What happens if you go over your calories once or twice a week?

miinanov

I went over my calories today and Monday by about 400. Is this going to slow down my weight loss?

Also, what if I eat less tomorrow then, would it balance out the week?

shadow2soul

400 over is nothing to worry about.

Set to 1 lb per week expect 0.8 lb loss
Set to 0.5 lb per week expext 0.38 lb loss.

Just go back to your regular calorie goal tomorrow.

Alatariel75

Personally, I eat lower during the week and more on weekends and track my calories over the course of the week.

Your body doesn't reset at midnight, or anything, it's how you eat over the course of a period of time that will dictate whether you lose, gain or maintain.

nowine4me

If you click the nutrition tab, you can toggle between day and week too see your balance in a snapshot

TimothyFish

Think of calories like a bank account. You earn through exercise and generally living your life. You pay out by eating. What would happen if you overspent by that much in money? The same sort of thing happens with calories.

prattiger65

Nothing will happen. I look at calories more weekly/monthly rather than daily. Cut a few over the next week or so and move on.

miinanov

TimothyFish wrote: »

Think of calories like a bank account. You earn through exercise and generally living your life. You pay out by eating. What would happen if you overspent by that much in money? The same sort of thing happens with calories.

Ha I like that

TonyB0588

nowine4me wrote: »

If you click the nutrition tab, you can toggle between day and week too see your balance in a snapshot

Where's this nutrition tab??

prattiger65

Bottom of your diary page

Tacklewasher

prattiger65 wrote: »

Bottom of your diary page

On the phone apps. I don't think you can do this on the website easily.

prattiger65

Tacklewasher wrote: »

prattiger65 wrote: »

Bottom of your diary page

On the phone apps. I don't think you can do this on the website easily.

Yes, I should have clarified.

rjmwx81

Depends. If you go over by a couple hundred calories, not a big deal, you can just correct it the next day. If you go over by 1000 or more a couple times a week, well, that's almost a pound (3500 = 1 lb, roughly), so that's more problematic. But I agree with those who say to consider the total for the whole week instead.

TonyB0588

miinanov wrote: »

I went over my calories today and Monday by about 400. Is this going to slow down my weight loss?

Also, what if I eat less tomorrow then, would it balance out the week?

It's quite okay to think of your total for a week, if you have a few "bad" days sometimes. Weight loss is not linear. It's a trend over time, so there's room for slight fluctuations.

savithny

What's your deficit? How much of your deficit did you erase?

If you erased your entire deficit then you'll maintain. If you erased your deficit and then ate more on top of that, you might gain. If you just made your deficit smaller, you'll still lose, but slower.

JohnnyPenso

miinanov wrote: »

I went over my calories today and Monday by about 400. Is this going to slow down my weight loss?

Also, what if I eat less tomorrow then, would it balance out the week?

The math is simple. 1lb=3500 calories. 400 calories = 400/3500 = .11 lbs or less than 2 Oz. Yes it will slow down your weight loss by 2 Oz. + whatever your deficit is, likely also around 2 Oz.

So that's the math. 4 Oz. isn't the end of the world so nothing to lose sleep over. Yes you can eat less the rest of the week and balance it out.