Need some advice

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pangy1958
pangy1958 Posts: 151 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was taken out for a meal tonight, tried to work out the calories there but when i got home i have found out i am now 525 calories over my daily allowance. What i want to know is it best to just put it behind me and carry on OR have 525 calories less tomorrow. I have been only doing this a week and am a little unsure. Thank you for any advice.

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  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
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    That'd be a huge drop to try and reach for the next day. You could try breaking that up over a few days, say 150-200 calories (or even less) over the next week.
  • pangy1958
    pangy1958 Posts: 151 Member
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    Thank you i will do that. I am still trying to understand how i should balance everything out.
  • JesterMFP
    JesterMFP Posts: 3,596 Member
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    Assuming you told MFP that you want to lose weight, your daily calorie allowance has a built-in calorie deficit. If you told MFP you wanted to lose 1 lb a week, that deficit is 500 calories. If you told MFP you wanted to lose 2 lbs a week, the deficit is up to 1000 calories (MFP won't take you below 1200 calories). So, my point is that the chances are, you are still at a deficit for the day, or around your maintenance level. If you eat at a deficit for every other day this week, you will still lose. One day eating at maintenance out of seven is not going to make a noticeable difference to your overall progress.

    Even if you were 500 calories over your maintenance level, that would not amount to a gain of even a quarter of a pound of fat. By all means eat a little less over the next few days if it makes you feel better, but try to keep perspective. One meal, or one day, is not going to derail your progress. It's how you eat most of the time that counts.
  • twinkleat
    twinkleat Posts: 3
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    I totally agree that it's not going to be as huge of a deal over the next week if you do really well and stick to your calories every other day. If you really are wanting to make up those calories, though, I'd choose exercising the extra amount (spreading it out over the next couple of days if you need to) to reach the same deficit of calories for the week as you would have had you not gone over on calories.

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