Over calories for day. Now what?

What is your approach to higher calorie days? Not talking about a major binge, but those times when meal planning fell by the wayside and you're "out" of calories after lunch? Are you done eating for the day? Do you exercise to earn some back? Just eat a reasonable dinner and get on with it? Just curious what others do.

Replies

  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    I also have known dinner options that are filling but have fewer calories (chicken or pork loin). If lunch was truly bad and I don't think I'll really be that hungry come dinner, I might go without or just have a protein shake, I won't have dinner simply because it's dinner time.
  • crb426
    crb426 Posts: 661 Member
    AZAlyssa wrote: »
    Mom24_2021 wrote: »
    I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be

    I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.

    This is when I take a peek at that "in 5 weeks your weight will be..." number at the bottom. If it's higher than my current weight I know that I'm over maintenance. If it's the same or under, then I feel just fine if I ate more than I planned to that day.

    Of course, if it is more, then I know to chill out for the next several days and just make sure I track a little better. It won't completely mess you up to have one over day now and then, it will just take a little bit longer to get to goal.
  • ToffeeApple71
    ToffeeApple71 Posts: 121 Member
    Depending on how much I've gone over, and what my exercise plan was for the day, I would either reduce my calories for the coming days by about 100 each day until I'd compensated for the over-budget, or increase my daily steps for a few days (usually by adding on a km or two to my warm-down after a run), or go for a quick, easy, gentle bike ride or just use any "banked" calories from earlier in the week, if I had any.
    I like to make sure I don't just let it go, because for me, that's a start of going back to my old ways. However, if you know you can do this occasionally, and not make it a habit, then I'd just carry on my day as normal, eat my planned dinner and get back on track.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,432 Member
    I'd eat dinner (something calorie efficient but nutritious) if hungry, skip if not hungry, or something in between if most appropriate. If the over-goal earlier eating gave me some extra energy (happens sometimes) or I just felt like it, I might do some extra activity, but not with a "make up for" mindset.

    For me, that sort of thing isn't mentally healthy, or particularly helpful. For me, "making up for" can lead to a roller coaster of indulgence and compensation, possibly a poorer attitude toward both eating and activity . . . I don't need that. Mental health - i.e., balance - is important, too.

    Some things I believe:

    One day's intake is a drop in the ocean. The majority of our days determines the majority of our progress.

    Food isn't sin that requires us to suffer to expiate it. It's just food. We need some, not too much, the right stuff to get reasonably nutrition at appropriate calories, from foods that are tasty and practical to us, ideally.

    Weight loss is a process of experimentation and adjustment. For me, it's trying to narrow in on a set of reasonably-happy habits that I can practice and perform more or less on autopilot, to stay at a healthy weight long term, ideally permanently. Experiments inevitable involve some outcomes, on the way, that aren't productive to the long-term objective in a direct sense. As long as I think of them as learning experiences, rather than "failures" of a "bad person", they can actually contribute to positive progress by showing me things that aren't helpful for me.

    Guilt or shame are optional, burn no extra calories, feel icky, don't help me succeed. I try not to go there.

    (FWIW, I'm in year 6+ at a healthy weight, after around 30 years previously of overweight/obesity. I'm not saying I'm set forever, because IMO weight management is permanent part of life, not a project with an end date. So far, so good, though. 🤞)
    crb426 wrote: »
    AZAlyssa wrote: »
    Mom24_2021 wrote: »
    I usually just eat my dinner and call it a day. Depending on what you have your goals set to, you can be over and still have eaten less than what you need to maintain or gain weight so I always try to keep it less than what my maintenance calories would be

    I hadn't considered evaluating the calories against the maintenance level. That is a helpful way to frame it. Thank you.

    This is when I take a peek at that "in 5 weeks your weight will be..." number at the bottom. If it's higher than my current weight I know that I'm over maintenance. If it's the same or under, then I feel just fine if I ate more than I planned to that day.

    Of course, if it is more, then I know to chill out for the next several days and just make sure I track a little better. It won't completely mess you up to have one over day now and then, it will just take a little bit longer to get to goal.

    This is a useful tip!

    But, FWIW, it may not be universally applicable. MFP (set up with correct info for me) will tell me that in 5 weeks I'll weigh more. It did that when I was losing weight at a good clip, it would still do that now, even though I've been maintaining a healthy weight for 6+ years now at roughly my current calorie intake.

    It's just an estimate. Yes, it's right or close for a lot of people (average people, i.e., most people), but I'd encourage people new to calorie counting not to over-rely on that metric until sticking with counting and body-weight tracking for at least 4-6 weeks to either validate or know how to adjust MFP's estimate. It can be a bit off (high or low) for some people, surprisingly far off for a rare few. That's the nature of statistical estimates. We don't know for sure where we fall on the scale of average-ness. (Reasons for being statistically unusual may not be obvious, either.🤷‍♀️)
  • Justin_7272
    Justin_7272 Posts: 341 Member
    I would typically opt for something filling and low calorie. If you don't have healthy left overs (chicken breast, for example), opt for something like a Lean Cuisine/Healthy Choice and is filling and feels like a meal. You can also use snacks like canned green beans/frozen boxed veggies that are low calorie. If it's your jam, add some hot sauce, seasoning, or what not that adds a lot of flavor without the calories.
  • Cheesy567
    Cheesy567 Posts: 1,186 Member
    edited January 2022
    I eat my dinner as planned if I’m hungry and get right back on-track. If I’m not too hungry or just snackish I just go for something high-protein like greek yogurt with protein powder.

    Then, look back at the day to see what set me off-plan, and make a note to help plan for it in the future. Busy with errands and grabbed a snack or fast-food? Plan for that snack and bring it along, or plan for fast food and plan something that fits in with my meal plan (think ahead with restaurants and entrees that are ok in a pinch, have a list to draw from.)
    Weekends that you like to meet up with friends for an outing? Save up calories through the week for it.
    That time of the month and you’re dealing with true hunger? Up to maintenance calories for two days.
    Been too restrictive for the past week and you “blew it”? Lighten up your goal and adjust your calorie deficit a bit.
  • SelfCaren22
    SelfCaren22 Posts: 5 Member
    I'd eat a reasonable dinner and try to calculate better the next day. Me personally, if I allow myself to get hungry, and then stressed from kids or whatever, I'll get flustered and binge eat. It's better to have a light dinner, even if I'm over, than a binge session.
  • Lullaby2021
    Lullaby2021 Posts: 121 Member
    AZAlyssa wrote: »
    What is your approach to higher calorie days? Not talking about a major binge, but those times when meal planning fell by the wayside and you're "out" of calories after lunch? Are you done eating for the day? Do you exercise to earn some back? Just eat a reasonable dinner and get on with it? Just curious what others do.

    When out of calories at lunch. I Eat dinner as usual. Dinner will be 300-500 calories I still plan. Which lead me to maintaining for that day(1,900 average calories). Somedays I take a walk when I over eat. To bring back balance to my deficit.The walk is usually 30min-1hour.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 2,079 Member
    I would likely just trim back my dinner, unless I truly wasn't that hungry, in which case I'll go ahead and skip it.

    In the case of trimming dinner back, I'd just consider the day a loss in that regard. I have other days where I don't eat all my calories (not on purpose, just am full and don't really want any more food), so it can go both ways as long as the "over" day isn't another day's worth of calories (which I can pack away in one sitting unfortunately).

    As for exercise, while I sometimes will push a little longer than I had planned, or make sure I go do something extra in order to enjoy some extra food, I wouldn't want to use it as a punishment, either.

    If I know a potentially big meal is coming up (for example, if I know I'll be going out for dinner with the bf), I may bank some calories earlier in the day so I can enjoy that meal a bit more.

    Shoot, the other day I even planned on such a day/meal, and was not holding myself to stay in my calorie budget as long as I tracked everything (honesty over adherence in this case). Due to banking calories though, I actually ended up UNDER my calorie goal and so full the last thing I wanted was more food.
  • peggy_polenta
    peggy_polenta Posts: 325 Member
    depends...are you eating dinner because you are hungry? or eating dinner because its dinnertime and that's what you are supposed to do? if the latter...you should start examining your relationship with food and why you think you have to eat even though you aren't hungry...just because the clock says its time to eat.