Go back to normal calories

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AsrarHussain
AsrarHussain Posts: 1,424 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello
Yesterday I had a cheat meal. Im not angry my diet has been going not bad. I went over my calories by 800 or so.
I was craving a cheat meal in ages so had one.
Should I go back to my normal calories or cut 400 from today and tomorrow to even it out

Replies

  • upoffthemat
    upoffthemat Posts: 679 Member
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    800 calories over is less than a quarter of a pound. Probably not a huge deal. If you cut a few calories here and there for a few days it doesn't hurt, but don't let yourself feel so deprived you slingshot back off plan.
  • SingingSingleTracker
    SingingSingleTracker Posts: 1,866 Member
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    AsrarHussain wrote: »
    Hello
    Yesterday I had a cheat meal. Im not angry my diet has been going not bad. I went over my calories by 800 or so.
    I was craving a cheat meal in ages so had one.
    Should I go back to my normal calories or cut 400 from today and tomorrow to even it out

    You ate an entire pizza?

    Impressive!

    The sodium will hang out for a couple of days in water retention, but just stick back to your plan and live to fight another day.
  • AsrarHussain
    AsrarHussain Posts: 1,424 Member
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    SergeantSausage wrote: »
    If you feel the need to have to cheat ... you're doing it wrong.

    I am on a calorie deficit diet, the diet has been hard, I wanted a cheat meal, I had not had one a long time.
  • Rosyone
    Rosyone Posts: 74 Member
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    I occasionally bank calories ahead of time for special meals, but not after the fact because I'm afraid I'll get into the habit of making empty promises to myself about what I won't eat tomorrow. If the extra calories are really worth it to me today, I go ahead and enjoy my cheat meal, then start fresh tomorrow.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,402 Member
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    Don't worry about it, as long as it's rare.

    If I have an "over" day, I usually do a rough estimate in my head of how long I've delayed my weight loss process, and decide what (if anything) I want to do about it.

    Just for the sake of example, let's pretend your daily deficit is 500 calories, i.e., you've been losing 1lb per week, and your goal calories to lose at that rate is 1500 calories per day. So, on the day you ate 800 calories, you lost no weight, because you were at or over goal.

    But you only gain in proportion to the number of calories in excess of your maintenance calories. In this example, maintenance calories would be 2000 (1500 goal + 500 deficit). So, you wiped out that 500 calorie deficit.

    Furthermore, you have 300 more calories of actual "gain" for that day. How long will it take to "lose" those? Well, since you have a 500-calorie daily deficit, somewhere around 60% of the next day's deficit is wiped out, too (300/500 = 60%).

    So, in this example you would've delayed reaching your goal weight by 1.6 days (the day you overate, and part of the next day). You may see extra weight on the scale longer than this, from water weight (extra sodium, glycogen replenishment, etc.), but that usually doesn't last long, either.

    Is this a big deal? You can do the same sort of arithmetic with your real deficit, and decide. If you do it very occasionally, probably not. If you do it every other day, it's probably trouble.

    Personally, I'd probably just go back to the normal, healthy routine, and accept the delay. But, if you don't want to do that, either cut your calories for a few days (not too dramatically, this is not punishment), or get some extra exercise. It's just arithmetic.

    Like others, I usually try to bank a few calories if I have a special occasion coming up (again, small cut per day), or get some extra exercise, and perhaps eat lightly at the day's other meals. If it's unplanned, I do the arithmetic, and make whatever adjustment seems appropriate.

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