Over eaten yesterday now panicking
365daysandheathy
Posts: 5 Member
Hey everyone, we had an odd day yesterday and I’ve over eaten by 1,500 cals. In a panic now on how to rectify this. I normally collapse and give up but that is out of the question now. Advice from you successful dieters/life changer’s out there would be much appreciated x
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Replies
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You have two short term options: forget it, chalk it up to experience and move on with your usual calorie deficit plan. Or take 200 cals off the next 7 days and you will be equal over a week (but that does depend on your daily allowance as you shouldn’t go too low).
Longer term, you might want to go for a weekly average which will help you to vary your intake daily but you will still lose weight if you stick to the weekly deficit. You need to think hard about what led to the overeating and address that, whether it’s boredom, stress or another factor - as that will be key to future success.
Pick a lower rate of loss, maybe .5lb a week and go from there - a smaller deficit may feel easier to adhere to.
If you quit now you will still be in the same position in one week. If you keep to the deficit then you will have been successful in one week - it’s up to you!8 -
FORGET IT!
Don't feel guilty. The wagon will always let you back on.
Make today a better day.
You didn't have a failure, you had a hiccup- a mere distraction.3 -
If you’ve been losing look for a stall or slow down in loss in about a week or so and most likely an immediate water weight retention.
In the big picture it’ll be a blip on the radar.
Over the next week lower your daily calories a bit if your target deficit isn’t aggressive if you want which will help to some degree.3 -
Exactly what @claireychn074 says. I couldn’t have said it better.
I can’t even count how many times I’ve had wild overages. As long as I got back to plan, the weight continued to drop.
My diary is open. If you looo back to early April, you’d think I was crazy and gained a gazillion pounds. Nope, I enjoyed myself on a nice trip, came home and buckled back down again. Clothes still fit, trainer says “wow your trip weight dropped off fast!” And that in spite of much lower activity than usual, following a stupidly stupid bike incident.
One day is not gonna make or break you.
Working yourself up into a frenzy of panic over that one day, will.
To paraphrase Claire, in six months, you can either be six months towards goal than you were today , or you can still be crying “panic” over a few days blip here and there.3 -
I'm in camp "log it and let it go", personally.
The one thing I'd do to rectify would be to spend no more than 10 minutes thinking ultra-honestly about why it happened, and tweaking my plans to avoid future repeats. I'd rehearse the new plan in my head vividly a few times, like a mini-movie, to help cement it in place. Then I'd just get back to my normal healthy routine.
For me, eating fewer calories afterward to make up for it seems like a small step on a slippery slope to a dysfunctional relationship with food. It's just food, not a sin that requires expiation. If I were truly less hungry the next day, I might eat a little less. Otherwise, I'd just return to my regular goal.
One day is a drop in the ocean. The majority of our days determines the majority of our results. That makes our regular daily habits a power tool for weight management. Our regular daily habits are the ocean.
Don't beat yourself up about it. Just improve your plan, and get back on it.
Best wishes!10 -
What they said ^^
Shocking how easy that adds up, right?
In the beginning of weight loss everything seems glaringly obvious and especially if you've only recently begun logging food daily. I remember the shock.
Log it, move on. I would not eat less to make up for it. I had LOTS of days where I was over by 1500 extra calories. It's okay. I lost the weight anyway, and ya know what? I STILL have days like that but they are not frequent. It took time, though.
I log them, I write a sentence in my journal about it and I try to see if there is a lesson in it. Sometimes there is - well, usually there is. If I'm over-eating by an extra 1500 calories there is an emotional component to it. For me it's boredom, frustration, anger, hurt, fear, memories, regret, anxiety, worry. All that. For you it may be something else.
I don't eat meals at restaurants very often so I don't have the "celebration" excuse too frequently. That is another one to overcome. Parties and such are a definite obstacle. Just because I go to a party doesn't mean I have to eat/drink everything.
Journal it out! I do that every morning when I enter my previous day's numbers into my Excel sheet. That's been really helpful.5 -
Don’t punish yourself. Some people might say “for the next few days I will eat a bigger deficit to help make up for it” and that would work for them. But since your history is panic / quit, do nothing but meet your goals for TODAY. It’s ok!3
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Try pre-logging. That helps me tremendously. I plan several days out. That helps me control grocery lists, and I think twice before an extra goes in my mouth, because I know how much it will alter that day’s balance.
For things like restaurant trips, I scope out the menu in advance and plan what I’m going to order. I often get a salad with two servings of grilled chicken, and dressing in the side. It fills me up, I get a nice dollop of protein, I’m in control of the dressing, and it looks like my meal is as lavish as everyone else’s. Better for my mindset, and I don’t get the “eats like a bird” side glances.
Bunco is my downfall. Always so many treats. I’ve tried several strategies, including throwing up my hands and acceptance.
Nowadays I bring a huge tub of hot air popcorn. My deal with myself is, for every treat I put on my plate, I have (get! I love popcorn!) to eat a handful of popcorn.
It’s surprising how fast it fills me up that way.
I’ve only had one issue, where it turned out the hostess had one of those popcorn carts and had planned to make popcorn for everyone. She was quite hurt over that, but now they’re all used to me and my vat of popcorn.2 -
The worst thing you can do is give up.
This probably will NOT be the last time you go way over. It happens to most of us because most of us are humans. I had a day this week that was 62% over my daily calorie budget. Oops. Oh well. Last week I had a day that was 21% under. Oops. Oh well. By the end of last week, I was a mere 0.9% over (22 calories). That's within measurement error for sure.
The main thing is just keep sticking to your plan. The worst outcome, assuming you get back on plan today, is that it takes you an extra week or two to get to your goal. If you're running a 500 calorie per day deficit, that extra 1500 calories will set you back... three days.2 -
I’ve only had one issue, where it turned out the hostess had one of those popcorn carts and had planned to make popcorn for everyone. She was quite hurt over that, but now they’re all used to me and my vat of popcorn.
DEAR HOSTESSES:
Your self-worth does not depend on other people eating your food. Stop acting like a five year old.
Signed,
SecretlyEyeRolling4 -
OMG, especially machine popped popcorn. What is wrong with people?
- - and here's where I got that attitude:
My mother - may she RIP - used to make cookies at Christmas. She got herself into a pickle by always trying to out-do herself on each successive year. She would make batches and batches of festive cookies, and to be fair they were delicious, but woe be to anyone (er, me) who would give away some (uh, most) of them to my own friends and coworkers. My mom's feelz would get hurt. I'm not a "moderator." 100 cookies in my kitchen will not end well for me. I thought I was doing a good thing by sharing her cookies.
I mean. No one asked for ten different kinds of cookies, separately wrapped in festive little papers and mailed 3000 miles.
I had to stop telling her when I took them ALL to the office...she would have lost her mind. You'd think I'd thrown them in the trash. Some things it's best to not be honest.5 -
(Just saving myself some typing thanks to Ann!😘)"log it and let it go"
The one thing I'd do to rectify would be to spend no more than 10 minutes thinking ultra-honestly about why it happened, and tweaking my plans. Then I'd just get back to my normal healthy routine.
If I were truly less hungry the next day, I might eat a little less. Otherwise, I'd just return to my regular goal.
The majority of our days determines the majority of our results.
In fact maybe there is no change of plan at all.
Overages and underages are semi normal things that have to managed down to sane levels; not necessarily eliminated to succeed.
Also, I haven't seen anyone ask: was that 1500 Cal over goal or over maintenance?
The *occasional* maintenance day is far from a terrible thing. Beyond that: back to the plan not the next day but as of the very next meal!
And as I've discovered, even if not as hungry as normal the next day, I would still have something before I ended up too hungry at the end of the next day
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cmriverside wrote: »
My mother - may she RIP - used to make cookies at Christmas....
woe be to anyone (er, me) who would give away some (uh, most) of them to my own friends and coworkers. My mom's feelz would get hurt.
I had to stop telling her when I took them ALL to the office...she would have lost her mind. You'd think I'd thrown them in the trash. Some things it's best to not be honest.
If I give you a gift, it is now YOURS. You may do anything you want with it. I relinquish all ownership when I give it to you. I may be sad if you do something with it that I don't like, but once it belongs to you, it's YOURS. If I give you a piece of clothing that I happen to like but you don't, I must accept that you may never wear it, may give it away to someone else, or you might even sell it and buy something you do like.
That's how gifts work.
If there's an expectation of how you use something, it's not a gift. The only strings that are attached to gifts are part of the wrapping.
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(Just saving myself some typing thanks to Ann!😘)"log it and let it go"
The one thing I'd do to rectify would be to spend no more than 10 minutes thinking ultra-honestly about why it happened, and tweaking my plans. Then I'd just get back to my normal healthy routine.
If I were truly less hungry the next day, I might eat a little less. Otherwise, I'd just return to my regular goal.
The majority of our days determines the majority of our results.
In fact maybe there is no change of plan at all.
Overages and underages are semi normal things that have to managed down to sane levels; not necessarily eliminated to succeed.
Also, I haven't seen anyone ask: was that 1500 Cal over goal or over maintenance?
The *occasional* maintenance day is far from a terrible thing. Beyond that: back to the plan not the next day but as of the very next meal!
And as I've discovered, even if not as hungry as normal the next day, I would still have something before I ended up too hungry at the end of the next day
To the bolded: Sure.
Usually I would write something about how if the extra calories felt worth it for some reason, there may not be a need to change plans. But OP was clearly upset and feeling like it was a mistake. (And I was swyping on my tablet, which is tedious; not touch-typing on my laptop, which is fast and tooooo easy.)
If it feels like a mistake (panicking, wanting to rectify, etc.), then I'd at least consider changing the plan.
Common issues that can result in undesired over-eating:
* Cutting calories too extremely for fast lost when slower loss would be more sustainable;
* Putting highly-desired foods off limits (that the person could manage to eat in moderation);
* Social trigger of some kind that involved fast decisions or "follow the crowd" impulses (in which case planning a response ahead of time may help).
* Also, as Riverside mentioned, it can be "boredom, frustration, anger, hurt, fear, memories, regret, anxiety, worry" kind of stuff. If the problem isn't nutrition or fuel related, generally food isn't the solution, so the plan needs revision to deal with the actual non-food root cause.
Sometimes, IMO, eating over goal (or even over maintenance) feels worth it to me. For me, that can be truly special celebrations (e.g., my birthday, Christmas, etc.), a rare truly special meal at a restaurant or friend's house, etc. It can be other things, too . . . it just can't be frequent, y'know?
I also usually post this "case study" thread (that has links to some other similar threads) to suggest that the consequences may not be as dire as imagined:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10603949/big-overfeed-ruins-everything-nope#latest
I wasn't into finger swyping all of that on my tablet. Now I'm back in the touch-typing (long essay danger) zone.
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I wasn't into finger swyping all of that on my tablet. Now I'm back in the touch-typing (long essay danger) zone.
I hesitate to point out the microphone talk-to-text that is probably available on yer tablet.
:flowerforyou:3 -
Thankfully for everyone, I'm sure... *my* phone's speech to text is temperamental enough that half the time my phone ends up in considerable danger of achieving forceful propulsion in a trajectory projected to achieve minimal time to ground contact...0
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Thankfully for everyone, I'm sure... *my* phone's speech to text is temperamental enough that half the time my phone ends up in considerable danger of achieving forceful propulsion in a trajectory projected to achieve minimal time to ground contact...
Siri has actually fussed me out over my colorful choice of language several times.
That *kitten* is very prim and proper.3 -
One day is not the end of the world. Log it and do better tomorrow and next day and so on. Don't beat yourself up about it and most of all, DON'T GIVE UP! I did for 2 years and I regret it, but I'm back on the horse doing it all over again.1
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springlering62 wrote: »Thankfully for everyone, I'm sure... *my* phone's speech to text is temperamental enough that half the time my phone ends up in considerable danger of achieving forceful propulsion in a trajectory projected to achieve minimal time to ground contact...
Siri has actually fussed me out over my colorful choice of language several times.
That *kitten* is very prim and proper.
Ha. I am a person who isn't afraid of adult language. I obviously don't use it here because... rules. Funny story below.
I don't use dictation. I've had some very funny messages from people who do. Many inaccurate dictations. Some are funny, some are just confusing.
The story: Years ago I was on a dive boat. Great company. Sadly, one of their boats burned to the water line and killed all the passengers, so they company is no more. It was a very affordable way to do live-aboard diving California style. There was another guy who came most years. Sometimes he brought one of his twin daughters; once he brought both. There's actually a lot of stories about that, but this one... Well, I use adult language. It is an adult trip. We're at sea. I used a colorful word. The young woman said, "You owe me a dollar." I asked why. She said, "You said a cuss word." I said, "I didn't (F) agree to that." She never asked me for another dollar. I could also have said, "I will give you a dollar every time I use an adult work as long as YOU give ME a dollar every time I don't." I could have paid for my entire trip! Another person on the trip gave her some money up front, five or ten bucks, and got to use all the "fifty cent" words he wanted but would pay if he used something more "savory."
Back on topic for a change: They served amazing food on that dive boat from a tiny tiny galley. I often would eat far more than my budget. I tracked loosely with a "recipe" I call "SCUBA Diver Rations." I burned lots of calories diving and climbing up and down the ladders on the boat, but still - I know I overate on those trips. I enjoyed every moment. Did it slow down my journey? Once. Other years I was in maintenance, so it just meant getting back after it once on shore. Well, once back home. We always found great taco trucks on the way home.2 -
Thankfully for everyone, I'm sure... *my* phone's speech to text is temperamental enough that half the time my phone ends up in considerable danger of achieving forceful propulsion in a trajectory projected to achieve minimal time to ground contact...
We so need an LOL button! My speech to text also has wild & vivid imaginations.
A 'normal' eater might moderate with small adjustments, such as grams who enjoyed a smaller garden salad and an orange for lunch when she knew dinner would be larger.
For me, i fall into a bargaining trap to eat more now with promises to eat less later, setting up a binge and restrict pattern/habit. My strategy to change that is to deal with each eating event separately. Make choices of food and quantity each meal. Sometimes a little more for special occasions and sometimes different foods for illness, for example.
So I would agree, move forward to the next meal, and follow the usual approach
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365daysandheathy wrote: »Hey everyone, we had an odd day yesterday and I’ve over eaten by 1,500 cals. In a panic now on how to rectify this. I normally collapse and give up but that is out of the question now. Advice from you successful dieters/life changer’s out there would be much appreciated x
Lots of good advice above.
Myself?
I started at a very high BMI
I’ve been at it, off and on, for a long time now.
The “collapse and give up” suggests to me that you are stressing too much about perfection.
Thus, I suggest you just log it and move on.
This will help you see that occasionally going over - even by 1500 calories - is not worth the stress and worry.
Which, in my experience, will paradoxically reduce the number of times you go that far over.3 -
cmriverside wrote: »I wasn't into finger swyping all of that on my tablet. Now I'm back in the touch-typing (long essay danger) zone.
I hesitate to point out the microphone talk-to-text that is probably available on yer tablet.
:flowerforyou:
Not doing that in the middle of a crowded coffee shop where I was reading MFP over solo breakfast. 2 -
cmriverside wrote: »I wasn't into finger swyping all of that on my tablet. Now I'm back in the touch-typing (long essay danger) zone.
I hesitate to point out the microphone talk-to-text that is probably available on yer tablet.
:flowerforyou:
Not doing that in the middle of a crowded coffee shop where I was reading MFP over solo breakfast.
LOL, good call.0
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