When You're Out of Calories and it's only 5pm...

Wantingtolose1

This happened to me yesterday as we had friends over and I are a bit too much. I called it a maintenance day so ate my maintenance calories and then did a 30 min workout and had calories left for dinner. Got on the scale this morning and no weight change yay. Don't call it a cheat day cos then it can turn into a binge and you don't want that

rotill

the worst thing you can do is to eat high-glycemic carbs - dooom. What you want to do is to eat low-glycemic index carbs so they release slowly and don't result in the devastating blood-sugar crash.

search on YouTube for 'Quinoa Breakfast Recipe' by Heather Nauta.

This is a good example. You can eat 500 calories of breakfast cereal (hi gi) or eat 500 calories of this recipe. The difference is obviously not the amount of calories.

You eat the cereal and it will race into your bloodstream, start turning to fat and then soon you'll be hungry as your blood sugar crashes. Part of these calories have already gone to fat stores and your body doesn't want to cash it in!

Eat the low-gi porridge and your blood sugar will rise slowly. Lets say it's getting on lunchtime and you're starting to feel hungry but for some reason you can't stop to eat - you'll find that your blood sugar doesn't crash, it just keeps letting down slowly.

Do you want to have a miserable diet experience? Go ahead and eat 500 calories of bread for breakfast.

To sum up using an example - instead of rice, lentils will keep you going much longer. You just have to be patient after eating as your blood sugar levels rise more slowly than you're used to.

Hope this helps - works for me!

If you aren't going to finish that bread.....can I have it?

Sure, it's made on whole grain with some added fiber. It will make you feel full, but no quick blood-sugar rush for you.

learnerdriver

It drove me insane working on a daily basis and avoiding foods due to high calories, so I now work on a weekly calorie basis- I'm doing TDEE-20%, so I focus on making sure I keep moving daily, and move a bit more during the week if I have had a splurge.

Please eat something clean if you're hungry and out of calories, and eat a bit more for breakfast and lunch as this will help avoid your energy slump

FitterStrongerHappier

Cottage cheese and fruit. about 200 calories depending on the serving size and the choice of fruit - and it can really fill you up. Not saying to go over goal 200 every day, but, it's better to take a small hit than to starve and give in to a bigger one later.

*kitten* happens - Sometimes all the planning in the world won't help a bad situation. i.e., Leaving home and the lunch is on the counter - forcing you to eat from the cafeteria at work. Odds of staying healthy then are slim.

Best to roll with the punches, wake up tomorrow, shake it off and start anew.

I think everyone deals with situations in their own way. Some people need to be uber strict to succeed. They see taking an extra 200-500 calories in over their goal in a day (or even less) as being failure. eh. not so much. if your deficit is 500 calories a day or more, this scenario, at worst, would mean you didn't lose THAT day. you're not going to gain weight by staying at or under maintenance.

as long as you're not living by some deadline, and just living life, who cares if it takes 5 months, or 10 months to reach your final goal? I'd rather lose it slow and maintain the loss, than put myself up against harsh, over strict expectations.

oh - and, I've lost about 50 so far, with about 70 to go, so I'm nearly halfway there

pinkraynedropjacki

So you are being FORCED to eat the birthday cupcakes, and all the other calorie draining foods? Simply don't eat them & you should be fine.

paulperryman

go for a 60min walk, there's about 500 calories
but really does it matter, so go over today and then tomorrow start a fresh, noone can be perfect every day there has to be ups and downs unless every single day you ate/drink exactly the same thing and did exactly the same amount of activity

nuts and dried fruit are a relatively small calorie hit about 100-200 and are very filling and add Protein and Carbs plus essential fats.

ClementineGeorg

I find it much easier to pre-plan all my foods and to already have them logged. That way I know that my calorie and macro goals are going to be met provided I don't binge on something else. This allows me to spread out my meals however I see fit.

That's also what I do.

Well I know when a brithday or a celebrations comes, so when I plan that day, I eat less calories at breakfast and lunch to make room for that little cupcake that seems to always have tons of calories. And I make sure I have at home a low calorie, but filling dinner.
And I would work out in the evening for the extra calories at dinner. :laugh: But I'm more of an evening working out person.

rotill

Here's what I do, but there's a caveat - I am gluten intolerant, so avoiding the cakes isn't really THAT hard:
If I don't have any calories to go, I eat a light dinner - something with vegetables and protein, and no fat. Sometimes I just drink a protein shake. Then I log it and live with it. This means I can track, at the end of the week, what might have made me go over.

But here's the more important part of what I do: I aim at low GI foods. This isn't about low carb or fancy diets, this is about feeling full and avoiding cravings. So for breakfast, either a boiled egg, vegetables and youghurt with no sugar, or oat-meal with youghurt and berries, and loads of tea. If I get hungry before lunch, I have a couple of crackers - mine are oats, but anything whole-grain will do - in the drawer at the office. Water and crackers, and I can live. Then, if there's a cake at the lunch table (it often is!), I go get my salad for lunch, eat it, have some tea or coffee, look at the cake, chat with the people, then have a square of 70% (or darker) emergency chocolate from the stash in my desk. 10 grams - normally one square of a 100 gram bar - is about 60 calories.

First of all, if you eat healthy food before unhealthy food, it's easier to limit yourself, and even to say no. Scandinavians are still among the slimmest people in Europe, and I am pretty sure it comes from what every Scandinavian child hears when faced with a treat: Healthy food first! We are all conditioned to eating two slices of dark bread with cucumber and cheese before we can even think about going at those incredible cream cakes. (Which, btw, are a lot less calorie heavy than pies, muffins with butter and cheese icing and chocolate cakes, but that's another story.)

Next: when you do low GI, you don't get the blood-sugar rush that leads to cravings. You are not giving up bread or anything else you like, you just pick the versions that contain fiber, so whole grain bread, brown rice, whole grain pasta, whole grain flour in your pizza, even. Also, swap a lot of the fruit for vegetables. Don't avoid your greens (5-6 units a day), but rather than five apples, do three large carrots and a couple of tomatoes.

Then: A small trick. Avoid mixing fat and sugar. Mix fat and protein or sugar (carbs) and protein, but fat and sugar together tricks the brain into wanting more. You know those moorish crisps? Or the fries you can't stop picking at? You may not taste the sugar - as it comes in the shape of starches - but it's there.

Last: Don't avoid the celebrations. Plan for them to happen through the day, and make sure you have a reward for yourself with them. I sometimes go get a large, delicious latte or I go wild eating fruit, because I know I will be recentful and unhappy if I don't feel like I joined the others. Hence the emergency bar of dark chocolate. And make sure to chat, enjoy the company, laugh at the jokes, and don't look at the cakes. The ritual of celebration isn't really about the food, it's about taking the time to be with the others and express solidarity and friendship.

babydiego87

pre plan, pre plan, pre plan.

wilmnoca

Out of calories by 5...stop eating

bobbyunangst

how many calories do you allot yourself daily, that you run out by 5pm?

also, can you condition yourself to skip breakfast? i know that helps me considerably to have "extra" calories at night.

I only get 1350 in calories and I have seen a lot of people on here with way more then that. My husband is allowed 2100 calories and never gets that much in him ( unless we go out to eat of course).

I NEVER skip breakfast any more. I use to so that I could have extra at dinner time, but I read so many bad things about skipping meals and what it does to your metabolism. Once I started with a light breakfast (1 cup special K ceral), a fruit like banana or grapes early afternoon snack, lunch ( been mostly tuna and almond chips) then I still have 800 or more calories at dinner.

I would say though the largest thing that has helped me is drinking just water. The only time I allow myself something else is a special dinner out. Otherwise it is all no calorie water for me. I'd rather eat and enjoy my calories then drink them down.

jamantha

I am eating at 1400 plus exercise calories. I therefore know that even if I don't exercise, if I have a 200-300 breakfast and a 300-400 lunch,I have 700-900 for dinner and snacks. So that's what I do. On a day with no exercise, it can mean I struggle a little to get something I really want for dinner, especially if I've had snacks. But normally it works out OK.

Can you do something similar - "portion out" your days allowance to help ensure you have enough left for the end of the day?

Oh, and if I do end up a little short, a 30 minute brisk walk normally gains me a little wriggle room without feeling too much like hard work

kMcMahan2010

One day isn't going to destroy you. Some days I'm hungrier than others so I eat a reasonable meal and track it. Eat a little less the next day. Overall it's better to look at your calories for the week, not daily. Calling the day a loss and just eating whatever you want won't help you in the long run. However, if you eat an extra 400 calories one day and then eat a few hundred less the next few days. An extra few hundred calories once in awhile won't destroy your weight loss journey.

^this

Hubby and I eat out...way to often. I have a lot of weight to lose, so I'm still at a fairly high calorie goal (1820). Monday-Friday my breakfast and lunch is provided by my work (I'm a preschool teacher. We are not allowed any food or drink in the classroom except water, and we have to at least pretend to eat the meals the children are eating.) Breakfast is generally less than 200 calories, and lunch is between 300-400. So that leaves me with approximately 1200 calories left for the day. If we eat out, even fast food, I can still stay under that for the most part, but if I decided I want a milkshake or something extra that I normally wouldn't have and I end up going over my calorie limit, I keep logging it all, but then the next day I make up for it by eating healthier/a bit less. I'm more concerned with my weekly average vs daily goal.

swissbrit

Out of cals by 5pm go bowling, walking, dancing,visit the gym workout at home then you can have something healthy before bed without worrying :-)

klhessling

Take up running. I can torch 700 calories in an hour and that usually solves my surplus problems. Alternately, maybe you aren't giving yourself enough calories. If you are using the default of 1200 calories, then that is probably your problem and perhaps you can calculate your BMR and adjust your settings to something more realistic.

busymomathome

Thanks everyone for the helpful suggestions and encouragement! I read through all the comments carefully and I've decided to try the most common suggestion of preplanning my meals. I planned out everything I'll eat today, and I already feel more empowered and in control. I'm allowed 1350 according to MFP, which is definitely a goal on the low side. It makes it hard to meet my protein macro and doesn't leave a lot of room for impulse eating screw-ups. Of course getting in activity helps, too, but some days it doesn't happen, and I want to be able to have successful days even without getting in a workout.
I appreciate everyone taking time to offer advice!

kspirit

salad greens with vinegar , sauteed veggies, egg whites with veggies and sprinkle 2 tsps of sharp cheddar. Go for a walk that will give you some extra points. I hate those days but it happens and will probably happen again.

thebr0kenwriter

It's still better to eat something healthy and go over rather than not and binge later. I learned this the hard way. Or fill up on zero calorie foods, which I have incorporated into my daily diet (foods that take more calories to digest than they are worth).

JeneticTraining

When that happens, I work out. haha, even though I worked out that day. You can make it a cheat day. Or drink green tea, coffee or water the rest of the day

DesireeLovesOrganic

Do you have any Jillian Michael's videos? You can pop one in for half hour and burn 200 cal...200 cal will get you a bowl of black beans with mango salsa...yum! LOL