Nuno Espirito Santo's side saw their impressive unbeaten run in the league come to an end at Molineux due to two quickfire Forest goals at the end of the first half.
The defeat is the first that Wolves have suffered in the Championship since the end of October, and afterwards Coady admitted that the performance was not up to the league leaders' usual standards.
"We didn't do enough to win the game, it's as simple as that," Coady said. "We've not had many days like that at Molineux this season and it's disappointing.
"We've set standards this season that we want to keep to and today we didn't keep to them. We had a gameplan to try to come out of the traps and get at them early on but it didn't work - we were too sloppy and we didn't create enough.
"Then obviously we conceded the two goals, the first of which is sloppy again. It's taken a big deflection but we could have done more in clearing the corner. For the second one, there's a lot that we could have done to ensure that the ball didn't go in the net."
The defeat was only Wolves' fourth in the league all season - the previous three have all been followed by a victory in the subsequent fixture, and Coady says that learning from this latest setback is vital.
"It was a bad day at the office and Forest have done a job on us, but now we need to learn from this, and quickly," he said.
Looking ahead to next Saturday's trip to Ipswich, Coady added: "It's about going back to the drawing board now. We need to be better for this experience, so we'll go away and watch the game back and learn.
"The games come thick and fast - the Championship is relentless - so now we need to bounce back. We'll rest up, listen to and learn from the manager and be ready to go again next week."
For all of Saturday's disappointment, Wolves still retain a healthy nine-point lead at the top of the Championship, and Coady emphasised the determination within the squad to grasp the opportunity that they that have created.
"It's a massive 18 games now," he continued. "Huge games for the football club, the players and everyone involved. We've got ourselves into a good position and we're in a period now where we're just playing Saturday games, so we've got to use that to our advantage.
"We've built a platform for ourselves this season and it's about getting back on the horse now and going again. We've lost a game but it's done now - we go again next week and get back to how we play."
