Easter has absolutely ruined my calorie counting 😩 I need help!

[Catofninelives]

I’ve been doing so well with calorie counting for weeks - really consistent, feeling in control, seeing progress, I’ve lost over a stone since starting and then Easter has completely derailed me.

Between Easter eggs, picnics, takeaways, desserts and a big family BBQ today,
I feel like I’ve just eaten non-stop for days. Not even in a “treat and move on” way, but properly overdone it to the point I feel sick and painfully bloated.

I honestly feel awful, both physically and mentally. I keep thinking I’ve ruined all my progress and I’m really struggling not to spiral into that “what’s the point” mindset…

Has anyone else had this happen? How do you pull yourself back on track without beating yourself up? Right now I just feel really fed up with myself.

I’m due on my period tomorrow which doesn’t help and I don’t want to weigh myself. Too scared. I feel like I’ve totally let myself down.

Can’t change the past.

Draw a line under the Easter weekend.

tomorrow is a new day and just go back to whatever your calorie count is.

look forwards not backwards

Write it off. Start again tomorrow. If there's still temptation in the house you can't resist. Put it in the bin and squirt washing up liquid on it.

Go shopping for healthy low calorie food tomorrow

Solidarity! I feel the same. I need to draw a line under it tomorrow and get back to healthy eating.

It’s done now and can’t be taken back.
Weigh yourself when you next would normally (I just weigh myself once a week but lots do daily) address it head on and keep moving forwards towards your goal.
weight loss is rarely perfectly linear, and I say that as someone taking WLI!

1. Weigh yourself as soon as possible. The longer you leave it, the more scary it will be.
2. Draw a very thick line between you and Easter.
3. Remember that whatever you weigh, you have not undone your good work. If it looks bad on the scales, it will mostly be liquid, not fat, and you will soon lose it again.
4. Go firmly back to the routine you were in before Easter.

Times like this really are make or break - I know from experience, I have kicked myself so many times for not getting back on the scales and back on track when the likely gain was only a few lb, but I've shied away from it, lost it, and before I knew it, been back where I began.

You can do it! You were progressing before, nothing has fundamentally changed, this is just a blip - we all have them, it's what you do afterwards that counts.

I can’t afford WLIs - if I could I would. I have a tendency to gorge myself.

You have to eat quite a significant amount - and I mean quite significant - over your normal intake to put on one pound. You'd need to have taken in 3,500 calories over and above your basic maintenance calories to gain one pound.

Unless you've taken on tens of thousands of extra calories over the Easter weekend - and that would be quite some feat - I promise you you've ruined nothing.

You don't need them - you were succeeding without them, why spend thousands of pounds when you've already proved you can do it without?

Everyone has times when they eat too much, even if they are long-term maintaining - it isn't a crime, that's the great thing about calorie counting, you don't spoil a 'process' like low-carbing or whatever, you just get back on track and keep on counting and the 'blip' can soon be forgotten - as long as it doesn't become a defining moment when you lose track and give up.

I hear you I ate two lindt bunnies then realised they were 1000 calories each but as someone said above you need to eat 3500 extra calories to put on lb of weight so it's unlikely you've done too much damage. Most of it will 100 % be water weight. For every 100 gram of carbs you eat your body will hold on too 300 grams of water. And you'll be carrying more because you're due on. You really haven't ruined anything, just get back on it. Remember with everything the aim is progress not perfection xX

I’ve written it off. I had two weeks of eating what I wanted as I had a holida before Easter and have started again slowly yesterday. Dropped calories slightly but not to a full deficit so it’s not a horrible shock and will do this for the next week. I can’t change it but I also haven’t undone 15 months of weight loss and I do need to live as do you

this video might actually be helpful x

I’m the same. I always put on more weight over Easter than at Christmas!

Today is a new day. You’ve just got to restart, or you’ll slip further and further back.

I disagree with the advice to weigh yourself ASAP. You will be disheartened by the water weight and any gain from Easter. I'd advise you simply return to your diet and weigh yourself in two weeks time. That way you'll likely be the same weight as before Easter and can carry on as though it never happened.
Remember, weight control is a marathon not a sprint. If you want to get to, and maintain, a healthy weight, you need to adopt a long term attitude that allows for the odd break in routine without you thinking you've 'ruined everything' and feel bad about yourself. Anything gained can be lost. And you know how to do that.

Me too. But the good news is that we can get back on track. Easter was a small blip that we can get over. Time to refocus!

I can’t afford WLI either, and all I’ve done since Christmas is over-eat and pile weight on. I keep thinking “right, tomorrow I’ll properly concentrate” and then tomorrow comes and I eat again. I haven’t had a period since December (age) but constantly feel like it’s just about to start and have hormone eating if that makes sense. Today is my new start.

Accept that you’ve enjoyed Easter, reframe it that you spent time with loved ones and you’ve learnt from the experience rather than anything that makes you feel guilty or a failure. You’re not. You just got off the bicycle for a wee while, you can get back on it again. You’ve got this.

You could think about tweaking the calorie counting to allow a little more chocolate at the minute. My DP makes me an Options Hot Chocolate every evening and I enjoy it.

Come on, OP, these dramatics help no one. Draw a line and move on – now. It’s not realistic to not have events like this, they have to form part of the whole process. Time will move on regardless, so what do you want that time to look like?

I was just reading this as I also ruined my diet yesterday and I also ate some of a lindt bunny, I was just going to have one small bag of mini eggs but that made me want more chocolate so I started eating a lindt bunny but only ate the top bit it was so sickly! Did you eat the whole one? Although I use to eat whole family size bars of chocolate so not sure if the lindt one is more sickly if its cos ive not been eating as much chocolate lately

I disagree with the advice to weigh yourself ASAP. You will be disheartened by the water weight and any gain from Easter. I'd advise you simply return to your diet and weigh yourself in two weeks time. That way you'll likely be the same weight as before Easter and can carry on as though it never happened.

@5128gap If that works best for you, of course. I find the problem with that approach is that it can spiral (for me). I think 'I'll be really disciplined for a week, then I'll weigh myself again" - and then I'm not - and the scales become more scary, so I put it off for another week, and soon it's weeks since I've weighed myself and I've given up.

Better to face it - suppose the scales show a 5lb gain of which 4lb is 'water' - you get back on track and within a week you should have lost all or most of it - that's very motivational, it reinforces your belief that you are in control of your weight, not that it's going up and you can't do anything about it.

Either weighing immediately or at the latest on your normal day (assuming you weigh once a week) is what would work for me, but OP needs to decide what would work for her.

I know what you mean.
I do slimming world and have been completely off plan for most of Easter, weigh day is today and if I’ve gained which I most likely have then it is what it is. I’m also due on my period which makes me eat more rubbish but I’ve drawn a line under it and I’m back on it.
You only don’t succeed when you stop trying

I'm the same OP.

I struggle with snacking normally but was easily sticking to a 16:8 IF/calorie controlled diet for about a month and then went completely mad for about three days over Easter. Hot Cross bun? Mmmm, why not have three? Easter egg? Eat the whole thing now, and then another one after tea, interspersed with mindless grazing on whatever came to hand.

I took myself in hand on Tuesday and have quite happily gone back to my previous diet again. Not feeling hungry or craving snacks. In fact I put the two remaining HCBs in the freezer without a second thought. Weird!

You know you can stick to a diet as you've done it before, so you can do it again.

Accept it’s a blip, and move on.

You haven’t ruined all your progress.

It’s about 3500 calories above your what your body burns to put on a pound, so even if you’ve eaten loads over this one long weekend, you won’t have done much damage to your progress.

If you were to weigh yourself today, it’s likely that a lot of any extra gain on the scales would be water weight, or the extra food still working its way through your digestive system, rather than an increase in fat.

Today’s a whole new day. Best thing is to draw a line under the Easter excess and move on.

Absolutely. That's the beauty of a range of views and experience. I can see how that works for you.
For me, seeing a big gain would make me feel bad about myself and I try to avoid that feeling at all costs, as I don't find it conducive to taking care of myself, or to lifting my mood.
I suppose I've wasted too much time over the years letting the scales ruin my day that I don't see the point in putting myself through it. I want to be as happy as possible and as positive about myself as I can everyday, because that's what motivates me to keep up the good work.