Do you ever go over calories for the day?

I usually never do but today I am. By a lot. About 500 calories. Its the first day of my period and I was starving. Then I caved and had a handful of m&ms. Ugh. Now I'm crabby.

Any words of wisdom? I guess I just want to feel that I'm not alone and that this isn't the worst thing in the world.

It definitely isn't the end of the world if you go over your calories one day. Maybe have a plan for what to eat if you feel yourself starving again tomorrow? If you plan it out, you might be less likely to reach for those M&Ms. Something with fiber, or something with protein will fill you up with less calories.

It's not the end of the world for One Day but it is potentially a Slippery Slope. 500 calories a day for 7 days = PLUS one pound.

Do you keep a log/journal of what you eat and your cycle? (and any other things that might affect mood and eating) It could be worth it. Over time you'll not only see patterns but be able to plan for them in your calorie budget.

Out of interest, what is you daily budget?

I don't worry if I go over a bit one day because I know from tracking my calories for nearly a year that a few days every week I'm a couple hundred calories under my limit.

With that said - I try to make all my calories count. Ideally I'm filling my belly with healthy well balanced calries but I'm eating "junk" calories then I want them to be really worthwhile ones. For example, I totally love caramels - really all they are is buttery sugar and pure 100% heaven as far as I'm concerned. However, my health and goals are more important to me than some cheap dried up old caramel I find in the pocket of a coat I haven't worn in a few months. In the bad old days I would have unwrapped that baby and scrafed it right down. Not the new improving me. But whenever I'm in the local store that sells Bequet caramels I'll buy one. Just one. And it is worth every calorie and I don't regret it if it puts me over for the day.

Make your calories count when you're counting calories!

I agree with everything that has been said so far. At the same time . . .

IMO, I think one of the most important lessons I've been learning is how to handle high calorie days (I don't call them cheat/treat/off-plan days) well, and incorporate them into my lifestyle without freaking out or feeling guilty.

Some days will naturally be higher calorie, and some, as Vladadog said, will naturally be lower. What I noticed for myself, especially as I got more into calorie counting and tracking, is that I was attributing feelings of "good/success" to low calorie days and feelings of "bad/failure" to high calorie days - even if my weekly averages were the same as if I'd been right at daily target calories.

The slippery slope for me, because of my personality, is obsession, guilt, and lack of flexibility. So recently I'm trying to pay more attention to weekly averages and not get freaked out when my Daily Plate bar graph shows a day above the red line. That's HARD for me, because I want to be "perfect." But my motto for this entire journey has been "Progress, not perfection," and I think this is one of the reasons that this lifestyle change will be sustainable for me in the long-term.

I have had those days, too. I have learned just to move on the next day and stay on track. I don't think you should beat yourself up about it too much because it leads to excessive worrying which isn't good.

My husband went to an NBA game this weekend and had a piece of cheese pizza and he totally freaked out (he's finally starting to watch what he's eating and exercising), and he kept talking to me about it throughout the day. I told him it's not worth worrying over it that much. He didn't eat a whole meatlovers pizza. It was one piece of cheese pizza to tie him over at the game.

Dear Amanda,

Yep, I do go over my calories sometimes, and no, I don't let it bother me at all! Like JenMusic said, I think it's more important to pay attention to the bigger picture. If this is something that you're doing regularly (multiple times per week, every week), then yes, it might be a problem. But if this only happens occasionally, it's not going to have a huge impact on your weight loss.

To me, if there is a problem with what you describe, it's not that you went over your allotted calories for the day, it's that you ate a food that you didn't seem to want to eat and felt bad about it. For me, that would be the thing I'd want to work on - looking at why I chose to eat that food, why I didn't think about it first, and so on, rather than focusing on the calories. In my opinion, it's far more valuable to reflect on the emotional, psychological side of things rather than black and white things like calories eaten, pounds lost, and so on.

I guess another thing that seems problematic to me is that you're describing feeling "starving". Of course, weight loss via calorie restriction requires reducing calorie intake, but it doesn't mean you should feel uncomfortably hungry very frequently. It's normal (and healthy) to feel hungry before a meal, but if you keep finding yourself feeling really hungry, perhaps try to consider how you can alter what you're eating to be more satisfying to you.

In short, I don't have any foods that I "ban" or anything that's "off plan", and trust me, there have been a not inconsiderable number of days where I've gone over my calorie limit, but I've still lost 70lbs. Going over your calories for a day isn't the end of the world, but use this opportunity to reflect on things that may affect your ability to lose weight more seriously - such as "automatic" eating and habits relating to food, emotional relationships with food, and so on.

Best of luck

I try and go over one day a week to keep my body from getting in a rut. When I was being consistent every day having the same amount of calories I got stuck in a plateau. Now I go over once and day and things are definitely moving down. I'm actually now planning two high days a week to keep my body guessing and keep it knowing that food will be coming in to it.

Jesse -- how many extra calories a day do you eat on your high days? Just curious.

About 500. Basically I try and stick to 1400-1500 calories a day and then have a 1900 calorie day. I try and make the calories count with a steak or sweet potato, something nutritious but if it's a Reese's, so be it. I do love my Reese's.

I'm with Jesse, I usually do two high cal days per week. Keeps me happier and able to stick with things and keeps my body happier as well. I seem to be able to lose more consistently.

On my first high day, I eat above maintenance calories. My second is usually right around maintenance calories or slightly below. There's no set amount, because I use my activity level to judge this via my BodyMedia FIT.

Of course I do. I am sure many of us do. It is not the end of the world. Get right back on track and you will be fine.

"Cravings" are our body's way of telling us we need a certain nutrient. Unfortunately, we sometimes give it that and then some!!!

One day, or one meal will NOT effect your weight loss efforts. Savor how good those M&M's were and move onward and downward.

It is only the end of the world if you let it be. I think the biggest challenge most people face is how to deal with a day like that. "I've blow it" syndrome is probably one of the biggest reasons why people fail at losing weight. If you eat a little more than usual at lunch it can cause you to feel like the day is a lost cause, so you might as well have something "special" for dinner as well. And why not dessert? You'll get back on plan tomorrow...then tomorrow turns into monday, which turns into never... Just remember, you have not blown it. No matter what you do, you haven't blown it yet. Even if you break down and eat a whole pizza or a giant candy bar. You have not blown it until that moment when you decide to eat something crazy because of what you already ate.

I agree with what a lot of people here said, keeping track of what you eat and your moods might help. Were you really "starving"? Sometimes in my cycles I feel the urge to eat all day long, but I'm not actually hungry at all. I feel driven to eat, even though it's not a real, honest to goodness hungry feeling.

That's not necessarily true. Here's a link to a CBS news story about diet myths. And if you aren't a fan of CBS, here's another link.