Eating when you don't work out

Brunchstress

It is 3pm and I am out of calories for the day. I usually go to the gym every day and burn about 300 calories or so, so it's relatively easy for me to stay within my calorie range to lose 1 pound a week... but when I don't get to the gym or get some cardio in, I can never stay within my range. Does this happen to you? If so, do you just go over, do you just drink water until bedtime or do you make time to burn some calories so you can have more to eat?

wftiger

I usually plan my whole day out so I don't run out too quick. I certainly would not go without food from 3 pm on. If you don't have the time to go to the gym to earn a few still eat something for supper. Just stick with meat and non-starch veggies. If you don't you will be miserable and wake up super hungry.

I have found that pre-planning is a must with the amount of calories that I am on. Otherwise this would happen to be all the time. It still does happen sometimes and then I have a protein shake for supper but I am usually really full if I do run out so that shake is sufficient so I do not feel hungry at night.

amanda_ataraxia

I also preplan. When I enter my breakfast, I also put in lunch and dinner. I leave the snacks open so I can at least have a little freedom with those.

newmooon56

planning is key and so is exercise. get some 20 minute blast work out dvds or do 10 minutes of jump rope/jump jacks and some push ups-crunches- anything- earn yourself about 200 cals and have lean protein and some veggies for sure on days you end up out of time. Id have a salad with some hard boiled egg whites, lots of mixed veggies in small amts of each and the least amt of dressing (low fat) I can deal with if I was going to go over.. at least its a clean overage.

Brunchstress

I pre-planned one day last week and I was surprised at how easy it was because I didn't have to think about what I was going to eat, but I do prefer to have more freedom with making choices on the fly. Clearly both of you know what you're talking about with such great weight losses! Maybe I should be doing more pre-planned days. For the future, of course. Today is another story.

I have never run into this problem in the 3 months I've been on this site. I just ate my "lunch" way too early and ended up eating dinner at 3pm. I haven't been hungry at all yet so far and I'm just planning on having a few shrimp and some vegetarian grape leaves in an hour or two, which are pretty low in calories, etc. for dinner. So, I might go 100 or so calories over and just plan better tomorrow.

Thanks for the advice!

Brunchstress

So, I will be only 66 calories over if I eat the dinner I just planned - 1/2 cup tabouli, 2 vegetarian stuffed grape leaves and 5 cocktail shrimp. If I take the dogs for a 20 minute walk, then I'll be just fine. Thanks for all of the advice. I'll surely be planning my days better when I can't get to the gym. It's rare that I miss a day of working out, but I'm getting ready for my son's 6th birthday party tomorrow and I've had a lot on my plate - no pun intended!

Thanks, all!

lilmisfit

It's all about preplanning! Have some low cal go-to meals that you know you can eat on non workout days.

Mels707

The other thing you could do would be to eat at your TDEE minus 20% every day, and then you wouldn't have to worry about whether you had the extra exercise calories on any given day.

verptwerp

I'd probably go for a long walk, or run up & down some stairs ...... could earn enough calories to have a decent salad with rice wine vinegar dressing, or steamed veggies with Laughing Cow melted over it ..... come to think of it, there are plenty of food choices that wouldn't push you too far over ..... and then plan better tomorrow !

Best of luck :drinker:

tami101

When I first joined mfp I had my weightloss goal set at 2lbs. a week and if I didn't exercise I found it hard to stay within my calorie goal. I have dropped it to 1lb. a week and I usually don't have a problem now. The pre planning sounds like a good idea, but I prefer more flexibility in my day.

tracyhall63

I have that problem, and it I am hungry I eat. I try to listen to what my body needs.

AmyRhubarb

I try to plan my meals eery day, but stuff comes up, unexpected lunch out or whatever - I don't stress if I go over my daily goal, as long as I stay under my TDEE. And if I even go over that, no big deal - it's only one day.