Above calorie goal- still lose weight?

mhlew

I would say 9 out of 10 time I am always below my daily calorie goal. Tonight I was about 200 calories over my target goal. How much will this hinder future weight loss? Not sure if I trust the "you will weigh this much in 5 weeks"

Of course I always strive to be below, but Is the effect minimal as long as I keep it to a minimum?

bethanyboomstick

As long as your averages are good, the occasional little indulgence isn't a problem. Don't worry about it.

yc4king

Here's something you can do to find out how big of a deal it ISN'T to go a couple hundred over for one day. Set your weight loss goal to maintenance and then see what your daily goal would be. It's probably going to be something like 600 calories higher than what your goal is at 2lbs per week. So if you go 200 calories over for one day, you're still below maintenance so it hurt absolutely nothing.

AJ_G

Weekly calorie goal is what's important. If you're under your calorie goal the majority of the week but go 200 calories over on one day it's going to make almost zero difference. If you average that 200 calories you went over across your entire week, then you're only 29 calories over per day and that doesn't take into account any days you're under your calorie goal. I wouldn't worry about it.

funchords

Of course I always strive to be below,

Be aware of a few possibilities:

By being consistently below, you run the risk of losing weight faster than you want to. You might lower your metabolism, which means your body will require fewer calories to maintain your weight. It might be a better strategy to try to consistently hit your goal plus or minus 200-400 calories. Mix it up. This might prevent prevent the body from reaching a set point and lowering your metabolism. If you follow this advice, you should try to make sure that your weekly average is below and not worry so much about the daily total.

You should know that I'm not following my own advice here. I'm consistently lower myself with a few exceptions. However, when I reach a plateau, I use that method of +/- 400 calories or so in order to shake myself loose of the plateau.

mhlew

Of course I always strive to be below,

Be aware of a few possibilities:

By being consistently below, you run the risk of losing weight faster than you want to. You might lower your metabolism, which means your body will require fewer calories to maintain your weight. It might be a better strategy to try to consistently hit your goal plus or minus 200-400 calories. Mix it up. This might prevent prevent the body from reaching a set point and lowering your metabolism. If you follow this advice, you should try to make sure that your weekly average is below and not worry so much about the daily total.

You should know that I'm not following my own advice here. I'm consistently lower myself with a few exceptions. However, when I reach a plateau, I use that method of +/- 400 calories or so in order to shake myself loose of the plateau.

On days where I am below goal it is usually by -200 calories maybe -350 on a good day. If I go above goal it is by +200 to +300. So I do not think I am going too overboard but still want to try and stay below as often as possible.

MinnieInMaine

As someone else said, it's all about averages. If you're under by 200 most days and go over 200 once in a while, on average you'll still be under goal. Your body doesn't reset itself at midnight

Since I can't see your diary, I won't comment on your calories goals specifically (as there are many "ifs" involved) but generally it's not a great idea to come in under goal on a regular basis.

mhlew

As someone else said, it's all about averages. If you're under by 200 most days and go over 200 once in a while, on average you'll still be under goal. Your body doesn't reset itself at midnight

Since I can't see your diary, I won't comment on your calories goals specifically (as there are many "ifs" involved) but generally it's not a great idea to come in under goal on a regular basis.

I will see if I can change it to public, need to mess with the settings. I generally eat at my goal (2100 calories for 2 pounds weight loss a week) and sometimes over, but by the time I add excersize I will have about a -200 caloric defecit, possibly even more because MFP does not count calories lost during weight lifting, and I lift about 3 x a week.

I think I have been losing about 2 pounds a week (lost 12 pounds in August) , Platued on my last weigh in from food and drink choices during labor day, but think I will be back on pace for 2 lbs per week.

jrline

200 calories over one day if you are averaging below regularly wont have very much impact.

funchords

Your diary privacy settings are at the bottom of this page...

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/diary_settings

Francl27

If you're set on losing 1 pound a week or more, 200 calories over your goal is still a deficit. You'd have to eat 500 over your goal (or 750, or 1000, depending on your goal) to eat more than what you burn in a day.