I ruined my diet

Question
I am on a diet but yesterday I have a bag of baked cheetos.did this ruin my progress?

Yesterday I ate some baked cheetos and then I ate some more and ate the whole bag, the bag was big I think its over 1,000 calories. Now I feel bad for eating them and I was eating healthy before I ate them. I just want to lose at least 15 pounds. Ive been on a diet for 4 days. Do I have to start my diet over today?

Answer
Hi Danielle,

The overall goal should be to eat healthy MORE of the time, each day throughout your life. Not dieting for a few weeks here and there, and then eating our way back into an unhealthy state!
Essentially we are always starting our diet over each day, and even at each meal.

Before anything you eat, the question you should ask yourself is, "Is this the best choice for me right now? Am I hungry? If I'm eating for some other reason (like boredom or stress) is there another activity I could engage in besides eating? Is there another food choice that would be better for me (either because it has fewer calories/less fat/less sugar or more of certain nutrients that are good for me?"

In answer to your specific question, if you dieted over 4 days and ate 500 fewer calories (than you burned) on each of those days, you would have been in a negative 2000 calorie balance. After eating 1000 calories of cheetos your body backed up to a negative 1000 calorie balance. So, yes, it slowed your progress. But those 4 days did not go to waste! You still ate healthy on those days, and if you always eat healthy 4 out of 5 days you will be in better shape than if you only ate healthy one or two days!!

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