I've been working out for 8 weeks now, and am seeing some results already. I only weight myself once every other week and haven't weighed in over a week, so I expect to be somewhere around 20 lbs. lost. I am very excited and love all the new little changes that losing 20 lbs. brings. I am having a problem, though, so I am here looking for help!

I keep a pretty rigid calorie budget daily, between 1500-1700 calories. I am not starving myself, but I have been noticing that the last few days I have been eating past my budget by about 100 or 200 calories. I even it out by having less calories another day (I don't plan it, by body just kind of adjusts itself), and I try not to beat myself up about it. I'll admit I am a bit of a perfectionist and am really hard on myself. My question to you lovely ladies and gents is: how do you relax and not be so hard on yourself? Does it take faith to realize that this process actually works? I'm often surprised that I am losing weight, even though I am working really hard. Any suggestions? Thanks!

Going over by 1-200 calories shouldn't hurt you. I keep my calorie budget between 1700-1900 just for that purpose. Give yourself a little cushion. Now if you see yourself going over your limit but alot more that's when you need to take a look at what your eating. I keep sugar free pudding cups around. If I get the munchies I have one of those and that usually curbs it. Or I have a big hot cup of green tea. Some do not like the taste of green tea, so have what ever you like to drink.

Tara

I think you're doing great! Sometimes I feel the same way. At times I've caught myself beating myself up over eating a cup of carrots and therefore pushing me over my daily caloric limit.It's times like those when I just have to take a step back and realize that I've never heard of anyone gaining weight from eating too many CARROTS and that an extra 50 calories a day won't result in adding back those 60 lbs.

It can be such a thrill to see the scale so down, and you want it so badly, that it's easy to get wrapped up in every calorie. At the same time, I'm not sure I would have lost the 60 lbs that I have if it wasn't for being a little obsessive. I think my point is this: if you screw up, don't beat yourself up over it. Just get right back on the wagon. But also don't beat yourself for being particular about your calories - this is weight loss afterall, and you're not going to get there by just guessing on your calorie intake, ESPECIALLY at the beginning. I, like most others, was VERY surprised to see how many calories i was really eating (usually a couple hundred more than I thought I was).

Hope his helps!!

I keep my running average in the range I want instead of worrying if a particular day is too low or too high. My range is 1200-1900 keeping average 1500-1600.

I'm seeing that my body likes to eat more some days and MUCH less on others... so my range is more along the lines of 1000 to 1600. Not on purpose that little... my body just feels absolutely HORRIBLE if I eat more than 1600... don't ask me why... you would think that with my height it wouldn't be the case.

But yeah. I think you're fine... just continue averaging it all out... and keep at it! Don't let a few "over" days ruin your whole thing.

You are probably building muscle and losing fat and that increases your metabolism and your body wants the fuel.

Besides, 100 cal is a piece of bread or an apple. Are you REALLY going to get all crazy over that?

After you've been at it a while you will get to know your body and what it does. You'll be able to relax about some of it because you've seen it before.

A.

I agree-- it just isn't realistic to keep to an exact number of calories every day. Some days I'm just hungrier, and when I'm hungrier I eat a little more... I keep my range between 1200-1500. In order to lose well I need to stay in the 1200-1300 range, but if I have a higher day I try to relax and take the long view. I've been at this for almost a year... I'm a former binger and I learned early on that I was going to be a little bit flexible to keep my old binging habits from kicking in.

You're doing great!

Thank you so much everyone for all the insight and good advice! I really appreciate it. I don't know why I got all wrapped up in the little numbers and missed the forest for the trees. Thanks for giving me some great perspective!

100-200 calories won't be a problem once or twice. A range of intake works best because it's flexible to real life -- some days you're hungrier than others, or there are bigger meals than yesterday.

It's when you begin eating those 100-200 calories every day again, raising your intake overall, that it becomes a problem. Changing from a 1500-1700 range to a 1700-1900 range might slow down or stall your loss. (it might not... some folks lose slowly but consistently on an average of 1800/day)

What I'm most impressed with is that you're aware of those extra calories, and have taken note of them. That's half the battle, I find. It's all too easy to eat extra calories and NOT be aware of them, not record them, not take them into consideration in the next few days' menus.

But you are aware of them, noted them, and probably will adjust your plan the rest of the week to compensate for them.

THAT's a great achievement.