way under / way over

for_a_mittengrl

So yesterday I went waaaayyyyy over on my calories and today, I swear I still feel pretty full. I did eat today but then I exercised. My net is LOW today. There is no way I can eat back and have a NET of 1200 today.

Is this ok? Will this somehow balance out?

MissAnjy

it's okay for one day but don't make it a habit. Your metabolism will slow down (which i'm assuming you already know)

SolidGoaled

I am interested to know what others have to say, here. I had a too-big dinner the other night at a restaurant and wondered if I could cut back my cals the NEXT day by 500 cals to counteract it. I don't know if the total cals of two days can "balance" your cal budget. Good question!

MobiusMan

eat small well paced meals planned to get your calories in. If you are working out you'll lose faster with excellent nutrients than with a shortage

MobiusMan

I am interested to know what others have to say, here. I had a too-big dinner the other night at a restaurant and wondered if I could cut back my cals the NEXT day by 500 cals to counteract it. I don't know if the total cals of two days can "balance" your cal budget. Good question!

you should try to be as steady as possible but it does average out. I look at daily, weekly and monthly deficit to see how I'm doing it would be better to spread that 500 over the next 3 or 4 days vice "tomorrow"

kao708

I wouldn't use the NET calories for anything more than an FYI. That number is just your calories eaten - calories burned. To have that at 1200 you'd have to burn all your eaten calories + another 1200 every day and that just doesn't make sense.

If you want to do this program without getting too technical, I would try to keep the number on your home page next to "CALORIES REMAINING" above zero. That number is calorie goal - calories eaten + calories burned.

menchi

Erm kao708... those are effectively the same thing. If you aim for the net 1200 or if you aim for calories remaining to be above and near zero, both the same result as far as what you eat. Unless when you say "above zero" you mean any number above, in which case you might be eating too little. The following is a long-ish explanation, but my point is just that both ways of tracking your calories is identical.

Imagine yourself as an empty jar in the morning, you put in calories when you eat, and you take out calories when you exercise. That 1200 goal, that's a line drawn on the jar where you are supposed to reach so that there is some space left in the jar, this space is your deficit. So if you put in 1200 food and take out 300 in exercise, you have to put that 300 back so the space left in the jar isn't too big. That's the net calorie version.

Now if you take that same jar and aim to be under and near that same line, that's the calorie remaining version. The number for calorie remaining is the space between what you put in for calories and that line. If you put in 1200 food and take out 300 in exercise, you will be 300 below the line or have 300 calories remaining. That would mean you are supposed to eat 300 more calories which gives the same result as the net calorie version. Both ways you are going to eat the same calories if you are successful.

The reason the equation looks a little different is that for the calorie remaining eqn, it's effectively your goal minus what you put in the jar but that has two parts-- what you put in and what you took out. You said

calorie goal - calories eaten + calories burned.

So if you rearrange the math a little, you get

calorie goal - (calories eaten - calories burned)

And you see that the bit in the parentheses is your net calories. IF you aim for net calories 1200 and your goal is 1200, then your remaining will be zero.

crackerjack345

I really like to look at my average for the week. It helps me to see the bigger picture of my week, overall. I wouldn't try to have a defecit on purpose, though, but your body probably does not need as much food because of the excess yesterday.

Sara927

I have just started to record all of my food and I really am surprised at how some days I seem so close to going way over and others I am way under. I really think the tracking is going to help me even it all out though.

kao708

Erm kao708... those are effectively the same thing. If you aim for the net 1200 or if you aim for calories remaining to be above and near zero, both the same result as far as what you eat. Unless when you say "above zero" you mean any number above, in which case you might be eating too little. The following is a long-ish explanation, but my point is just that both ways of tracking your calories is identical.

Imagine yourself as an empty jar in the morning, you put in calories when you eat, and you take out calories when you exercise. That 1200 goal, that's a line drawn on the jar where you are supposed to reach so that there is some space left in the jar, this space is your deficit. So if you put in 1200 food and take out 300 in exercise, you have to put that 300 back so the space left in the jar isn't too big. That's the net calorie version.

Now if you take that same jar and aim to be under and near that same line, that's the calorie remaining version. The number for calorie remaining is the space between what you put in for calories and that line. If you put in 1200 food and take out 300 in exercise, you will be 300 below the line or have 300 calories remaining. That would mean you are supposed to eat 300 more calories which gives the same result as the net calorie version. Both ways you are going to eat the same calories if you are successful.

The reason the equation looks a little different is that for the calorie remaining eqn, it's effectively your goal minus what you put in the jar but that has two parts-- what you put in and what you took out. You said

calorie goal - calories eaten + calories burned.

So if you rearrange the math a little, you get

calorie goal - (calories eaten - calories burned)

And you see that the bit in the parentheses is your net calories. IF you aim for net calories 1200 and your goal is 1200, then your remaining will be zero.

I guess it's time to lay off the crack before I try to post something, eh? Or, make sure I've had adequate coffee first! Thanks :bigsmile: