[df180]

ate too few calories yesterday. with the 400 calories i burned around 10pm at the gym, the day came to only 477 calories!.. and its after midnight. i didn't do it on purpose...my goal is under 1500 a day, so i'm eating as i type this.

this has happened a couple times last year. also i'm wondering since i count calories everyday. should i add the calories to yesterdays total or should i add them to todays total?

and has this ever happened to you??

[yoyoma]

There have been a few times that I didn't eat enough on a day while counting cals, either because I was sick or super busy (not because I wanted to target a low number) and I would make a point of eating more the next day.

I think it's fine to journal each "day" as your wake period, and count the cals you eat after midnight as part of the previous day's wake period. If you don't do that, I wouldn't try to stick with your normal calorie count today.

[tinneranne2]

If I'm awake, the day isn't over. I don't care what time it is. I would hate to wake up with 600 calories to eat for the whole day because I was still up snacking at 4am. lol.

[sammymilner]

I tend to average out my calories. Therefore if I am following a 1200 calories a day diet I will make sure that I get in 8400 a week.

I understand where you are coming from though, I often have some days where I have 600 and other days when I have 1500. And usually its down to more exercise than usual and burning more than I planned to burn.

[twinieten]

While I understand under eating is not a good thing, I can't see how a day here, and a day there will do much harm. I think the overall average of what you eat is the main goal, as the previous poster said I would just move on, and eat as you normally would. No need to make up calories unless you have multiple under days.

For situations such as this, I keep protein shakes handy. I try to keep a shaker cup and a container of one serving in my gym bag at all times. That way, when i leave the gym, I can fix up a quick protein shake. If not, I can do this at home. I also figure that after a workout, my body probably likes the extra protein anyways.