so day 1... I tracked everything in fitday and had calculated roughly 1750-1800 would be the amount of calories a day to start with.

I am pretty satisfied with having eaten an apple, a chicken breast sammich I grilled up on the foreman grill (with a tbsp of mayo) and 4 small dill pickles for dinner.

I have 200 calories left. Should I eat them? I don't want to end up under by 200 every day and then when the loss stalls have to cut down from 1600 to 1500 to get it movin again.

OR

can I sort of add up those extra calories I didn't eat hypothetically and go over on my calories one day during the week? such as.. I tend to eat out on the weekends when I'm with my friends - can I add those calories in to that meal if I have not used them during the rest of the week?

Does any of this make sense? lol

I would try to eat some of them. I wouldn't stuff yourself to being miserable or binge on something bad for you, but maybe a bit of whole fat cheese? An ounce of cheddar cheese is about 100 cals. Or a banana?

I try not to dip more than 100 - 150 cals below my daily goal if possible. Some days it's just not possible (and some days it's a struggle to stop at 1500 ), but I think the closer you try to be to consistent, the better.

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Maybe you should try calorie cycling - 1800 one day, 1500 the next, 1600 the next, back to 1800 - some do it and have seen great results - that way you don't ALWAYS have to feel like you have to eat 1800 calories.

Also, if I feel the need to get in more calories at the end of the day - it can be easily done with a some of the examples above or peanut butter (2 TBLS = 200 calories), almonds (or any nut for that matter), or even some high fiber toast with butter, jelly, or pb.....

bottom line - don't stress over it - some days you'll hit your goal, some days you won't.

I am also very interested in the calorie cycling, and have looked into it some. As of right now, however, I feel like I'm doing good to keep track of the calories and just have rough estimates. I'm getting better at this, but it's quite a change from what I'm used to.

I would not worry about the 200 calories. Yes you can bank them and go over another day - remember the calorie target is an average. I would aim for a weekly average.

I generally set a minimum limit for myself and only worry about undereating when I get below that minimum. 1500 would be a good bottom limit for you.

I have a calorie target of 1500 - 1600 and only worry when I get below 1300 and generally only if I get there too many days in a row - I have found it can back fire on me and then one day later I will be famished.

Best of luck - Lori

Any tracker will give you an estimate only. You can't know whether the calorie level it tells you is really what you should be eating or not until you've done it for a couple of weeks.

I wouldn't worry about being "spot on" every day. There are days when you'll be more hungry than others, most likely. If you're 200 cals under and you aren't hungry, and you're not consistently under 1200 cals, then why eat them?

Generally I don't think in terms of carrying calories over. Each day is a start and and end.

It's the average that counts, as another poster said, but at the same time, I don't agree personally with large fluctuations ("zooming" or "zigzagging"). That hasn't worked for me--it just messes up my average and my weight loss stalls.

Good luck! Keep going for two weeks and see what the scale tells you.

Jay

thanks for the info everyone. i may try a few dif. things for the first couple weeks and see what happens.. i dunno yet.

i did end up eating those calories - well to 1755 - i had a spinach leaf salad, 1/3 c. 2% cottage cheese and 2 tblsp of light caesar dressing. very filling, low calorie and good protein.

i feel good that i ate so much food throughout the day and still stayed where i was supposed to. i LOVE spinach salads! and I find if i add the cottage cheese i dont need as much dressing in general. I used to pile on the ranch and caesar. now i have caesar light and a raspberry vinigarette spritzer for the lighter days

anyway, thanks for the ideas i will take them all into account!

GB, for the salads, a way to have less calories is to use a tbsp of your regular creamy dressing, and mix in a tbsp or so of sour cream, which has fewer calories. Guacamole is a favorite of mine, a little mixed with sour cream, on some salads (depends on the ingredients). If you stir the dressing in with the spinach first, before adding other ingredients, then 2 tbsp is plenty to coat the whole salad lightly, and it tastes good! I used to pour on gobs of dressing before I discovered this trick!

Anyway, good luck to you. Sounds like you're doing great so far, and have started off with a good number of calories. I lost a lot of weight with 1800-2000 cals, and just am switching to 1600-1800 now as an experiment, since my weight loss has slowed the last 2 months.

So I'm down by 400 calories!!! ICK!!! Yesterday I went over my 1900-2000 now I'm under. We'll be going out for a little bit... when I get back I think I'll be having some fruits, veggies and some tahini or peanut butter... I'm not super hungry...but I don't want to starve my body!! and I exercised a lot today... 60min watp 4mile, 30min walk and then 40min bike ride with DH... it was fun, but I need a bit more... maybe I'll be hungry when we get home

I mix in vinegar with my dressing to spread it out for BIG salads. But not everyone will like the strong tang that extra vinegar will impart to dressings, but I do. I eat some salads with just straight garlic red wine vinegar, yum.

I don't get this eating your calories. My thinking process goes if you have the left over calories, you will lose more weight. I've read about ppl who lose more when they eat, but I don't get it. For instance, on the daily plate, if I put in 2 lbs a week to lose it's 1700 calories a day, if I put in 3 lbs to lose 1200 calories. So the less I eat the more I'll lose.

ahhh, so confusing!!

Well, for me, I need my daily calories to support my activity level. I get up and go to the gym in the morning after a small snack, and on the rare occasions that I didn't meet my calories the day before I start running out of steam partway through my workout.

I understand where you're coming from, but the mindset of 'the less I eat, the better' is a slippery slope. Your body needs fuel to function properly.

I know, it's just really confusing! That may explain why I am so tired as of late. I try to work out 4-5 times a week, 30 minutes on the elipical and some weights. I have my calc set to 2.5 lbs a week to lose and that is roughly 1500 calories a day. When I work out I do eat those cals back, or try to. But on days I don't I almost treat it as a bonus.

And if I eat nothing at all, I'll lose *really really really* fast!

It's a balancing act. Yes you can drop your food consumption a lot and maybe lose weight pretty quickly ... at first. But eventually your body will say "whoa - I need fuel to function and I'm not getting fuel" ... so instead of shedding that weight, your body will start to hold on to every ounce. It's a natural biological reaction that is meant to keep you from becoming undernourished.

So if you eat very little and you work out a lot, then you're burning off calories that your body needs to function.

It's better to eat more and burn off calories than it is to eat a whole lot less ... and that's why losing weight works best with a combination of eating less and exercising more.

.

BornToFly

The calorie targets set by sites such as The Daily Plate can only do basic math. These calculations only provide a guide or a starting point of where you should set your calorie target.

As Photchick mentioned this is a balancing act - you want to create a calorie deficit that will help you lose but you also need to eat enough food to help your body work optimally and you want to set a calorie target that you are comfortable with and contain over the long run.

This number is different for everyone and you need to find what works for you through trial and error.