I'm pretty new to the whole counting calories thing but I've been doing okay, consistantly coming in just barely below my 1600 daily goal (using FitDay).

Today however at a party I fell off the wagon big time and hit nearly 3200 - twice my daily goal.

So my question is - tomorrow do I just go back to 1600 and not look back? Or should I run a bit of a deficit for a few days to make up a bit of lost ground. What is best for my metabolism?

thanks for your insight!

What I would do is move on to the next day and not look back. You can get into the habit of "making up" for days .. and that can spiral into a really bad thing.

OTOH, there are some things you can do .. for example if you know your splurge included lots of sodium, then drink as much water as you can to help flush that out. Sometimes also if I feel that I've overdone it on a particular item (say, too much red meat), I'll try to balance out my diet over the next few days. But that's more in choice of *what* I eat, vs. trying to "make up" calories.

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Yeah, what PhotoChick said. Tomorrow is a brand new day, but some extra water and balance can't hurt! And don't be too hard on yourself. Everyone falls off the wagon every once in a while. The important thing is to hoist yourself back up on that sucker!

I would just eat as normal tomorrow. Maybe get more exercise this week. An extra 1600 calories is only about 1/2 a pound, that's not the end of the world.

I wouldn't recommend weighing tomorrow, as you will likely be retaining a lot of water and show a larger gain than that.

lol...oh my gosh, I just barely posted about falling off the wagon too! I did the same exact thing at a BBQ today, only I ate way more than 1600 calories. I probably ate a total of 2500 today! It seems like every time my daily routine is thrown off course, I end up eating stuff that I wouldnt dream of eating normally.

I'm going to take fiberlover's advice to you and not weigh myself tomorrow or even the next day. I tend to get discouraged easily when I see the scales go up (even if its just water weight) and I dont want to see the gain. I wish I had the will power to just weigh once a week!

You watch though..in a few more days, you'll see the scales starting to go back down and this little bump in the road will be forgotten completely!

I always try and forget it and move on. I just keep in mind what made me splurge so that next time I know to avoid it. Lol. I never cut back my calories to make up for it it, because it can lead to overeating. Just start new tomorrow!

I saw a dietician on a morning talk show (Rachel Ray I think) and she said that the worst thing that you can do after a high calorie day is to crash your metabolism with a super low carlorie day. She said that if you are going to do anything about it, reduce your calories for the next few days by 100, but no more than that. So I suppose if you were 1600 calories over you could eat 1500 for a couple of weeks, or, forget about it and move forward. Just don't try to make it all up in a couple of days or your metabolism will fight back.

Thats great advice. Next time, I am going to eat my regular lunch at home and then when I am at a BBQ, I will just pick at a small plate of food to be polite. There's always plenty to do to help out at other people's houses. There's no reason why I have to get in that buffet line.

And April. So far in the 15 years that i've had had Internet access, you are the 2nd person that I have seen that lives anywhere near my area! (the other person was from Malone) I live in a small hamlet outside of Massena, NY! I've been to Plattsburg shopping many many times! Its only about an hour and a half from me! My nephew is going to college there in the fall.

Nice to meet you.

Thanks so much for all the advice! I started this morning with a big glass of water and a piece of grilled chicken breast and I'm ready to go forward. I don't weigh myself every day - usually once a week at work. I'm not bothered by a bumb in the road to losing, I'm more interested what helps my metabolism the most. I've been eating 5 small healthy meals a day and feeling great. Yesterday was the first party since I've started so I'll chalk those calories up to an "educational experience".

I don't go to many parties or BBQs but there are always some. Plus six months form now I've got Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to. It is not in my nature to only take the green salad and ignore Elaine's yummy deviled eggs. But if I'd eaten before the party it would have been easier to only have one egg instead of three. I don't regret the bit of cake either, but I should have asked for a smaller piece. I'm sure my body was a bit shocked by the influx of fats and refined sugar but I'm realistic about myself - that's going to happen occassionally (say, once a month maybe). What I learned from yesterday is how to limit the shock and what I've learned form your great answers is how to go forward.

I'm going to go get another glass of water! Thanks!

Hi Vladadog--

I love your transformer Avatar. Also i love the way these women think!! I just posted in Valley's thread about her "slip" after reading everyone's kind and sensible advice and come here and see more of the same. It just serves to remind me yet again what a great place 3fatchicks is.

So how come the news media doesn't make a huge deal out of a place like this? Oh yeah i forgot this is good news. It doesn't sell.

Keep up the good work Vladadog

I did good today, just under my 1600 goal. And I'm so new to dieting, where the weight goes off the fastest, that when I weighed myelf tonight (I work the graveyard shift so 11pm is morning for me) I had lost another 6 pounds since Saturday. I know later on the weight won't come off as fast (especially if I go to too many parties and don't work on my willpower!) but right now it sure was nice to get that little positive boost.

My next trial is the bucket of leftover KFC in the fridge here at work. I do love KFC... I will be strong!

Leftover KFC: Take all the skin and breading off and throw it away. Cry a little.

Then chop up the meat of the chicken and use it in a salad or a casserole.

Healthy use of leftovers w/out the worst of the fat and calories.

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So right you are, PhotoChick. Stripped of its yummy skin and breading a KFC chicken breast is oly about 300 calories according to fitday. A bit of a splurge but within acceptable limits. Still, it was hard to throw the skin away.