This question is simply out of curiosity-

Is there a certain number of calories that if you surpass, you feel like you messed up? Not for people who count calories, exactly.

For me, once I hit about 2000 (because I've been eating all day long or something), I feel like I blew it. Because this will happen before 1 PM.

How about you?

I'm just curious, what exactly do you mean by "blew it"?

And what do you do afterwards?

I'm just asking because this seems like very self-deprecating talk and not very helpful with long term success.

Maybe reframe it somehow to not seem so negative.

"I exceeded my target for today"...something like that.

I try so hard to not "blow it" anymore. If I eat off my plan, I get right back on. There is no "starting again tomorrow", no "starting again Monday", etc.

The last time I said I'd start again Monday was about 10 years ago...so that didn't work so well for me.

So what works for me, go off plan (hopefully not) and get right back on. Acknowledge it, add it to my journal/MFP, get back on plan. End of story.

Hope this helps you!

While I disagree with the connotations of "blowing it" (as in, I am a failure and should feel bad about it) I do have a point where I feel like I went too far overboard. I don't count calories but if I'm consistently (like 3 days in a row) having a "little extra" here and there, I feel like I've gone too far. Does that make sense? This week was full of birthday parties for my family (brother and husband have very close birthdays) so I ate a lot of cake and cookies (3 pieces of cake and about 6 chocolate chip cookies, all homemade by me!). Do I feel bad about it? Sort of. Do I let it dictate how I'm going to eat the rest of the week, yes. I am going to eat lower calorie and be more stingy until weigh-in. At no point, though, do I feel like I blew it because it is TOTALLY NORMAL to have cake, I just shouldn't have cake 3 days in a row! I hope this made sense!

I don't go by calories or weight since I don't count calories and don't weight myself.

When I can't buckle my belt to the third notch, I know I've blown it.

I totally know what you mean by blowing it. For me my calorie cap is pretty low cuz I don't get much exercise and am short so sometimes I want to just stop counting and call the day a right off after about 1750 but I try not to do that cuz if I stop eating at 1750 I'm alot better off than if I say "this day is ruined, I'll start again tomorrow" and eat til I'm sick.

Blowing it for me is not about a particular number; it's about knowing deep down that I ate in an out of control manner. Not eating because of hunger or nutrition, but eating because I was mad or happy, or bored. My lifelong problem is eating to solve problems that can't be solved through food, so if I resort to that, then I know that I've blown it.

It doesn't meant that I continue to blow it, however, or stop working on it.

My "I blew it" doesnt come with calories, but just how much crap I ate. It various on days. I always seem to "blow it" at night - after being great all day, I end up eating way to much junk at night. Luckily, after a heart to heart with the hubby, we both have decided that no more junk food is allowed in the house!

This for me.

The last time I lost weight I was counting calories and the stress of having to weigh and log everything got to me. Every time I went over I felt bad, even if I went over because I was hungry.

I've just started changing my eating habits and I'm trying to figure out what works best for me. So right now, the only blowing it is if I eat an entire piece of cake rather than taking a couple of bites to satiate my desire for it.

Around 1,800+ (w/o exercise) and then I'm not a happy camper when I get to bed that night. If this happens then I just make sure to eat lower calorie the next day and I never eat two high calorie meals in a row. Never. Checks and balances.

I also look at things a little different. I don't "critique" myself (for lack of better term) based on day to day I look at the overall week. How many times did I eat out vs. how many days/hours did I bust @ss in the gym. If the gym far exceeded my cheat meals then I'm usually in the clear. I still have 3p to lose but I'm excellent at maintianing that's for sure. I have recently really ramped things up because I just want to be at goal already.

I never feel like I blew it, because that implies that I'm defeated and the choices afterward don't matter because of failure. I just don't believe that. I *think* I know what you're getting at, in which case if I am more than a meal's worth over my daily calorie target it's fairly off plan for me, but I really don't give it more thought than a mental shrug!

Resilience in these matters and perspective - those are SO important

Like the others, I don't like to think of it as failing, but if I eat at or go over maintenance calories (or what I think might be maintenance calories), I feel like it's a wasted day and I'll be paying for it on the scale and it will take THAT much longer to get to goal because of it.

So, typically that's about 400-1000 calories extra for the day -depending on whether or not I exercised and how my I exercised.

I don't count calories, but I'm aware of them, and if I notice I've eaten an extra 350 or so, that's a problem. I take it out the next day, immediately.

On days, that life goes awry for whatever reason, I track it, and move on. Keeping in mind over the next few days, I need to be more mindful of my food choices, and throw in a bit more activity.

The "I blew it" mentality, is a way of making the excuse you need to justify to yourself to quit.

The problem with this mentality is it gets you all of the health issues my Mother has from a lifetime of "I blew it!"

Trust me, you do not want to go there!

I know what you mean, but even though I count calories, I consider the day not so good when I eat too much sugar. Even so, there's always tomorrow.