Yesterday was AWFUL in the opposite to normal way - NEGATIVE

naturallykat

Hi all

Well yesterday was a horrendous day, although 6 months ago I'd have said it was brilliant. I managed to end up on MINUS 550 calores! Had an unexpectedly loooong evening shift as a waitress (only just started work again this week, so at the mo I'm logging it as X hours slow walking, although after week 2 I'm going to count it as higher activity level), which burnt 1500 calories, and due to the nature of my work I only managed a bowl of porridge for my dinner, and despite eating some tuna, chickpeas and good for you oil when I got in, I ended the day well into negative calories. I had a healthy omlette breakfast and plenty of vegetable and lentil soup for lunch, so I wasn't running on empty, but obviously it wasn't a good day in total.

Man, I felt it today - exhausted wasn't the word, my poor body must have been in such shock! I'm only starting to feel normal this evening, and I'm deliberately trying to eat food which will re-balance any defecits.

What I came on here to ask, is what would you do if you found yourself in this situation? I ate the extra food late at night because that was when I first realised "*kitten*, I'm going to be really low on cals today" but I couldn't stomach eating more than I did. Should I have more calories today to make up for it, or should I just get straight back on to normal?

Please no criticism for an extreme day - I was only supposed to be working 3 hours and was planning a nutritious tea!

Many thanks!

Mindful_Trent

If you're hungrier than normal today, it'd be reasonable to eat a little more than you usually would, but I wouldn't stress about forcing yourself to eat more to make up for yesterday. An occasional really low calorie day won't hurt you - as long as it doesn't happen often.

bethvandenberg

I'm a firm believer that you need to listen to your body. IF you're really hungry eat. IF you're not drink some water. I do find that if I have a super busy day and don't eat much then the next day I'm dragging and hungry. I try to look at my cals/exercise on the week. Did I maintain a healthy balance all week? Eat some more nutritious stuff and maybe a small walk.

staciekins

Maybe you should change your activity level to highly active, instead of logging as exercise...or eat more throughout the day when you know you will be working?

lisabel87

I don't think its necessarily that bad, as long as you are eating foods that can sustain you throughout the day, like veggies, fruits and whole grains.
I agree with listening to your body. If you are not hungry, don't force yourself.

helena98

I can NEVER end up at a zero balance every day. Some days are high (birthdays, events, holidays), and some days are low (days like you described). The best way I've found to deal with this is to regularly check my weekly calorie balance and aim for a zero for my average daily net calories under my weekly goal. So don't try to eat all the calories you missed yesterday in one day, but spread it out over the next 3 days. Some fitness experts highly recommend switching your calories around daily just to keep your body guessing, as long as your weekly average zeroes out. It's a great way to avoid plateaus.