Need Help, I've already ate too many calories for the day!!

Ok.  I screwed up majorly this morning.  I ate 1040 calories for breakfast. (western omlet with cheese, grits with butter and sugar, and toast) Uggg....  Anyway, so I just exersized and burned around 800 cal (running, elliptical, crunches for 1.5 hrs).  If I should stay under 1500 cal a day, what are some suggestions of foods I can eat for my meals today that will keep my metabolism going but not go over my cal intake limit????  I know I have to keep it light, so what about fruit and fresh veggies, nothing else? Would that work??

fruits and veggies are a good start. Try veggies with lots of fiber - broccoli for example. I would say lean meats - such as chicken. It does have about 200 cals for 4 ounces, but if you had that with 2 cups of broccoli, I would think you'd be pretty full for a while. Sometimes I just eat oatmeal for dinner with maybe 6 ounces of fat free yogurt and fresh fruit mixed in. That keeps me full the rest of the night and is usually just over 200 cals. Hope this helps!

Try a frozen meal - I just had a weight watchers smart one meal for 230 calories and 2.5 grams of fat - this way you actually eat a meal.

Fruits and veggies might work, as long as you don't feel so deprived by the end of the day that you binge and make things worse.

It may be a good day to eat maintenance calories and go back to a calorie deficit tomorrow. I would think if you just burned off 800 calories excercising (I'm tired just imagining it) that you would have some room to wiggle without actually gaining anything today.

Wow! Was it good? I eat chicken salads with bacon bits, croutons, carrots, cucumber and lite dressing. It is usually around 210. Does not hold for too long though. I am at 500 after lunch, so maybe I could have an omlet for dinner.

 

Hey there.  Your best bet is to spread out the calories, and don't put them all into one meal.  I do think that breakfast should be a hearty meal so that you have energy all day and kick-start your metabolism.

 I'm not sure what you like to eat, but veggies and fruit make great snacks in addition to side dishes for meals.  I personally eat carrots throughout the day when I want something crunchy to snack on.  Pretzels are good too, you can even dip them in some peanut butter to add some sweetness. 

Your meals should consist of mostly lean protein (chicken, turkey, fish, pork) and veggies.  I'm a carb fiend, so I have to eat my carbs, but I try to make sure they are the smallest portion on my plate.  Good Luck!!!  And don't forget one bad day won't kill your goals as long as you don't let it pull you off track!

If you ate 1040 for breakfast and then burned 800 cal, you are now at 240 calories total. So you can still eat 1260 calories throughout the rest of today. Isn't that fairly normal?

Do NOT eat fruit and veggies and nothing else. Veggies are good, along with small amounts of fruit (fruit can really add up in calories believe it or not) but make sure you get in lean proteins. A meal should consist of protein, carbs AND fats. Try a hearty salad with meat/tuna, veggies and some cheese in it. Or chicken with lemon and steamed broccoli. Or brown rice and beans with avocado. 

i'm tired just thinking about that exercise :O  but congrats to you for being motivated enough to do it!  i'd say eat the fruits and veggies but add in some proteins too!  after all that exercising your body definately needs some proteins and even a bit of carbs.... just spread it out during the day... with all that exercise you basically evened yourself out so you don't need to go too overboard.

Have what I am having for dinner, one chicken breast marinaded in honey and mustard, one sweet potato boiled, and a whole side of veg, its hardly any calories :)

Good for you for burning it off in the gym!

Thanks guys for all your help.  I actually ended up with a deficit of 1000 cal so far.  And  I had one piece of fish, slice of dill pickle, and tuna on wheat. I'll start tomorrow off alot better.

What I like to do when this happens is just continue as per usual.  That is, I'd have a normal lunch and dinner after a big breakfast like that.  Sure, I'll go over my calorie limit for the day--but I'll also be stuffed, and not quite as hungry tomorrow, so I'll eat less in the days after a high-calorie day like that.  That way, I get to spread the extra calories over several days instead of starving myself for half of one day.  It's a practice called calorie banking, and I love it because it gives me the freedom to have a large meal if I want to without ruining my weight management.  I use DietPower, which uses calorie banking automatically, but you could also just use a simple spreadsheet or pen and paper to keep a running total of how much you're "under" or "over" for the day and create a "calorie bank" that you can deposit into/withdraw from whenever you feel the need.

i find that eating a whole apple (uncut/unpealed) is filling, tastey, and usually kinda fun to eat.

Thanks for posting such a great question.  This seems to be my major problem when I binge.  I get all ticked at myself and think...  "Well heck, I just screwed myself, I might as well eat what I want."  Then I "binge" (not sure if my definition is the same as most peoples, I don't through up, but have often wished I could).  Soon, one binge day becomes two and three and all of a sudden I'm back where I started, if not further behind.

One thing I'm trying to do with the help of everyone here is like micronutrient said and just take over where I left off immediatly instead of binging.  And forgiving myself for being human and having a bad day.  I also don't want that forgiving myself to become an enticement to fail (I'm rather lazy and can see this being an issue for myself).

In fact, today was a restart after a 3 day binge.  I could list all the excuses I gave myself, but I just didn't want to worry about what I was eating at the time.

Anyways, I'll quit rambling...

Thanks to everyone for posting the question and the responses.  This is exactly the type of support I'm looking for.

I also used the program Diet Power in the past, and loved some features this site doesn't have, but I like the ability to log onto the internet to track my stuff and the support system this site has.

Wow--try brown rice with mushrooms and green peppers (and soy sauce) for breakfast (strange perhaps but good and filling).  It's easy to cook it in advance, put in the refrigerator, then take it out, put a cup in the microwave with 2-3 chopped mushrooms, green peppers, and soy. 

I eat constantly through the day, but usually only have 900 - 1200 calories by 5:00 p.m.  Then eat another 500.  I think the problem you are having is with food choices.  I could not get through the day if I thought my choice was between a western omlet OR only fruit and veggies.  I eat rice crackers with hummus, yogurt with raisins (1/4 Cup) and banana, chopped.  Toasted rice bread (because I cannot tolerate gluten) with 10-20 gm of cheese melted, etc.

 You can do it!