Making up for overeating?

[edan]

What should you do if you are on a reduced calorie diet, and fall off the plan and overeat? I don't know why but I probably had over 2000 calories by lunch after a stressful morning. I had been doing well with a reduced calorie diet and losing a few stone.

Should you just not eat the rest of the day and have a few lower calorie days than usual to make up for it and average it out or something?

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I don't know what you do since I am not into calories. I just don't eat carbohydrates.

 

[Japes]

If I've over done it on carbs, I just go as low as I can on carbs for a couple of weeks, which seems to work.

 

[Neohdiver]

What should you do if you are on a reduced calorie diet, and fall off the plan and overeat? I don't know why but I probably had over 2000 calories by lunch after a stressful morning. I had been doing well with a reduced calorie diet and losing a few stone.

Should you just not eat the rest of the day and have a few lower calorie days than usual to make up for it and average it out or something?

Depends on why you're on a reduced calorie diet. If it is not a critical health matter, just log it (if you're logging),eat within limits (excluding the extra calories) for the rest of the day and move on with life. If your weight maintenance calories are 1800/day, and you eat a reasonable supper (500 calories or so), you'll only be over maintenance by 1/5 of a pound. No big deal. You have to eat 3600 extra calories to pack on a pound.

If limited calories are immediately critical to your health, figure out your calorie quota for the week and "absorb" the calories by shorting each of the next 6 days by 300 calories or so.

Just don't punish yourself for this morning's excesses by depriving yourself enough that you feel as if yo need to reward yourself with another day of overeating.

Generally, though, I'm with japes. What matters for me from a diabetic standpoint is wehther I went over on carbs. I watch those like a hawk - and am pretty forgiving about an occasional day of excess calories.

 

[AndBreathe]

Personally, I wouldn't do anything too drastic or there's the possibility of setting up a yo-yo of over then under eating.

Draw a line on the episode and get back to your plan. Stuff happens and flogging yourself isn't the answer, in my view.

 

[edan]

i dont limit carbs, i eat however many i happen to eat which is usually 100-200 a day. I just count calories to lose weight, usually aiming for 1200 a day but some days i go up to 1600. Except today when i must have eaten 2000 by lunchtime! I thought i had ruined everything. If its at least 3000 to gain a pound of fat though then i am sure i havent managed to eat 5,000 caloriess today so cant have eaten enough to gain a pound.

 

[chalup]

Its a blip on the radar. Sometimes a high calorie day can actually shock your body into letting go of a pound or two. Just finish your day as usual and carry on with your regular diet tomorrow. You can't actually do much damage calorie wise in one day as long as it doesn't turn into a week. Carbs is a different story.

 

[Kristin251]

I agree with chalup. A shock day is sometimes a good thing but as a diabetic I don't think shocking it with carbs is a good thing. I like to shock it with a big burger. Once a month or so I need a higher calorie meal to feel good but never higher carbs.

It is a blip, done, over, gone. Move forward

 

[bobrobert]

I have read other evidence that this works. Personally I have done that for over two years on a weekly basis and my blood levels were 8.3 when diagnosed and are now 4.7. I have a Chinese meal and ice cream and eat low carb for the rest of the week.

 

[edan]

Thanks for the replies, and sorry, i thought i'd posted in the low calorie forum not the low carb forum. As stated above i dont low carb, i have no problems eating high carb meals, for example had 105g carb (from vegetables) in dinner last night and blood sugars were fine, i just bolused for the carbs. My cgm said perfect range after. I only count and limit calories, not carbs.

I found my weight to be higher for 3 or 4 days after the day i fell off, then suddenly dropped and i ended the week 2 pounds lower than i started it, though it was odd as i spent most of the week a few pounds higher thn previously. Must have been water retention i guess.

 

[Brunneria]

I think the most important thing is to avoid 'catastrophic thinking' (you know, the kind of mindset where you eat more than usual, think 'sod it, I might as well have a bit more...' and then find yourself sabotaging).

So I would just draw a line through the event and carry on as usual.

Presumably, the goal is weight loss, rather than weightloss to a specific target in a set amount of time, so you are going to continue until you hit your goal, whether that takes a day or two extra, so just keep plugging away.

Oh, and one more thing - don't get too attached to the idea that 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat.
That has actually been comprehensively debunked, with attendant studies (I can provide references if anyone wants them, but it is discussed in detail by Jason Fung on his blog, and Zoe Harcombe recently gave a great presentation on the subject at a diabetes conference). The reality is MUCH more complex, and our bodies are very sophisticated at adjusting our basal metabolic rates depending on intake and situation.

 

[edan]

My thinking is so black and white, and i'm so easily drawn into catastrophic thinking, that is the reason i quit every time i give up dieting. As i stick to weight loss for a longer and longer period of time, and as i lose more and more weight that i ever usually manage (started at 18st7 and now down to 14st10) the idea of having a day off and eating more than i should gets scarier and scarier. Just feels like there's a lot more to lose by having a day off now and the catastrophic thinking kicking in than if i was still at the start of dieting. Not sure if i explained that well enough, basically the mental side of dieting is getting harder the more successful i am.

I do have some specific targets in mind but not set in stone or for any particular reason though. I'd like to be 13st2 or 3 by christmas, as that is i think considered overweight for my height.

 

[Bellatom]

I have put on loads of weight because of diets as I used to say monday I starting my diet so would eat as if I was never going to eat again then Monday came and everything good for a couple of days then I fall of the wagon and I used to think broken now so will have what I want now then start again tomorrow but more times than not tomorrow never happened.
Now I follow the advice from most people on here pick yourself up tell yourself its happened get over it and get straight back on the wagon and carry on with the good way of eating believe me this definately works.