Hi everyone,

I always eat exactly 22 points per day, never use my "extra" points for the weeks or take off for exercise (30 minutes of cardio every day) but yesterday (11-21) I ate 37 points. 6 for lunch 3 for breakfast and McDonald for dinner; 37 total.

My question is should I stay on track with 22 points or should I cut down for a few days or exercise more or what...I feel guilty and learned my lesson (I could have had a happy meal and been well below my points for the day) but I went with a big meal.

Any advice will help

Thank You!

Don't beat yourself up with guilt! You've faced up to what you ate and you counted it! That's half the battle right there! Time to move on....

Is your normal point target 22? If so, eat 22 points. At my meetings they stress to not go below your target. I'm like you in that I stick to my target and RARELY go over, but based on my leader's recommendations, I consume all of my target points, even if I'm not hungry. Many times I will end my day with a glass of milk just to get the points in, but I do make sure I get them in. Being off by one point is no big deal, but don't try to cut back for a few days....your body may see it as deprivation and go into starvation mode where you'll actually gain weight at the lower points!

While this may be good now you may actually be doing some harm to your metabolism but that is a whole other post.

AND?

You should not feel guilty at all. The program allows for days like this. You said you never use your Activity Points even though you can and you don't use your FlexPoints. You had 37 points yesterday. Your DAILY BARE MINIMUM is 22 (37-22 = 15) YOU USED 15 FLEX POINTS and you still have 20 of them left.

NO GUILT! NO GUILT! You had something, enjoyed it and now you move on. The only thing is you may have some water retention due to the sodium in the food.

It is just food. You eat it for energy and to keep your body functioning.

My final 'lecture' is do not be afraid to use those other points (activity and flex). W/W wouldn't give them to us if they were bad. They are 'NOT IN CASE YOU SCREW UP AND HAVE TO FIND POINTS' points they are to make the program flexible and to allow you to have days like these.

Personally I use every point given to me or earned.....I never even dropped down in points when I should have due to loss of weight. For example when I was eating at 24 points and lost enough weight to drop to 22 I stayed at 24 and continued to eat my APs and my FPs. Then when I should have dropped to 20 I was still doing 24 plus the APs and FPs. This doesn't work for everyone but many stay at the higher points until they quit losing at it. The more points you use while losing USUALLY the more points you get at maintenance and the less chance you feel like you are dieting to maintain.

So please don't have any guilt...you had something, enjoyed it, had the points for it and still had some FPs left so you are still 100% OP.
Any advice will help