Do you force yourself to get to the goal calories?

Hi all!  Stats first:

30 years old, 217lbs, 3rd week of calorie count.  Daily goal calories: 1300.  Daily burn (at sedentary) 2040.  Goal weight: 170, no timeline.

So, today I inadvertantly had a very low calorie morning.  (I didn't realize I was out of snack crackers at work, and I didn't have time to leave to buy more.  The horror!)  I decided to go to the fitness center anyway, because I don't want to break my routine, plus I needed the mental pick-me-up after a kind of crappy work day.  I ended up burning an extra 300 calories, putting me at 2300 burned for the day.

When I got home, I made dinner: fish fillet and spinich, with olive oil.  When I logged it, I realized how way under my calories were for the day, and I know everyone here emphasizes how important it is to get at least 1200 for the day.  So I added some ice cream, yay!  Still way below.  Added a cup of blueberries.  Still below!  I finally got up to my goal by eating some rice cakes, but I really, really wasn't hungry for them.

What do you do?  Do you eat even though you're not hungry, just to stay in the target zone?  For the record, I still ended up with a 900+ calorie deficit, but I gave up at that point.

If I was in that situation, I'd probably have done what you did, with the exception of the rice cakes... :)  I probably would have had a PB&J sandwich a little later instead of them, though.

I don't sweat a day that's quite a bit under my usual target, like once every couple of weeks.  I just don't make it a habit.  But I would be at 1000 calories under my burn calories on a semi-regular basis.

Clint

if im not hungry i dont eat. my body tells me when i need sustenance and i trust it.

If it happens rarely I don't see anything wrong with it. On rare occassions I have 0 appetite after I work out but I usually have a few more (300-400) to make my caloric intake goal for the day. One time I tried force feeding myself but I literally almost threw up. So I didn't make my intake for that day, it didn't affect my weight loss at all.

Thanks everyone!  I figured I was probably overthinking it, and it's not like eating too little is usually a problem for me!!

I used the zig zag approach to lose around 95 lbs. I never, or rarely, ate my goal amount, but rather saw my gaol amount to be my average caloric intake for the week. That way I could eat less on some days, when it was easy or convenient (low appetite days are the best way of achieving that... don't knock them) and eat more, sometimes way more, on days when I am being especially social or indulgent.

I found that shaking things up like this kept my body guessing, and therefore burning, everything I ate instead of storing up calories as I would if I were in starvation mode.

My average per day was 1800 calories. I started out at 251, and kept this zig zag thing going until I was 165. Now I eat an average of 2700/day, and am maintaining a weight of 154.

I think this might work well for you. You can have your low calorie days, and then "make up for them" on the week-end, or whenever you choose. I found this to be a fun way to plan my week, and to keep me losing weight like crazy.

Cheers and Good Luck!

Mike