Stop Freaking Out About Going Over Calories

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13

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  • Mighty_Rabite
    Mighty_Rabite Posts: 581 Member
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    I regularly start and end each week with a +500 day (though that has varied anywhere from 500-1200) and I keep a running weekly log so I burn it off and then some through the week.

    I think an over day or two per week actually helps.
  • Wade406
    Wade406 Posts: 272 Member
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    iPhone. Eye Phone. EYE PHONE!!!!! Great tool for MFP win!
  • Kadesha72
    Kadesha72 Posts: 109 Member
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    Thanks so much for this!!! I was wondering if those calories sorta "rolled over" like AT&T minutes so you would have some leeway on another day of the week... awesome!
  • ashleab37
    ashleab37 Posts: 575 Member
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    Thanks so much for this!!! I was wondering if those calories sorta "rolled over" like AT&T minutes so you would have some leeway on another day of the week... awesome!
    I ate nearly 3,000 yesterday - my target is 2,000. In fact I eat 3,000 nearly every Friday. But I only eat approx 1,500 a day on the weekends so it works well :)
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    I've been over every day this week... Why ? Because 3 weeks ago I broke my foot and now that it was confirmed via X-ray, I can't exercise and my body is just always craving food.
    You have three other fully functional limbs. Use them, vigorously. :) I got tons of exercise when I had a broken leg and was stuck in a huge plaster cast that immobilized my left ankle and knee.
  • MerlinWilliams
    MerlinWilliams Posts: 92 Member
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    Upgrade to the latest model - the blackberry keytone, works much better than the raspberry keytone....

    The Blackberry Ketone? ;)
  • RenewedRunner
    RenewedRunner Posts: 423 Member
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    Question about the phone app: at the bottom of the weekly calculation, it says

    3095 net calories under weekly goal

    What does this mean? I eat my calories. Is this outlining my deficit (ie, I need 3500 calories to lose a pound, I have cut out 3000 thus far this week)?
  • ashleab37
    ashleab37 Posts: 575 Member
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    Question about the phone app: at the bottom of the weekly calculation, it says

    3095 net calories under weekly goal

    What does this mean? I eat my calories. Is this outlining my deficit (ie, I need 3500 calories to lose a pound, I have cut out 3000 thus far this week)?
    Nope - that's what you have left for the weekend.
  • RenewedRunner
    RenewedRunner Posts: 423 Member
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    Ooh thanks! I couldn't figure out what the data were telling me!
  • AlongCame_Molly
    AlongCame_Molly Posts: 2,835 Member
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    i need this reminder - - so thanks!

    Yep! This!
  • erinxo13
    erinxo13 Posts: 892 Member
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    THIS
    omg.
    THIS
    THIS
    THIS.
  • TheEffort
    TheEffort Posts: 1,028 Member
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    glad to see some helpful tips to consider when tracking calories. :happy:

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  • erinsueburns
    erinsueburns Posts: 865 Member
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    Thanks for this reminder... It is so easy to get caught up in the calorie counting and always keeping it under... It doesn't help that the calories you go over on scream at you in bright red

    Right? Whenever I'm over by 1 - 100, I think it should be yellow instead. I was over by 3 one day (THREE), so I did a few jumping jacks to get rid of it. ;)

    Honestly, I think it should be yellow through the entire range of your deficit up to the maintenance line. And maybe even going the opposite direction too. So that it would be red up till you get to a BMR, yellow from there, then a percentage green slot around the target, then as you go over back up to yellow and then red for over tdee. I think that would also likely prevent some of these, "I'm eating my twelve hundred calories and exercising to burn 600, now what am I doing wrong?" situations.

    But then, obviously, I also think it ought to factor in BMR too...
  • trudijoy
    trudijoy Posts: 1,685 Member
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    i think i love you. i'm always under, but sometimes the junk craving and the not excercising fall on the same day and i feel like i can't have my treat coz i don't have enough calories...
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    On the MFP app, it's easy to track your weekly calories. As you can see, I went over two days this week, but I was under the other days. I'm full and don't want to eat anymore today, but I still have 1700 calories left because I was under by a few hundred on the other days.

    Bottom line: you haven't "ruined it" if you go over one or two days per week because you will likely make up for it on the other days. Your body doesn't magically put weight on overnight. Daily tracking is just to help keep you in-line. If you had a huge bank of calories on Monday, you'd probably run out by Thursday. ;) It's much easier to think in terms of "2000 calories per day".
    Think of it this way: if your goal is 1440 per day, it doesn't mean you need to consume exactly one calorie per minute, every minute of every day. You haven't ruined everything if you ate 70 calories one hour and 50 the next. Obviously if you're eating all the week's calories in one sitting and then fasting all week you're probably gonna have a bad time. But as long as you aren't bouncing your intake to such extremes that you are always feeling either starving or stuffed, you're probably close enough for your body to deal with it properly.
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    Thanks so much for this!!! I was wondering if those calories sorta "rolled over" like AT&T minutes so you would have some leeway on another day of the week... awesome!

    Yup. Your body doesn't recognize the day ending at midnight. It's the week that's important. You just can't roll over from week to week constantly. At some point, you do have to balance it out. You can't save up a bunch of calories and then eat 10,000 extra some week. ;)
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    By the way, I'm the original poster. I deactivated that account by accident when I tried to change my username. :-P
  • Pickypeggy
    Pickypeggy Posts: 33
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    Ok, I always have calories left at the end of the week approximately 2000 averaged so why am I not loosing.
  • cubbies77
    cubbies77 Posts: 607 Member
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    You have 2000 leftover at the end of the week? That means you aren't eating enough. Try to stay close to your goal unless you're sick and can't eat much.
  • brit_ks_89
    brit_ks_89 Posts: 433 Member
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    Ok, I always have calories left at the end of the week approximately 2000 averaged so why am I not loosing.

    CAUSE YOU ARE NOT EATING ENOUGH!!!!!!!!

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