I’ve had 16 really good days of IF 16:8 and 18:6, with an average of 1200 cal intake with some results on the scale.
Yesterday (day 17) I had surgery in the morning. And woke up from it ravenous. I ended up completing a 16 hour fast anyway due to the preOp fasting period - but then spent the day gorging on just junk - consuming 2100 calories of just carb and fat. And also as I was still pretty groggy, sleeping. So it’s safe to say, no exercise.
Just feeling a bit down I guess that I’ll have lost the gains I was making.
You haven’t lost the gains. The real danger here is turning one bad day into three weeks full of bad days. I hope your surgery went well, and the best time to get back on a more disciplined program is right now. You can never ever go back, but you can certainly control how you go forward.
One huge caveat – did you discuss fasting with your surgeon? Intermittent fasting is fantastic, but not if it interferes with postsurgical recovery.
If you decrease your daily calories by 50 for the next 18 days or 25 for the next 36, you’ll be right back on track as if you hadn’t ate extra….better yet, don’t even worry about it, get back on the wagon, this is barely a blip on your calorie radar.
This will be one of many “off” days you’re going to have! One of the best things you can do for yourself early on in the journey is finding a way to jump back on the wagon when you fall off. All the best to you!
Hey, you’ve just been through something. You are human. You are entitled to feel overwhelmed and have an off day. Infact, it’s actively beneficial. Because you now have an opportunity to prove how strong you are by not letting this turn into a long term issue.
Your results prove you can do it, 1 off day will not reverse them.
You’ve got this, get well soon and smash it.
Sometimes your body knows what it needs. One can also make a case for metabolism higher cal days once every week or two make sense. Remember that there is a fine line between dedication and obsessive behavior . Being able to let go some and rededicate is a good skill to have.
Only thing you’ve done bad is think you’ve done bad. 17 great days and 1 sort of not great day secondary to a surgery? I would say that is pretty awesome. If you got 16/17 on a test your sitting at 94 percent. I can tell you right now if you kept this kind of consistency going you would do amazing reaching your goal. You MUST kill this all or nothing attitude. I can guarantee this mind set will wreck your goals and your life. It is a thief of any success. Every win will feel like a loss. You are rocking it: keep at it!
I think you are doing great ( but I’m a newbie) sometimes we have to just do what we need and celebrate with some food. It might actually help since sometimes our metabolism can slow with lower calories. You are keeping your body guessing.
Off-days happen. As long as you wake up tomorrow with the mindset that you’ll work to reach your goals, then today will be fine. It’s not a race, and you can take the time you need to get to your destination.
Good luck and be safe! :-)
Is 1200 calories enough for you? What’s your TDEE?
And no matter what, the most important thing is being kind to yourself, listening to your body, keeping a healthy mindset. Having one “bad day” isn’t even a speed bump. Losing weight is a life long journey. Focus on a healthy mindset, and keep an eye out for patterns that can devolve into issues. Guilty feelings over eating, repetitive restriction+binge cycles, these can become warning signs.
The thing I like about fasting is even if you don’t eat as good you still fasted! I’m only two months in but I love that even when I don’t eat as good as I could I can still call the day successful for fasting. Does eating poorly slow your progress? Yes. But you still fasted. Remember ultimately we want life long change so just remember it isn’t about what happened today but where you are a year from now.