Last Updated on May 21, 2023 by Michael Brockbank
I went a bit overboard in my eating without getting in enough cardio. There were a few extenuating circumstances and that’s just how the day played out. So, what I am going to do after eating too many calories?
Seriously, there were a lot of bad foods that I ate throughout the entire day. Between being stuck in the car for six hours traveling back and forth across Colorado, and then a birthday dinner for myself and my brother, the calorie count was exceptionally high.
Added by the fact that I really didn’t get much cardio outside of playing a couple of rounds at Topgolf, I didn’t burn much.
How I Adapt to Eating Too Many Calories
Now, this is how I adapt to eating too much after being good for a few weeks. And when I say, “too much,” I’m not necessarily saying to the point where you feel like you’ll pop.
To me, eating more than 2,000 calories is too much. Then again, this all really depends on your own specific diet plans and workout routines.
Some bodybuilders put down 5,000+ per day.
Don’t Stress About the Numbers
Some people might get a bit freaked out when stepping on the scale after a day of eating too many calories. Take this morning, for example…I gained 1.5 pounds back in one day.
But, not really.
Because I haven’t digested and passed all of the food from the night before, of course it’s going to affect the scale. And although the total caloric intake is going to be 2,000+ more than I would like for the week, I’m not overly concerned about my fitness goals.
As long as you’re not binge eating day after day, it’ll actually be quite easy to burn off everything you ate the day before.
Your mental state has a lot to do with exercise and fitness. For many of us, it’s easy to get into the mindset of since you screwed up the day before, you might as well quit.
In the grand scheme of things, a bad day of meal planning isn’t going to overly destroy your chances of reaching certain fitness goals.
The bottom line is that you shouldn’t be too hard on yourself. The more stressed and depressed you become, the harder you’ll find getting back on track.
Get Back Into Fitness Mode the Next Day
Sure, my 12-week fitness challenge took a bit of a hit today. But, that doesn’t mean I should give up. No, instead, it’s time to get back into fitness mode.
Instead of viewing yesterday as a failure, eating almost 4,000 calories while only burning 3,311, I accept it for what it was…a birthday party with my family that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Today, I’m getting back in front of the Xbox and continuing my routine.
After all, once I process all the junk I ate yesterday, it’s really only going to affect my weekly weight loss goal by about a quarter of a pound. And 0.24 pounds is really nothing to stress over.
You can cause fluctuations to your weight that much just by drinking too much water. Hell, I’ve lost that much just having a haircut.
So you see, I’m not stressing the numbers and it’s not going to affect how I start the next day. I’m also not going to try to push myself too hard to burn those calories from yesterday.
That’s how a lot of people wind up hurting themselves.
Instead, I’m going to continue to work out while going back to closely monitoring my intake. The key here is to make sure you’re not sabotaging yourself with thoughts of being a failure or discrediting your progress.
Just get back into doing well after eating too many calories. You don’t have to overdo it, as your health and fitness isn’t a race.
Weigh Yourself Again in About Three Days
It can take up to 48 hours to digest food entirely. This also depends on the type of food and the amount of water you drink. This is why I say to wait three days before stepping on the scale again.
I only step on the scale every day because I’m running a few case studies on eating and daily fluctuations. That and I’m a data dork with a spreadsheet who is curious about these fluctuations.
At any rate, as long as you maintain your own diet plan for the next few days, you’ll see the numbers on the scale take a nosedive as you pass a lot of that food.
Of course the scale is going to say you gained a lot of weight. Your body hasn’t finished processing it yet.
I can remember times when the scale said I gained three pounds overnight but then dropped five within two days. In fact, I recently lost four pounds in one day…by digesting the junk I ate over the weekend.
So, don’t be overly concerned about gaining fat stores from eating too many calories from the day before. A large portion of that is going down the toilet soon.
Maintain your plan and keep your body in motion.
Why I Try Not to Eat Too Many Calories
Weight gain isn’t the only thing I worry about when it comes to eating too many calories. Yes, it’s true that I don’t want to go back up to 300+ pounds. But, there are also a lot of health issues that can crop from too much food.
For one thing, I am prone to heartburn when eating too much. In fact, I have a bit of that going on right now. This is my body’s way of telling me I overdid it yesterday, of which I am clearly aware.
Secondly, I also suffer from diarrhea from eating too much. Back when I started this weight loss journey, I discovered that eating 3,000 calories in a day would trigger an episode based on my average rate of cardio exercises.
This was all thanks to using MyFitnessPal, by the way. I should see if they have an affiliate program.
At any rate, by monitoring my intake, I can see what foods and in what quantities cause some of my digestive issues. So, I know exactly where my limits are for certain things to happen.
There are days when I’ll purposely indulge and have all the goodies I want, such as my birthday. But rest assured, I wind up paying for it that night and the next day.
And I can safely say that losing weight has made it far easier to breathe at night since I also have a slight case of sleep apnea. So, this is another viable reason as to why I try not to indulge too much.
Life Happens
The thing you need to keep in mind is that life happens. Don’t stress out if you fell off your diet wagon one night. Overall, it shouldn’t really make that much of an impact on your weight loss goals.
Just make sure you get back to working out and eating healthy the next day. Because if you get sucked into that mindset of giving up because you already screwed up, you won’t go anywhere.
It’s literally not the end of your world to have too many calories once in a while. It’s what you do afterward that makes the difference.
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