is it ok to go over calories?

Look at it this way... If your calories are set to lose 1 lb per week, you could eat 500 calories over on any given day and not be in any danger of "gaining weight" on that day... if you are set to lose 2 lbs a week, you could eat 1000 calories over, on just one day, and still be at maintainence.

So PLEASE don't worry if you go a little over every now and then. I have lost over 70 lbs in the last 6 1/2 months and if u look at my diary I am over on most days,

going over every once in a while will trick your metabolism. if you eat the same amount every day it starts to expect that much. its a matter of how often and how much you go over. if you're going over 50 once every 3 days or so, thats different than going 500 over every day.

Sometimes its hard to do either. On my work out days its sometimes hard to eat back all those calories. Then there is the days I don't work out and have like 500 calories less to eat and struggle. I think if weekly it balances out sometimes even when the day to day doesn't.

I go over my calories probably two days most weeks, usually one day is at least 200 to 300 over and the other is more like 100 over. I don't lose weight really fast but my goal is to lose 15 lbs and I have lost 10 in the past several months. There are usually a couple days a week I just can't fit in a workout, or take the day off, and I don't deprive myself of eating what my body feels it needs, or splurging a little here and there.

Rluca is right. The mathematics behind weight loss is actually pretty simple; if you're looking to lose 2 pounds a week, the site calculates it this way;

1 pound=3500 calories.
2 pounds = 7000 calories.

-2 pounds/7 days=1000 calories per day below your maintenance rate.

So if you overshoot your calorie goal by 300 calories one day, and your calorie goal is set to help you lose 2 pounds a week, you're still going to be 700 calories under your maintenance calorie intake (the number of calories you'd need to eat to remain the same weight that day).

You're slowing yourself down a bit, but you're not doing anything self-defeating.

I'm going over to a friend's dinner party tonight and I estimate that by the time I'm done I'll have probably passed my calorie goal for the day by 1000 calories. Since I set my goal to lose 2 pounds a week, the extra 1000 calories should put me right up to the point where I don't lose any weight today. If I go over I'll probably stall my weight loss for a couple days, but by Monday I'll be right back to dropping the pounds again. As long as you don't splurge too often, you should be able to handle an occasional day like that without hurting your efforts too much. Just try each day to hit your goal and don't get too down on yourself if you overshoot. The people who are convinced that they're failures every time they miss their number are a lot more likely to give up than the people who can forgive themselves for their mistakes; nobody wants to stick to an eating plan if it makes them feel horrible about themselves, after all.