Struggling with going over calorie limit
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norait38
Posts: 3 Member
Hello I am new and struggling so much with going over my calorie limit. I start off strong and the evening comes and dinner and snacking pushes me over. tonight I am 190 calories over my limit. what worked most for you when it comes to staying within range? I have over 100lbs I need to lose and i really want to stick to this. Any suggestions? thank you
Nora
Nora
2
Replies
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The easiest thing would be to pick a slower rate of loss. Many people jump in by setting MFP to two pounds a week, then quit because the calorie goal is too low. I know 100 lbs seems like it will take forever, but slowly losing is better than quitting and not losing anything.
Other strategies that can help are filling up by filling up on lower calorie dense foods, intentionally planning and leaving calories for snacks, and finding something active to do during the time when you are tempted to snack. For example if you take a walk after dinner instead of sitting in front of the TV, your hands won’t be free to snack.
One thing that works for me is having a tasty but very low calorie snack for those times when I just want to gnaw my arm off but I’m out of calories for the day. Usually salted radish slices when I crave something crunchy/salty, and a bit of dark chocolate or a few berries when I crave something sweet.
Another longer term solution is to add more activity so that you have more exercise calories to play around with.8 -
My solution is basically make sure I have a couple of hundred calories left at the end of the day for a snack - then GOING TO BED, even if I can't sleep. Reading a book, even.
If I stay up, I'm tired. If I'm tired, my body wants energy from somewhere. The options are sleep and food.
Going to bed means I'm likely to get enough sleep and be less tired, and also it sort of short circuits the late night 'up at a computer or at the tv, downtime and snack' habit.9 -
thank you so much for these suggestions will def try to find some lower calorie snacks and be more intentional about planning. thank you!0
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If it’s a strong urge to dig into the chip bag, that’s a habit that takes a few weeks to break.
But the urge will go away at some point.
In the meantime, don’t buy big bags of chips or anything like them. If you can handle single portion bags, maybe try them? But I have found single portion bags work great for my husband and my boyfriend, but six months into this process I can think of what a chip tastes like and they’re not really that good…. To me, anyhow.
So. I’m pretty much done with the corn/potato chips habit.
Anything you have a strong urge to binge eat? Don’t buy it. Seems easy. But it will take some willpower.3 -
Plan for snacks. I log my entire day in advance whenever I can, which is most of the time now that I've gotten into the groove of meal prep. I know what I'm having for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, and dessert every day for the rest of this week, and I know how many calories I have still available after accounting for all of that and can be very intentional about what I do with them. I think about my calorie budget in terms of the week rather than days, so if I have a few cals left over at the end of the day, I might plan to "spend" them another day. Some examples:
1) At work, we have a weekly team meeting and take it in turns to bring in breakfast/snacks on Friday morning. I know there will be some kind of treat at work on Friday, but I don't know what it's going to be, so just in case it's worth the calories I'm saving a handful each day this week (like 50 per day, so I'll just have an extra couple hundred to play with come Friday, nothing wild), so I can indulge if I want to. If not, like if the snack is just crappy donuts or something, I'll just roll those babies over into the weekend and treat myself with something I actually want.
2) My 30th birthday was in June. I intentionally cut my daily calorie budget for the week surrounding that day by 100-200 calories, so I could "bank" about a thousand calories to "spend" on my birthday dinner. I did log it as best I could (non-chain restaurant food is always a crapshoot, you know), and even though the total calories for that specific day were well over my normal budget, for the week I was still on target because the days around it were a bit under said budget.
One more tip: you can't chug hot drinks. When I'm out of calories for the night but want something, I make a mug of Sleepytime, chamomile, or peppermint herbal tea and sip on that. Find a tea flavor you can stand to drink plain (no sweetener or creamer), and it's "free" in terms of calories. I think technically there may be some caloric value in brewed tea but it's negligible, like two cals for one mug of Lemon Zinger isn't going to blow up your whole scene.9 -
You could also counterbalance with some exercise for one hour: go for a long walk or cycle; dance around the house on music you like. And THEN have the snacks you would normally have if you still want them.
1. You've bought yourself some time not snacking around
2. You've upped your calorie limit
Win-win.
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I drink hot green tea at night. That makes me feel like I've had something to eat as a snack, but it doesn't up my calorie intake. Green tea comes in flavors, so you don't have drink it plain.2
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Thank you all so much for these great tips def going to implement alot of these. I appreciate it.2
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Have you tried intermittent fasting? I have a lot of luck with that helping with my evening snacking. You can set whatever time frame you like, generally between 12-16 hours. For me I do 7-11. But it’s helps me if I “CANT” have anything after a certain time it keeps me from the “oh I’ll just have a little of this, and that, and another glass of wine”1
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Like others, I'll allow for snacks when planning my daily calories. I'd almost rather spend fewer calories on meals and have more for snacks, but part of that is because I'm feeling burnt out at the moment, and therefore accommodating my need to eat my way through it. A stir fry is usually a 'cheap' dinner, which allows me plenty of scope to snack.
I generally try not to eat my exercise calories, but if I'm feeling particularly hungry or craving, I will go into them. If I've run out of calories and I want a snack (or a higher calorie meal) I will go and do some exercise to earn the calories. This could be a walk (we'll often walk to McDonalds if we want it, for example!), a run or we have a mini trampoline so I can move on that in front of the TV.0 -
Try lower calorie but high volume foods like salads. Drink water instead of snacking. Prepare and plan meals. I usually eat protein with salads like chicken and eggs and it's very filling.2
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haha i keep going over the last 2 weeks, and then im like meh ill just go on maintainence for now. heh. But I am trying to get some good habits down,so next week i can actually be on track. ^^ next week ill try to actually stay a deficit for now im trying to just be healthy. But ive done this already so i know what to do .. i know my triggers... some situation happened and i decided to not care and just eat. but its over and done with... sometimes cravings happen... and you gotta think about your current week... whats going on this week.. am i going out? how many times am i gonna have treats... like you can go out to mcdonalds and just eat an apple pie and thats it. like i do that sometimes. so i plan for that. i save 190 cals for that.
#2/ is that you have 100 lbs to lose thats a long way to go... you need to realize this wont be fast and easy and you have to be okay with that... but use it to your advantage... you are bigger now so you can actually eat more and still see results... you dont have to cut calories super low to see results... dont use myfitnesspal calculation... use an online calculator on google... and input your information, please dont eat 1200 calories a day! you need to start slowlyy.. 1200 is so low your gonna have a hard time and youll give up..
#3 when i first started losing weight i had a few snacks that were my go - to like, you can have snacks in the beginning just try not to do it all the time... after a while... I didnt want to snack anymore.. i tried to focus on my meals being filling and satisfying so i didnt feel the NEED to snack. you actually dont need to snack if you eat enough at dinner... but my fav snacks were the 100 cal pack hot chocolate at night, popcorn packs, chips... I would get the single serve ones or weigh it out on food scale and put the chips away.... also i loved chocolate cookies the 100 cal pack ones from the dollarstore...plain greek yogurt w/17g protein vanilla extract and honey and then add some fruits0 -
Remember to forgive yourself when you make mistakes. You're human.2
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What has worked for me is making sure I have something to snack on in between meals. For me it’s eating every 2-3 hours and trying not to eat any later than 8pm (3hrs before I usually go to bed). Having an MRE supplement on hand helps when I have the sweet craving. Usually I’ll just use one scoop of an MRE supplement with 6 or 8oz of unsweetened almond milk. It’s enough to hold me over and maintain a balanced calorie intake.Hello I am new and struggling so much with going over my calorie limit. I start off strong and the evening comes and dinner and snacking pushes me over. tonight I am 190 calories over my limit. what worked most for you when it comes to staying within range? I have over 100lbs I need to lose and i really want to stick to this. Any suggestions? thank you
Nora
I’ve been on a 3/1 program. 3 weeks on reduced calorie intake and then 1 week on maintenance calorie intake.
My “maintain” intake is roughly 2300cal right now. For the last 3 weeks I’ve averaged a low daily intake of 1196cal and a high of 1921cal with an average daily over the last 3 weeks of 1456cal. Even with my daily workouts I haven’t felt any jitters or been left feeling hungry.
With this program it teaches me how to maintain the new lifestyle every 4th week. I can add a few more calories and let the body gather itself before I start a new 3 week cycle.
At the end of my journey this should help me with maintaining a steady and healthy lifestyle. At the end of my first 3/1 cycle I dropped a total of 14lbs and didn’t gain any of it back on the maintenance week. Second 3/1 cycle I dropped 13lbs and didnt gain any on the maintenance week.
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I plan for them, as I find if I don't plan my daily meals in advance I find it harder to stay within my calorie allowance0
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I've been doing this thing called "zig zagging", I don't worry as much if I go over my calorie limit as long as it isn't everyday and unreasonable. Most days I go over my calorie limit and my rate of weight loss is still acceptable, at least for me :P I also have over 100lbs to lose to even get into a normal BMI, hang in there!3
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I understand this but eventually I just went with high fiber low calorie snacks. I actually just started eat salad right out of the bag. lol2
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