[RGSG99]

I just started really watching my calorie intake. According to most sites I have looked at I should be eating between 1600 and 1700 calories per day in order to lose at a healthy rate. I have been at or below 1600 calories per day all week. Then we get to today...

My son's birthday party was today. While I resisted the cake and had NONE (yay me!) I couldn't resist the homemade ice cream my mother made. I have gone over the 1700 mark today by 72 calories. Did I absolutely blow it?

[jillybean720]

I think you need to put calories into persepctive. to gain 1 pound of fat, you need to eat 3500 calories MORE than you burn. If you're eating 1600-1700 calories per day to lose weight, then you're already eating less than what your body needs each day to maintain your weight--otherwise, you wouldn't be losing at this amount. A typical calculator telling you how many calories to eat to lose will give you a number that is likely a few HUNDRED calories below your maintenance level. You will continue to lose as long as you stay below that maintenance level (even if you just usually stay below it, as in your average caloric intake for the week is below that maintenance level).

The short answer I'm sure you're looking for: 72 calories in the course of a week will more than likely not even make a difference. But it seems to me you should do a bit more research and really understand this whole calorie counting thing. If you understand how calories really work, then you will be much less stressed.

[edzard]

Be sure to relax a bit with it or you could go crazy! Remember you can never know exactly how much is in each food without scientific analysis. I did the super strict once before and burnt out for a few years. This time around I decided to try and aim for no less than 1200 cal and no more than 1800 cal. I think our bodies expect us to vary in our intake and probably get confused by too much strictness. Besides then you can aim for a bit lower on the other days if you lean toward a day or two that are heavy. I noticed the fit day tracker has "estimated" that for the week my calories are at 1600 or so, that was nice to see when I has a couple days on the high side of 1700 it reminded me that earlier in the week I had done better. I know now that the next few days should focus on more veggies to bring the average lower if I am worried about my intake.

Hope this helps (plus I never like to say I have blown it or I might fall off the wagon).

Echo

[Steelslady]

Originally Posted by RGSG99

I just started really watching my calorie intake. According to most sites I have looked at I should be eating between 1600 and 1700 calories per day in order to lose at a healthy rate. I have been at or below 1600 calories per day all week. Then we get to today...

My son's birthday party was today. While I resisted the cake and had NONE (yay me!) I couldn't resist the homemade ice cream my mother made. I have gone over the 1700 mark today by 72 calories. Did I absolutely blow it?

I sent you a PM explaining how I handle such occasions. I've been losing an average of five pounds a week (because I am heavy to begin with, lol), with several special occasions in two weeks time (two planned, one not- we didn't know about the BBQ until we got there). I NEVER feel cheated or deprived of the foods I love.

[littlered]

Originally Posted by Steelslady

I sent you a PM explaining how I handle such occasions. I've been losing an average of five pounds a week (because I am heavy to begin with, lol), with several special occasions in two weeks time (two planned, one not- we didn't know about the BBQ until we got there). I NEVER feel cheated or deprived of the foods I love.

Hi, Steelslady,
can you pm me too? I would love to hear your secret.

[trooworld]

I think that to say you blew it would be being too hard on yourself. It's not like you went over by 1000 cals, and if it bothers you you can always eat 72 cals less tomorrow. You already said that you need to eat no more than 1700 cals to lose weight at a healthy rate...well, you ate 1600 cals all week, so by my math, you ate 600 cals less than you needed to, which more than makes up for those 72 cals.

[Heather]

I always see the goal to average a certain number of calories over time... so if you are under some days and over other days, that should be just fine.

[Kery]

Be assured that you haven't 'blown it' in any way. I guess you should add a 0 or two behind 72 calories to really, really do that. What we are supposed to eat on a day is an average, which is anyway impossible to calculate precisely. For instance, when I eat an apple, do I need to substract calories because I don't eat the heart of the fruit, or is it already taken into account in the calories counters? No, seriously, we have to be strict when counting, but some things still and will always elude us, and we have to be aware of and ready for that.

72 calories overboard is nothing extrele to worry about, as long as you don't pile those extra calories over and over again every day for three months, that is, but I very much doubt it's in your plan. Maybe you'll exercise for ten more minutes tomorrow, and will burn those out. Or maybe you can have one less yoghurt and recreate the deficit again. What mainly counts is what you'll average over the week (we all understand it doesn't mean 20000 calories one day and nothing during the remaining 6, right ). If this is good, +/- 100 calories on a specific day won't make much of a difference.

So, you haven't blown anything. Those 72 (or 172, depending on how you see it) are nothing you can't 'make up for' later on.