Over calories for day. Now what?
AZAlyssa
Posts: 22 Member
What is your approach to higher calorie days? Not talking about a major binge, but those times when meal planning fell by the wayside and you're "out" of calories after lunch? Are you done eating for the day? Do you exercise to earn some back? Just eat a reasonable dinner and get on with it? Just curious what others do.
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Replies
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I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be even if I mess up so that the days effort doesn’t go to waste. I will sometimes try to do an extra workout or go longer on my workout those days but if I don’t have the time I accept that I’m not perfect and I will have less productive days. I think as long as it doesn’t discourage you from getting up and trying your hardest the next day, then there is no harm in having days that aren’t perfect.10
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Part of what we're doing here (in terms of figuring out long term weight loss) is developing our strategies for coping when things don't work out as expected. How to cope with things long term, not on a single occasion--especially when dealing with something that is likely to come up with some frequency.
Both when losing weight and later while maintaining the answer for me has consistently been the last two.
No you're not done eating for the day. Assigning an inordinate number of calories to subsequent days in the end can only work for relatively small amounts of calories and within that framework it is certainly an option (viewing your budget as a weekly one). Drawing on willpower to power through on the single day only has limited applicability as a long term strategy.
So, at least for me, the answer is continue with the program at the earliest opportunity. Sure. If the opportunity to engage in some extra activity is there, absolutely, why not take it. But not if it is punitive. A reasonable dinner also sounds... reasonable!10 -
I also have known dinner options that are filling but have fewer calories (chicken or pork loin). If lunch was truly bad and I don't think I'll really be that hungry come dinner, I might go without or just have a protein shake, I won't have dinner simply because it's dinner time.3
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Mom24_2021 wrote: »I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be
I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.
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I just tend to look at weekly average.7
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Mom24_2021 wrote: »I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be
I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.
This is when I take a peek at that "in 5 weeks your weight will be..." number at the bottom. If it's higher than my current weight I know that I'm over maintenance. If it's the same or under, then I feel just fine if I ate more than I planned to that day.
Of course, if it is more, then I know to chill out for the next several days and just make sure I track a little better. It won't completely mess you up to have one over day now and then, it will just take a little bit longer to get to goal.2 -
No, I'm not done eating for the day.
I'll still have dinner, and will just continue with whatever was planned for exercise.
If I did try to not have any dinner I would end up ravenously hungry and would eat twice as much as I would have in the first place, if not more. And it probably wouldn't be good nutritious stuff.
It makes very little difference in the long term, I'm trying to build good habits I can sustain.5 -
Depending on how much I've gone over, and what my exercise plan was for the day, I would either reduce my calories for the coming days by about 100 each day until I'd compensated for the over-budget, or increase my daily steps for a few days (usually by adding on a km or two to my warm-down after a run), or go for a quick, easy, gentle bike ride or just use any "banked" calories from earlier in the week, if I had any.
I like to make sure I don't just let it go, because for me, that's a start of going back to my old ways. However, if you know you can do this occasionally, and not make it a habit, then I'd just carry on my day as normal, eat my planned dinner and get back on track.4 -
I'd eat dinner (something calorie efficient but nutritious) if hungry, skip if not hungry, or something in between if most appropriate. If the over-goal earlier eating gave me some extra energy (happens sometimes) or I just felt like it, I might do some extra activity, but not with a "make up for" mindset.
For me, that sort of thing isn't mentally healthy, or particularly helpful. For me, "making up for" can lead to a roller coaster of indulgence and compensation, possibly a poorer attitude toward both eating and activity . . . I don't need that. Mental health - i.e., balance - is important, too.
Some things I believe:
One day's intake is a drop in the ocean. The majority of our days determines the majority of our progress.
Food isn't sin that requires us to suffer to expiate it. It's just food. We need some, not too much, the right stuff to get reasonably nutrition at appropriate calories, from foods that are tasty and practical to us, ideally.
Weight loss is a process of experimentation and adjustment. For me, it's trying to narrow in on a set of reasonably-happy habits that I can practice and perform more or less on autopilot, to stay at a healthy weight long term, ideally permanently. Experiments inevitable involve some outcomes, on the way, that aren't productive to the long-term objective in a direct sense. As long as I think of them as learning experiences, rather than "failures" of a "bad person", they can actually contribute to positive progress by showing me things that aren't helpful for me.
Guilt or shame are optional, burn no extra calories, feel icky, don't help me succeed. I try not to go there.
(FWIW, I'm in year 6+ at a healthy weight, after around 30 years previously of overweight/obesity. I'm not saying I'm set forever, because IMO weight management is permanent part of life, not a project with an end date. So far, so good, though. 🤞)Mom24_2021 wrote: »I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be
I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.
This is when I take a peek at that "in 5 weeks your weight will be..." number at the bottom. If it's higher than my current weight I know that I'm over maintenance. If it's the same or under, then I feel just fine if I ate more than I planned to that day.
Of course, if it is more, then I know to chill out for the next several days and just make sure I track a little better. It won't completely mess you up to have one over day now and then, it will just take a little bit longer to get to goal.
This is a useful tip!
But, FWIW, it may not be universally applicable. MFP (set up with correct info for me) will tell me that in 5 weeks I'll weigh more. It did that when I was losing weight at a good clip, it would still do that now, even though I've been maintaining a healthy weight for 6+ years now at roughly my current calorie intake.
It's just an estimate. Yes, it's right or close for a lot of people (average people, i.e., most people), but I'd encourage people new to calorie counting not to over-rely on that metric until sticking with counting and body-weight tracking for at least 4-6 weeks to either validate or know how to adjust MFP's estimate. It can be a bit off (high or low) for some people, surprisingly far off for a rare few. That's the nature of statistical estimates. We don't know for sure where we fall on the scale of average-ness. (Reasons for being statistically unusual may not be obvious, either.🤷♀️)4 -
I would typically opt for something filling and low calorie. If you don't have healthy left overs (chicken breast, for example), opt for something like a Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice and is filling and feels like a meal. You can also use snacks like canned green beans/frozen boxed veggies that are low calorie. If it's your jam, add some hot sauce, seasoning, or what not that adds a lot of flavor without the calories.1
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I eat my dinner as planned if I’m hungry and get right back on-track. If I’m not too hungry or just snackish I just go for something high-protein like greek yogurt with protein powder.
Then, look back at the day to see what set me off-plan, and make a note to help plan for it in the future. Busy with errands and grabbed a snack or fast-food? Plan for that snack and bring it along, or plan for fast food and plan something that fits in with my meal plan (think ahead with restaurants and entrees that are ok in a pinch, have a list to draw from.)
Weekends that you like to meet up with friends for an outing? Save up calories through the week for it.
That time of the month and you’re dealing with true hunger? Up to maintenance calories for two days.
Been too restrictive for the past week and you “blew it”? Lighten up your goal and adjust your calorie deficit a bit.2 -
I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.
I would suggest looking at your entire weekly calorie intake relative to what your maintenance calories are. You could eat your maintenance calories 3 days a week and take a deficit 4 days a week and you would still lose weight, albeit slowly. That is the beauty of knowing your maintenance calories! It changes the whole way you look at your eating and understanding being in a deficit.
You can also make a conscious decision at times to eat at maintenance rather than just “go off” your routine when life is busy. So many of us know how to lose and know how to gain, but we never learned about maintaining our weight. If we want to keep the weight off learning to maintain is essential. It was only when I made this mindset shift did I get to goal and actually keep the weight off.
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I'd eat a reasonable dinner and try to calculate better the next day. Me personally, if I allow myself to get hungry, and then stressed from kids or whatever, I'll get flustered and binge eat. It's better to have a light dinner, even if I'm over, than a binge session.3
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What is your approach to higher calorie days? Not talking about a major binge, but those times when meal planning fell by the wayside and you're "out" of calories after lunch? Are you done eating for the day? Do you exercise to earn some back? Just eat a reasonable dinner and get on with it? Just curious what others do.
When out of calories at lunch. I Eat dinner as usual. Dinner will be 300-500 calories I still plan. Which lead me to maintaining for that day(1,900 average calories). Somedays I take a walk when I over eat. To bring back balance to my deficit.The walk is usually 30min-1hour.
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How material is one day in all of this?
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I would likely just trim back my dinner, unless I truly wasn't that hungry, in which case I'll go ahead and skip it.
In the case of trimming dinner back, I'd just consider the day a loss in that regard. I have other days where I don't eat all my calories (not on purpose, just am full and don't really want any more food), so it can go both ways as long as the "over" day isn't another day's worth of calories (which I can pack away in one sitting unfortunately).
As for exercise, while I sometimes will push a little longer than I had planned, or make sure I go do something extra in order to enjoy some extra food, I wouldn't want to use it as a punishment, either.
If I know a potentially big meal is coming up (for example, if I know I'll be going out for dinner with the bf), I may bank some calories earlier in the day so I can enjoy that meal a bit more.
Shoot, the other day I even planned on such a day/meal, and was not holding myself to stay in my calorie budget as long as I tracked everything (honesty over adherence in this case). Due to banking calories though, I actually ended up UNDER my calorie goal and so full the last thing I wanted was more food.2 -
depends...are you eating dinner because you are hungry? or eating dinner because its dinnertime and that's what you are supposed to do? if the latter...you should start examining your relationship with food and why you think you have to eat even though you aren't hungry...just because the clock says its time to eat.1
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