HELP!!! I went over my calories. DEVASTATED!!!

kimberley1975mfp

Hi I'm kim and I'm new here. I'm 42 and 5ft 6". I started my journey on April 28 2017 at 222lbs. I'm now 189lbs. I want to get to 150lbs. I've been sticking to 1200 calories a day which has worked well. I don't exercise aside from part time job and chasing 3 kids around . But I'm so mad because I had about 1900 calories today and I never go over but I was soooo hungry today for some reason. Hungriest day yet actually. What will this do to my diet? And how do you overcome going over your calories for the day if you are this hungry? Also I'm going on vacation next week and my kids will kill me if I spend the whole time on my phone googling calorie counters and nutritional info for restaurants etc lol so any advise on any of this? Thanks

MichelleSilverleaf

What will one day do to your diet? Nothing.

You had an off day. It happens. You just accept it, and do better tomorrow. If you continually go over, then perhaps look through past days and see where you can make a change, but I wouldn't worry about one day.

mllr1328

It's okay! We all need a break sometimes. That's my opinion on the subject anyways. As for calorie counting at restaurants I believe most have their calories listed on the menus these days. If not just watch your portions. I've realized it's much more enjoyable when you don't turn it into a chore. Stay consistent but don't wear yourself out.

kimberley1975mfp

Ok phew. I get super mad at myself. I've been big for so long that the least little thing makes me think I've failed. Funny I'm down 33lbs and feel bigger than I use to. I think I'm just realizing how I let myself get to that point. Any advise on the vacationing. What do people do when they are away and eating out more at places they aren't familiar with?

kimberley1975mfp

Ok I'll just try and enjoy the vacation without making calories my focus thanks

mllr1328

Don't be mad yourself either. 33 lbs down is HUGE! You're doing great. There's so many people that would love to have lost that much.

nutmegoreo

For vacation, I try to make better choices in restaurants. Pick up snacks at a grocer along the way. Walking more = bigger cushion for deficit. So personally I don't track. I have lost weight on my last 4 vacations, although, it was only a couple pounds on this last trip.

MichelleSilverleaf

Just be aware that a 3lb loss a week is kind of considered a little extreme for weekly weight loss. If MFP didn't give you 1200 calories, you could consider upping your calories.

kimberley1975mfp

Yeah it said 1567 but that seems high doesn't it

kimberley1975mfp

But then when I put in my goals etc it told me 1200. So not sure what I should be eating to be honest

MichelleSilverleaf

Not at all. I'm currently at 2150 myself.

Ready2Rock206

Well yeah- trying to eat the minimum calories- I am shocked it took you this long to go over. When you get back from vacation you might try a more reasonable goal - like the one MFP gave you.

kimberley1975mfp

But you must weigh a lot less than me right?

CharlieBeansmomTracey

kimberley1975mfp wrote: »

Yeah it said 1567 but that seems high doesn't it

no if your BMR is in the 1400s then you dont really want to eat below that with only 30+ lbs to lose.

kimberley1975mfp

Oh really? Ok. Well maybe I'll try that. Might help with the hungry and occasional dizziness

MichelleSilverleaf

kimberley1975mfp wrote: »

But you must weigh a lot less than me right?

Nope. As of today I'm at 244.5 and I'm sure as my weight goes down my total caloric needs will as well. If you're getting hungry and dizzy, it's your body's way of telling you it needs more. What did you set your weight loss per week as?

MsHarryWinston

Tell your kids to get over it. If you need to google nutritional info or search the MFP database for restaurant info simply explain to them that your healthy is very important to you right now and this is what you need to do to stay on track.

The more confident you feel in your weight loss choices the less you will care about how things "look". I whip out my phone and scan the barcodes on wine bottles at dinner parties to get the right calories for my glass of wine. I whip out my phone and search restaurant menus in MFP when I go for lunch with friends to help me choose my food. Etc, etc, you get the idea.

What's more important to you, sticking to your goals and feeling good about your food and nutrition choices or worrying about what your kids think?

*Also 1200 seems a bit low for your height and weight...

kimberley1975mfp

Thank you . Yes I may increase it cause the general consensus is it's too low. And yes they will have to get over it. I just don't want to spend the whole time doing it and then miss out on the vacation itself . Gotta find the balance I guess

kimberley1975mfp

I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567

orangegato

You could consider adjusting your MFP goal during vacation and eat at Maintenance instead of aiming to Lose. It is very unlikely to ruin your long term goals. Then after vacation change it back to your usual weight loss goal.

MichelleSilverleaf

kimberley1975mfp wrote: »

I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567

1-2 pounds lost a week seems to be a good average, anything more and you could be losing too much muscle mass along with fat. I had set mine to one pound a week, but some weeks I seem to be losing 2. Which is fine with me, I'm not gonna argue that

AnnPT77

Folks here often recommend losing no more than about 1% of your body weight per week (less as goal approaches), for a variety of reasons. Some of these have to do with health (like minimizing loss of muscle alongside fat), but one is because a big calorie deficit can be difficult to sustain for an extended time period, so can lead to loss of control at some point. Perhaps you simply reached such a point?

That said, when losing around 3 pounds a week, you have about a 1500 calorie daily deficit. Going over what you've been eating by 500 calories? It doesn't even delay reaching your ultimate goal by a full day. No need to catastrophize about it.

Besides, beating yourself up about this burns zero extra calories.

For best health, I'd strongly encourage you to reduce your loss rate to more like a pound a week, which would also make the process much more sustainable. If you've been eating 1200, and losing an average of 3 pounds a week recently, a goal like 2000-2200 daily should get you there.

Editing to add: I read your more recent comment about sometimes experiencing dizziness. That's a major red flag. Please eat more! I'm betting you want to be a healthy & energetic mom while you achieve your weight goals, right? And a good model of healthy behavior?

Out_of_Bubblegum

kimberley1975mfp wrote: »

I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567

I assume you want this weight loss to last.


If you are getting severe hunger and dizziness.... that's not sustainable long term, and increases your likelihood of falling back into old patterns of eating that made you gain weight to begin with!

Something to think on.... remember that the changes you are making to HOW you are eating, WHAT you are eating, and HOW MUCH you are eating... need to be for life. You are establishing new habits, not just trying to diet to drop weight then go back to how you ate before because the "diet" is over.

You are doing great - but make sure that the changes you are making are ones you can live with for the rest of your life... don't race to drop the weight... you didn't put it all on in such a short time.. and you don't have to take it off so fast either.

LisaEatSleepRun

Don't sweat it! It is that kind of all-or-nothing, rigid thinking that leads many of us quit eating less & moving more & reverting back to our old ways because we convince ourselves we failed! I have always been that way, however, if I eat above my calories sometimes now, which I do, I log it & move on. It is about a lifetime not one day!

fitoverfortymom

I was bigger than you when I started in September and also have a goal of 150. We're about the same height. I'm about 18lbs from goal now and in that time I have taken about 3 complete weeks off from dieting and have had several occasions where I went intentionally over my calories or decided not to track for whatever reason.

Life happens.

What's more important is knowing that one day isn't going to put all the weight back on and you can go right back the next day to tracking it all.

Perhaps on your vacation take a break from specific logging, and put your new knowledge of what your portions should be and do your best to stick to that. Or take a break from logging altogether and eat freely for a week, as long as you trust that when you get back that you can get right back to it.

Stepping_Stone

One day isn't going to hurt your long term goals. As for vacation, it's best to actually enjoy your vacation. If you eat at restaurants a lot while vacationing, then don't eat everything on the plate. Divide it before you ever take a bite & share it with your kids. Eat half of what they bring you & if you're still hungry afterwards, eat a snack or something that you know the nutritional data on. Don't go crazy eating everything, but don't punish yourself to the point of not enjoying the adventure.

spiffychick85

You've already lost a great amount, congrats to that!! Honestly 1 day won't matter in the long run, and you didn't even go over by a lot...so it's fine. As far as vacation goes? How often do you go on this vacation? If this is a once a year trip I say go and enjoy every minute with your family. Make sensible choices if you feel like it, but most importantly enjoy this time and your food. Your deficit will be waiting for you when you get back.

cmcollins001

I haven't read all the post, and I probably should, and this may have been covered, but, weight management - weight loss, weight gain, weight maintenance - is a life long process. If you're stressing about going over one day, then you're in for a really long hard battle. It's going to happen. If you want to have any kind of life, it's going to happen from time to time. For weight loss, as long as going over from time to time is the exception and not the rule, then that's perfectly fine.

I recently went on vacation and I missed my goal of "gaining" 10 lbs over the course of the week I was gone. I only gained 6. Most of which was water weight and after a couple days of being home and back to what is my regular eating pattern most of the water weight was gone. I gained a total of 1lb according to the scale from when I left. That's it. So, if the 2lbs a week loss is even close to accurate, I've added exactly 1/2 a week to reaching my weight loss goal. 2-3 days. That's it.

Life is going to happen and you're going to eat too much from time to time...or at least you should. If for nothing else, it should be for mental health. Have the birthday cake, grab a second helping of mashed potatoes during holidays...enjoy life. You can always get back on track the next day. Enjoy life now, not when your reach a certain goal weight.

ninerbuff

One day isn't going to derail you if you're back and consistent. It's no more a big deal than missing a workout day.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

womanisadevil

Thursday I ate almost 3700 lol.
I was thinking about dairy queen all week and said frig it. Treat myself.
Extra exercise for me this week yayyyyy!!

It happens sometimes. As long as it's just a day and doesn't trigger you to completely derail.
Just get back on the horse!

TavistockToad

kimberley1975mfp wrote: »

I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567

But you don't weigh 150, so why would you do that?