Here’s some real talk: dieting can be hard.

A Bad Day In Dieting

Yesterday I got into some rough chocolate territory involving not only chocolate cake icing but chocolate ice cream my mom bought for no good reason. I’ve consumed more calories in chocolate than I have in real food. Probably. Dieting can be hard.

But I couldn’t tell you for sure. Because I didn’t track my food yesterday when most of this chocolate consumption occurred. Somehow my little iPhone and I didn’t make time to enter in all the munchies and sweets I put in my mouth.  I gave up around mid-morning after it felt too time consuming and difficult to click a few buttons and record all the little bits of random things that went into my mouth.

I spent most of the day going back and forth between sleeping and eating. Zzzzz.  Food!  Zzzzz.  Food!  Zzzz. FOOD!  Zzzzzz.  Food!  Zzzzzz. My gym still didn’t have power so I didn’t do much of anything regarding exercise.  This was the third day without power at the gym despite everyone else in the town having power restored.

Instead of going for a walk like I should have to get more exercise in I watched Bridezillas. For several hours, wondering the whole time how people that mean ever got married and if anyone will want to marry me since I’m not that mean. I did do some weights and a little lazy cardio during one episode, so I counted that as my mandatory daily exercise.  Clearly the guidelines for what counts as exercise are fuzzy in my book.

Also went to see a very cool acoustic band play at a bar with a friend. I’ve been avoiding establishments that serve alcohol because I stopped drinking to help with losing weight. I was quit proud of myself for just ordering water while I was there, but I did have one (very large) shot that someone bought me because I’m terrible at turning down free things.  If you want to buy me free alcohol, I will drink it.

So, yesterday was full of many kinds of chocolate and alcohol. (YES! yes!! YES!!) That sounds like the anti-diet, doesn’t it?  Not that I am on a “diet” persay since I’m not following any specific diet or plan but just eating cleaner and more moderately. But if I was on a diet – DAMN I just had a killer anti-diet day.

I know that having one bad diet day isn’t the end of my world and I’m already planning to get back to the things that I know will reset my body and mind after a day like that. I’ll be eating clean and getting in my exercise to move on from the bad diet day. Hopefully my gym has power tonight so I can hit it up for my workout. I would like to reunite with the love of my life, the elliptical. I’ve missed our time together. I’ve not been the same without our daily date. Chocolate is no substitute for the exercise endorphins.

How To Recover From A Bad Diet Day

Here’s some more real talk for you: one day doesn’t determine your success or failure in dieting and weight loss. The best part about all of this is that weight loss adds up so your cumulative efforts matter more than anything.

If you have a bad day of eating while you are on a diet here’s what you can do to recover:

• Don’t panic. Panicking about all the bad stuff you ate will just make you feel worse. No need for that. What is done is done. It’s time to move on and fix the situation. Avoid coffee and sugar to reduce anxiety and panic.
• Don’t skip meals. Skipping meals won’t fix the problem but it will set you up for failure and more problems at your next meals. Skipp
• Plan your next meals. Plan out your next few meals with healthy, well balanced meal choices. Aim for full meals with lots of fruits and veggies.
• Avoid lots of sugar and fat. These things make you crave more so avoid them when trying to reset yourself after a bad diet day.
• Exercise! Exercise will calm you down to prevent panic and it suppresses those stress hormones that cause you to crave junk food in the first place. The fact that it stops your from overindulging should provide plenty of exercise motivation.
• Drink water. Drink lots of water and then drink some more. Drinking water isn’t magic but it certainly helps with a lot of things internally and will make you feel better and more awake. Drink several glasses of water more the next day.
• Get enough sleep. Seven or eight hours of sleep per night is necessary. Adequate amounts of sleep help the hormones that tell us we are full or that we are hungry so sleeping enough maintains these and stops junk food cravings.

Doing just a few things will get you back on track and help you carry on down the road toward dieting success. It just might mean less cake.