Do you track your calories when you over-eat?

melindasuefritz · June 2013

YES U TRACK E VERYTHING.................
IF U OVER EAT

EXERCISE IT OFF

Terpnista84 · June 2013

I track everything, even ugly days when I'm over by 300+ cals, because I want to know exactly what's going on with my body. If these over days are not logged, I can't tell how well my caloric restriction & exercise work in that time period.

I'm not a goody two shoes by any means lol... but I haven't "accidentally" gone over in quite some time. In fact I'm not eating enough. But back when I would go over, as much as I didn't want to see myself in the red, I appreciated the benefit of it as well. I looked at it this way: if I met my goal most of the time and splurged every now and then, and I'm still meeting my weight loss goals, keeping track of my splurges would help guide me to see what I can get away with eating while not throwing myself off track. It was motivating to see that one meal didn't hurt me.

Terpnista84 · June 2013

If I went all-out at, for example, a potluck, chock-full of casseroles with who-knows-what for ingredients, or if I was nibbling bits of this, and tastes of that - MFP is such a royal PITA to track stuff like that. Sure, I could pick 'potato salad' out of the list, but *whose* potato salad? The one that's basic, or the one with a million calorie-heavy ingredients? And what if I thought the mac and cheese at the potluck was really rich and laden with calories - but it was actually made with cauliflower? Suddenly I've eaten perhaps hundreds of calories *less* than I thought....which could totally affect how I manage my eating for the rest of the day/week/whatever.

I hate his. And that is why I try not to eat foods that I cannot track. If I get a snack from Whole Foods I try to stick with things that have the nutritional information on it. I hate guessing and I hate having to enter things- it is so tedious.

This goes back to what I said about not tracking when I am really under my calories and need to make them up. Usually the foods that are hard to track are what I would be consuming so I just say fuggedaboutit.

dolfn1972 · June 2013

not necessarily....I have my free days ...generally sunday..that I refuse to track..and if I know Im ging to throw caution to the wind...like camping next weekend...NO...I will not track it ...I know i need to get back on track..but I refuse to be a slave to my diet, my body, or a counting system. If I know Im going to screw up..why should i beat myself up over it by realizing I had enough calories for a month (jk) in a day. Just get back on track the next day and move on

MommaChocoLatte · June 2013

Yes.

mandeenicoleb · June 2013

I do...ALWAYS...I flaunt my food! lol. I just rather keep a record of what I do. It's very helpful to log when you overeat.

Samstan101 · June 2013

Part of my weight problem has come from the fact that for years I've not been honest with myself about how much I eat and what I eat. I need to make myself accountable for what I eat & drink and the subsequent losses & gains. So yes, I try and log everything (there has been the odd occasion where I've lost track of the number of drinks but I do try ;-)).

Its the bad days I need to log more than the good days!

arains89 · June 2013

Yea. I went out yesterday with my BF. We had some crappy food and I drank. A lot. I logged it all. Somehow was only slighty over my calories for the day. But def still track it.

abikinibyjuly · June 2013

Of course.

RelativeChaos00 · June 2013

For me continuing to track my calories means I haven't totally thrown caution to the wind, which is good for me as it only seems to take me once or twice to fall off the bandwagon. So yes, even when I screw up badly I track what I did to the best of my ability. It reminds me when I'm considering doing it again that I can, and should, ask more of myself.

MustangUSN · June 2013

I track it for much the same reasons as everyone else. Also, tracking let's me know how many calories/etc. I have available to "spend." I treat it just like money, if I don't have it, I don't spend it. If I do expect to overindulge, I do the exercise to compensate. I've even come home, logged, and found I was over, so out to the treadmill I went! It helps me keep in balance and not just eat as a social event in and of itself....it is very easy to eat from boredom, for reward or to assauge feelings. Tracking keeps me honest and helps me stay on track.

MightyMouse19 · June 2013

Yes partially out of habit but also to stay honest to my tracking & survey the damage done!

SDkitty · June 2013

I track lean days and splurge days and everything in between. The only exception to this is the rare occasion that I'm at a buffet (like in vegas last month) and have literally NO clue on content. Other than that I get as close as possible.

leslie_garcia · June 2013

As much as I dont want to I do it! I look back and it actually gets me back on track because I feel terrible after it. When that happens I look at my weekly goal and I eat super extra healthy and work out harder the next few days. I make my self pay for it!

duckiec · June 2013

Some days, I just get sick of the tracking itself, and I'll take a guestimate and add it as Quick-add calories, and put a note in the section listing what I ate. I do tend to eat more once I've decided it's going to be an "off charts" day, and things I wouldn't eat ordinarily, but it's nice to have things that I generally don't allow myself. Some times, you just need to put your hand in the bag and not put everything on the scale. Or can't. And that's okay- all part of the balance that is life.

I get in a harder workout that day (and/or the day after), approximate the "damage" and move on. Helps, too, that going "all out" is nothing like it used to be- I'd guess that even an all-out time period (not usually a whole day), I can back off a bit. I don't have to cram everything in NOW because I've gone off- there's always another day. I especially try to pay attention to hunger signals when I'm not tracking, too, as I feel those are all wacky. I rarely eat if I'm hungry or not, I eat because "that's what I get or can have." That break is refreshing.

Trying to stick to closely to it makes me really, really anxious. For example, Saturday I'd eaten more calories than I usually do by 6pm, and found myself getting really snappy. I wasn't hungry at all, but was all paranoid that I would be, and wouldn't have calories, and then what and darn I shouldn't have had the granola bar for breakfast... and wait this is stupid! Why am I freaking out (and yelling at my kids) - this isn't all that! I should enjoy the moment, and if I'm hungry later, make a choice then and deal with it. Turns out, I didn't want any dinner, had a small snack and was right on target.

suzend · June 2013

Yep, I do. It's not pretty to look at sometimes, but at least I can make them up with exercise or cut back on other days. Sometimes its not possible to do in a week though!

I'm not in a hurry to lose all this weight, and I'm not going to get obsessive about it like I did in the past. It's a life change, and most days, I'm eating very healthy (lots of protein, veggies, fruit).