I know how discouraging it can feel after you lose control and make a dieting mistake. “I’ve already blown it today, so I might as well give up.” But you can’t let it weigh you down, or you’ll never lose the weight! In fact, you’ve never blown it until you’ve given up altogether.

One overeating episode will not ruin your entire diet, and you can still hop back on that wagon and head for success. Think of it like this: For the same reason fat is so hard to lose, it is also hard to gain. You have to eat 3,500 excess calories in order to gain just one pound of fat. That’s a lot of food – way more than you’ve ever eaten in one sitting. So chalk up your mistake to just that.