Super-motivated to disappointed

I started the week so well, and then last night my schedule at work kept me out til super-late - and I had a hot chocolate and some animal crackers and went over my daily calorie allowance. I feel terrible.. tell me i haven't ruined everything! this is my first week of staying on the wagon (the new, HONEST wagon, that is), and I got as far as wednesday. :( is dieting really this hard? how do you all do it? how do you prevent something like this from getting you down??

Wed. May 24, 8:53am

Keep in mind that one food or meal does not make you gain weight and no one food is going to make you lose weight (i.e., the grapefruit diet). This is about making healthful choices for your life. This is also about feeding your body healthy foods at the right times. Your eating choices will balance out over the course of the week.

If you know you are going to work late, it's natural for your body to be hungry later. Have a snack prepared ahead of time - an apple with peanut butter, a sandwich. Also keep in mind that if you are eating less, your body will be fighting you because it wants to be fed! Make sure to fuel your body throughout the day with healthy foods so you aren't ravenous at night.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 9:04 AM

I flub up constantly. I have not yet had a "perfect" week. But I am still losing weight, because I meet my goals most of the time, and that's enough. One sugary snack is harmless. The danger is in the attitude (I still struggle with it too!) of saying, "Oh, well, I tried. Today's a loss." And then giving up or going all out and binging. When you stumble (and everyone does-we're human after all) forgive yourself, learn from it if you can, and keep right on going. You can do it. You can, you can, you can.......

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 9:37 AM

I've lost consistently since beginning PeerTrainer and never had a gain. I have a "free meal" once each week. I desiginate a weekend day for this and eat what I want for one meal. Just don't get on the scales the next day as you will probably be up a little and will get disappointed. If I want a food that isn''t on my program plan during the rest of the week, I think to myself that I will be able to have it in a few days. This has worked for me and kept me "sane."

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 9:49 AM

OH, I know EXACTLY what you mean. The main thing is: don't give up. No matter how much you mess up, keep trying. If you keep trying, eventually you will reach your goal, even if it takes a little longer.

Animal crackers and hot chocolate is not that much of a mess up - maybe you had some extra calories for the day, but it doesn't sound like something that could pack on the pounds in one incident. Just get back on your wagon, and do your best.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 12:48 PM

PLEASE don't get discouraged! I was a constant overeater and could never stay on track. what has helped me tremendously is keeping track of everything I've eaten in a day. so, if I have a few animal crackers, I can look at my intake for the day and see 'protien..vegetables..dairy..vegetables..protien and some animal crackers.' Then I also remind myself of all of the calories I was burning working late, or the workouts I've done during the week and my animal crackers don't seem like that big of an infraction. Also, can you remember what you ate the DAY you got fat? I didn't think so :)

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 1:36 PM

Cheer up.

Don't let one little slip up discourage you. The way I see it, we are all in the process of learning about healthier eating and lifestyles, and part of learning is occassioinally making mistakes. I wouldn't expect myself to be a perfect baseball player my first time out - even the pros make mistakes, so why should we expect ourselves to never mess up as we learn healthier eating habits? We shouldn't.

It was one slip up, not the end, and definitely not a sign that you can't do this. Everyone messes up but with practice the mistakes get fewer and farther between. Weightloss doesn't require perfection. We learn as we go and get better along the way.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 3:44 PM

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