When to reset my calories for the next day?

stevenscott5582
stevenscott5582 Posts: 13 Member
edited November 24 in Health and Weight Loss
Pardon if this is a strange, silly question, but if you're following a, say 2000 calories diet a day plan as I am, when should those 24 hours start and stop?
For example, should it run from 6 a.m. to 6 the next morning? I'm trying to get my eating times down so as to not be eating too late at night and I'm confused on how I should demarcate the time to know when I've had my 2000 calories and when to reset the "calorie counter" for the next day. :smile:

Thanks all!

Replies

  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    Officially, the day flips over at midnight, but you could still log food to a previous day if you want. It's up to you how you like to divide your day and depends on how often you eat after midnight.
  • StevefromMichigan
    StevefromMichigan Posts: 462 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    I go from waking up to going to sleep is a day

    I second this.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    The app will switch to a new day at midnight. You can eat and log at whatever time suits you and log it on one day though.
    I log everything from when I wake to when I go to bed on one day.
  • RUNucbar
    RUNucbar Posts: 160 Member
    My daily calories run from the time I get up till the time I go to bed. During the weekends I will go to bed past midnight. For example, I wake up in Saturday morning and will go to bed at 1:30am Sunday morning. The calories I eat past midnight will still be logged as Saturdays food. When I wake up Sunday lunchtime, then the food I eat will be logged as Sundays.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    I go from waking up to going to sleep is a day

    I find this the easiest strategy as well, but I also want to emphasize that there’s no right answer here. Just pick a 24 hour period and be consistent.
  • stevenscott5582
    stevenscott5582 Posts: 13 Member
    Thanks so much, everyone! I've been really confused by this but this helps.
  • thatbluesea
    thatbluesea Posts: 1 Member
    I work shift work, so I get this issue. Sometimes I eat my 3 meals between 6pm and 10 am. Sometimes it's between 6 am and 10pm so I just use "waking hours" as day. It gets weird when all my activity and steps are split at midnight on the app but it doesn't bother me too much.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    When I was doing night shift 5 days/week, I ran my "day" from the time I got up, to the time I went to bed. So, say, I'd get up on Wednesday at 7pm, and go to bed on Thursday at 10am. I would count all of that as Wednesday.

    I still work nights, but I have to be during the day during the week, so I just keep a midnight-to-midnight schedule. One thing I did that proved helpful was that I removed all of the meal headings, and just record everything I eat under a single list for that day. Then I don't have to decide if the pizza I'm eating at 7am is dinner, breakfast, or what.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited February 2018
    jennifer_417 wrote: »
    When I was doing night shift 5 days/week, I ran my "day" from the time I got up, to the time I went to bed. So, say, I'd get up on Wednesday at 7pm, and go to bed on Thursday at 10am. I would count all of that as Wednesday.

    I still work nights, but I have to be during the day during the week, so I just keep a midnight-to-midnight schedule. One thing I did that proved helpful was that I removed all of the meal headings, and just record everything I eat under a single list for that day. Then I don't have to decide if the pizza I'm eating at 7am is dinner, breakfast, or what.

    Another trick would be to rename meals to times if you don't want to continue cramming all of your foods into one long list (easier to gauge nutrition that way to see what keeps you full). A 24 hour day could be divided into four 6 hour periods like 6:00-12:00, 12:00-18:00...etc or any other way you find appropriate for your schedule. You can have up to 6 custom meals.
  • OldHobo
    OldHobo Posts: 647 Member
    My new calorie day starts at midnight and the first "meal section" in the food diary is named After Midnight Snacks.
  • jessetfan
    jessetfan Posts: 373 Member
    TavistockToad wrote: »
    I go from waking up to going to sleep is a day

    This is what I do as well.
  • kyrannosaurus
    kyrannosaurus Posts: 350 Member
    I log midnight to midnight. I have insomnia so sometimes I don't get any sleep and so things can get confusing. So regardless of when/if I sleep, my diary changes over to a new day a midnight. It's less confusing for me.
  • stevenscott5582
    stevenscott5582 Posts: 13 Member
    kyrannosaurus wrote: »
    I log midnight to midnight. I have insomnia so sometimes I don't get any sleep and so things can get confusing. So regardless of when/if I sleep, my diary changes over to a new day a midnight. It's less confusing for me.

    This is definitely me. My sleep "schedule" if you wanna call it that, is chaotic and has been for a long time. Maybe the midnight-to-midnight is what I should do as well.

  • AnvilHead
    AnvilHead Posts: 18,343 Member
    edited February 2018
    stevenscott5582 wrote: »
    kyrannosaurus wrote: »
    I log midnight to midnight. I have insomnia so sometimes I don't get any sleep and so things can get confusing. So regardless of when/if I sleep, my diary changes over to a new day a midnight. It's less confusing for me.

    This is definitely me. My sleep "schedule" if you wanna call it that, is chaotic and has been for a long time. Maybe the midnight-to-midnight is what I should do as well.

    You can rename your meals, and you can have up to six meals listed. Go in and rename your meals something like "Midnight - 6 am", "6:01 am - Noon", "12:01 pm - 6 pm" and "6:01 pm - 11:59 pm". Then just log the foods in the appropriate time slot.

    Weight loss/gain doesn't occur on any timed interval - it's not like there's any particular point in time where your body stops, zeroes out, calculates the numbers and decides whether to gain or lose weight. It happens on a continuum, we're always sliding up and down between deficit and surplus, anabolic and catabolic.
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