what do you consider a "bad day"? (calorie counters)
 

so i METICULOUSLY count calories. my daily limit is 1200. today i had 1246, and i feel like i went over and didnt have a good day. am i being too black and white here? whats the "line". if you go over by 10 calories, is that a bad day? what about 100? wheres the line for you?

Umm I don't think you went into the deep end.

Oh and to answer the question, for myself, I guess if I get up around 100 over then I may smack myself but not too hard. Now if I get 250, 300 or more over then I get a little more upset but thankfully that doesn't happen often.

yeah i dont consider days like this a "bad" day, or like i went off plan, but i do wish id stayed at or under 1200. i was curious if the rest of you have a number of calories where you cut yourself slack, or a number where you consider it a "bad" day.

I think you may set yourself up for failure by being so strict. A range is helpful - maybe you could do 1200-1400 and shoot for 12. But if you stay in that range, you should certainly continue losing.

Don't be too hard on yourself.

totally. i want to make it clear that im not like bummed over this, but i do feel like i went "over". i was just wondering if other girls shoot for a "range" or what number above their range/limit makes them feel like they had a bad day.

My range is 1300-1500 these days

I have calorie counted for a long time (fitday and then daily plate) and always did the range - not zigzagging per say, but I definitely did not always hit the target. It looks to me like you are doing wonderfully - I know you don't want to get complacent - stay vigilant, but perhaps build in a little leeway to your plan.

My range is 1700 - 1900, and I don't stress if I head towards the 2000 mark once in a while.

I work on the theory that as long as I'm losing (no matter how slowly) I'm happy with my intake. I want to max out the calories I allow myself to give me room to manoeuvre when I hit maintenance. I love my food too much to restrict drastically, and I find that I break out and go over if I'm too tight.

My range is 1500-1700 calories per day. It looks like most here have a 200 calorie "cushion" for lack of a better word hehe.

You know, I work out hard in the summer, so I am not strict at all. I mean, I know when I am going crazy eating out too much or scarfing too many homemade goodies. It shows on the scale and the way my clothes fit. I just look at it as, maybe I will really not limit myself at all today, and I can make up for it the rest of the week if I am little out of control one day. It is never anything I can't handle or rein in within a couple of weeks at the most.

As I've mentioned before, I aim for an average target over a week. Some tools, like FitDay, allow you to see this value for any timeframe you want to choose.

It's unrealistic to try to eat EXACTLY some number of calories every day. Ups and downs are normal, and calorie values are just estimates anyway.

When I'm tracking, I allow about a 30 calorie variation above or below my AVERAGE target, over 7 days. I try to avoid big swings, though, on a daily basis.

Jay

I'm with everyone else, I stick between a range and I do some zigzagging. But if ever I am hungry and need more calories then I will exercise to make it up.

It can as simple as(for my weight) running around the yard playing tag with the local kids (your it) 15 min 120 cal, 10 min jog 96 cal, walking while shopping ::yeah:: 30 min 96 cal, 30 min after dinner walk at a steady pace 196 cal.

I try never to believe it was a "bad day."

This is my dieting philosophy exactly, except my range is 1800 - 2000. I smack myself a little when I get to 2100 and I know that I could've controlled some of my mindless cravings, but usually I'm at 1900, which makes me happy. :)

Warning, numbers geek answer ahead...

I keep a running 30 day average of my calorie deficit which is calculated by my calories eaten and exercise type and amount. I keep that average about 1167 (theoretically losing a pound every 3 days).

So I don't specifically plan how many calories I eat on any given day as long as the average stays in that range. When I check back in history I find my range appears to be 1100-2100 with average a litte over 1500.

I consider myself having a bad day when I eat something I don't need without thought or hunger. When I mindlessly try to fill a fathom void. It could be 50 calories over, or 500 calories over, but if I'm eating for reasons other than hunger I get pretty upset with myself. I worry that my old patterns of morbid obesity are trying to sneak back into my life. If I want to be one of the rare 2% that keep their weight off permanently, I have to keep on top of every calorie in my humble oppenion.

I really do think this thought process is different for those who have suffered from extreme obesity vs. a few pounds overweight....but maybe not always.

Sunni, that's what I do too :D

Generally I don't consider my days good or bad, and instead look at my overall pattern of behavior. Some days I eat more, some days I eat less, but as long as I'm making solid progress I don't worry too much.

OMG girl, no wonder you are having trouble with that scale. You need to eat. I know you have GOT to be burning significantly more than that.....

I aim for 1600 calories a day, but I fluctuate between 1450 and 1750 on a daily basis. My calorie averages for the past 4 weeks are: 1671,1750,1628,1667. So you can see I actually average a little OVER 1600. I could cut that back somewhat but honestly, I like to have a beer or a Skinny Cow once in awhile so as long as I'm losing I'll keep up how I'm doing.

I only consider it a bad day if I go over maintenance, which is 2000 when I don't work out and about 2300 when I do. That's happened maybe twice in 3 months, and I make up for it during the rest of the week. I don't feel too bad about going over since I've been tested a couple of times and know that it's second nature for me to get back on track. Same with going to the gym; I don't sweat it too much if I miss a couple days in a row, because I know I will be back in the gym come Monday for my spin class, and exercise will always be an integral part of my life for as long as my body is able...missing a couple of days doesn't put me in danger of getting out of the habit and never going to the gym again, kwim?

Weight loss is not linear so I figure that since the body is consuming/burning calories, I don't worry about going over by a couple hundred. Now I get really upset with myself if I go several days of going over my limit.

Hey cary - since you have the data, I'd be interested to know if your weight loss so far is in agreement with your calculated calorie deficit since you started? I think it is an interesting topic - I may start doing that to see if my weight loss is comparable to what I think my calorie deficit is. Would certainly help me to know if I am calculating calories burned for exercise, etc. correctly. :yes:

For me, I have a range of 1500-1800. If I go over by 100 or so.. or even reach 2000 on some days I don't worry about it, because even there I am still at a deficit. I'd say about 90% of my days I am around 1600 - 1700. Like forestroad, I only consider it a bad day if I go over what would be maintenance calories.. I tend to beat myself up a bit too much where eating is concerned, so that helps... negative thoughts/beating myself up was why I didn't stay on plan in previous attempts.

well, I give myself a range unless I am zigzagging for a plateau. Though honestly lately I have not been counting just keeping a mental check, but my low carb/high carb method seems to keep me dropping weight. of course higher carb days are higher calories.

1246 is almost too low. but I eat less than that sometimes on low carb days. So I don't think you are in the red at all.

I assume there's a lot of error in calorie calculations. In many cases, especially with any non-whole food, there will be measurement error in the ingredients, formulation updates, yadayadayada. Even with whole foods, the bomb calorimeter readings have a lot of variation sample to sample, so even the laboratory is doing an average. I use a wide range of 1200-1800 and just try not to get into that upper range more than once a week. "Bad day" is exactly what Lori mentioned - anything that isn't part of the plan for the day. I think she's right about the mindset differences too - as much as I hated that extra 20 pounds, I've been completely unwilling to be rigid about losing them. So if I whine about how long it's taking - feel free to smack me, because it's totally my choice. I eat like someone who only wants to lose weight part-time - and my results show it.

I rounded everything I ate to 50 or a 100 anyway, so I never worried about 10 calories. I ate a range, 1400-1600 and tried to stay in my range.

I am a perfectionist, so I didn't want to get bogged down in my own personal calorie counting obsessions, so rounding works best for me. I am at maintenance, but still count my calories everyday - still using the rounding/ballpark method.

I range between 1600-2000 Calories averaging about 1800 per day. I know we are all different but I really can't see myself ever eating below 1400 calories I would get too hungry. I don't usually care too much if I go over if I felt hungry through the day and just needed more food. A bad day is when I just eat too many empty calories and this caused me to go over 2500 calories.

That is exactly what I was going to post :)

This is it exactly - if I am eating well and genuinely hungry then going over my daily calories by even 500-1000 is no big deal, because I'm still within my range for maintenance and satiety is my biggest guiding signal. But if I am eating junk or mindlessly eating over my calories that is when my personal flag goes up.

I generally like to be within the range that helps me lose about two pounds per week (right around 1500, adjusted for activity) but my body is in constant flux, so if I am more hungry I eat more, less hungry I eat less, paying attention to the quality of my nutrition and not sweating planned overages (like my day at the fair yesterday) or 'overeating' because my body is genuinely hungry.

I'm losing slowly, but it works for me. Calorie counting, like the scale, is a tool for me and not the bottom line of my success or failure in weight management.

A bad day for me is eating over maintenance. It's especially bad if I don't exercise (I rarely don't exercise though). A day when I make a lot of bad junky food choices is a bad day too.

Part of the reason I came up with this plan for myself was I can't "win" when I get on a scale. If the number is better than I expected, then I slack off. If it's worse than expected, then I think "what's the use". So I started this plan in April but didn't get on the scale until until July 4 and it was EXACTLY what I had predicted.

I haven't been on a scale since, but I watch that running average every bit as obsessively as those folks that are checking the scale everyday. But I find it easier emotionally to get the average back down than I ever did when scale crept up.

My next weigh in is tomorrow and I suspect the news won't be as good but I expected the rate to slow as I got better at the exercise I do (and hauling around a smaller body) would decrease the actual deficit even with eating the same. I will report in after that weigh in and am also going to make adjustments based on what I see.