How do you handle going over your calories?

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  • aldavid18
    aldavid18 Posts: 29 Member
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    If you enjoyed the Panera and it made you happy, don't worry about it. The positive of the "treat" mentally outweighs the negativity of a blown day. Refocus and move on.
  • skinnycow1234567
    skinnycow1234567 Posts: 167 Member
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    Obviously it bothers you,make a note of it and learn from your slip up.
    If you work out hard and dont do it often,dont beat yourself up. Life is short so living a little is good.
  • CSARdiver
    CSARdiver Posts: 6,252 Member
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    This is where I put my faith in the math behind CICO. I go over some days - and go under others, but as I get more experienced with this my fluctuations are diminishing. If I go over I make a conscious effort to balance out the following day...or over the week depending on the amount.

    A pound of fat is ~3500 kcals. Hence the recommended deficit for losing 1 lb/week is 500 kcals/day. This helps put any overages in context. Short term issues don't matter much in the long term.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
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    CSARdiver wrote: »
    This is where I put my faith in the math behind CICO. I go over some days - and go under others, but as I get more experienced with this my fluctuations are diminishing. If I go over I make a conscious effort to balance out the following day...or over the week depending on the amount.

    A pound of fat is ~3500 kcals. Hence the recommended deficit for losing 1 lb/week is 500 kcals/day. This helps put any overages in context. Short term issues don't matter much in the long term.

    This is exactly what I was going to say. It's all about perspective, and math. If you are set to lose 1 lb/week, you have that 3500 calorie deficit built into your weekly goal OP. It's highly unlikely that you overate by 3500 calories at Panera in one day, so it's also highly unlikely that you undid any weekly progress. You can also offset that overage by eating a little less for the next couple of days.

    The worst thing you can do, IMO, is say "well I already screwed up, so I might as well keep eating whatever I want this week, and then later I will get back on track". Logging those overages (planned and unplanned) helps keep that perspective, that you really weren't that far over goal, and haven't undone your weekly deficit.
  • briohne128
    briohne128 Posts: 176 Member
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    I go over my calorie allowance quite a few times because my calorie allowance is so low (1,200) so the way I make my self feel better is exercise more on these days!
  • susannekb
    susannekb Posts: 31 Member
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    I went over by nearly 1000cals yesterday and as I'm looking only 0.5lb a week I cannot do things like that and expect to loose. But the way I'm looking at it is that I put this weight on over 3 years so I can take 3 years to get it off. One week here or there eating at maintenance isn't going to hurt me. I log, acknowledge, and move on and try to be better tomorrow.
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited March 2017
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    Me, Sherman, and Mr. Peabody hop in the Wayback Machine and set it for last week so as to avoid that ever actually happening!

    No, I go forward controlling what I have control of, which is how many calories I eat today. Also I avoid getting emo about it, feeling guilty or whatever because that doesn't help. Try to view it like Spock would, just numbers and logic, Captain.

  • hlblakeley
    hlblakeley Posts: 55 Member
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    I log it, write about it on my wall or in a forum like this to help me understand what I was feeling or doing that led to the over eating (and also to get the support not to give up!) and then move on. I know that there will be days where I consciously go over my calorie allotment and I know that there will be days where it happens because I just am hungry. Like others have stated here, if you are under or at your goal the rest of the week it will "all come out in the wash" as they say. Also this is a marathon not a sprint. Sometimes you take a break, reset, and keep going.

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