How do you bounce back after having a bad day?

[Sajijoma 1,324]

Hey everyone. I was just wondering how everyone bounces back after a day where their whole diet gets totally derailed. I am pre op and I am trying TRYING so hard to lose weight, but yesterday just obliterated me and now I'm feeling like it's hopeless. It was a great day, don't get me wrong. We went to the apple orchard and walked row after row picking beautiful apples in the country and then we went to have lunch and ended up eating chinese food. My achilles heel. It was that or Burger King or go hungry-missed Breakfast too because it was a 2hr journey from where we live to get to the orchard to begin with and 7 kids and a husband who are all like herding cats and needed to be packed up and all the things we needed for the trip(diapers, wipes, vomit bags, hand sanitizer, paper towels, spare clothes, books to read on the way, the baby's toys and bottles, Snacks for the kids, stroller, emergency allergy meds etc),and a time we had to be there by, so that's what I did! I totally set myself up to fail and did it. We got the lunch meals which as a little smaller and better than the dinner portions, and I fed as much as my toddler wanted to him before hand, but I still ate A LOT of sugar filled, deep fried, sesame chicken with fried rice and carbs stacked with sugar coated carbs and then as an extra stupid sign that I am in fact stupid, I had the leftovers from my kids' meals as dinner instead of the semi healthy meal I made the rest of the family. Even last night before bed the leftovers were still calling like a siren from the kitchen so I made sure to put in a full workout at 11pm last night before bed thinking that my face couldn't eat it if it was busy sucking air. I woke up today, stepped on the scale and found myself 4lbs up from yesterday! I know part of this is Water retention from the high sodium content, because my feet are swollen and hurt, but I'm pretty sure some of those pounds are mine to keep. It's been all I can do to stay focused today and instead of saying "I EFFED UP AND IT'S ALL RUINED" to just stay the course and get back on track with what I was doing before. So what do people do when they Eff it all up in one day. How do you get the strength to say that today is a better day and I'm going back to my diet and I'm sticking to it and I won't be derailed again? I'm in total panic mode because my NUT appt is the 29th and I've got to lose those 4 pounds and at least a couple others to show I'm making progress to get approved for surgery and it took me a full 45 days to lose the weight I lost last time.

[Thinside 155]

Be as kind to yourself as you are to your family! Do NOT beat yourself up over a slip or a bad day! You have a tremendous amount on your plate (pun intended) and you sound like you're doing great a managing it all. I would never have had the energy to exercise at 11 p.m. after all that! You're living a full, active, conscious life. If you make a mistake one day, that's just ONE DAY! And don't sweat that 4 pounds. My weight has always fluctuated 4 pounds or more in a day. You're working it and you will be fine!

[samuelsmom 670]

First off, take a deep breath. You can do this! I agree that there is a Water issue also. So, unless you have some type of medical condition where drinking a ton of fluids would be bad for you, I would suggest the following:

1) You can't change yesterday. Be glad you had a good time and move on. Recriminations will only set you back.

2) Drink a lot of Water. Water is a natural diuretic. If you drink a lot it will help with the water retention.

3) I find that 24 hours of liquids beneficial- for example- nothing but Protein shakes and greek yogurt and water is great for a "reset" physically and mentally

4) Write down everything you eat to stay accountable.

5) If you went through childbirth and have to care for a toddler, you can definitely do this!

[Miss Mac 6,261]

My BF was in Fort Worth last week on an annual business conference for work. In five days, he gained two pounds. During those same five days, I gained six! WTF! I have my ever three month appt. with my primary on the 21st, and need to lose those six before then. Geeze.

So, today I have stayed on my Protein regimen and tried to take it up some. My biggest trip-up is to fail to plan. When I plan and have the right stuff available, I do very well. When I try to wing it and go an extra day or two with out restocking the fridge, that is when I have trouble.

It looks like you packed everything the kids needed and nothing that you needed. It is ok to be a little selfish now. I guarantee you that if you pack cubes of turkey meat, string cheese, cherry tomatoes, unsalted nuts, maybe even some yogurt cups in a cooler, your kids will eat that with you. They won't starve and you will have useful stuff on hand.

One of the hardest things for me to learn was how to throw away leftovers and bits on the plate. At this point I mat as well just tape it to my hips if I don't throw it out. Don't beat yourself up. This is hard....very hard. That is why we come here for support.

[Veronica_mm 87]

Just get back on the saddle again. Today is a new day, start again. It will be ok and you can do this!! We all have our weak moments.

[Mountaingal 322]

Yesterday is over, dust yourself off and look forward, keep your eyes on the prize. Humans do mess up sometimes. I have read a lot of your posts and I am convinced you can do it gal.

[pink dahlia 2,513]

Hi there, Dont beat yourself up for ONE day !! You have SEVEN kids, and only ONE you ! I noticed you took care of everyone else except yourself!!! Since you're taking care of so many, how about "pre pack " some things for road trips ? Then you and the kids can grab and go much easier. Keep a bag stocked in the car with vomit bags, hand sanitizer, paper towels etc. Give each kid an empty backpack and whatever fit toy wise, can go . As far as Chinese food ? I love it but always gain a few extra pounds because of the salt. Get back on track and the Water weight will disappear !! Your kids need a healthy happy mom , so don't give up !: You wouldn't tell your kids to "give up " if they ate some unhealthy foods, now would you ? I didn't think so...........................!

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

Take a deep breath.

50% of this is a mental game. You have to change the way you think. Alex just post about PLANNING AHEAD. When you think about yesterday, for every negative, think about what you could have done instead. I eat Chinese quite often. I get steam veg, sauce on the side. I only get rice if they have brown rice and even then I limit it to 1 tablespoon or quarter cup. I fill up on any unbreaded, non fried Protein and veg.

Retrain yourself not to eat the kid's leftover. I know many mom's do that on autopilot. Either give it to the hubby or ask for to go containers when the food arrives and pick it up as the kids finish.

Keep "safe: foods in your purse. When I was newly sleeved I would buy the RTD Protein drinks in case I got stuck out somewhere there was no safe food for me I find not allowing myself to get "hangry" prevents me from making bad eating choice. I also try to go everywhere with a Water bottle or bottle of Water.< /p>

Retraining and changing bad habits takes some time. For many of us it may be a lifelong battle. The key is to not give up.

[Sharon1964 2,530]

I agree with what everyone has said. Do a "post-mortem" on your day. Look at your own post and think about what could have been prevented, or could be prevented in the future. You could make sure you always have a Protein bar or two in your purse (keep them in an empty hard eyeglass case to keep them from getting destroyed in your purse). You can go online and look at Chinese food menus to see what would have been a better choice than what you had. For instance, at Panda Express you can get mandarin chicken (some places have changed the name to teriyaki chicken) with the sauce on the side. For your side you can get steamed vegetables. They always say "rice or chow mein" but steamed vegies are also a choice.

As far as the leftovers go, before you make a move on them, or when you have the container on the counter, stop and ask yourself, "is this going to help me or hurt me." Be honest with yourself. With your large family I don't imagine you throw away much food, so I won't suggest that. You could freeze it and give it to the kids another day.

Good luck and hang in there. You can do this!

[DavidK 19]

Considering you mentioned carbs twice in your post I'm guessing your doing low carb. If you are on a low carb diet, and then one day you eat a lot of carbs, your body will retain Water. I personally swing about 5-8 lbs when I switch up what I'm eating. For you to have gained 4 lbs of fat in a day, you would have had to exceed your daily caloric burn rate by 14,000 calories.

If you drop your carbs, or reduce your calories to a low enough amount, your body will shed the Water you absorbed in less than a week most likely.

For me the best way to deal with going food crazy is to just try to limit the damage. When I get the feeling that nothing will be right in the world until I eat a doughnut, I will try to eat some fruit, meat and or cheese first, and tell myself that afterwards I can eat a doughnut. Half of the time I end up not even wanting the food I'm craving, but even if I eat the doughnut it will at least only be one, instead of 3 or 4.

On days where everything breaks down and I just plain overeat, I just do my best to not beat myself up about it, recognize that one day is insignificant in the bigger picture, and try to do better the next day.

[newmebithebypass 713]

i also had a bad weekend first it started with the Cookies and my weekend get together no big deal but then i had a birthday party to go to there was no bottled Water and i caved and had a full fat soda for the first time in a month and i binged on potato chips lots of them and ice cream cake. im retaining 3 pounds of water right now and feel like garbage but its a learning experience for me. now i can tell my body no dont eat that remember what happened last time

[joatsaint 2,814]

I knew from years of dieting failures that I was going to have setbacks along the way.

Even with the restriction Frankensleeve provides!

Even though I beat myself up when I fall off the wagon, I try to learn from each experience.

I tell myself that it's just a setback, only a bit of a delay, that I'll learn from this and be more prepared the next time.

Over time, it's gotten easier to resist the bad foods and I don't feel guilty or depressed when I choose to eat poorly.

I just realize it's only a delay, not permanent. Because I will get back on track the same day.

Remember, failure is not a permanent state if you keep trying.

• If you fell “off the wagon”, cut your losses, don’t worry about it, and get right back on track.
• Immediately.
• It’s minor damage that can be dealt with.
• Most people allow one treat to become a 50-shades-of-chocolate-3-month-binge-of-fast-food, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
• Rather than focusing on being a perfect eater, just make sure you don’t put yourself in any situations where you overdo it.
• Be good and be good to yourself. Stay strong and keep pushing on.

Get my free eBook - The Top 10 WLS Fears and How to Kick Their Butt!

[Sajijoma 1,324]

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments. I realize I would never let my kids treat themselves as badly as I do myself and did over this one bad choice. The #%^@!! scale is still up but I'm going to try hard to stay off it a few days and keep chugging my Water and trying to stick to my plan. I think what upset me the most is that I KNOW that Chinese food is a trigger food for me and it's like I deliberately went in there knowing it was a bad idea. I just don't know why I do that to myself.

[Sajijoma 1,324]

What really gets me as I sit here thinking is why the hell was I not proud of the fact I walked an entire freaking orchard without getting tired or needing to sit down while pushing a stroller through ruts and crags and tall grass and carrying my huge basket of apples(don't trust kids to carry something so heavy and hubby had the other basket)?!? Why is my 1 fixation the fact that I went to crapville on my diet? Why is that my ender? Why am I so cruel to myself. Would I attack a friend like me who did the same or would I tell them how proud I am of how hard they worked? *sigh*. I guess I need to think about that awhile. Why do I mentally verbally abuse myself to the point I don't know how to go on after what a I perceive is this huge failure and how can I prevent from doing that in the future.