Did you fall off the wagon and gorge at the family barbecue this weekend? Visited a buffet because you needed a fix of grease and carbs? Don’t beat yourself up over it – it’s really not that bad.

Once in a while, gorging on fatty, greasy and/or sugar laden foods we deprive ourselves of while we diet is okay. (Of course we don’t recommend you do this on a regular basis since it is a slippery slope.) Sure, you will gain extra weight since you’ve consumed so much food, but the majority of this excess weight is actually composed mainly of water. And here’s why:

Our bodies store extra carbs mainly as molecules of  glycogen as an energy reserve. Glycogen  is converted to glucose when the body breaks it down to use as energy, but before it does that it’s stored. Every ounce of glycogen requires about 3 ounces of water in storage – which means that the majority of the weight you gain following a gorge is actually water. “Water weight” doesn’t last and will disappear in a couple of days. On top of that, you’d have to eat at least 3,500 extra calories to gain one pound of fat (not water weight), and that’s a whole lot of food.

So, even though you may have ventured far off the dieting path last night, no worries. Just get back onto the right path with your healthy diet and exercise program, forgive yourself and move on.

Remember: To Err Is Human, To Forgive Divine.