HELP!!! I went over my calories. DEVASTATED!!!
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Folks here often recommend losing no more than about 1% of your body weight per week (less as goal approaches), for a variety of reasons. Some of these have to do with health (like minimizing loss of muscle alongside fat), but one is because a big calorie deficit can be difficult to sustain for an extended time period, so can lead to loss of control at some point. Perhaps you simply reached such a point?
That said, when losing around 3 pounds a week, you have about a 1500 calorie daily deficit. Going over what you've been eating by 500 calories? It doesn't even delay reaching your ultimate goal by a full day. No need to catastrophize about it.
Besides, beating yourself up about this burns zero extra calories.
For best health, I'd strongly encourage you to reduce your loss rate to more like a pound a week, which would also make the process much more sustainable. If you've been eating 1200, and losing an average of 3 pounds a week recently, a goal like 2000-2200 daily should get you there.
Editing to add: I read your more recent comment about sometimes experiencing dizziness. That's a major red flag. Please eat more! I'm betting you want to be a healthy & energetic mom while you achieve your weight goals, right? And a good model of healthy behavior?8 -
kimberley1975mfp wrote: »I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567
I assume you want this weight loss to last.
If you are getting severe hunger and dizziness.... that's not sustainable long term, and increases your likelihood of falling back into old patterns of eating that made you gain weight to begin with!
Something to think on.... remember that the changes you are making to HOW you are eating, WHAT you are eating, and HOW MUCH you are eating... need to be for life. You are establishing new habits, not just trying to diet to drop weight then go back to how you ate before because the "diet" is over.
You are doing great - but make sure that the changes you are making are ones you can live with for the rest of your life... don't race to drop the weight... you didn't put it all on in such a short time.. and you don't have to take it off so fast either.
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Don't sweat it! It is that kind of all-or-nothing, rigid thinking that leads many of us quit eating less & moving more & reverting back to our old ways because we convince ourselves we failed! I have always been that way, however, if I eat above my calories sometimes now, which I do, I log it & move on. It is about a lifetime not one day!2
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I was bigger than you when I started in September and also have a goal of 150. We're about the same height. I'm about 18lbs from goal now and in that time I have taken about 3 complete weeks off from dieting and have had several occasions where I went intentionally over my calories or decided not to track for whatever reason.
Life happens.
What's more important is knowing that one day isn't going to put all the weight back on and you can go right back the next day to tracking it all.
Perhaps on your vacation take a break from specific logging, and put your new knowledge of what your portions should be and do your best to stick to that. Or take a break from logging altogether and eat freely for a week, as long as you trust that when you get back that you can get right back to it.2 -
One day isn't going to hurt your long term goals. As for vacation, it's best to actually enjoy your vacation. If you eat at restaurants a lot while vacationing, then don't eat everything on the plate. Divide it before you ever take a bite & share it with your kids. Eat half of what they bring you & if you're still hungry afterwards, eat a snack or something that you know the nutritional data on. Don't go crazy eating everything, but don't punish yourself to the point of not enjoying the adventure.1
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You've already lost a great amount, congrats to that!! Honestly 1 day won't matter in the long run, and you didn't even go over by a lot...so it's fine. As far as vacation goes? How often do you go on this vacation? If this is a once a year trip I say go and enjoy every minute with your family. Make sensible choices if you feel like it, but most importantly enjoy this time and your food. Your deficit will be waiting for you when you get back.
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I haven't read all the post, and I probably should, and this may have been covered, but, weight management - weight loss, weight gain, weight maintenance - is a life long process. If you're stressing about going over one day, then you're in for a really long hard battle. It's going to happen. If you want to have any kind of life, it's going to happen from time to time. For weight loss, as long as going over from time to time is the exception and not the rule, then that's perfectly fine.
I recently went on vacation and I missed my goal of "gaining" 10 lbs over the course of the week I was gone. I only gained 6. Most of which was water weight and after a couple days of being home and back to what is my regular eating pattern most of the water weight was gone. I gained a total of 1lb according to the scale from when I left. That's it. So, if the 2lbs a week loss is even close to accurate, I've added exactly 1/2 a week to reaching my weight loss goal. 2-3 days. That's it.
Life is going to happen and you're going to eat too much from time to time...or at least you should. If for nothing else, it should be for mental health. Have the birthday cake, grab a second helping of mashed potatoes during holidays...enjoy life. You can always get back on track the next day. Enjoy life now, not when your reach a certain goal weight.
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One day isn't going to derail you if you're back and consistent. It's no more a big deal than missing a workout day.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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Thursday I ate almost 3700 lol.
I was thinking about dairy queen all week and said frig it. Treat myself.
Extra exercise for me this week yayyyyy!!
It happens sometimes. As long as it's just a day and doesn't trigger you to completely derail.
Just get back on the horse!6 -
kimberley1975mfp wrote: »I didn't set per week I just put 150 for the overall goal and then it said 1200. But prior to that before I put a goal it said 1567
But you don't weigh 150, so why would you do that?1 -
What were your carbs? And what types?8
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One day over eating won't make you fat, just as one day not eating won't make you skinny. 1200 is very unrealistic and i just can't do it myself. If i go over i make sure to do exercise to work the extra off. I think 1400-1500 is more realistic. Once you're eating healthy and making healthy food choices thats all that counts , plus, stressing about it won't make that weighing scales go down. So just breathe, and relax and start again today 2
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Cause it asked for my weight and my goal so I put 189 and goal of 1500
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Like you said...you're still new to this, but if you continue with your weight loss pursuit you'll start to see overtime how these occasional blips mean nothing. We're all going to be extra hungry some days. Celebratory events will happen. Cake and cookies will happen. LOL!
You'll get to the point where you'll realize that as long as you're sticking to plan in general, that these days won't set you back.
I actually think they're a good thing. We all have to live and give ourselves the freedom to indulge once in a while. You've done great so far so just keep moving forward.
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Here's a quick tip for the restaurant. Eat half. Portions are typically double what you need anyways.
1. Order your meal
2. When it is delivered ask for a takeout container
3. Put away half right away
4. Enjoy your meal
5. Look up the meal on MFP and log half2 -
Try increasing your protein content if you are hungry all the time. They seem to satiate better than carbs. Egg whites have been my friend--low cal and filling!
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Activity counts big time. I have found tieing in my fitbit gives a better perception of how active I was that day. im 229 on the road to 190. If i keep my calories low I will get light headed also eating strategically is important!4
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kimberley1975mfp wrote: »Yeah it said 1567 but that seems high doesn't it
No it doesn't, 1200 is the bare minimum for women3 -
Part of the process is learning to forgive yourself when you screw up.4
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Think of it this way. You have been losing 3 lbs a week average on 1200 calories a day. You could eat 1700 (500+) and still lose 2 lbs a week.
ETA. You need to lose 39 lbs to reach your goal. If you lose 3 lbs a week you will reach it in 13 weeks. If you lose it at a rate of 2lbs per week it would take 19.5 weeks.
6.5 weeks! 45 extra days in order to not be miserable the whole time! I totally think thats worth it.
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