What do you do if you go over your calories?

halimaiqbal00
halimaiqbal00 Posts: 288 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I went over by 500 calories for the day but am still within my tdee. Feeling rather annoyed at myself as I've been on track for the past few days after giving myself a real telling off! I've already done a strength and conditioning 50 min workout this morning. I could do steady state cardio on the elliptical for an hour for damage control but don't know if that's overdoing it...?

Am curious what you lovely people do when you go over your daily calories...?
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Replies

  • ReaderGirl3
    ReaderGirl3 Posts: 868 Member
    edited April 2016
    I record it and move on with my day. Being over once in a while (as long as it's not becoming a daily habit), won't matter in the scheme of things. You'll slow down your loss a bit with the higher days, but again-500 calories once in a while isn't going to make or break your progress :)
  • Afura
    Afura Posts: 2,054 Member
    If I could get some exercise in to help offset it, I would. Otherwise, log it and keep going, it happened, just try and do better.
  • mkakids
    mkakids Posts: 1,913 Member
    Afura wrote: »
    If I could get some exercise in to help offset it, I would. Otherwise, log it and keep going, it happened, just try and do better.

    This. I may try to reduce my cals by 100 or so for the next couple days to even it out...but I usually just move on.
  • erinc5
    erinc5 Posts: 329 Member
    Log it and move on. Or don't log it and move on to logging the next day.

    The next day, I may try to lower my calories a bit, but don't stress it if I don't feel like cutting too much. It's one day and under your tdee, so don't stress over it.
  • no_day_but_2day
    no_day_but_2day Posts: 222 Member
    It's not going to matter if your 500 up for the day as long as your 3500 down for the week (to lose 1 lb). So, if you're 500 up today, do 250 less the next couple of days or whatever you need to do. A lot of people who workout do this as a regimen. They call it calorie cycling.
  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
    I try not to go over, and rarely do unless it's a night out w/ friends or vacation, but when I do, I just cut some calories for the next few days until my weekly total is where it needs to be. In the end it's all a balance. Like @no_day_but_2day said!
  • Ready2Rock206
    Ready2Rock206 Posts: 9,487 Member
    Log it and move on.
  • janicekdavis484
    janicekdavis484 Posts: 19 Member
    Is there a place that shows my weekly calorie total or do I have to just add it up myself?
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
    Either plan ahead, make up for it later in the week by eating slightly less or I say IDGAF and log it and move on.
  • DoreenaV1975
    DoreenaV1975 Posts: 567 Member
    janicekdavis484 wrote: »
    Is there a place that shows my weekly calorie total or do I have to just add it up myself?
    Good question... IDK, I don't think so though... I've always just added it up myself...
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,168 Member
    Log it and move on. Sometimes if I know I'll go over (e.g., special event), I "save up" a few calories by eating slightly less for a few days in advance, eating lightly the day of, or getting a bit more exercise that day. But I'm against cutting down after an over day, in general, because it can set one up for a deprive-and-binge scenario. (Reduced calories in advance has the "binge" pre-built-in ;) ).
    janicekdavis484 wrote: »
    Is there a place that shows my weekly calorie total or do I have to just add it up myself?

    The phone app (Android, at least) lets you pick "weekly" under "nutrition". Which week it shows will depend on what day you were on in the day view.
  • ald783
    ald783 Posts: 688 Member
    Move on. In theory it's nice if you can balance it out another day but sometimes that feels too obsessive to me. I'm not going to have perfect weeks every week of my life. Tomorrow is a new day and all that good stuff.
  • SarahIluvatariel
    SarahIluvatariel Posts: 96 Member
    I log my over-eaten calories on the day I over eat them (day 1). Then I go to bed (and hope I don't have heartburn. haha).

    And THEN I also log them as breakfast on day 2 (via quick-add) and try to not go over my calorie goal on day 2. At the end of day 2, I take the quick-added calories back out again so that my net between the two days is zero.

    If I don't quite "make it" within my calorie goal on day 2, I carry over day 2's over-eaten number to day 3's breakfast, and so on...

    Honestly, when I overeat one day, I'm less hungry for breakfast the next day anyways - so breakfast is the easiest time for me to cut calories after a binge! :) Alternatively (or maybe in addition), on day 2, I probably have more energy than a normal day because of the overeating on day 1 - so I psych myself up to try to have an intentionally energetic and really awesome workout on day 2 (since my glycogen stores are probably boosted!).

    Anyways, my goal after a binge is to make my weekly calories even out. After a week (or even after 3 or 4 days), I accept the problem and move on. Afterall, the trick to losing weight, for me, is realizing I have a problem in the first place AND accepting that AND wanting to do something about it to change. When I overeat (especially if it's beyond my TDEE) and feel bad about it but still log it , I mentally count it as a victory because that's still me realizing, seeing, and accepting that I have a problem. Even though it feels a bit like a failure to go over my goal, I'm still encouraged that I haven't lost sight of or given up on my need to change. I don't let myself get too down about it because I feel like I'm still "being true" to my overall mindset (the "accept --> change" mentality) of weight-loss.

    (Interestingly, this reminds me of the concept of repentance - I likely have to ADMIT that I've sinned and WANT to stop it before I'll really be EFFECTIVE at stopping it...)
  • welsh31
    welsh31 Posts: 47 Member
    Depends on how good I've been that week. If I've had 4/5 really good days, I'll just log it and move on. If I feel that I've not been so good, I'll take 100/200 a day off my allowance.
  • chiptease
    chiptease Posts: 70 Member
    You can compensate the next day; some people do intermittent fasting and it seems to work as far as balancing out calories.
  • GreenIceFloes
    GreenIceFloes Posts: 1,491 Member
    Keep a weekly goal instead of a daily one. Some days you go above considerably, some days you fall considerably short. I find it more practical to make sure my deficit adds up to 3500 cals at the end of the week, instead of 500 per day.
  • shadowfax_c11
    shadowfax_c11 Posts: 1,942 Member
    Go to bed and start again tomorrow.

    When I go over my calorie goal it is by choice. I make that choice consciously and with full awareness of what it means with regard to my weight loss.

    It isn't an accident. At this point I have been calorie counting for a while. I am pretty aware of how my eating choices will affect my goals. I have control of this and my choices are my responsibility.

    I don't feel bad about it.

    I especially don't feel bad about it if I have not gone above my maintenance number.

    Life goes on.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    I don't do unplanned exercise because I overate...I tend to take a long view on things...like weeks and months, not one little day. Doing unplanned exercises because you overate can lead you down a pretty dark path. Google exercise bulimia.
  • CrabNebula
    CrabNebula Posts: 1,119 Member
    edited April 2016
    Back when I was in the 180s, I made a delicious, but horrible, calorie counting mistake. I decided to look at the calorie content of my donuts after I ate them. I thought they were supposedly comparable with DD or KK. NO. These 2 donuts I ate from a local chain had 2-2.5 times the calorie per donut as their national chain equivalents. I had eaten 1300 (?) calories in just two donuts. HOLY )#*)@)*!! Well, after I picked my jaw off the floor, I went outside, in the rain, to the park and did six miles on the trails. I think I may have burned off most of one donut. I came back and ate the rest of the day as normal and then continued eating on plan. Well, I'm 125lbs now, so if you are knocked down, just get back up and keep going. All that matters in the end is the long term trend.
  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    I don't do unplanned exercise because I overate...I tend to take a long view on things...like weeks and months, not one little day. Doing unplanned exercises because you overate can lead you down a pretty dark path. Google exercise bulimia.

    Interesting....
  • halimaiqbal00
    halimaiqbal00 Posts: 288 Member
    Thanks for the replies. Made for interesting reading. I've just drawn a line under it. Today is another day!
  • eldamiano
    eldamiano Posts: 2,667 Member
    I hang my head in shame then have a burger and a pint of beer to get over it....
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 25,597 Member
    For future reference ... prelogging can help prevent accidental overages. :)
  • jandsstevenson887
    jandsstevenson887 Posts: 296 Member
    Most of my days I have 100-300 calories left. If I go over 1 day every few weeks, no big deal.
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    janicekdavis484 wrote: »
    Is there a place that shows my weekly calorie total or do I have to just add it up myself?

    The phone app (Android, at least) lets you pick "weekly" under "nutrition". Which week it shows will depend on what day you were on in the day view.
    IPhone app too. And I believe on the desktop site there is a weekly calorie count under Reports that can be selected.
  • Countryboy_83
    Countryboy_83 Posts: 946 Member
    Nothing you can do what's done is done... Get refocused and back on track
  • Bluepegasus
    Bluepegasus Posts: 333 Member
    Log it and move on. Sometimes I go over, most of the time I come under, and sometimes well under. It all evens out.
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    I prefer not to compensate the next day (s) but instead get right back to plan as quickly as possible.
  • chrislee1628
    chrislee1628 Posts: 305 Member
    go for a jog
  • AlphaCajun
    AlphaCajun Posts: 290 Member
    I go "dang, went over my calories" then go to sleep and wake up the next day and start again.

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