Do you skip meals?

LGD1981
LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
edited November 25 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi. I am usually very good and manage to keep within my 1200 calorie limit through the day. However today I had a cranberry drink not realising it was around 400 calories (i thought it was the sugar free drink but it wasn't) and this has taken me over the 1200 (1274). Do I now leave it and not have dinner? Today I've had porridge and a banana for breakfast and a chicken salad wrap for lunch? Sorry if this is a silly question but I wasn't sure what to do m

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    I don't think this is a silly question. My opinion: I would be starving if I had cranberry juice and then skipped dinner. I would log the drink and eat my normal dinner, I'd just chalk it up as a lesson learned.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited October 2015
    it's just a day...live and learn and move on..there's no way in feck that I'd skip meals.
  • strong_curves
    strong_curves Posts: 2,229 Member
    No, I would just eat dinner, log it and try to do better tomorrow.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Ok. Thank you :smile:
  • Queenmunchy
    Queenmunchy Posts: 3,380 Member
    Only if I'm not hungry. If I am, I just try to go for something high volume and low calorie.
  • eissacf25
    eissacf25 Posts: 151 Member
    I would probably eat a huge salad with lots of veggies that way you fill up on something healthy that is very low cal, or hit the gym and eat a normal dinner ;)
  • Kimegatron
    Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
    You could always just go for a nice walk! Go take an hour long stroll, or go for multiple short walks through the rest of the day, if you're that worried about it. If not, sometimes I will just have a maintenance day, like yesterday.
  • TeaBea
    TeaBea Posts: 14,517 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    I don't think this is a silly question. My opinion: I would be starving if I had cranberry juice and then skipped dinner. I would log the drink and eat my normal dinner, I'd just chalk it up as a lesson learned.

    This^

    1200 is really low - so it's not like dinner is going to make you gain weight anyway. We've all done the "oops!....I didn't know it had that many calories" thing.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    First there's no reason a 34yo should eat as little as 1200 calories to lose.
    Second, I skip meals but only if I'm not hungry. At 1200 calories you should definitely NOT skip meals.
  • Timshel_
    Timshel_ Posts: 22,834 Member
    I skip meals when I am not hungry. Today, I am adding a meal because I am hungry.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    Remember, your calorie goal/limit/target already has your daily calorie deficit built in. You are not out of deficit until you have exceeded you limit by that amount. You would be approaching your maintenance amount.

    I have also found that your weekly average matters more. You haven't mentioned how well you've been doing week long. Might make a difference. Even looking at the worse case, how much over your maintenance amount are you going to be. Don't let a slip ruin your day.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Thank you for your feedback everyone. I thought everyone was on 1200 calories on here? When I set up my fitness pal account 1200 calories was the amount it recommended.
  • ohmyllama
    ohmyllama Posts: 161 Member
    I'll skip if I'm not hungry.

    If you go over your goal but you're hungry, then eat. Tomorrow is a new day.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks everyone. I've looked over the week so far and I'm not sure if this is good or not? Normally I'd be at the gym 5 times per week but I'm injured at the moment so unable to work out. Think that's why I'm stressing so much about calories. Sunday and Monday I did eat a lot more than it shows on the graph. I wasn't sure how to input what I ate because I ate at my parents so wasn't sure about weights and stuff. We had pasta with a tomato ragu Sunday and a home made beef stew Monday I just made sure my portions were small on those days.

    wlhggx4b7sfa.png
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    LGD1981 wrote: »
    Thank you for your feedback everyone. I thought everyone was on 1200 calories on here? When I set up my fitness pal account 1200 calories was the amount it recommended.

    that is likely because you selected a goal of 2 Lbs per week (aggressive) and put sedentary and are neglecting to account for exercise.

    no...not everyone is at 1200 calories per day. that is as low as MFP will go and generally that assumes a sedentary female with aggressive weight loss goals. beyond that, you should be accounting for exercise activity as well by logging it and then getting calories to "eat back"...you should have some kind of allowance for estimation error though.
  • GaleHawkins
    GaleHawkins Posts: 8,159 Member
    I do not eat after 5 PM on days I want lose weight.
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
    I've skipped breakfast if I know I'm going out to lunch. Or I've skipped lunch when I know I'm going to be fixing dinner earlier than usual.

    So yeah, I've skipped. It's not been a problem unless I don't have low-cal stuff around that's quick to prepare. When I have skipped and then am ready to eat, I'm really hungry.
  • pondee629
    pondee629 Posts: 2,469 Member
    With that weekly record, you're probably still in calorie deficit but not going to lose as fast as you might have if your average was the 1200 calories allotted for you. What has your weight loss been with the 1200? This week will just be a little slower. Nothing to stress over.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Aaaah I see. I think I understand this much better now. I selected options when setting up the account that sets your goal. Thanks everyone you've made me feel a lot better about it. When I'm not injured I usually go running, boxing and gymming through the week so I'm pretty active normally. Current weight loss since April is 16lb and a total of 24lb in 4 years.
  • Traveler120
    Traveler120 Posts: 712 Member
    LGD1981 wrote: »
    Thank you for your feedback everyone. I thought everyone was on 1200 calories on here? When I set up my fitness pal account 1200 calories was the amount it recommended.

    I eat 1700 calories. 1200 is for someone who either can't or won't exercise. There's no reason to eat that low if you're healthy and reasonably active.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member

    28lb in 4 years
  • LadyLallybroch
    LadyLallybroch Posts: 36 Member
    I am allowed about 1650 calories a day, but I usually don't quite get there. I prefer to be "allowed" a higher amount of calories, assuming I'll lose weight slowly. Since I get to "win" most days by eating less, I'll just be surprised to lose weight faster. To me, this is much easier than having a low allotment of calories and regularly going over, and stressing about not losing what I expected.

    You won't undo everything by having a day where you eat above your goal. The thing to focus on is to stay at a deficit. Find out what your maintenance calories are (MFP will calculate for you) and just stay below that. While you're injured, it might be best to change to a much slower rate of loss so you aren't quite as restricted. Once you can exercise again, you can ramp it back up.
  • salembambi
    salembambi Posts: 5,585 Member
    Francl27 wrote: »
    First there's no reason a 34yo should eat as little as 1200 calories to lose.
    Second, I skip meals but only if I'm not hungry. At 1200 calories you should definitely NOT skip meals.

    thats some truth right there
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    LGD1981 wrote: »
    Thank you for your feedback everyone. I thought everyone was on 1200 calories on here? When I set up my fitness pal account 1200 calories was the amount it recommended.

    I have never been at 1200 calories for my goal. Maybe your goal is a bit too aggressive if you struggle with it. If you have 25 lbs or less to lose try setting MFP for .5 lb per week.

    I wouldn't skip a meal if I were hungry. You could just eat your maintenance level of calories for that day.
  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Thank you everyone. Can I ask what maintenance levels are please? I'll have a look at my account and goal settings and look at changing them. I'm 5ft 6" and currently 10st. Looking to lose another 7lb ideally and then maintain
  • MarcyKirkton
    MarcyKirkton Posts: 507 Member
    I think you will see your calories change when you hit your goal. Not really sure, since I'm not there yet. But in any case, you can go back in and change your goal to maintenance. That will change your calorie goals for sure.
  • Owlfan88
    Owlfan88 Posts: 187 Member
    LGD1981 wrote: »
    Thank you everyone. Can I ask what maintenance levels are please? I'll have a look at my account and goal settings and look at changing them. I'm 5ft 6" and currently 10st. Looking to lose another 7lb ideally and then maintain
    You can go in and change your goal to maintain temporarily to see how many calories you would get then. I'm about your size and in maintenance. I'm 5'7", 135 lbs and set at lightly active. I get 1800 calories a day.
    At only 7 more pounds you want to lose, I would set your goal to 0.5 lbs/week. It's hard to go from big deficits to maintenance all at once and keep good habits. I'm enjoying my extra calories, but I'm still trying to find exactly how much to be eating. Even after I've been trying to maintain, I've lost another about 5 pounds in the past 6 weeks.





  • LGD1981
    LGD1981 Posts: 8 Member
    Wow. Thank you everyone for all of your advice. I just went and had a look at my maintenance level which would be 1890 and to achieve my goal weight at 0.5lb per week it is 1640. Those look like much healthier numbers to me! I'm so used to keeping around 1200 it's going to take some getting used to! Lol Thank you again. I really appreciate you all taking the time to reply.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
    Whenever you are doing any calorie goal it doesn't matter if it is 1200 or 1640 you shouldn't be going hungry. If you are hungry eat. You just need to learn the difference between thirst (so drink lots of water) and hunger. You also have to understand that full might have a different meaning now. I average out to about 1500 per day so I can feel full but I am never stuffed. The longer you do this your stomach does shrink but if you are experiencing hunger pains I think you should eat. No reason to make yourself miserable. If you're miserable you won't be able to sustain the diet. So if you have to slow down your rate of loss please do. But always eat at least a small amount when you're hungry. You'll be less likely to binge. So going back to the original post. No I don't skip meals if I've gone over and I'm hungry later. Allthough there is this burrito place where the burritos are so huge that if I eat one of those for lunch I've never been hungry for dinner.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Eat, log it and move on.
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