out of calories by the end of lunch time...

If you have time to exercise, you can earn yourself calories that way. You can also cut calories for the next few days to compensate for today

go for a walk or other exercise to get some calories back into your allowance, eat something filling, lean protein and vegetables, exceed your goal rather than starve yourself

Then chalk it up as experience, start again tomorrow and try to pre plan

First- how many calories are you allowing yourself?

First- how many calories are you allowing yourself?

exactly.

You've just started - this is a learning process. If you go over one day, you go over. You won't be perfect every day. A lot of this is about planning, and planning takes practice, so next time you know it will be a 'big night' you will be able to plan a bit better.

This is coming from someone who also went way over where I wanted to be by lunch, and I've been doing this for years. The goal is to make sure that you average out to where you want to be.

It would help to see your dairy as well?

It's a common stumbling block everyone hits when they first start logging. It will take you a while to be more familiar with how many calories various foods have so that you can balance out your day. It's just one of those turbulent parts everyone has to go through.

In my opinion, as long as having company over is a rare occurrence, I would say you can just eat what you want, try to keep it reasonable, log it, and then remind yourself that this isn't supposed to be RARE and not the new normal, and then pick yourself up and get back on track tomorrow. This will also help you become more familiar with the caloric content of foods you eat when company is around.

Thank you everyone!! The counter says for me to eat 1200 a day. I had oatmeal for breakfast and for lunch I had three small pieces of pizza from Homemade pizza co and a peach. I think usually I could easily get up to 1200 alone just going out to dinner and drinks with friends. I don't have time to exercise today since company comes right after work. It's ok I just wanted to get off to a good start which might continue to be tough since I have friends' weddings every other weekend it seems.

So you may need to update your goals on here. 1200 is most likely not going to be right for you.

Since you're new here, I post these tips all over the place. They may help.

1. don't trust the initial setup that MFP provides. If you put in the wrong/inaccurate information, it'll tell you to eat an amount that may not be applicable.
2. Make sure you eat enough.
3. Figure out what works for you and is sustainable/healthy/long term.
4. avoid fads. don't buy in to any "Hey, try the twinkie and vodka diet"
5. Don't cut out anything now that you don't plan on literally giving up forever.
6. GET A FOOD SCALE. Weigh everything. No, seriously.
7. Get an HRM with a chest strap. You'll at least have a better idea of what you're burning. It'll be more accurate than the generic info in the exercise database.. and even more than the cardio machines. This is great for steady state cardio (run/walk/etc)
8. Don't go balls out. You'll burn out. I see 300 lb people show up here, instantly start working out and cutting their intake SEVERELY... trying to cut out all of their carbs at once.. whatever. Take it slow. Figure out how much you need to eat FIRST in order to lose.. then incorporate exercise.
9. Don't cardio yourself to death.
10. Take the information on the forums with a grain of salt. A lot of people that have been here for a while.. and have been successful, may seem jaded. They give out GREAT advice day after day, only to be met with people that refuse to listen.
11. Eat real food. Not diet food. Not "low fat, sugar free, now without X." It's easier to get/find/count.
12. don't set time restrictions.
13. measure yourself weekly. Don't just weigh. Measure and take pictures.
14 BE PATIENT.
15. Avoid forum topics that have "1200" in the title. It's just full of butthurt. Lots of it.
16. This isn't a game, it's about changing your lifestyle. Do that.

pretty much that.

...and don't fall into the "1200 calorie" vertigo of suck because of:

the typical MFP users does this:
1. I wanna lose weight, let's try MFP.
2. OH! Wow, it tells me I can lose 2 lbs a WEEK? AWESOME!
3. I just sit at a desk when I'm not working out, I guess I'm sedentary.
4. MFP tells them 1200 calories, and they don't even eat that.. then they work out on top of it.. creating an even bigger deficit.
5. Lose a lot, fast, brag about 1200 calorie success.
6. Come back in a few months trying to figure out why they're dizzy, tired, not losing weight.
7. Get on the forums, ask why they aren't losing.
8. Get two responses (I eat 1200 and lose) (I eat 2200 and lose)
9. Argument ensues about who is right.

Now. That being said. These threads happen hundreds of times per day. Most times, and I mean really.. seriously.. 95% of the time.. people get the 1200 number because they don't put the right information in when they set up the account. There are a great number of people that are trying to help. I'm one of 'em.

I'm a hardcore advocate of actually finding out what works for the individual.. by means of other calculators, averages, time, practice, and patience.

Blanket prescriptions of 1200 calories "because it worked for me" is more harmful to the generic new user than the "figure out what you need to eat." Unfortunately, one is a LOT easier to type.

Find out what you need: http://scoobysworkshop.com/accurate-calorie-calculator/
Take the tips, links, and info above and make the cart more manageable to stay on.

First- how many calories are you allowing yourself?

This. Unlock your diary, make sure you don't have yourself set to lose 2 lbs a week as a starter, thats just too hard for most people.

If it's an issue of eating fast food and you don't plan on changing that, look up the calories of your favorite places and pick one or two items you can always get from there without blowing your allowance for the day.

Help! I just started here two days ago. The first two days I did really well and everything just happened to work out to the calorie of what I was supposed to eat. Today I've logged breakfast and lunch and realized I only have 100 calories left. I have company coming for dinner and it should be a long night of eating and drinking. What do I do now?

Well, I don't know.

Given the scenario that you describe, I guess you have no choice but to go over your goal amount, right? You certainly have my permission.

In the future, you might want to plan your day in advance if blowing your daily allowance by lunch is an issue.

go for a walk or other exercise to get some calories back into your allowance, eat something filling, lean protein and vegetables, exceed your goal rather than starve yourself

Then chalk it up as experience, start again tomorrow and try to pre plan

This!

First, make sure your weekly weight loss goal isn't too high. According to your ticker, you've got 13 pounds to lose so 1/2 a pound a week would be the best goal for you. 1 pound a week is ok but could be too restrictive.

I agee with chalking it up to a learning experience. There will always be special events, dinner parties, holidays, etc, you just have to learn how to make them work. In the future, when you know there will be an indulgence later in the week, make sure you stay within your calories all week, get in a little extra activity and try to eat light the day of the event. The real challenge can be getting back on track after something like that so also make sure you've got a plan for the next day so you can continue on with your progress.

Also know, if you see a slight increase in weight it will likely be due more to water weight as high sodium and high carb foods as well as alcohol can all contribute to water weight gain. Once you're back on plan for a few days that should go away.

Best of luck and have fun tonight!

Thank you everyone!! The counter says for me to eat 1200 a day. I had oatmeal for breakfast and for lunch I had three small pieces of pizza from Homemade pizza co and a peach. I think usually I could easily get up to 1200 alone just going out to dinner and drinks with friends. I don't have time to exercise today since company comes right after work. It's ok I just wanted to get off to a good start which might continue to be tough since I have friends' weddings every other weekend it seems.

You have 13 pounds to lose. Go back and select "I want to lose 0.5lbs per week". You should be eating more than 1200, I'm guessing.

ETA: Also change your activity level to lightly active, since you probably chose sedentary...

I log nearly everything the day before, or at least 75% of what I am going to eat. This works well for me, especially as when I started I underestimated the number of calories that were on my plate.

Eat modestly tonight, one day of being a little over isn't going to hurt you.

Good luck, you'll figure it out.