Going Over Calories with Healthy Food - Good or Bad?

sandi117
sandi117 Posts: 445 Member
in Food and Nutrition
So I've been going over my calories the past couple days, but I've been making sure I eat fairly healthy food. Like today I had a turkey sandwich (croissant, turkey, tomato, avocado, LITTLE mayo), grilled chicken salad (roman lettuce, grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, croutons, onion, vinaigrette), and a spinach salad (spinach, homemade fat free vinaigrette), along with plenty of water (I had an energy drink in the morning... 8am classes are not fun).

I'm just curious if it's still just as bad to go over your calories eating good food as it eating bad food?

Replies

  • mensasu
    mensasu Posts: 355 Member
    Without being able to look at your food diary, its really hard to say. Have you set you calorie goal too low? Or are just "supersizing" your food intact. If you goal is weight loss than too many calories is too many no matter how "good" you think they are. Is it a daily occurrence or just once in a while?
  • sandi117
    sandi117 Posts: 445 Member
    Sorry, I made it public so you can look. I've only been tracking my calories and really trying to focus on a good diet for just under a week, so I'm still getting a handle on counting my calories and cutting out what I don't need (like soda... I'm down from 4 a day to 1 or 2, but it's still a work in progress.) Tomorrow I'm starting Insanity as well, so I'm hoping these overages will become a rarer occurrence.

    P.S. Sunday was just a bad day... My boyfriend is too good of a cook. =)

    P.S.S. And now private.............
  • hippietofugirl
    hippietofugirl Posts: 430
    Ok well if you're going over a little on stuff like fruit and veggies, there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're consistently going over your limit every day (and you continue to eat things like pizza rolls, whole candy bars and sodas) then no, you're not going to lose weight.
  • K_Train450
    K_Train450 Posts: 122 Member
    To be.honest and quite frank- a calorie is a calorie. They are ALL equal, no matter what others tell you. "Healthy" foods is also a very varied description of the foods you consumed and is subjectively different from person to person. Just pick yourself up tomorrow, the world isn't going to end friend!
  • thuy5
    thuy5 Posts: 22
    um your consuming a lot of your calories in drinks....the healthy food is good but you could eat more if you drank less, switch to diet sodas?
  • sandi117
    sandi117 Posts: 445 Member
    um your consuming a lot of your calories in drinks....the healthy food is good but you could eat more if you drank less, switch to diet sodas?

    Working on it.
  • Spanaval
    Spanaval Posts: 1,200 Member
    Over a little bit here and there is fine. But, from a weight loss perspective, it doesn't matter if you are overeating roasted chicken or twinkies. Eating too many calories (over maintenance) will lead to weight gain.
  • DopeItUp
    DopeItUp Posts: 18,771 Member
    Going over calories is going to result in less weight loss, regardless of where those calories come from. You can eat 5000 calories worth of veggies every day and you will still pack on the pounds.
  • miss_erynn
    miss_erynn Posts: 140 Member
    um your consuming a lot of your calories in drinks....the healthy food is good but you could eat more if you drank less, switch to diet sodas?

    Working on it.

    Cut the soda altogether - artificial sweeteners make you crave food! Plus all that carbonation ruins your guts!
  • mensasu
    mensasu Posts: 355 Member
    You mention on your home page that you are always tired, no wonder looking at your diary - way too many carbs And a lot of them come from your drinks. Thats going to be the first thing to work on. Then you need more protein - sorry but coco krispies and milk for breakfast will send you into a sugar slump by mid morning. Even though you are not diabetic, you might want to pick up a diabetic cookbook and try eating that way for a few weeks. Your high carb diet might be spiking you glucose level all over the place and a diet switch might help regulate it. Try balancing each meal and snack at a 40/30/30 carb/protein/fat ratio.
  • chicadejmu
    chicadejmu Posts: 171 Member
    Are you set to lose a pound a week? If so, that means that you are set to eat 500 calories less than your body needs each day. As long as you aren't going over your calories by 500, you should lose.

    And I know diet drinks aren't good for you, but if you tried switching even 1 of your sugary drinks to a diet drink (of course water is better) then you'd have more calories to eat real food. You're not really giving your body what it needs when half your calories each day come from empty calories (sugary drinks).
  • miss_erynn
    miss_erynn Posts: 140 Member
    Sorry, I made it public so you can look. I've only been tracking my calories and really trying to focus on a good diet for just under a week, so I'm still getting a handle on counting my calories and cutting out what I don't need (like soda... I'm down from 4 a day to 1 or 2, but it's still a work in progress.) Tomorrow I'm starting Insanity as well, so I'm hoping these overages will become a rarer occurrence.

    P.S. Sunday was just a bad day... My boyfriend is too good of a cook. =)

    P.S.S. And now private.............

    Another thing.............. if you are serious to sticking to weight loss goals, you can't let a boyfriend's cooking skills sabotage your diet. You have to have willpower and your boyfriend should be supportive of you.

    Have a cheat day - but not so much that your OVERLOAD your calories (i.e. eat McDonald's for breakfast, Wendy's for lunch and Cheesecake Factory for dinner), but maybe instead have a cheat meal on, say, Saturday nights.

    Weight loss boils down to 80% diet, 10% exercise and 10% genes!
  • Jester522
    Jester522 Posts: 392
    To be.honest and quite frank- a calorie is a calorie. They are ALL equal, no matter what others tell you. "Healthy" foods is also a very varied description of the foods you consumed and is subjectively different from person to person. Just pick yourself up tomorrow, the world isn't going to end friend!
    This.

    On opinion: that diet could be cleaned up but its fine for the average person.
    On technicalities: hypocaloric = weight loss = calories in < calories out. Regardless of where it comes from.
    You could lose weight eating just ice cream... body your body composition is gonna be less than desirable.
  • mccutcheonse
    mccutcheonse Posts: 5
    I have to agree with everyone who is in the "a calorie is a calorie" camp. I am seeing a nutritionist - who actually hooked me up with this website and uses this site to monitor my food diary. According to her, for most people, inability to lose weight can be a matter of 100 calories too many a day. It doesn't matter if those 100 calories are a banana, it's still too many and will prohibit weight loss.

    Another tip she gave me, is that since I am getting used to eating within a calories range, I shouldn't add my exercise in to the diary - if you do, the website will actually "give" you back calories to eat. When I work out, I just enter it into the exercise notes to kept track, but not the diary. This way, I am learning to eat within my calorie budget.

    Finally, if it helps, think of your calories on a weekly basis. If you go over on one day, you need to make up those "extra" calories on other days by coming under your daily budget.
  • nikkinewcastle
    nikkinewcastle Posts: 2 Member
    keep going your doing good
  • sandi117
    sandi117 Posts: 445 Member
    I have to agree with everyone who is in the "a calorie is a calorie" camp. I am seeing a nutritionist - who actually hooked me up with this website and uses this site to monitor my food diary. According to her, for most people, inability to lose weight can be a matter of 100 calories too many a day. It doesn't matter if those 100 calories are a banana, it's still too many and will prohibit weight loss.

    Another tip she gave me, is that since I am getting used to eating within a calories range, I shouldn't add my exercise in to the diary - if you do, the website will actually "give" you back calories to eat. When I work out, I just enter it into the exercise notes to kept track, but not the diary. This way, I am learning to eat within my calorie budget.

    Finally, if it helps, think of your calories on a weekly basis. If you go over on one day, you need to make up those "extra" calories on other days by coming under your daily budget.

    Thanks, that makes some sense!
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    As far as weight loss goes it does not matter if food is healthy or not, all the fat cells care about are calories.

    If you don't eat at a calorie deficit you will not lose weight. end of story. IT is that simple. It does not matter what the food is.

    I was at my highest obesity level when I was 100% organic fanatic. It doesn't matter how good the food is, too much food makes you fat.

    Now I've eased up and will eat a processed food item on occasion (gasp!) but I have found it's more healthy to be fit with a few processed food items than it is to be obesity and eat 100% organic.
  • californiagirl2012
    californiagirl2012 Posts: 2,625 Member
    I agree with the weekly calorie budget. Weekly or daily. You can go over one day and under the next. Every day does not have to be the same. Some people like to have some low days and some high days, usually the high days are weekends.

    I log my exercise in MFP when i am done with calories for the day. That way I have the exercise log but ignore the calories burned. Exercise calories burned are highly overrated, especially when you have fat to lose. You walk more a thin line when you are lean, and I'm under 12% BF and I still won't eat all the "exercise calories". I listen to my body. If I worked hard and need a few 100 extra calories in the evening fine.
  • DrJanet98
    DrJanet98 Posts: 138 Member
    As long as your average calories for the week is around your goal, it's okay to be over a couple days. You just make up for it by being lower on other days, or by exercising enough to make up for it.

    Vegetables (especially salads) are much more filling than candy and cookies, and they have a lot more nutritional value and a lot fewer empty calories. You won't get the refined-sugar insulin rebound that can leave you craving fast sugar again all too soon, and you're not likely to have cravings from lack of a critical nutrient. So, despite the claims above, if you're too close to goal and still feel ravenous, you *are* better off eating healthy foods than junk to go over your calories. And I'd like to see someone eat an extra 5000 calories in leaves every day as someone suggested; they'd have to eat non-stop!

    On the other hand, if you find yourself already stuck in the sugar -> insulin release -> drop in blood sugar -> crave sugar loop, then starting the day off with a nice filling salad might be just the thing to break out of it and get your cravings under control. Add some sliced turkey or chicken, and the protein will help keep you satiated longer.

    Whether all calories are alike in their effect on your weight is debatable, but there are things you can do to help stack the deck in your favor and help avoid the cravings that might lead you to consuming the extra calories in the first place.
  • LunaSD
    LunaSD Posts: 18
    If you are here that is the major thing! Your are trying and thats what counts, take your time learn how and what works for you. if not you will get burned out and give up! Going over on bad stuff is much worse than going over on the good! Look at your daily and pick something you think needs the most work and work on that. For example... I got my cal intake mostly down so I then looked at my vit intake and ordered the vits I needed. I am now working on my fat intake and getting my exercise up to 3/4 times a week... and then I think I will work on my carbs. ONE THING AT A TIME! It seems to be working for me as I have lost just over 7 lb in a month and I feel great! Best luck and don't let the heathnuts freak you out, all things take time just don't give up! :)

    Want to talk feel free to message me and I'll take a look at your diary and maybe make some HELPFUL suggestions. Soda is a big one and I 100% understand but they have some diet sodas and carbonated juices around that arn't so bad....?

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