What do all of you do ...?

koalathebear · October 2019

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

sijomial · October 2019

I basically ignore anything accept an extended driftt in my weight trend.

The rest is just a combination of the irrelevant noise of weight fluctuations and living my life where I totally expect days and weeks and even seasons to be different.

The only exception is when I have a fixed event date cycling event coming up when being at my best weight gives me a performance advantage, even then I don't have to go back to food logging - just being more mindful about my approximate calorie balance.

rainbow198 · October 2019

I look at my calories on a weekly basis, so I have higher days and lower days. At the end of the week everything averages out and I maintain my weight.

My weight definitely fluctuates, but I don't stress out since I'm aware of my calorie intake everyday.

For example every Friday night I go out for yummy pizza. I'm always up 2 pounds or so on Saturday...but it's okay. It's just water weight. I'm back to normal on Monday or Tuesday.

Also for me, keeping a larger 10 pound maintenance range definitely helps mentally (plus I'm tall).

riffraff2112 · October 2019

I've been at this so long now (5 yrs) I just kind of have the routine down pat now. I have goals that I am chasing(mostly fitness goals now not weight), so things don't get boring but for the most part, I know what to eat and what exercises to do and how often to do them. Maintenance for me (and from what I read and hear I am in the minority) was pretty much a smooth transition. I guess I formed some good habits during my losing phase and just ingrained them into my rituals.
I haven't really accurately logged my calories for a long time because I am kind of a creature of habit anyway and seem to have a good grip on when I am overdoing it! I certainly let things slip from time to time but knowing how my clothes are fitting is the best metric for me, and usually dictates for me when it is time to tighten up the eating a bit and add some cardio.

SummerSkier · October 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

Koala, when I first started maintenance my mantra was "just move on" after a day of over indulging. And sure it is important to not try to start some restrction/overdoing it cycle. However since my days of going over are more than say once a month, I have come to realize that I do have to make my check book balance. I don't try to do it all at once with a huge withdrawal but I do over the next week work to hit my avg cal goal for the week. So my answer is that if it is going to happen more than once in a blue moon, you probably need to account for it (and when you log it typically I find it wasn't as MUCH as I thought it was anyway) if it is just a one off and you are pretty stead eddy for months at a time I would just not worry and continue on the next day.

Hopefully this makes sense. We are all so different that you have to find what works for you!

best of luck

EliseTK1 · October 2019

I have my calorie goal set slightly below my true maintenance. This gives me a general guideline to follow on most days, and it allows me to have a day or two each week where I indulge a bit without actively counterbalancing the overage. If I haven't had a reason to indulge and I get extra hungry, I know it's ok to have more. At this point I can feel intuitively when I need more or less calories. My weight fluctuates within about 3 lbs and has been for about six months now.

koalathebear · October 2019

Thanks everyone for sharing what you do - really helpful. My weight's been pretty stable for the last few months with around 1kg fluctuations up/down in the last few months of my weight loss phase.

To be honest, I very rarely eat the full calorie budget I'm allocated simply because I've always been a bit sceptical about my exercise calories so have tended to leave about 200 calories over each day even when I was heading towards maintenance - some of the Garmine-calculated calories for my very, very leisurely walks were a little on the high side etc

Unfortunately while I have a very good idea of what's in my regular/favourite foods - I am not one of those people that can simply eyeball new food and guess its calorie content. I still get shocked by how calorie expensive some foods are - for instance I ate a white chocolate coated freeze dried strawberry the other day and realised after the fact that it was quite expensive - notwithstanding how small it was

I had a funny blow-out the other day over yum cha because I was eating with family so couldn't log each item as I ate it and so did it after I got home - thought I had plenty left so ate three chocolate chunk biscuits. But then realised I hadn't remembered everything I'd eaten - so kept having to supplement and by the time I'd added up all the dumplings, prawn rolls, BBQ puffs, BBQ pork buns and custard puffs, I'd had a very calorie-expensive lunch

Those instances are very rare as I usually plan out my meals in advance and log as I go, but it's reinforced to me that I definitely want to continue logging so that I don't fall off the wagon.

I think the idea of doing the weekly reconciliation works for me because when I added up my totals for last week, what looked like a blow out on Saturday was actually not even a blow-out because I still remained well within budget for the week as a whole. Thanks again all

seltzermint555 · October 2019

pyrusangeles wrote: »

I have my calorie goal set slightly below my true maintenance. This gives me a general guideline to follow on most days, and it allows me to have a day or two each week where I indulge a bit without actively counterbalancing the overage. If I haven't had a reason to indulge and I get extra hungry, I know it's ok to have more. At this point I can feel intuitively when I need more or less calories. My weight fluctuates within about 3 lbs and has been for about six months now.

This is how I handle it too, and have been doing that for about 5 years now. Works well for me too. I have fluctuated up/down by roughly 10 lb but usually on the lower end of my range.

elisa123gal · October 2019

Your approach of balancing things out sounds like a winner to me.

walktalkdog · October 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I do exactly as you did while losing. "Maintenance" is something my body hasn't grasped. I do need to balance out a night with a cocktail or two with a day of lower calorie intake. And I still weigh myself every day.

cwolfman13 · October 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I don't log and haven't logged in 6.5 years of maintenance. I would wager that I have days where I'm over and days when I'm under. I monitor my weight regularly weighing in a few times per week. My usual maintenance weight averages about 182 with fluctuations either way. I'm currently about 188 which is pretty near the top of my maintenance range and intervention point. I usually hit that later in the winter, but pool parties and such this summer got the best of me so I'll be intervening sooner rather than my usual Feb/March time frame.

5-6 pounds is pretty easy for me to drop and I can do it in about a month if put my mind to it.

Roza42 · October 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

so couldn't log each item as I ate it and so did it after I got home - thought I had plenty left so ate three chocolate chunk biscuits. But then realised I hadn't remembered everything I'd eaten - so kept having to supplement and by the time I'd added up all the dumplings, prawn rolls, BBQ puffs, BBQ pork buns and custard puffs, I'd had a very calorie-expensive lunch Those instances are very rare as I usually plan out my meals in advance and log as I go, but it's reinforced to me that I definitely want to continue logging so that I don't fall off the wagon.

Thanks again all

When I eat out I take photographs of all my food before I eat, so I don't forget what I ate.

Skrib69 · October 2019

I have become more relaxed about logging and rarely complete my diary.

My breakfast and lunches are pretty consistent, so it is only my evening meal which I need to watch. However this has recently become easier now they I have to keep an eye on my cholesterol.

I have largely given up snacking between meals and I weigh probably every 3-4 weeks and the the weight fluctuates by up to around 5lbs if I am unlucky.

psychod787 · October 2019

cwolfman13 wrote: »

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I don't log and haven't logged in 6.5 years of maintenance. I would wager that I have days where I'm over and days when I'm under. I monitor my weight regularly weighing in a few times per week. My usual maintenance weight averages about 182 with fluctuations either way. I'm currently about 188 which is pretty near the top of my maintenance range and intervention point. I usually hit that later in the winter, but pool parties and such this summer got the best of me so I'll be intervening sooner rather than my usual Feb/March time frame.

5-6 pounds is pretty easy for me to drop and I can do it in about a month if put my mind to it.

You have been a study for me @cwolfman13. I think you are a great example of a body weight settling range. You eat more calorically dense and then just switch up diet and add in a little more activity... bammmm weight just drops back. You are what I am striving for long term. How tall are you btw?

cwolfman13 · October 2019

psychod787 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I don't log and haven't logged in 6.5 years of maintenance. I would wager that I have days where I'm over and days when I'm under. I monitor my weight regularly weighing in a few times per week. My usual maintenance weight averages about 182 with fluctuations either way. I'm currently about 188 which is pretty near the top of my maintenance range and intervention point. I usually hit that later in the winter, but pool parties and such this summer got the best of me so I'll be intervening sooner rather than my usual Feb/March time frame.

5-6 pounds is pretty easy for me to drop and I can do it in about a month if put my mind to it.

You have been a study for me @cwolfman13. I think you are a great example of a body weight settling range. You eat more calorically dense and then just switch up diet and add in a little more activity... bammmm weight just drops back. You are what I am striving for long term. How tall are you btw?

@psychod787

I round up to 5'10", but I'm like 5'9.5"

hesn92 · October 2019

cwolfman13 wrote: »

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I don't log and haven't logged in 6.5 years of maintenance. I would wager that I have days where I'm over and days when I'm under. I monitor my weight regularly weighing in a few times per week. My usual maintenance weight averages about 182 with fluctuations either way. I'm currently about 188 which is pretty near the top of my maintenance range and intervention point. I usually hit that later in the winter, but pool parties and such this summer got the best of me so I'll be intervening sooner rather than my usual Feb/March time frame.

5-6 pounds is pretty easy for me to drop and I can do it in about a month if put my mind to it.

What does "intervening" entail? Cut out a snack or two? I'd like to say I can manage my weight without counting calories and a lot of times I can but eventually I get lazy and start grabbing snacks more than I should etc and I end up coming back to the ol' myfitnesspal.

nxd10 · October 2019

I try to hit daily goals but always hit weekly goals. I know that I'll be high on Friday and go over. But I'll be less hungry the next day. Typically I go over maybe two weeks a year (Christmas to New Years and a random week I'm traveling). But most weeks I'm way under.

You can't just 'get over it' because it's easy to get into that habit. But if you listen to your body I find it naturally evens out over the week.

koalathebear · October 2019

Roza42 wrote: »

When I eat out I take photographs of all my food before I eat, so I don't forget what I ate.

Good idea. I was losing track when eating from shared plates of food/dumplings/buns etc. I'll have to get better at it haha.

As to the people who don't need to log, very pleased for them. For my part though, I know I need to keep doing it to stay on track - small price to pay in the scheme of things

cwolfman13 · October 2019

hesn92 wrote: »

cwolfman13 wrote: »

koalathebear wrote: »

When I was in the weight loss phase, on the very rare occasions I exceeded my daily calorie budget, I would draw a line in the sand for that day and "make up for it" in the next day or next two days that followed i.e. increasing my deficit on that day whether by way of exercise or eating a bit less.

Now that I'm in maintenance, I'm wondering whether I should follow the same approach or whether I just move on and pretend the day didn't exist and start the new day as a new day and eat my full daily budget of calories.

What does everyone else do? In the scheme of things I know it doesn't matter - my weight fluctuates like everyone else's and ultimately, a day or two here and there really don't seem to affect my weight overall, it's more just trying to figure out what my approach should be.

I don't log and haven't logged in 6.5 years of maintenance. I would wager that I have days where I'm over and days when I'm under. I monitor my weight regularly weighing in a few times per week. My usual maintenance weight averages about 182 with fluctuations either way. I'm currently about 188 which is pretty near the top of my maintenance range and intervention point. I usually hit that later in the winter, but pool parties and such this summer got the best of me so I'll be intervening sooner rather than my usual Feb/March time frame.

5-6 pounds is pretty easy for me to drop and I can do it in about a month if put my mind to it.

What does "intervening" entail? Cut out a snack or two? I'd like to say I can manage my weight without counting calories and a lot of times I can but eventually I get lazy and start grabbing snacks more than I should etc and I end up coming back to the ol' myfitnesspal.

Yeah, usually means just cutting out a couple of snacks...or most nights I'll just have a protein and veg and remove the starch or grain...cut back on alcohol...skip desert, etc....some days I just skip breakfast...those kind of things.

Last year I didn't make any diet changes really and just upped my activity a bit...that was a pretty slow route...took me from February to the end of May to lose 6 Lbs.

koalathebear · November 2019

It's been an interesting activity. Weight has been maintained but as I've been keeping track of what I'm calling my 'weekly' deficit, because I don't tend to eat all my daily calories (because of my scepticism of the accuracy of calories burned), I am finding i have a fairly significant weekly deficit by Saturday. This doesn't really make sense to me because I'm maintaining my current weight, not losing weight.

So either this means:
1. I'm eating more than I think I am
2. Even though I'm already not eating all of my calories earned through exercise - perhaps the figure's even more inaccurate than I thought and my Garmin's giving me credit for more calories burned than I have actually earned.

What it means is that I'm still very reluctant about letting myself ever exceed my daily calorie budget... In the last four weeks, I've done it twice - Wed 23 Oct, I went over by 141 calories and Thu 7 Oct I went over by 35 calories. I'm guessing it might take me a few weeks to figure out what my "true" weekly deficit can/should be without porking up.

Not complaining - very happy I am managing to maintain weight while eating 'normally' and not feeling deprived - just perplexed about the numbers not really balancing.

AnnPT77 · November 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

It's been an interesting activity. Weight has been maintained but as I've been keeping track of what I'm calling my 'weekly' deficit, because I don't tend to eat all my daily calories (because of my scepticism of the accuracy of calories burned), I am finding i have a fairly significant weekly deficit by Saturday. This doesn't really make sense to me because I'm maintaining my current weight, not losing weight.

So either this means:
1. I'm eating more than I think I am
2. Even though I'm already not eating all of my calories earned through exercise - perhaps the figure's even more inaccurate than I thought and my Garmin's giving me credit for more calories burned than I have actually earned.

What it means is that I'm still very reluctant about letting myself ever exceed my daily calorie budget... In the last four weeks, I've done it twice - Wed 23 Oct, I went over by 141 calories and Thu 7 Oct I went over by 35 calories. I'm guessing it might take me a few weeks to figure out what my "true" weekly deficit can/should be without porking up.

Not complaining - very happy I am managing to maintain weight while eating 'normally' and not feeling deprived - just perplexed about the numbers not really balancing.

It's also possible that (#3) you simply burn slightly fewer calories than the number that "calculators" spit out, too, unfortunately, though I wouldn't leap to that assumption too quickly. Keep in mind that they give you an estimate of the population average for your demographics, more or less, but that in reality not everyone is exactly average. Same thing can happen with "fitness tracker" calorie estimates (mine is way wrong, as is MFP).

Anecdotally (which is a big word for "I can't prove it"

), some people seem more inclined to subtle activity down-regulation at reduced calories, so that maintenance calories can gradually be increased to find the beneficial level, i.e., increase will trigger up-regulation. Also, keep in mind that daily life activity matters (and is where some of the controllable side of activity up/down-regulation happens), so that there can be maintenance-calorie benefits by consciously trying to be more active in routine daily life.

None of the above should be taken to be disputing the part I bolded in your post. I think that's 100% the right strategy.

BTW, I'm a very uneven eater, consistent most days but quite indulge-y occasionally. I do calorie bank, but experience suggests that going way over my maintenance calories occasionally has less scale-weight impact (after the water/digestive-contents scale jump drops off) than I would've expected from the calorie intake. Perhaps there are absorption limits in a body that's not used to it? Dunno. This is not an approach I'd recommend, but you did ask what others do!

If I start getting a little heavier than I'd like, regardless of how, I need to stick to my slight-deficit routine daily goal more often, and rein in the indulge-y days a bit, and weight will start creeping slowly down again. (I'm just about to start into year 5 of maintenance, BTW, BMI 22-point-something this morning).

koalathebear · November 2019

AnnPT77 wrote: »

It's also possible that (#3) you simply burn slightly fewer calories than the number that "calculators" spit out, too, unfortunately, though I wouldn't leap to that assumption too quickly. Keep in mind that they give you an estimate of the population average for your demographics, more or less, but that in reality not everyone is exactly average. Same thing can happen with "fitness tracker" calorie estimates (mine is way wrong, as is MFP).

Anecdotally (which is a big word for "I can't prove it" ), some people seem more inclined to subtle activity down-regulation at reduced calories, so that maintenance calories can gradually be increased to find the beneficial level, i.e., increase will trigger up-regulation. Also, keep in mind that daily life activity matters (and is where some of the controllable side of activity up/down-regulation happens), so that there can be maintenance-calorie benefits by consciously trying to be more active in routine daily life.

None of the above should be taken to be disputing the part I bolded in your post. I think that's 100% the right strategy.

BTW, I'm a very uneven eater, consistent most days but quite indulge-y occasionally. I do calorie bank, but experience suggests that going way over my maintenance calories occasionally has less scale-weight impact (after the water/digestive-contents scale jump drops off) than I would've expected from the calorie intake. Perhaps there are absorption limits in a body that's not used to it? Dunno. This is not an approach I'd recommend, but you did ask what others do!

If I start getting a little heavier than I'd like, regardless of how, I need to stick to my slight-deficit routine daily goal more often, and rein in the indulge-y days a bit, and weight will start creeping slowly down again. (I'm just about to start into year 5 of maintenance, BTW, BMI 22-point-something this morning).

Thanks so much. I found your post very thought-provoking and helpful - I've been thinking about it a lot and wanting to respond properly.

I've essentially been in maintenance around three months now - the last few months of weight loss, I had deliberately slowed things down a lot to try to make transition easier and in the last month I was essentially eating at maintenance...

If there's one thing I'm 'struggling' with, it's the fact that during weight loss, I was really strict with myself and pretty much never went over my daily calorie budget on more than a handful of occasions... Now that I'm in maintenance, I have to really force myself not to sweat the occasional overs and actually even force myself to deliberately go over now and then so that it doesn't become a 'thing'. During weight loss, I'd plan things out - put exercise calories in the bank early in the day if I knew I was eating a lot that day... If I accidentally went over, I'd just go on a walk or do a small amount of zumba to put myself back within budget.

When I first went into maintenance, I had the same very strong urge to always stay within budget so now I really have to force myself to let myself go over a little bit and say it will come out in the weekly total - which it always does. I don't want to feel like I have to remain within budget every single day.

There is something deceptively precise (and comforting) about the calorie counting but when I think about it, it's still incredibly fuzzy no matter how diligent I try to be.

For instance, this comment of yours made me think quite hard:

Also, keep in mind that daily life activity matters (and is where some of the controllable side of activity up/down-regulation happens), so that there can be maintenance-calorie benefits by consciously trying to be more active in routine daily life.

I log my food quite diligently and I log time activities fairly diligently, but there are a bunch of additional activities where the calories aren't logged:
- I work on the third floor and always take the stairs these days - and might walk up an extra flight if I have time
- I make sure when my garmin buzzes, I get up and make a cup of tea or coffee - but walk to the kitchen above or below my floor, just to move a bit more
- sometimes if I get back to my desk after a timed activity and I forget to "turn off" my garmin, I'll look down and it's recorded for too long and so I write off a bunch of those calories burned because eg out of 60 minutes, only half was walking, the other half was me sitting at my desk having forgotten to turn off the timed activity.

Anyway, sorry for rambling. The whole weight loss / fitness journey has been very ... eye-opening.

ghudson92 · November 2019

I am only a month in to my actual desired maintenance, but have taken maintenance breaks fairly regularly throughout my weight loss journey.
For me, I find it useful to have my calories set just slightly under maintenance, only by about 50 calories or so, as this gives me a bit more wiggle room. Following the trend of net calories as opposed to daily allowances is more indicative of your energy balance and I have had much more success (plus considerably reduced food anxiety) since paying attention to that. Typically, I eat less in the work week and then eat quite a lot at the weekend. That isn't intentional, it's just how it goes due to time and social events etc. The small bank of calories accumulated weekly means I don't need to worry about calories when it comes to special occasions.

koalathebear · December 2019

Month four of maintenance and still maintaining. I am still logging diligently but have to say that the endless work Christmas parties are proving a bit of a strain simply because I find it a little harder to log accurately at such events. It sounds silly but first of all there's the pressure of having to maintain conversations with work people - some of whom are strangers, some are my bosses and not really being able to pause and log/take a photo of food. So I've doing a lot more guesstimating than usual after the event to record what I've eaten.

As well as daily, I'm keeping track of my weekly total and that has been a really good thing to do but I am still really struggling to resist the urge to eg. not to exercise on the rare occasions I exceed my daily calorie budget. I KNOW that:
1. one day isn't going to do much damage
2. I have a 'cushion' because overall, I've got 'spare' calories across the week

But I think the weight loss period discipline I had of always staying within my daily calorie budget is still quite strong.

PAV8888 · December 2019

koalathebear wrote: »

but have to say that the endless work Christmas parties are proving a bit of a strain simply because I find it a little harder to log accurately at such events.

I have to admit that the only time I weighed less on January 4-8 as compared to December 17-21 was the 12 months during which I created an average deficit of 695Cal a day.

Every year, like clockwork, I tend to trend up, and then trend slowly down between January and April, usually fully catching up to where I was by the early March to late April time frame. And it is not surprising given the amount of social get togethers and events that tend to crowd into the time period serving as a delivery mechanism for novel and hyper-palatable food (and drinks if so inclined)!

While the weight-trend increase is much smaller, the scale increase from minimum to maximum in the time frame seems to be just shy of 5lbs for me! And by the looks of it most of it real and reflected in my logging overages

To a point you raised above, I definitely do find that if I have been consuming relatively more NET calories what Fitbit defines as my 'resting' heart rate elevates as compared to when my net calories are lower. Same applies to nails growing faster vs slower, and noticeably so for me, depending on relative net calories. Which to me clearly points out to change in the involuntary component of NEAT.

PAV8888 · December 2019

To your original question, I tend to write off the previous day and continue on with the normal plan.

With two, to my mind small, caveats.

If I don't feel like eating early the next day, I don't do so. So I often have my "breakfast" later. BUT, if I also find myself not eating anything till later in the day, I will usually have something small even if I am not yet "feeling it". It has been my observation that waiting too long the next day tends to lead to too many cookies when I am finally "hungry" again--so I short-circuit that.

If I have a large overage--in the 33%+ of TDEE range for me, I just might push say 7 to 15% of my TDEE to my next day's "just after midnight" section as a "warning" to not overdo things.

This falls into the category of "mind-games"; but, I am perpetually set to ~-200-300 on MFP, and habitually go over because I am "anti-allowing red to rule me"

By pushing 200-450 Cal to the next day I become slightly more budget conscious the next day. You see I am normally fairly unthinking and don't pre-plan much other than checking my budget and choosing "less caloric more filling go-tos" or "hey let's go crazy the sky's the limit" options while deciding on my next meal.

So if the budget shows the sky's the limit... I might crack open a chocolate bar while staring at the fridge and pantry trying to decide what to put together to eat, and I've certainly done that more than once! If the budget is tighter... I might have an apple or crack open a 0% yogurt and add some all bran for just about the same amount of calories but much higher food volume instead.

All this to say, I guess, that the next day after an overage I tend to both naturally and on purpose try to stick closer to my goals than otherwise <unless, as mentioned above I am hit by a series of events in a row>

nxd10 · December 2019

I hit my weekly goal except for Thanksgiving and Christmas week (typically). I've been logging 6 years. I find I'm not hungry the next day if I'm more than a hundred calories over. So I listen to my body.

gallicinvasion · December 2019

pyrusangeles wrote: »

I have my calorie goal set slightly below my true maintenance. This gives me a general guideline to follow on most days, and it allows me to have a day or two each week where I indulge a bit without actively counterbalancing the overage. If I haven't had a reason to indulge and I get extra hungry, I know it's ok to have more. At this point I can feel intuitively when I need more or less calories. My weight fluctuates within about 3 lbs and has been for about six months now.

This is exactly what I've been doing. I like the system a lot!

gallicinvasion · December 2019

It's also been liberating for me to stop tracking exercise calories and go to the TDEE method instead. I basically took 6 weeks of my data, saw how much I had lost over each week and how much my average weekly deficit was, and figured out by TDEE for that period from this information. I manually set my calories to that goal in MFP (VERY SLIGHTLY under this number, to account for occasional over-calories-days) and have been pretty much maintaining for 6 months. Well, losing very very very slowly because I don't have as many over-calories-days as I expect.

It's nice and comfortable to always try to hit one number, rather than hit a moving target when trying to account for varying levels of exercise. This works best if you have a very predictable level of activity (I work out purposefully for only 15 min every MWF, and the rest of my activity is NEAT-based, walks to work, taking the stairs, etc). Do you think that trying to hit one number might help you better predict when you can go over calories, and make you feel better about not trying to "make up for it" the next day?

AnnPT77 · December 2019

PAV8888 wrote: »

To your original question, I tend to write off the previous day and continue on with the normal plan.

With two, to my mind small, caveats.

If I don't feel like eating early the next day, I don't do so. So I often have my "breakfast" later. BUT, if I also find myself not eating anything till later in the day, I will usually have something small even if I am not yet "feeling it". It has been my observation that waiting too long the next day tends to lead to too many cookies when I am finally "hungry" again--so I short-circuit that.

If I have a large overage--in the 33%+ of TDEE range for me, I just might push say 7 to 15% of my TDEE to my next day's "just after midnight" section as a "warning" to not overdo things.

This falls into the category of "mind-games"; but, I am perpetually set to ~-200-300 on MFP, and habitually go over because I am "anti-allowing red to rule me"

By pushing 200-450 Cal to the next day I become slightly more budget conscious the next day. You see I am normally fairly unthinking and don't pre-plan much other than checking my budget and choosing "less caloric more filling go-tos" or "hey let's go crazy the sky's the limit" options while deciding on my next meal.

So if the budget shows the sky's the limit... I might crack open a chocolate bar while staring at the fridge and pantry trying to decide what to put together to eat, and I've certainly done that more than once! If the budget is tighter... I might have an apple or crack open a 0% yogurt and add some all bran for just about the same amount of calories but much higher food volume instead.

All this to say, I guess, that the next day after an overage I tend to both naturally and on purpose try to stick closer to my goals than otherwise <unless, as mentioned above I am hit by a series of events in a row>

I think this is really brilliant. While PAV's exact personal tricks might not work for everyone, this idea of figuring out what works for us individually - how to "game" our own individual psychology and inclinations - is really powerful, IMO. (And most of us want to do that without slipping into anything precariously obsessive or compulsive, besides.

).

It takes some time to figure this stuff out, IME (talking months to years, not days to weeks), but it's really valuable.

I use the "see how I feel the next day" idea after a significantly over-goal day, calorie bank, try to recognize true special occasions (or very occasional "special license") rather than letting there be a start on everyday calorie creep, among other things. (I'm nearly to year 5 of maintenance, and still BMII 22-point-something.)

Very recently, I'm feeling better agency over my own hedonic tendencies (the reason I calorie bank in the first place!

), which I assume has a component of hormonal settling, but I experience it as a disinclination to just keep going way far, in the face of yumminess; and a clearer view of valuing my future self's needs to be a healthy weight in order to have the best possible life.

I don't believe in "make up for it" thinking, for myself: It seems like a "sin and expiation" model of eating, for me. We need to eat, and I want to enjoy eating, not turn it into it a source of guilt or shame.

As always, others may differ . . . !

koalathebear · December 2019

The calorie banking thing has become a pretty motivating reason for me to do exercise in the morning before work.

I do a fairly energetic hour or so of Zumba every morning - using youtube haha. Combined with my default calorie budget, it gives me a pretty decent budget and I enter my breakfast and lunch (if I already know what I'm having) and so I have pretty good idea of what I have left to play with for snacks and dinner. Plus if I can get in a short morning walk or lunch walk during the work day, that boosts the budget. I have sometimes (but do not enjoy), being in debt in the morning because I don't get to my exercise until the evening... My preference is definitely to have a good bank balance in the morning and then work from that.

I have to say that I'm finding this month with all the Christmas treats/baking and extra meals with family and friends challenging. My weight has fluctuated in the last month between 54.6kg to 56kg. It doesn't go above 56 thankfully. I'm not being too hard on myself this month because I know that with all the family dinners and food etc, even though I'm tracking - I'm eating more than I usually do even though I'm offsetting with exercise. I'm just keeping an eye on things to make sure I don't go above 56 and then I guess post-Christmas I'll go back to eating less.

What do all of you do ...?

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