What do you do if you go over your calories?

nordlead2005

I shoot for a weekly average. If I'm over 1 day it doesn't matter as the next I might be under by 100 calories. If I'm over for the week, then oh well. If I'm not losing weight at the rate that I want, then I'll tighten up my food intake to make sure I'm not over for the week.

As a general rule of thumb I'm under my calories mon-thur, and then make up for it on sat/sun. Not always, but it is pretty common.

positivepowers

ReaderGirl3 wrote: »

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

+1

PaulaWallaDingDong

There's nothing really bad about going over once in a while. It's not a sin to not meet your goal.

What do I do? It really depends on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I just call it a "day off" and it's business as usual the next day. If I'm working on a short-term goal and don't want to hurt my progress, I might pay it back over the next few days or week. For example, I bought a pint of Ben & Jerry's on Saturday and wound up eating the whole thing in 2 days. Instead of trying to cram it into my daily calorie goal, I pre-logged 0.2 containers each day for 5 days. If I attend a party or something and don't want to call It a day off, I might log 100 calories of "penance" for the next few days. It's a small amount that I know I can manage. It can become a rough habit, though, like always buying on credit, so I recommend doing it sparingly if at all.

Some people do the reverse if they're planning on a splurge: they bank calories over the week leading up to said splurge. Planning your splurges when you can is probably a better strategy than punishing yourself after.

chrislee1628

tbh, I think it is good to treat yourself once in a while, don't go crazy tho

breaks up the routine so it doesn't become boring etc

benzieboxx

Feel annoyed with myself and then move on. Things happen. I would say that the plus side is that I logged my mistakes so I'm at least being honest with myself. It's the overages that you don't log that can really set you up for failure and put you in a bad mind set.

rileysowner

Nothing different as far as eating. I just get back to my calorie goal the next day. I do consider why I overate. Was it a good reason, I was celebrating a big event with family or friends that is an infrequent sort of thing that is one day or one meal? Then I don't sweat it because it was far more important to spend that time with those I care for and love regardless of how many calories I ate. Was it a bad reason, boredom, fatigue, stress, or whatever that I dealt with by eating rather than doing something else. If it was that I seek to change what lead to eating too much. For some it is just that their calorie goal or unnecessary food/macro restrictions are the issue and they cannot keep going so they give in. Whatever the cause, I seek to correct it, but I don't try to make up for a day where I ate too much, just get back to the plan the next day.

DoreenaV1975

jandsstevenson887 wrote: »

Most of my days I have 100-300 calories left. If I go over 1 day every few weeks, no big deal.

Me too! Which is great for when I go out for dinner and drinks w/ friends at the end of the week, cuz really I have lots of extra calories to indulge w/out feeling guilty!

DoreenaV1975

Bluepegasus wrote: »

Log it and move on. Sometimes I go over, most of the time I come under, and sometimes well under. It all evens out.

YES! Exactly! It's all about OVERALL balance!

DoreenaV1975

nordlead2005 wrote: »

I shoot for a weekly average. If I'm over 1 day it doesn't matter as the next I might be under by 100 calories. If I'm over for the week, then oh well. If I'm not losing weight at the rate that I want, then I'll tighten up my food intake to make sure I'm not over for the week.

As a general rule of thumb I'm under my calories mon-thur, and then make up for it on sat/sun. Not always, but it is pretty common.

Yuppers!!!

another_chelle

The days when I go way over calories I just don't even log it because I know it'll make me feel worse to see how much I went over. I just move on and start over the next day.

Like everyone above has said; it's a long game and you really have to look at averages for the week not just a single day. Having one or even two bad days is not going to totally derail your progress.

Jams009

Nothing, except look into why it happened so I can avoid it next time.

scolaris

Record & move on. If it's something I want to remind myself not to eat or drink again I might split it up across the next few days to remind myself on each day's log. My week ends on Saturday, so as long as it's accounted for in the week I ate or drank it I don't care.

runshellersrun123

I look at the week as a whole, rather than each individual day. So in that case, I would try to stay under by 250 on two subsequent days.
Ideally, I would exercise it off, by my life circumstances don't really make that easy right now.

MikeAV8s

Nothing at all. I aim for 1.5 lbs. per week, I actually lose closer to .75-1 lb. per week. Meh, I'm ok with that. I'm over almost everyday.

JeepHair77

I might go for an extra long walk with the dogs that night or something, but mostly, I'd probably just move on, try to be more mindful the rest of the week. 500 calories is 1/7 of a pound. It's not going to make or break you.

Miel00

Record it and try to work it off.