I have been going over my target calorie goal lately and kept doing the same old "I will start again tomorrow" and will eat whatever I want tonight since it is my last chance before getting serious again. It was like the groundhog day movie and I kept reliving the same day over and over and always ending with the idea that I would start fresh and be on track tomorrow.

So about 2 weeks ago, I decided to track anyway even though I was over my calories. Usually, I would see that I've gone over the limit and get really upset and keep eating since in my mind I had already blew that day anyway. My calories over the week were 1600, 1800, 2100, 1500, etc and I wasn't going to the gym. To my surprise, I'm down a few pounds after two weeks and my pants are fitting looser. You don't have to eat only 1200 or 1300 calories a day to lose weight. I think calorie cycling played a big part in the drop as well.

The lesson I'm taking away from this is don't get depressed because you go over your strict calorie goal. Just try to eat at or below maintenance for the day and no harm done.

I'm very glad you did that and found that you indeed don't have to only eat 1200. I realize it is different for everyone, but for myself, I found the same thing. I was strict 1200, starving, cranky etc. I kept upping my calories 100 or so at a time. I'm up to 1600 or so a day and still losing, and much happier. Always great to find out things like that!

I agree with you about the benefits to tracking calories even when you're afraid of what you'll see. I realize that this time around, as tempted as I am not to track my calories when I know I've overeaten, I refuse to stick my head in the sand (it's what I did in past attempts, and it's one reason I regained in the past). I've had the same experience as you, i.e., tracking my calories, expecting to cringe, and being pleasantly surprised that I hadn't eaten as much as I thought. (Of course, I've had the opposite experience as well ; either way, it's better to know).

We had a barbecue here for my dad for Father's Day yesterday and though I tried to keep myself under control, it was a stream of small portions of chips and salsa, potato salad, baked beans, dessert, etc. all day long. I forced myself to count every calorie and even though it was a few hundred over my budget (with no exercise yesterday) my FitBit pedometer showed that I took 11,400 steps, and the damage was not nearly as bad as I had imagined.

Today I still felt unusually hungry, and though I tried to be sensible I was still almost 300 calories over budget. Instead of getting frustrated and eating more, it motivated me to stop eating for the night, get on my stairstepper for a half hour, and also do some weightlifting.

My point is that you are so right orlandogirl about not getting discouraged if you go over budget. It doesn't ruin the entire endeavor, and sometimes it turns out to be a big motivator. But count everything no matter how bad you think it is going to be!

Congrats on losing a few pounds!

definitely. i have a higher cal. day each week and am 16 1/4 lbs in 3 weeks.

It's so easy to get into the mind trap that this has to be 'tough' or we can be 'stricter'. Why? Why must the weight come off in 10 months? or a year? or (fill in the blank)?

Eating better and eating less and moving more is supposed to be a lifelong journey. Most of us probably didn't gain the gazillion pounds in 10 months, so why the race to get it off?

Every single day that you eat less than you burn, you are losing weight. Even if it's just 100 calories a day, that's almost a pound a month. In a year that's 10-12 pounds. In 5 years that's 50-60 pounds... It's all in the right direction -especially if fitness is being added.

1200 calories a day while exercising is TOUGH and there's no reason to go there - really. No wonder diets fail - we make it hard when it doesn't need to be.

I love this post, if only for the reminder that there really isn't a time limit to weight loss. We don't have to kill ourselves to eat 1200 cals/day - and I have to remind myself of this too. Too often I beat myself up for eating over my limit, but sometimes I still lose, just not as much. So why not raise my limit and ease the personal pressure?

Ha, Ha. This has totally been my pattern over the last couple of months.

Great post. Exactly why strict calorie counting isn't necessary and is just too frustrating for all but those that need to feel like they are in complete control. It usually just isn't that important to stay strictly under an arbitrary number. Good job in realizing this.

Lin

This is true, however i am smack bang in the middle of two sci fi conventions and i only have 4 days where i can truly be on track. I am taking these days to go uber low cal. I have no chance of exercising over the weekends either and junk food is my only option.