Today was so eye opening!

Hello! My name is Dawn. I’ve been off the app for quite a while. I’ve gained all my weight back. Today, I started so well! I measured a small bowl of Raisin Bran for breakfast, then I had a small serving of leftover jambalaya for lunch. I got hungry in the afternoon so I had some popcorn. Then I had spaghetti for dinner…a normal serving size for me. When I logged everything, I was 300 calories over my daily goal!!! I thought I was doing well! I am so shocked! Fortunately I still have time to get in some activity and burn off some of those extra calories. Tomorrow I need to pay more attention to what kinds of food I’m eating.

Replies

AnnPT77

Yes, logging can be eye opening. 🙂

Don't fret too much, though . . . and I'd say, don't worry too much about exercising more today to burn that off. What really matters is our average calorie balance over a few days to a week, and these things will balance out. IMO, our real goal here is finding a sustainable process to gradually take us to goal weight, then keep us there permanently. Daily micromanagement of calories can be counter-productive in that context.

Keep in mind: 300 calories is less than nine-tenths of a pound of body weight . . . about 2.4 ounces. In my book, that's not worth a lot of fretting. Also, if you have MFP set up to lose a pound a week, your calorie goal includes a 500 calorie daily deficit. In that context, if you go 300 over calorie goal, you'll still lose weight, just that tiny bit slower than your target. I don't know about you, but to me that seems like it's not a huge big deal.

The important thing here, IMO, is that you learned something useful about your current eating routine. As you say, you have this information to help you adjust your habits going forward. That's a good thing.

Please don't let this get you down, or feel you need to take some dramatic compensatory action. Learn, adjust your habits, go on with life. Trust me - speaking from the perspective of nearly 10 years at a healthy weight after about 30 years of overweight/obesity - this weight management thing isn't a quick project with an end date. IMO, success is about finding manageable, permanent new habits that not only get a person to a good weight, but keep them there long term, ideally forever. The rewards from that effort can be huge, in quality of life terms.

You're doing fine. Hang in there.

Best wishes!