I blew it

What do you guys do when you've totally blown your goals for the day? I'm thinking I need to eat a super light dinner, and maybe exercise, but otherwise what do you do when this happens? I'm 400 calories over already after a lunch meeting :(
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Replies

  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,165 Member
    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
    It's one day. These kind of days happen sometimes. No need to punish yourself or feel bad about it. If you genuinely aren't super hungry at dinner, sure eat a light dinner.

    Question - you ate 400 over your goal, or 400 over maintenance? So long as you stay below maintenance, you won't gain weight. Depending on what your deficit is, you may well have room for a normal sized dinner, without gain. The important thing is the average over time. This week you may not lose as much as you wanted to, but if you are in a deficit the rest of the week, you will still lose (or at least not gain)!
  • gothchiq
    gothchiq Posts: 4,590 Member
    I go to the gym and work out until I am about to fall over is what I do.
  • Colorscheme
    Colorscheme Posts: 1,179 Member
    I exercise more. Keep this in mind though: your weekly average is what helps you lose weight. If you blow one day, oh well. Just move on.
  • subakwa
    subakwa Posts: 347 Member
    OP - what's your daily deficit planned to be? You have some options, depending on how large a deficit you run, and what suits your mindset the best.

    - make today a maintenance day if you run a large enough deficit. So, if you run a daily deficit of 800 cals, you still have 400 left for dinner without going into excess
    - Eat whatever you would normally but "buy back" those calories over the rest of the week
    - Log it and move on. It's only one day.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,562 Member
    One day of overeating does not mean you blew it, only if it continues on for weeks. You can cut a few calories over the next several days to even it out, or you can log it and move on.
  • kcn2bluesky
    kcn2bluesky Posts: 187 Member
    gothchiq wrote: »
    I go to the gym and work out until I am about to fall over is what I do.

    Is that sarcasm or is that actually what you do when you are over your calorie goal for a single day? I'm genuinely curious.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.

    These meetings are not every day. I typically don't have these but every so often so it's not usually an issue.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
    subakwa wrote: »
    OP - what's your daily deficit planned to be? You have some options, depending on how large a deficit you run, and what suits your mindset the best.

    - make today a maintenance day if you run a large enough deficit. So, if you run a daily deficit of 800 cals, you still have 400 left for dinner without going into excess
    - Eat whatever you would normally but "buy back" those calories over the rest of the week
    - Log it and move on. It's only one day.

    What do you mean by "deficit"?
  • cerise_noir
    cerise_noir Posts: 5,468 Member
    Did you overeat your maintenance calories or your weight loss calories? If you ate over weight loss calories, no biggie...eat up to maintenance for the day and move on. Even if you ate 400 calories over maintenance, that's less than 1/7th of a pound gain....

    I vote for log it and move on. It won't ruin the bigger picture,
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I wouldn't overreact to it, it happens. Just log it and move on. Don't respond to an over-eat with some sort of self-flagellating ritual of doing a lot more exercise or skipping meals. Worst case scenario you lost one day in your many month or year long journey. Just note it and see what you can do to avoid it next time.
  • MonkeyMel21
    MonkeyMel21 Posts: 2,396 Member
    Eat a yummy bowl of cereal for dinner and call it good.
  • kgirlhart
    kgirlhart Posts: 5,165 Member
    Juicysmo wrote: »
    kgirlhart wrote: »
    If I was 400 calories over after lunch then I would probably eat a light dinner and take a long walk in the evening. I would also log everything and move on. Do you have these lunch meetings every day? If not I wouldn't worry about it at all. If so then I might try to rearrange my meals a little so I could eat a larger lunch. I tend to eat about half my calories between breakfast and lunch and save half for dinner and an evening snack. But if there was some reason I would be having a bigger lunch then I could rearrange a little so I stay in my goal.

    These meetings are not every day. I typically don't have these but every so often so it's not usually an issue.

    Then I wouldn't worry about it at all.

    Your deficit is how many calories you are eating under your maintenance. So if it takes you 2000 calories to maintain your weight (I just picked easy to add numbers), then if you want to lose 1 pound per week you eat 500 calories less than you need so 1500 per day. So if you have a 500 calorie deficit even if you are 400 over your goal you are still at a slight deficit and you would have to go 500 over your maintenance every day for a week to gain a pound.
  • RachelElser
    RachelElser Posts: 427 Member
    I just shrug it off. It happens.
  • JAllen32
    JAllen32 Posts: 991 Member
    Burn the excess if you have time. If not, don't worry about. The way I see it, some days I have 500 calories left at the end of the day, sometimes I have -300. It all balances out as long as I don't get out of control. A good way to watch it is to add how many calories you have for the week, and make sure you stay under. So if you go over one day, have some left the next, its a wash.
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    I went over by 560 yesterday eating candy and watching movies at night with the kids. Its not a big deal. My deficit for the week is still going to be fine. My advice is log it and move on, make up for it the rest of the week by cutting an extra 100 cals or so each day.
  • Juicysmo
    Juicysmo Posts: 6 Member
    Thanks everyone! I needed some motivation to not just say screw it and eat pizza for dinner, haha. I think I will eat a sensible dinner, maybe take a walk, and move on. I also may try to cut some calories throughout the week.
  • leejoyce31
    leejoyce31 Posts: 794 Member
    Gosh 400 is small. I am in maintenance and sometimes go over by 1300 calories. I just log it, and follow up with a some good days. For 400, I wouldn't do anything, except log it and move on.
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
    Tomorrow is a new day!
  • tlflag1620
    tlflag1620 Posts: 1,358 Member
    Juicysmo wrote: »
    subakwa wrote: »
    OP - what's your daily deficit planned to be? You have some options, depending on how large a deficit you run, and what suits your mindset the best.

    - make today a maintenance day if you run a large enough deficit. So, if you run a daily deficit of 800 cals, you still have 400 left for dinner without going into excess
    - Eat whatever you would normally but "buy back" those calories over the rest of the week
    - Log it and move on. It's only one day.

    What do you mean by "deficit"?

    The amount between your goal calories and your maintenance calories. To lose 2 lbs per week, you are in a 1000 cal deficit per day. To lose 1 lb per week you are in a 500 calorie deficit per day. How many lbs per week are you set to lose?

  • hiyomi
    hiyomi Posts: 906 Member
    edited August 2016
    I'm usually like "oops ._.", then log it and start good again the next day ;)
  • GauchoMark
    GauchoMark Posts: 1,804 Member
    You can go to the gym or eat light if you want. It certainly won't hurt.

    You can write off the day, be moderate for the rest of the evening (as if nothing happened), and get back on the horse tomorrow.

    Don't punish yourself by starving for a week or pushing too hard.

    Don't go extreme the opposite way and say "well, today is F'd, so I'm going to cram whatever I want down my gullet all evening and start over tomorrow."

    It happens. Just move on.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    don't worry about it...its one day...log it and move on

    This.

    As the saying goes, if you got a puncture on your car would you slash the other 3 tyres as well?
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
    I'm going to end up "over" budget today too. Just say "poop on it" and move on. Make super smart choices for the rest of the day - but don't deprive. People are definitely imperfect beings - so it's unlikely that we're never going to fall off the wagon. Best thing we can do is just say - hey, it happened, restart as soon as possible, and that way we don't compound the damage that's already done.
  • cebreisch
    cebreisch Posts: 1,340 Member
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    edited August 2016
    I suppose there exist people who are capable of sticking to their goal every single day for a year but I do not believe they are many!
    So you should expect what happened to you to happen every now and then. Just ignore it and move on. As long as it doesn't happen too often you are good :) Don't try to be perfect as you might fail.

    Edit: But totally: LOG IT! Whatever the quantity.
  • iManifestGoals
    iManifestGoals Posts: 40 Member
    One day doesn't blow it girl!!! Keep on the normal eating plan. Normal exercise. Promise.