When You Blow Your Cal Count

Here's what I do: I forgive myself and move on. ONE MEAL isn't going to ruin your day. Have a sensible dinner, log everything, drink some extra water to counteract the excess sodium, and start fresh tomorrow.

Trust me on this... I've done it many times over the last several months, and have still made good progress.

You can't reasonably expect every single day to go exactly as planned. There will be days when you go over your calorie limit. There are definitely days (maybe once a week or less) when i decide i am going to eat at my maintanence calorie level just because i want to eat some yummy high calorie food. That is totally fine as long as you understand you may not lose the weight quite as fast.

The trick is to not let one "bad" meal turn into an abandonment of your diet. Eat it, log it, and then tomorrow work on staying under your goal. Just don't give up.

Usually when I go over I end up feeling like crap; my stomach hurts, tired, etc. That's enough to keep me from doing it repeatedly.

ETA: when I blow it, I blow it like a champ.

Just go about your day as normal. In the end, the only effect it's going to have is creating a smaller deficit. But you're still in a deficit, so you will lose weight.

Stop feeling guilty about food or it'll start hurting your relationship with it. There are no 'bad' or 'wrong' foods. If you want BK, fit it into your day. Don't stress out about it. I eat fast food AT LEAST once a week and it's never hindered my weight loss.

Also, make sure your calorie goal isn't too aggressive. If you try being too aggressive it may backfire on you.

I'm going to offer up a little something different here. How about you burn off some of those calories? I'm a pretty healthy eater, prefer my own cooking over restaurants but sometimes you really just have to have the junk food and then the eh what did I just do to myself kicks in and it's NOT about the calories or fat content it's just the way I feel afterwards so I grab a fresh glass of ice cold water, lace up my sneakers and go for a walk. You can't reverse the calories you've eaten and honestly sometimes you'll even find you enjoy that PB cup or order of french fries and that's terrific but when the food leaves you feeling like a slug you have to find your way out of that and for me personally exercise has helped.

I love this solution! Very positive and proactive. We can't change the past; we can only determine what happens next. Good choice!

Try to go for a run or walk tonight. Take along water with you and you will not only feel better, you will help to flush some of that sodium out of your body. Eat a healthy dinner tonight, don't starve.

I agree with the poster above. Rather than feel guilty about it and beat yourself up, go for a nice stroll and take some headphones with you.

Greetings from another Alabama MFP friend! I recommend getting some exercise and moving on. Do NOT skip dinner. Skipping a meal is just as bad as eating unhealthy, so you're not doing yourself any justice there. I feel guilty when I eat badly too, but I plan "cheat" meals about once a week to help me maintain focus. (If I didn't get my cheat meal, I'd eventually snap and binge man vs. food style and probably die from a ruptured stomach...JS. I NEEDZ my cheat meal! haha) Hang in there, Grits!! You can do this...

There are days when you have special occasions and then there are days when you just blow it. So I don't worry about calories per day so much as I worry about hitting my AVERAGE daily goal. For example, if I go over by 400 one day, I might cut back 100 cals for the next four days. And sometimes I won't and I willingly accept the slower weight loss. Life often ends up reflecting what we do on most days not just on a few

I agree with you except the scale part. The scale can be a lying *&*&&$%#*!

I go over at least once or twice a week. No harm. Just don't do it every day. Be honest with yourself. All will be well. In the end, the scale doesn't lie

Lean Protein and vegies for dinner, combined with a decent paced walk for 1/2 hour to an hour (depending on your weight) should take care of it. If not, scale back a tad tomorrow and get as little extra exercise. Our bodies don't really work on a 24 hour system. The last time I went over on a Friday dinner, I tried to look at Friday and Saturday together as one time period. I ate a little less on Saturday, added a 1/2 hour bike ride and an hour walk (instead of my usual 1/2 hour). When I averaged the calories together for the two days, I came out even.

Yep. Eat now ...Swim later.... back on track today, not tomorrow.

Ok - so I went to Wendys for lunch today - and I had a soda with it, and not the diet kind. Have a little over 200 left for dinner - so what - I am human - we don't eat exactly the same every day. Right now - I am trying to get closer to being back on track than I had been since summer started (my own experiences with kids and events lately - no blame, no fuss) and have been at maintenance (sort of).

If I go over - I go over - try to eat REASONABLE for the next meal - go for a walk or something to burn some of the extra off - and move on. It's one day. Just don't let it carry over to the next and the next and the next. (Yes I need to take my own advice sometimes).

WHEN I go over (and it is definitely 'when', not 'if) the best thing I can do for myself is to not beat myself up about it. :bigsmile:
It happens. It's life.
There's going to be days where you want Burger King, or an extra cookie, or a milkshake .. or whatever.

In the LONG run though, being consistent will still continuously give you results.

Feeling guilty (for me, anyway) allows me to set myself for 'guilt eating' or thinking like 'oh well, I might as well make a weekend of it'. THAT is the kind of thinking that used to mess up my efforts. If you just look at it as a normal, temporary set back, it seems easier to get past.

Just keep going. You're going to want things that aren't part of 'the plan'... for me, I feel like being able to control those wants and eat them sparingly combined with CONSISTENT healthier choices is going to make me successful in the long run.

I've been munching all day today. lol. Almonds, caramel candy, dried figs... lol. I've eaten a lot more calories than I originally planned. And I'm PROBABLY going to have something yummy (shoot, maybe even fried) for dinner tonight!
But tomorrow, I'll be up early in the morning getting my walk in & will be right back to making healthy choices. Because that's the permanent me.

I have a cheat day each week (usually 'cheating' for me means I eat back my exercise calories)..
Maybe you can just write this up as your cheat DAY ... (emphasis on DAY) and move on.
Just stay focused, realize you're making healthier choices overall, and your cheat DAY or MEAL won't turn into a cheat WEEKEND/WEEK/MONTH, etc.

Good luck!
:flowerforyou: