Bad food day...compensate the next day?

GretaGirl8

If you go over your maintenance calories one day, do you compensate the next day (or two) by eating at an ever lower deficit or working out more? I ate 800 over maintenance yesterday. I know...bad. I was thinking about eating under my maintenance calories by 400 the next two days. Is that an effective approach, or should I just deal with the expected weight gain from my screw up and move on. Thank you.

daniellabella986

I would just work out a little bit more. Putting an extra deficit in place might just mess up your metabolism and cause your body to hang on to whatever you're feeding it and store it because it's sort of starvation mode. Just eat clean for the next day or two and odn't worry - you can't gain that much in a day, and it's most likely just water weight anyway so drink plenty.

farway

You could just ignore it, bet you do not put a pound on over the week

cwolfman13

I just carry on. You have to consistently under/over-eat to override the body's ability to maintain. A little extra energy here and there really isn't a big deal...it's when you're consistently over-eating that you gain weight...same as losing...you don't lose weight just because you ate under your maintenance for a day.

The human body is very efficient at using energy...you have to consistently hammer your body with under/over-eating to override that ability.

Edit: I've been maintaining for almost 8 months and I go over my maintenance at least a couple days per week, sometimes 3...no biggie...and I still maintain. If you're doing regular exercise, this will also further enhance your body's ability to efficiently deal with a little extra energy (calories) from time to time.

GretaGirl8

Thank you. I think I will just move forward. I will consider yesterday a reminder to be more aware of my eating. I was legitimately hungry and I didn't binge on junk food (rather, yogurt, bran and some simple crackers). maybe my body needed an extra boost yesterday. Maybe I am just rationizing my "binge." Either way, today is a new day.

Flaming_Reef

Depends on the kind of person you are. Are the 800 calories themselves that significant? No, not really. Are you the type of person to have several slip up days per week eating junk food? Then you might want some accountability the next day.

evileen99

Eh, I don't let it bother me. If I try to create too large of a deficit I'm more likely to binge, so I just roll with it. It won't kill me.

Lives2Travel

I compensate the next day or if I know I'm going to overdo (Thanksgiving, Christmas) I cut back the day before and after. I pay more attention to my weekly average than any given day.