I blew it

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Juicysmo
Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What do you guys do when you've totally blown your goals for the day? I'm thinking I need to eat a super light dinner, and maybe exercise, but otherwise what do you do when this happens? I'm 400 calories over already after a lunch meeting :(
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  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,019 Member
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    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
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    It's one day. These kind of days happen sometimes. No need to punish yourself or feel bad about it. If you genuinely aren't super hungry at dinner, sure eat a light dinner.

    Question - you ate 400 over your goal, or 400 over maintenance? So long as you stay below maintenance, you won't gain weight. Depending on what your deficit is, you may well have room for a normal sized dinner, without gain. The important thing is the average over time. This week you may not lose as much as you wanted to, but if you are in a deficit the rest of the week, you will still lose (or at least not gain)!
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
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    I go to the gym and work out until I am about to fall over is what I do.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
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    I exercise more. Keep this in mind though: your weekly average is what helps you lose weight. If you blow one day, oh well. Just move on.
  • subakwa
    subakwa Posts: 347 Member
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    OP - what's your daily deficit planned to be? You have some options, depending on how large a deficit you run, and what suits your mindset the best.

    - make today a maintenance day if you run a large enough deficit. So, if you run a daily deficit of 800 cals, you still have 400 left for dinner without going into excess
    - Eat whatever you would normally but "buy back" those calories over the rest of the week
    - Log it and move on. It's only one day.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    One day of overeating does not mean you blew it, only if it continues on for weeks. You can cut a few calories over the next several days to even it out, or you can log it and move on.
  • kcn2bluesky
    kcn2bluesky Posts: 187 Member
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    gothchiq wrote: »
    I go to the gym and work out until I am about to fall over is what I do.

    Is that sarcasm or is that actually what you do when you are over your calorie goal for a single day? I'm genuinely curious.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
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    kgirlhart wrote: »
    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.

    These meetings are not every day. I typically don't have these but every so often so it's not usually an issue.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
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    subakwa wrote: »
    OP - what's your daily deficit planned to be? You have some options, depending on how large a deficit you run, and what suits your mindset the best.

    - make today a maintenance day if you run a large enough deficit. So, if you run a daily deficit of 800 cals, you still have 400 left for dinner without going into excess
    - Eat whatever you would normally but "buy back" those calories over the rest of the week
    - Log it and move on. It's only one day.

    What do you mean by "deficit"?
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
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    Did you overeat your maintenance calories or your weight loss calories? If you ate over weight loss calories, no biggie...eat up to maintenance for the day and move on. Even if you ate 400 calories over maintenance, that's less than 1/7th of a pound gain....

    I vote for log it and move on. It won't ruin the bigger picture,
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
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    I wouldn't overreact to it, it happens. Just log it and move on. Don't respond to an over-eat with some sort of self-flagellating ritual of doing a lot more exercise or skipping meals. Worst case scenario you lost one day in your many month or year long journey. Just note it and see what you can do to avoid it next time.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,395 Member
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    Eat a yummy bowl of cereal for dinner and call it good.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,019 Member
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    Juicysmo wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.

    These meetings are not every day. I typically don't have these but every so often so it's not usually an issue.

    Then I wouldn't worry about it at all.

    Your deficit is how many calories you are eating under your maintenance. So if it takes you 2000 calories to maintain your weight (I just picked easy to add numbers), then if you want to lose 1 pound per week you eat 500 calories less than you need so 1500 per day. So if you have a 500 calorie deficit even if you are 400 over your goal you are still at a slight deficit and you would have to go 500 over your maintenance every day for a week to gain a pound.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 427 Member
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    I just shrug it off. It happens.
  • JAllen32
    JAllen32 Posts: 991 Member
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    Burn the excess if you have time. If not, don't worry about. The way I see it, some days I have 500 calories left at the end of the day, sometimes I have -300. It all balances out as long as I don't get out of control. A good way to watch it is to add how many calories you have for the week, and make sure you stay under. So if you go over one day, have some left the next, its a wash.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,108 Member
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    I went over by 560 yesterday eating candy and watching movies at night with the kids. Its not a big deal. My deficit for the week is still going to be fine. My advice is log it and move on, make up for it the rest of the week by cutting an extra 100 cals or so each day.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
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    Thanks everyone! I needed some motivation to not just say screw it and eat pizza for dinner, haha. I think I will eat a sensible dinner, maybe take a walk, and move on. I also may try to cut some calories throughout the week.

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