Went over my calorie goal today ☹️

Clairecottam30
Clairecottam30 Posts: 19 Member
in Motivation and Support
I've been dieting for just under a month or so now, I've been so strict with my habits and keeping at or below my 1200 calories a day but today I've gone over. I feel terrible. I know its not the end of the world and I will get bk on track tomorrow. Does anyone else feel terrible when they go over their limits.

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Not really.

    I figure that the majority of my days are going to trigger the majority of my results. One truly rare day when I eat too much cake or work out for 5 hours isn't going to massively change my course. Averages matter, exceptions not so much.

    When I was losing, I did consider days when I went over, think about how/why it happened, estimate the impact of the specific overage amount (i.e., time delay to reach goal weight), and think about whether the reason was worth that delay.

    Sometimes it was worth it, like if I had a special restaurant meal with out of town friends, or it was my birthday. Sometimes it wasn't, like if I over-ate something that wasn't really all that rewarding or delicious just because it was available, and did it for no great reason.

    If it wasn't worth it, I'd spend a limited amount of time (10 minutes?) thinking about how to handle the same scenario if it came up in future, then rehearsing the new plan vividly in my head so it stuck. Then I'd log what I ate, and let it go.

    For me, guilt feels icky, and I don't like feeling icky. Feeling icky doesn't improve my future outcomes. Making a better plan possibly can improve future results.

    Maybe that's just me, I dunno.

    P.S. It can be helpful to know your current weight-maintenance calories. If a person is over calorie goal, but below that maintenance number, they can still expect fat loss . . . just a little slower, that's all.

  • Clairecottam30
    Clairecottam30 Posts: 19 Member
    I'm currently sat at 10.5stone. Down from 11.2 in about a month. I havent been working for nearly 2 weeks so I haven't managed to get my 11k+ steps in a day, I'm on holiday atm so I feel like my evening meals are heavier. I'm still very concious on the morning sticking to poached eggs on toast but the past couple of days I have had more than I needed on a night. I havent gone over 1300calories but I'm worried when I get home on Saturday I would have gained and I really dont want that.
  • TracyL963
    TracyL963 Posts: 114 Member
    Keep in mind the scale sometimes lies. More sodium than usual.....water weight. Time of month....water weight. Sore muscles....water weight. Give yourself credit for all your hard work. You are striving for progress, not perfection.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,622 Member
    Clairecottam30 wrote: »
    I'm currently sat at 10.5stone. Down from 11.2 in about a month. I havent been working for nearly 2 weeks so I haven't managed to get my 11k+ steps in a day, I'm on holiday atm so I feel like my evening meals are heavier. I'm still very concious on the morning sticking to poached eggs on toast but the past couple of days I have had more than I needed on a night. I havent gone over 1300calories but I'm worried when I get home on Saturday I would have gained and I really dont want that.

    1200 calories is a very minimal calorie goal, usually only needed by women who are quite petite, inactive, and older. If you've only eaten 1300, that's still quite low for someone as active as you are. It would be very unlikely that you'd gain fat on that!

    It is true that certain things can add water weight, and make it look like we've gained fat when we haven't. Eating an unusual mix of foods is one, also getting more exercise than normal (or different exercise), and very definitely air travel or long car rides (which is a common part of holidays).

    If you find the scale up a few pounds when you get home, it will more than likely be water retention rather than fat gain, especially at such very low calories. Don't panic, go back to your regular healthy routine, give it a couple of weeks, and any water weight will sort itself out. (If you are of an age to have monthly cycles, it might take up to a full cycle to normalize, if hormonal water retention conspires with travel-related water retention.)

    As an aside, your loss to date has been really quite fast for someone of your current size, even granting that water retention shifts will sometimes make early losses look larger. A common suggestion around here is to avoid losing faster than 0.5-1% of current weight per week, with a bias to ward the lower end of that unless quite obese.

    There are various reasons for that, from minimizing health risks to recognizing that we can only metabolize a certain amount of fat daily per pound of it we still have, so fast loss risks losing useful lean tissue alongside fat loss. But one reason is sustainability: Restricting severely can result in snap back of appetite, for example.

    Try not to worry too much, but do enjoy your holiday. It'll be fine, I'd predict. Best wishes for long-term success!
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,838 Member
    No. If I'm under half the time, I need to be over half the time to average just right. Or something like that.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,206 Member
    Nope don’t feel bad. Usually over eating just puts me at maintenance calories for the day, which does no harm. If I am sick or have PMS, I may do this on purpose to alleviate some of the stress on my body.

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