1200 cals/day = Guilt.

suzi_quzi

Feel free to ignore. This is just me frustrated and complaining.

So my fiance informed me that we're meeting up with friends and watching the Royals game at a wing bar (Pluckers, if you're familiar) on Tuesday.

Now Tuesdays are usually my cheat days anyway, but from what I've found even the small plate of wings and fries are going to set me over my 1200/cals a day. Plus beer - yikes. I don't mind going a little over every now and then, but it looks like this is going to be a doosey.

Here is the thing: I'm from KC. I love my Royals. They will not continue this ridiculous winning streak unless I raise a glass of delicious beer to them. And I can't just watch my guy eat a plate of delicious wings while I push around a salad (sans everything).

So what's the best way to tackle this? Work out more during the week? Chalk up this week as lost?

Calorie counting is all well and good, but it's a huge blow to my motivation when I already know I'm going to go so far over. Ugh. Losing weight sucks sometimes.

WalkingAlong

I don't understand why you can't just have wings and beer and keep to around 1500 or so. That's still going to be a deficit. I could have wings and beer and stick to 1200.

spatty_harris

I usually eat around 2000 calories per day, but my cheat meal day is probably about 4000 calories (usually). I just make sure I do at least some exercise, and then drink plenty of water for the rest of the day.

One meal isn't the reason people become overweight, and similarly one meal won't undo all your hard work. If you are really concerned, maybe eat salad for the rest of the day.

ana3067

Well for one, 1200 cals is probably much much much lower than you need to be eating to see results, so you should consider calculating your calorie needs from an external website like health-calc.com or exrx.net and subtracting 20% max for a healthy, reasonable 1lb/week weight loss goal.

And second, as already stated, going over isn't the end of the world. You might get set back a week from water weight, who cares? Or maybe you won't be in as much of a deficit so you'll wind up maintaining that week. Not like it's going to make you gain 20lbs. So... relax.

AllOutof_Bubblegum

You "can't" watch your guy eat a plate of wings while you have a salad? Really can't? Or just won't? If you want to splurge, then splurge. (1200 is too low for you, anyway) But keep it real and own your decision, whether it's to eat the wings and "feel guilty", or have a salad and stay within your goals.

7aneena

Well It's already your cheat day so just enjoy it. Although the wings will probably have lots of sodium and make you retain water, I'd watch out for the beer. You can probably drink more calories in beer than you can eat in wings

countscalories

Hey-- guilt has no place in a weight loss program. Eat what you want to at the bar. Obviously, you know not to have 12 plates of food and a case of beer. You may even surprise yourself and not finish your meal. The mere fact that you are giving yourself permission to have the stuff goes a long way. When the pressure's off, the temptation is not so great. Let the game be a distraction-- cheer a lot for your team! So your weight loss will take a few days longer. So what? You'll be fine. You still have to live! Occasions like this may be few and far between (I'm a Met fan; I understand), so enjoy the food and your friends.

Missjulesdid

I'd save all my calories for the game and eat a salad AND the other 1,000 calories worth of wings.

KarenJanine

Are you saying your cheat day is only 1200 cal?

Why not allow yourself a maintenance day instead - set your goal to your TDEE. You may gain a little water retention but it'll go down again once you eat at a deficit again.

MatthewMacG101

Decide what is more important to you at that moment.

You'll either get the salad/small plate of wings and fries and lose weight or you'll eat a lot more and not. I watched my mate eat a 12" pizza, fries and cider while I ate my peanut butter and apple slices with water.

Losing weight means more to me right now than eating a pizza. Having a blow out and indulging during a winning steak might mean more to you than losing weight for a day!

Either way decide before you go, then you'll be able to enjoy yourself and relax.

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kr1stadee

The thing is.. this here right now.. this is life. Live it. Yes, you will go over your calories for one day. But at 1200 calories I'm assuming you've got a large cut from TDEE that you won't overeat by THAT much.

Go out, eat, enjoy yourself. Have fun. Skip the salad. Get the beer.
If it helps your head, do a good workout during the day. Drink water all day. The next day, drink more water (wings are crazy salty), and get back to it. This should not derail your progress.

MatthewMacG101

MrM27 wrote: »

MatthewMacG101 wrote: »

Decide what is more important to you at that moment.

You'll either get the salad/small plate of wings and fries and lose weight or you'll eat a lot more and not. I watched my mate eat a 12" pizza, fries and cider while I ate my peanut butter and apple slices with water.

Losing weight means more to me right now than eating a pizza. Having a blow out and indulging during a winning steak might mean more to you than losing weight for a day!

Either way decide before you go, then you'll be able to enjoy yourself and relax.

One day makes no difference. Weight loss for a day? How important is 1 single day out of 365? 1 day?

OP, welcome to the world of limiting yourself to 1200 calories.

Actually one day is all the difference, every day makes a difference as does every pound. I didn't say that she shouldn't do it, I said decide for a day if she wanted to lose or not.

Branstin

One day isn't going to hurt you. Eat the wings, drink the beer, and enjoy yourself. Log it and forget about it. There isn’t anything wrong with eating at or above your calories maintenance level once in a while.

ndj1979

MatthewMacG101 wrote: »

Decide what is more important to you at that moment.

You'll either get the salad/small plate of wings and fries and lose weight or you'll eat a lot more and not. I watched my mate eat a 12" pizza, fries and cider while I ate my peanut butter and apple slices with water.

Losing weight means more to me right now than eating a pizza. Having a blow out and indulging during a winning steak might mean more to you than losing weight for a day!

Either way decide before you go, then you'll be able to enjoy yourself and relax.

LOL one night of some beer and wings is going to destroy all her progress? wow! If that was the case I would be screwed all the time…about two weeks ago I had about 20 wings and four beers in one sitting and that was about 2000 cals in one sitting…two weeks later, I am still her and progress is fine….

OP - go eat and eat the wings, have a beer, and have fun ….you did not get fat in one night and one night is not going to ruin your progress...

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ndj1979

MatthewMacG101 wrote: »

MrM27 wrote: »

MatthewMacG101 wrote: »

Decide what is more important to you at that moment.

You'll either get the salad/small plate of wings and fries and lose weight or you'll eat a lot more and not. I watched my mate eat a 12" pizza, fries and cider while I ate my peanut butter and apple slices with water.

Losing weight means more to me right now than eating a pizza. Having a blow out and indulging during a winning steak might mean more to you than losing weight for a day!

Either way decide before you go, then you'll be able to enjoy yourself and relax.

One day makes no difference. Weight loss for a day? How important is 1 single day out of 365? 1 day?

OP, welcome to the world of limiting yourself to 1200 calories.

Actually one day is all the difference, every day makes a difference as does every pound. I didn't say that she shouldn't do it, I said decide for a day if she wanted to lose or not.

you need to lighten up ….one day out of 365 is not going to make a different in the grand scheme of things….

Stargazer525

It's your cheat day anyway, so go enjoy yourself and the game.

Or if you like set your goals to maintenance.

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Liftng4Lis

Go, have fun. Eat-log-move on.

Negative_X

suzi_quzi wrote: »

Feel free to ignore. This is just me frustrated and complaining.

So my fiance informed me that we're meeting up with friends and watching the Royals game at a wing bar (Pluckers, if you're familiar) on Tuesday.

Now Tuesdays are usually my cheat days anyway, but from what I've found even the small plate of wings and fries are going to set me over my 1200/cals a day. Plus beer - yikes. I don't mind going a little over every now and then, but it looks like this is going to be a doosey.

Here is the thing: I'm from KC. I love my Royals. They will not continue this ridiculous winning streak unless I raise a glass of delicious beer to them. And I can't just watch my guy eat a plate of delicious wings while I push around a salad (sans everything).

So what's the best way to tackle this? Work out more during the week? Chalk up this week as lost?

Calorie counting is all well and good, but it's a huge blow to my motivation when I already know I'm going to go so far over. Ugh. Losing weight sucks sometimes.

Enjoy your day, make it your cheat meal and stop stressing so much. You still gotta treat yourself every now and again and live life.

Going over is ok every once in a awhile, even if its by a lot. It has psychological and physiological benefits, like keeping certain hormones like Leptin, from downregulating. If this is a weekly thing, just eat at your maintenance.

Your break even point (no gain or loss) is likely around 1600-1700 calories anyways. Even if you ate, lets say, +500 above 1600, for a total of 2100 calories, that's 1/7th of a pound. Just go for a extra run the next day if you're worried about it. In the long run, it won't matter.

Go have fun.

SingRunTing

I suggest calculating your TDEE (your maintenance calories). One really good site for that is the Scooby TDEE calculator (just google it).

As long as you're eating below your TDEE, you'll lose weight. So on your "cheat" day, feel free to eat up to your TDEE. The rest of the days you'll eat at your deficit and you'll still lost weight.

I'm suggesting this because its a weekly thing. If it was only a few times a year, I would say "just eat and don't worry about it". But once a week can really throw off your overall deficit if you just throw caution to the wind. So calculate your TDEE and try not to go over that on your weekly cheat days.

amusedmonkey

You can either set your goal to maintenance, where even if you don't lose that day you won't gain any real fat, or you could "borrow" calories from next week. I'm currently using banking. The past two days I was not too hungry, which was perfect because today we have an event with lots of calorie rich sweet things. I simply banked the extra calories I did not eat in the past two days and added them to today. Even with that, I came out at higher than my goal. No problem. Those roughly 180 extra calories will be coming off of some of next week's days 50 calories at a time.

Take a look at my diary. the amount of sweets I will be eating today will send you running. 1000 calories of them plus a calorie rich lunch. Even though I will be eating about 2300 something today, in the grand scheme of things the past 3 days average at around 1270 plus exercise plus 180 debt from upcoming days.

wink212

Hey I'll be right with ya Tuesday night. Those Royals deserve a cheat day. Work out a little harder today and tomorrow and enjoy yourself Tuesday!! One night will not hurt you but forgoing that beer to help the Royals will be devastating!

Kalikel

You're an adult. If you want to eat wings, do that. If you want to have a salad, do that.

Do whatever makes you happy. Then be happy with the choice.

This is not Sophie's choice.

gabrielleelliott90

Happens to everyone. Just eat it. Don't worry about it. Get back to 1200 calories the next day and continue. This is not a diet, it's a lifestyle, and we should not get so worried about these things. I don't worry about it on my bday. I won't worry on Xmas. Compared to the amount of days you eat the right amount, this is miniscule. Seriously, enjoy yourself. Don't make yourself feel guilty. This could actually speed up your metabolism as normally you only have 1200, and you will have more than that and that will shock your body, which is good to do once in awhile. I once saw someone on these forums saying sometimes they'll eat over maintenance just to shake things up.

astrose00

I think it depends on what you do AFTER you eat the wings. If you are strong enough to bounce right back then go for it. I agree with most posters that one day won't make a difference in the long run. But if that one day somehow resets your "standards" on what is acceptable then it will make a difference. You know yourself so make your decision based on that knowledge. And for my soapbox moment: Enjoying a night out with friends and cheering on your team should not be made/broken by what you ingest. A lot of my social activities have been focused on food and that's how I gained a ton of weight after achieving a lean and muscular physique. My goal is not only to lose fat and look great but to also break my love/hate relationship with food. In college, I drank to be social. As an adult, I ate to be social. In the end, none of that was necessary. Quite the opposite. And now, with scores of lbs to lose, I wish I realized that earlier.

Anyway, enough about me! Have fun, no matter what you decide. This journey should be fun.

lbride

I would eat hard boiled eggs and low cal broth veggie soup all day and drink coffee and then enjoy whatever I wanted at the game. I did this last week; and ended up sharing the burger and fries with a friend (huge portions) and had 2 glasses of wine and had a great time.

sofaking6

I have a cheat day for every Chargers home game, and that's the whole day of tailgating and boozing and grilling etc. I've found that stressing about it makes me want to eat even more, while just accepting my decision and its consequences lets me enjoy the day without focusing on the food.

dbmata

I had a 1200 calorie starbucks today. Getting ready for a double training session.

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