One night of sin

Q: Youve been dieting for weeks/months and losing weight throughout the whole time. Then, one night, you go out and have a huge meal, completing stuffing your face till you cant breath. The next day, you return to your dieting ways. How much damage would that do to your diet? Would it actually be good for you in some odd way.

I have done this. It put me weight back 2-3 days. But still as long as I get back on track, not something to be done all the time thats for sure.

Well treating self for one night is not bad unless you make sure that you choose items with less fat and more proteins. It would reduce the speed of your weight loss and might even increase the water retention in your body which would result in weight increase. The best is that next day you should spend more time in the gym this would help you burn the extra cals and decrease the water retention in your body.

This month I have been out to dinner twice and had a cake, chicken & chips day (just because I wanted to) - I made sure I recorded what I ate and as I knew I was going to exceed my calories for those days, I cut back a little bit the days before and the days after - I have lost 8 pounds this month - which I am happy with, my planned "going off the rails days" keep me sane and make this way of eating a more likely choice for me in the long term. Before I would have dieted like made, then had a pig out day and then would have just keep going for days........weeks.......months before trying to get back on track again.

Im going to be extra good today, thats for sure.

I think once in a while its good for you to go a little crazy. Perks you up a bit in some respects. Lets hope tomorrows weight in is a good one!

I don't think it hurts to eat a little more one day. It's really all about averages.

However, this stuffing of the face until you can't breathe concerns me. Sounds like bingeing. Pay attention to how you feel after you do that. Pretty s##tty right? When I stopped to think about it, I realized that it wasn't pleasant to do that. In fact it made me feel like crap. So why did I do it?

It turned out to be very complicated. I would suggest you explore the reasons you want to binge. It is not normal or healthy to stuff yourself way past the point of fullness, IMO

It's never a bad thing to have a "Cheat Day." In fact, sometimes it can help you lose weight by just mixing it up a bit.

With that said, stuffing yourself that much is never a good thing. It's just really unhealthy, and besides hurting your new healthier lifestyle, it's just not good for you. I'm with K8 on this one.... Try to figure out why you want to do this. Maybe if you can pin point the reason, you won't do it in the future.

I had a day like that last week, ate everything I could find and went well over my calories, I felt stuffed, sick and generally crappy. I went up 2lbs but after a few days went back down. I've learnt my lesson!

We had a long 4 day weekend and went on a road trip. I never eat like I do at home, greasy breakfast, lite lunch and usually a heavy dinner. When I get home I am generallu up 2-3 pounds, but with within 4 days I am now not only back to my pre road trip weight, but minus 2 more pounds, when I was struggling before for the scale to move. So sometimes its a good thing and tricks the body. But I NEVER stuff myself...those days are gone!

I think I need to add that when I have gone over my calories on dinners out, etc. I am very conscious about what I am eating and have eaten less than I normally would do (leaving half the portion of chips, no to dessert, a definite first for me!) and I have walked away without having the uncomfortable feeling of being overstuffed. Every day I remind myself that I could go off the rails and stuff myself, but it would make all the effort that I have put in so far worthless. But I do feel that we also need to teach ourselves control in the real world and this includes being out for dinners, etc.

Eating badly in moderation is one thing - we all have special occassions that we want to celebrate or just days where we want to eat without stressing over the calories of everything. But eating way too much solely for the sake of stuffing yourself silly seems like backtracking- that's why we have weight issues to begin with. I think a key part of the process of learning how to live healthy is to be able to have "cheat" days, or whatever you want to call them, without going completely overboard. There's a law of diminishing returns and at some point, you have to ask yourself if you're actually getting any enjoyment out of the extra calories or if you're just eating them to stick it to your diet. The end goal, at least for me, is to have a long-term healthy relationship with food and if you still feel the need to binge to that extent, then you're not there yet.

It depend on what lifestyle guidelines you are following. People talk about "cheat days" and how they don't exist in some plans (i.e. Adkins and other low carb lifestyles), but in reality, cheat days don't really exist in any way of life and if you do, it will set you back a few days regardless. However some lifestyles have guidelines that are not as strict all the time (i.e. Weight Watcher and Calorie Count). If you budget your points/calories within the guidelines of the plan per day/week, you are not "cheating."

That said, Ketosis, on a lower carb diet, is a chemical reaction in your body and if you eat too many carbs in a given day, you run the risk of that chemical reaction stopping for a period of time. The common theory that I've heard is a few days.

Just my $0.02.

By the way. I am a firm believer in a day of higher points or caloric intake. At the same time, I follow Weight Watchers for the most part, so the extra weekly points allow for "Cheat Days", so to speak.

I think the cheat days are just a fact of life, we all have had it happen. the question is do I kick my own arz for a few days and wallow in self pity or get up dust off and resume what I had started. I guess its all about how you react, right? too many of the fs members are caught up in black and white, success/failure that unfortunately includes Failure defined as a cheat day!!!!!!!!!!!!! Gameon!

I would agree that 'going crazy' sometimes and eating what you want is fine - as long as you get back on track. But no matter what I try not to eat until I can't breathe. That seems to stretch out my stomach and for the next few days, I feel like I need more food than before. Might all be in my head, but still. Think about it - if you consume all the food from a restaurant meal in one sitting, thats it; you're done. If you eat half at the restaurant, and take half home, thats twice that you get to eat what you want. Bonus.