How to stop going over my calorie goal?
Options
Shuntae_xox
Posts: 23 Member
I've been on my weightloss journey for 5 weeks and have lost 5 pounds so far with the goal of losing 14 pounds all together.
My calorie goal is 1500 a day which I stay under when I've gone to the gym, but the last 3 days I've had nearly 2000 and today over 2000 as I didn't go to the gym. What should I do? Btw I keep snacking and that's what makes me go over. Should I buy healthier snacks and increase the amount I go to the gym? As I only go 2 days a week and exercise at home for 10 mins 2 days a week as my gym is really expensive. I was thinking of joining a cheaper gym so I can go to the gym 4-5 days a week.
And btw I keep snacking on biscuits and chocolate if that helps.
Thanks in advance.
My calorie goal is 1500 a day which I stay under when I've gone to the gym, but the last 3 days I've had nearly 2000 and today over 2000 as I didn't go to the gym. What should I do? Btw I keep snacking and that's what makes me go over. Should I buy healthier snacks and increase the amount I go to the gym? As I only go 2 days a week and exercise at home for 10 mins 2 days a week as my gym is really expensive. I was thinking of joining a cheaper gym so I can go to the gym 4-5 days a week.
And btw I keep snacking on biscuits and chocolate if that helps.
Thanks in advance.
1
Replies
-
Why are you snacking? Are you hungry? Bored? Stressed? Is it your TOM?5
-
Keep busy.
It's easy to lose track of time when you have something to do.
I've been studying/doing homework all day these days now with finals creeping up on me and barely notice the meal hours passing.8 -
-
Or keep healthier snacks around? That would seem the easiest option.5
-
Losing a pound a week when you're down to that last 10-15 might be too aggressive - you may be losing muscle as well as fat, and that's not going to do you any good in the long run. I would recommend you set your goal at 0.5 a week and see if the additional calories help curb your snacking. 1750/day might be more comfortable than 1500, and it might even mean you lose weight faster in the long run if you're not going over regularly.12
-
Maybe try not eating so much in snacks?
If you are logging, it should be easy to see where you are overeating and cut back a bit.5 -
The bottom line is that you need to quit eating. Your calorie limit could be too low for you. Or it might be okay but you need realize that you will feel hungry.
Also, if your calories are normally at 1500 but it's okay for you to eat 2,000 on the days you exercise, be very sure you are actually burning 500 calories while exercising. People tend to overestimate. However, you are averaging 1 pound a week so you're probably doing okay.
If I were you, I might up your daily calories to about 1700 or days you don't exercise but keep it at 2,000 as you have on days you do exercise.
What are you snacking on? Is is "treat" type stuff with lots of sugar? Those types of snacks can just make your crave more. Sounds like whatever you are snacking on might be triggering some overeating.7 -
If you want to stick to a calorie goal, you can't eat what you want to eat and in the amounts you want to eat it and every time you want to eat it. You have to make decisions. Do I really want this now? Do I want it enough to exceed my calories or cut calories elsewhere? Would I rather wait until tomorrow so that I can save calories for it? Am I exceeding my calories too often to meet my long term goals?
Are you logging before you consume? That's a good time to really look at something to decide if you want it and, if so, how much of it you want right then.
My go-to "snack" is a large mug of tea. It keeps my mouth and hands busy while providing some hydration.9 -
Trying to out-exercise a snacking/chocolate/biscuit habit can be a big uphill battle. As others have stated, users and methods to "measure" calorie burn from exercise is often in-accurate (includes the MFP database).
As far as hitting my calorie number, I find that pre-logging as much food as I can and staying as diligent as I can about the type of foods I have available for snacking helps tremendously. At some point you just have to keep yourself accountable. No one is ever going to be perfect but make an effort not to have two miss-steps in a row and continuously improve the time between those inevitable less-than-ideal food choices.
8 -
You can change your goal to lose more slowly and get more calories. You don't have much to lose so this might be fine.
You can work out more at home or at a gym. Maybe try to do a 30 minute workout more days a week. You can walk more. There are lots of free ways to increase your activity.
You can eat lower calorie snacks that fit your goal better. If you are not getting enough protein, fats or vegetables/fruits then choosing snacks that also meet those needs might be more satisfying than biscuits or chocolate anyway.
See what works for you.3 -
I prelog from the night before. I only eat what I've preloged. I don't snack.
Occasionally I go over maintanance calories and by alot. It happens, it is normal and I just try not to do it too often.
4 -
Trying to out-exercise a snacking/chocolate/biscuit habit can be a big uphill battle. As others have stated, users and methods to "measure" calorie burn from exercise is often in-accurate (includes the MFP database).
As far as hitting my calorie number, I find that pre-logging as much food as I can and staying as diligent as I can about the type of foods I have available for snacking helps tremendously. At some point you just have to keep yourself accountable. No one is ever going to be perfect but make an effort not to have two miss-steps in a row and continuously improve the time between those inevitable less-than-ideal food choices.
0 -
No matter how much you workout you can’t put train a bad diet. You probably have to cut back on the snacking. Eat good quality protein fats and carbohydrates. Drink lots of water .1
-
With only 9 more pounds to lose, your actual weight loss rate of pound a week is on the aggessive side to be most healthy and strong. You can either increase your daily calorie goal a bit and stick to it, or keep bouncing around in calories as long as you keep a downward weight trend.
But don't stress about it - that burns no extra calories.
11 -
Snacking can often happen when your meal time foods aren't lasting long enough or fueling your body properly. Take a good look at what you are eating for meal times too...might need to make a change there.4
-
This sounds like the exact same thing im going through.
Ive been on it for 6-7 weeks and have lost 6lbs but there were a couple of weeks where i went over calories and couldnt stop eating, due to this i nearly fell off the wagon but realised i was sick of stop/starting a diet so i carried on with what i was doing before, exercising everyday and logging foods, i didnt want to give up cus of all the hard work it took me to lose this weight- this week im aiming to lose 1lb so that will be half a stone- my target is 14lbs but anythin more than that will be amazing.
U can do it just b positive and try and keep busy so u dont snack on these foods or dont buy them
good luck 1 -
With only 9 more pounds to lose, your actual weight loss rate of pound a week is on the aggessive side to be most healthy and strong. You can either increase your daily calorie goal a bit and stick to it, or keep bouncing around in calories as long as you keep a downward weight trend.
But don't stress about it - that burns no extra calories.juliemead10 wrote: »Snacking can often happen when your meal time foods aren't lasting long enough or fueling your body properly. Take a good look at what you are eating for meal times too...might need to make a change there.
First, figure out whether you're "snacking" because you're hungry or because you're "cravy"
If you're Hungry, figure out whether you need more protein/fat/carbs/volume in your life.
If you're cravy, just say no.7 -
self discipline?9
-
weight loss is going to require self discipline. Set yourself up with good healthy nourishing foods and play with macros. And then when your as set up that way as you can get, Learn to say no. Practice yes on occasion, You dont need cookies every day but you also dont need no cookies ever. practice balance6
-
I agree with a lot of other people on here but if you know you’re going to want to snack, save some room for snacking. I usually have a snack after dinner and make sure I’ve got calories for it, I prelog almost all of my food at the beginning of the week to keep me on track and might add a couple things here and there if I have the calories for it. It might seem excessive but it’s what works for me. I also keep like a 5lb bag of baby carrots in the fridge and I’ll eat a couple of those if I’m snacks.3
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 392.1K Introduce Yourself
- 43.6K Getting Started
- 259.9K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.7K Food and Nutrition
- 47.4K Recipes
- 232.4K Fitness and Exercise
- 404 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.8K Motivation and Support
- 7.9K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.4K MyFitnessPal Information
- 23 News and Announcements
- 987 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.4K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions