Overeaten by 400kcal at 2pm – how to save the day?

First, lets start with a positive - You logged everything as you ate it and now you are 400 Calories over and have a chance to do something about it.. This is really important - imaging if you had gone home, had a normal sized dinner (400 Cals?) and then had some snack or another on top of it... Now, worst case, you eat only your dinner. So, you're 800 calories over today - that means if you eat according to your plan for the next two days you will be under your maintenance calories again - everything after that is weight loss.

Of course, there are some measures you can take to help things - the obvious one is to do some exercise. OK, so you have the children but as people have said their is nothing stopping you from going some active games with them - it will be fun.

You can also go for a low calorie dinner. The best way to do this and feel full is to cut out the carbs. You could have a pretty decent sized chicken salad for 200 calories and it will fill you up.

exercise, exercise, exercise! you might even earn more calories to have a nice little dinner! Because it's only 2 pm, do something for 10, 15, 20, or even 30 mins right now... and do another little something in a few hours, and if you can, squeeze in a third little bit of activity! You've given yourself all this great fuel, now you just have to use it so it doesn't get stored. Get going, girl! You can do it!

Meh, burn some calories on those stairs and eat fresh veggies for dinner. You'll be ok just do better tomorrow!

I just noticed something and I have to ask it its true... I was looking at your diary and it says that on the 7th you ate 500g of Brussels Sprouts (215 Cal). That's a LOT of sprout!!! I think if I ate I would be declared a toxic health hazard (but I have stomach issues...)

Find a way to burn some calories through exercise then you'll be back in the green

Definitely do something with the kids. I don't know if you have snow where you live, but i burned 800 calories taking my kids sledding for an hour and a half. My fitbit also said i climbed 74 floors just from walking up that stupid hill.

There are many days that I exercise to fix that problem :-) If you have to, wait until the kids are in bed and do a video, or jump rope, jumping jacks, stairs, etc. Have a light dinner (grilled chicken and salad is great and you can do it on under 200 calories) and you'll only be over a little if you get 45 minutes of exercise in.

Hi Crystal,

Rock on doing 4 mins of running up stairs!!! I've got a challenge for you:

Set your watch and every hour, go run up the stairs for at least 2 mins straight! Do this each hour until the end of your work day! And report back to us how many cals you burned!!

Although it's tempting to use the "start fresh tomorrow" philosophy...believe it or not, it's one of the leading pyschological causes of sustained obesity. The idea that you've "blown today" gives you a free pass to guilt yourself (damaging to self esteem) and to not do anything about it today, and instead try to be perfect tomorrow. Guess what? No day is perfect. Improve on today NOW. Stay mindful, stay in the now. There's always something you can do to turn things around! The day is young, burn some calories and feel more vibrant!

This is important.

There's a very apt quote doing the rounds that says:
“Oh, I’ve already ruined my good eating today. I’ll just eat crap” is like saying “Oh, I dropped my phone on the floor. I’ll just smash it till it breaks.”

found it:
https://iheartinspiration.com/quotes/fitness/good-eating-habits/

Well - they say you should take a 5 minute break every hour - how about you do one trip up the stairs in each break?

Not sure if this has been said, but how much weight do have set to lose a week? If you're set to lose a pound a week, you're eating at a 500-calorie deficit each day. That means if you go over by 500 today, you're eating what you need to maintain your weight.

One day where you MAINTAIN your weight (not gain, maintain) is not a disaster. And if you have MFP set to lose 1.5lbs/week (or 2lbs/week), then you'd have to eat MORE THAN 750 over (or 1000) to be at a point where you're not eating at a deficit. You might see your weight jump around a little (especially if your extra calories were extra high in sodium), but that's pretty normal for any time you vary your routine

As many people have said, I'd eat a moderate/light dinner and just get on with your life. The idea of starving yourself to make up for it is likely to lead to binging later... and then more starving... and downhill from there.

Take care of yourself. If you're a normal person like the majority of us, extreme eating habits just aren't sustainable and aren't helpful to your health. Good luck!

make it a maintenance day or slightly over. not a huge deal. lighter meals later on and you'll be fine. as someone mentioned, depending on what your weight loss target is then you are at a 250/500/750 deficit for .5/1/1.5 pounds respectively. so, if you go over by the respective amount then you're at maintenance. 1/4 pound gained is 875 extra calories above your maintenance so think of it that way--you aren't doing much damage at all.