I'm out of calories and it's only 2:30pm

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Janellew86
Janellew86 Posts: 33 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
What should I do? I have mfp set to lightly active and to lose a pound a week .

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  • tomcustombuilder
    tomcustombuilder Posts: 1,626 Member
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    You have to plan your calorie intake so that they're spread out more or possibly get into Intermittent Fasting.
  • loulee997
    loulee997 Posts: 273 Member
    edited November 2023
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    Janellew86 wrote: »
    What should I do? I have mfp set to lightly active and to lose a pound a week .

    Is it a trend or a bad day?
    I had a bad day the last 2 days. My doctor is playing with my meds so my appetite spiked. My stress at work is super high.

    I made some bad food choices. I even bought one of my favorite stress binge foods. I KNEW not to do it--and I did it anyway.

    In the long run, I had 2 bad days after 35 really good days. Am I frustrated with myself? Yes. But I can start over again.
    IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM
    If you do this every day, that is a bigger problem.
    Are you like me and want 'quick food' during the day? If so, you have to make sure you are providing yourself with some better quick food choices.

    Are you snacking too much?
    Binging?

    Does adding protein to your diet help? Sometimes too many carbs early in the day triggers me to want to snack all day. Protein early may help.

    Can you not stock the thing you like to overeat on?

    Can you distract yourself from overeating? Walk. Talk on the phone. Play a video game.

    Do you have your calories set correctly on your counter?

    What to do in the short term?

    Eat lightly tonight. Veggies and light fruit. Or veggie soup. Eat--but eat lightly. Skipping dinner will make tomorrow harder.

    Start over tomorrow. Try planning at least breakfast and lunch. Be realistic. What will you really eat?
    If you are a snacker, provide yourself with some low calorie stacks--pretzel sticks, fat free pudding cup, air popped popcorn.

    Good luck.
    T
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    It's just one day of many days and tomorrow is a new one. This is one of the reasons I pre-logged my days to the best of my ability when I was keeping a calorie diary. Failure to have a plan is a plan to fail
  • shel80kg
    shel80kg Posts: 148 Member
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    Most of us "experienced" dieters, fall off the wagon sooner or later. It is not just a lack of discipline but a disjointed, dissociated and (almost) automatic return to old patterns of behaviour. Our brain is a plethora of neurological patterns and programs and it is so easy to activate the most established and cemented ones without blinking. My sense is that with deeply established eating patterns. we have to create an entirely new land scape for ourselves and see ourselves in that unfamiliar environment making better and healthy choices with love and respect for our bodies. Each thing we eat will move us towards what we want to achieve or throw us back. There are no short cuts and no magic solutions. Just our minds deciding what is most important: immediate gratification from addictive foods or a decision to respect the longer term advantages and benefits of a healthy and sustainable eating regime. It really is up to us.
  • frhaberl
    frhaberl Posts: 145 Member
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    Great suggestions above. I especially like the suggestion to see today as a learning opportunity. I personally avoid using the term "bad day" because it fits in a thought pattern I'm trying to break, but I definitely have my "not a day I can have consistently and reach my goals" days. They usually don't sneak up on me because I pre-plan most of my eating, but they are definitely more frequent as we get into the holidays.
    Here are my tips:
    -Consider taking a walk. This is NOT intended to burn off the full calorie overage, but to clear your head and distract yourself from food thoughts. Make it a self-care walk where you listen to a podcast or music you love, or write a mental list of all the things you are doing right. While you're not trying to burn off the calorie overage, I definitely would enter the activity so you can celebrate the decision to do something for yourself and get to see the overage drop a bit.
    -Eat mindfully the rest of today. If you are hungry, eat. If you are angry at yourself, try to recognize that as "not hunger" and do something other than eating to address that feeling.
    -See if there are other nutrition goals you can meet today. If you're going over your calorie target, can you choose foods that will support your other nutritional goals? Are you not at your protein or fiber goal? Lean towards foods that will get you to that goal.
    -Use this as a "practicing maintenance" day. If you're at a "lose 1lb a week" level, that means you have 500 more calories before you hit what would keep you at the same weight if you consistently ate at that level. So give yourself those 500 calories to budget for dinner and see what a day of maintaining that weight would look like.
    -Learn from today. What situations/decisions got you to your calorie target at 2:30? Are those things you can avoid in the future? Is your target achievable at this time/pace? Are you really "lightly active", or should you adjust that setting? Do you want to be more active and would be motivated by the extra 100-300 calories you would earn through that activity?

    Hopefully you can end this day on a high note, even if it's an "over target" day.
  • Janellew86
    Janellew86 Posts: 33 Member
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    I went for a walk and burned 243 calories. So, I burned most of the overage off. If I get hungry, I'll eat. :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,900 Member
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    I usually have the same breakfasts and lunches. I have to prelog new meals, or I will run out of calories.
  • Janellew86
    Janellew86 Posts: 33 Member
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    I ended up eating again and being 250 over for the day. I had an egg sandwich with cheese on keto bread.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,166 Member
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    Janellew86 wrote: »
    I ended up eating again and being 250 over for the day. I had an egg sandwich with cheese on keto bread.

    If you've been losing more than half a pound (bit over tenth of a kg) a week on average, you were still in a deficit for the day, still losing fat, so no great issue. Certainly not worth stressing over, IMO. (250 calorie daily deficit will result in losing roughly half a pound a week.)

    Another way to look at it is that you delayed reaching goal weight a few hours or so. Is that a big deal? I sure didn't think so when losing. :)

    I'll bet you've guessed I'm generally in the "learn from it, revise your plans to avoid repeats, let it go" camp. That said, I also believed, during loss, that certain things were worth a short delay in reaching goal weight, such as enjoying a holiday or birthday. It's a drop in the ocean, IMO.

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