If I overeat calories on a bad day, can I undereat the next day?

catlynnl

I overate yesterday. It happens less than once a month. I'm not very hungry today - at about 500 calories right now, and not hungry. Can I undereat, just for today, and I assume that if I count my 24-hour "day" as noon-noon, I ate the right amount?

Forty6and2

Tbh, these days happen to everybody and if I overeat one day, I just eat normally the next day.

90DaysToFit

That seems totally reasonable to me... I like to have one day a week where I eat a normal "maintenance" amount of calories to kinda reset.. It helps keep me from going totally crazy the rest of the week when I'm in a deficit. I guess it also depends on how much you over ate.. like was it 1000s of calories or just a bit over? Maybe try to have a weekly calorie goal so your days can be more flexible.

emdeesea

I don't bother worrying about that. This is a life long thing and I'm going to occasionally go over calories. In the long run it's not worth stressing about one day.

Forty6and2

emdeesea wrote: »

I don't bother worrying about that. This is a life long thing and I'm going to occasionally go over calories. In the long run it's not worth stressing about one day.

^^^This. It doesn't matter how much I'm over, I just move on for the day.

robininfl

I think it's ok to do that (and normal and healthy to wait until you are hungry to eat), and ok think of diet in terms of weeks not days. Just not OK to get into a habit of overeating and then fasting.

endlessfall16

catlynnl wrote: »

I overate yesterday. It happens less than once a month. I'm not very hungry today - at about 500 calories right now, and not hungry. Can I undereat, just for today, and I assume that if I count my 24-hour "day" as noon-noon, I ate the right amount?

Hmm...I intentionally eat like that so I can avoid counting calories, saying no to events and eating out, good dishes, moderation hung up, on and on...

ElJefePerron

There is something out there along those lines called "intermittent fasting" .

PaulaWallaDingDong

You can if you want, but it's like buying on credit. Be careful not to let it snowball. I tend to do that from time to time and it isn't fun.

MrPositivity

Some people like to look at calories on a daily basis while others look at it on a weekly basis. Let's say you need 1400 a day that is 9800 a week. You could eat like this:

Sat 2000 (normal day + couple drinks and appy out with friends)
Sun 1600 (normal day + splurge on desert)
Mon 1200
Tues 1200
Wed 1200
Thurs 1200
Fri 1400 (back to normal!)

So basically you have to reduce your calories by 15% for 4 days to make up for going overboard on the weekend, not too bad.

What about if you really pigged out?

Sat 2500
Sun 2100
Mon 1040
Tues 1040
Wed 1040
Thurs 1040
Fri 1040

Now you'd have to reduce calories by 25% for 5 days! That would be more difficult to do and it would be tough to stick to that limit.

AnnPT77

catlynnl wrote: »

I overate yesterday. It happens less than once a month. I'm not very hungry today - at about 500 calories right now, and not hungry. Can I undereat, just for today, and I assume that if I count my 24-hour "day" as noon-noon, I ate the right amount?

You could, but I wouldn't.

If you go over goal only once a month, it'll be only a tiny delay in reaching your ultimate goal. For example, if you ate 1000 extra calories (above your maintenance calories, not just above your weight-loss-goal calories), and you're currently losing (on average) 1 pound a week (500 calorie daily deficit), that's only a 3-day delay - the day you overate (because you ate at maintenance), plus two more days to recoup the 1000 surplus.

"Doing penance" for an over day by trying to make it up the next day risks setting you up in a cycle of deprivation and compensation, over days followed by under days (penance) followed by over days (because of hunger) . . . .

If you're truly not hungry, it's OK to eat a little less. If you get hungry later, let yourself eat, up to your usual daily goal if needed, and don't worry about it.

If you know in advance you might go over, it works better to "save up" some calories by undershooting your goal by a tiny bit (say, 100) for a few days in advance - that has the re-feed built into it in the form of your over day, so you're less likely to get in a weird cycle. Or just take an extra walk or something on the over day.

Someday, when you reach maintenance, you're going to have occasional over days. Think of this as practice!

Sharon_C

I do it all the time

cerise_noir

Did you eat over your TDEE? If no, then don't worry. Even if you went over your TDEE for one day, it won't really hurt since you'd have to eat 3500 cals above to gain 1lb. You'd have to go over your TDEE every day for a week to see a 1lb gain (which may be more in case of this retention.)

teetertatertango

Some people are OK with eating less the next day. It makes me a little panicky to restrict that much and starts a bad cycle of over and under eating.

If you are just naturally not that hungry after overeating, may be something you can do. One version of 5:2 intermittent fasting packs all the weight loss for the week into the 2 fast days and eats at maintenance the rest.

richardgavel

If your plan is a consistent amount of calories (as opposed to IF or weekend splurge or something), then I'd forget about it and go back to plan as quickly as possible. No compensating behaviors, because you're going to have off days, and the best method to reinforce your desired habits is to exercise them.