a difference I mean in terms of weight gain. Your scale may be up- a lot- due to the weight of the food and increased salt and carbs. I've had my scale be up as much as 6 or so lbs in one day after eating lots of processed simple carbs. Notice I said "my scale be up" and not "gain." It's water weight and will be released after a few days.)

Good luck and keep up the awesome work

Or not, if you prefer. I am a big fan of just putting slip-ups behind me and getting right back on plan. Not below plan, not trying to make up for anything. The reason is that trying to make up for the slip-up keeps it current in my mind and makes it harder for me to just get back to a strong on-plan routine. It also can lead to me being a little hungrier than I like, which can just cause another slip-up!

Trying to make up for a slip-up starts to feel like doing penance to me, and I want to avoid making that kind of moral judgment about eating something that tastes wonderful and is engineered to be tempting to nearly anyone. There is no crime to do time for, no sin to do penance for. There was just a meal off-plan. The very next bite is back on plan - that's all, it's done.

You don't have to punish yourself for the slip-up. Just acknowledge that they happen - to nearly everyone! - and get on with your plan. In the big picture, your caloric deficit averaged over months and months of on-plan eating, an extra thousand calories (or whatever) on this one day will not even be a blip.

Agreed. Nothing wrong with sticking to your plan and not reducing. Listen to your body. Mine usually doesn't want as much food in the days following a high calorie day, but everyone is different.

I didn't intend to suggest lowering calories as a form of punishment. Apologies if I did!

Thanks everyone. I am getting back on track today and hitting the treadmill.. I tend to beat myself up when I go off track. I am throwing out the Christmas cookies so I am not tempted. Planning healthy snacks for new years eve. I will get through this.. thanks for the encouragement.

Good grief, girl... I am sure I went into a cheese cake coma on Christmas day !
Nobody is perfect. I think the "all or nothing" mind set is what gets most of us in trouble. Just review what you were doing right, and do it some more.

I know you didn't mean it that way. But it's so easy to start thinking about it that way - at least it can be for me - I wanted to warn the OP away from that way of thinking.

You describe wanting to eat less after going over your calories. Usually, that is not what happens to me - overeating just stimulates my appetite and makes me want to overeat more! And so you can see why going back not just to my regular low-calorie plan, but even lower in an attempt to make it up, would be that much tougher on me and make me dwell mentally on the slip-up. Getting back on my regular plan is, for me, the best, most morally-neutral way to deal with a slip-up.

OP, I encourage you to experiment and find what works best for you!

No, I'm glad you clarified. I recently did the same in another thread when something suggested "burning off" extra calories eaten by hopping on the treadmill. It's really easy for statements to send the wrong message or lead someone down an unhealthy line of thinking. Good to keep each other accountable.