Always saving calories?

duckiec
duckiec Posts: 241 Member
in Motivation and Support
I've found my pattern lately is that I'm always anxious about saving calories. I'm always afraid I might want them later for something, but then often end up eating too little (if I fall asleep w/ my kids) or eating things because I "should" not because I want to.

For example, I save at least 500 cals for dinnner/after dinner, which is great, but my dinners are usually not that large, so I've got the spoon in the PB, or I'm adding things to try to get to at least 1200 cal total for the day (and a net that's often around 1000). Not there's not plenty of yummy things around the house to boost up those cals (I'm lookin at you, box of Sees chocolates), but I feel I shouldnt "waste" calories on that if it's not nutritious food, and if I can just as easily keep on track and avoid the extras. Yet, I often at the end of the day think "well darn, I could have X or Y and been fine...." and then feel deprived because I "over-limited."

I was averaging 1400/cal day with 1100/net for a few weeks, this past week I dropped lower than that. BUT, I also had my greatest loss this week, too, so now my brain is like "see, it's working!" Brain/logic says it's not sustainable and healthy. Emotion/anxiety keeps saying "less is better, and you better save for that bank" (that I then end up not using fully/enjoyably).

Crazy, right? Anybody else struggle with this type of thinking, and what did you do?



Crazy, right? Anybody else

Replies

  • rgrin
    rgrin Posts: 67 Member
    I have to plan ahead and log everything BEFORE I eat. That mean, each night, I enter everything I'm planning on having the next day, all three meals, all snacks. Then, if I have to adjust something I can BEFORE I put it in my mouth! Otherwise, I'm always wondering if I'm going to have to go to bed hungry because I ran out of calories, or fill up on calorie-dense items in the evening, neither of which is a good option. I also try to focus on nutrients and macros instead of just calories. If my plan for tomorrow has too much sodium or too little iron, I adjust my plan to fix it. Yes, stuff happens and plans go awry. The grill overheated and turned the hamburgers into hockey pucks or DH eats a midnight snack that I was planning on having for lunch! But those are few and far between, and fear of those days should not keep the other 95% of days from working for you. Pre-planning really does make a huge difference.
  • samfuturefit
    samfuturefit Posts: 57
    I have to plan ahead and log everything BEFORE I eat. That mean, each night, I enter everything I'm planning on having the next day, all three meals, all snacks. Then, if I have to adjust something I can BEFORE I put it in my mouth! Otherwise, I'm always wondering if I'm going to have to go to bed hungry because I ran out of calories, or fill up on calorie-dense items in the evening, neither of which is a good option. I also try to focus on nutrients and macros instead of just calories. If my plan for tomorrow has too much sodium or too little iron, I adjust my plan to fix it. Yes, stuff happens and plans go awry. The grill overheated and turned the hamburgers into hockey pucks or DH eats a midnight snack that I was planning on having for lunch! But those are few and far between, and fear of those days should not keep the other 95% of days from working for you. Pre-planning really does make a huge difference.


    I also log ahead of time unless I'm having my "usual" meals and I roughly know that I wouldn't go over anyway. If you are going to eat out, look up the menu ahead of time and see how it fits into the rest of your day... you might not get what you thought you would, but you'll become more aware of how calorie-rich some foods really are! I went to Red Robin the other day and looked up the menu ahead of time to discover that getting a salad was NOT the solution to finding something healthy and low-cal.
  • htimsm87
    htimsm87 Posts: 104 Member
    Try and look at it a bit larger then a single day. If you were under by a few hundred calories yesterday and over a few hundred today it equals out in the end. The app has this magic thing called a day where it turns over exactly at midnight our bodies don't just hit a reset button when the clock stricks 12:00 am. Try and look at it through a three day moving average and try not worry about the individual days as much. This might reduce some of the stress and make eating a bit more enjoyable.
  • thirstyflea
    thirstyflea Posts: 114 Member
    This is something I'm working on too- I have this huge fear that I'll be hungry in the evening and will have already eaten all my calories for the day. So I tend to leave too many for dinner / evening... I do plan all my meals for the week in advance, but I never know if I'll be hungry later on any given day, which is the worst feeling for me.

    If I do leave myself too many calories, I try to eat something light even if it doesn't get me up to my 1200 calories- like a slice or two of turkey lunch meat, or even a small protein shake. Something not too carby or heavy before bed. Another thing I've been trying lately if I have used up all my calories for the day and find myself "starving", I'll have a cup of decaf tea and go to bed.

Categories