I blew my calorie goal by a solid 700 calories today, day 5 of OMAD. Is it too soon to do a 48-hour fast to compensate? I am trying to keep my one meal at the same time every day to work best with my work schedule.
Does anyone else compensate for overeating with longer fasts? Curious to hear what you do.
There’s a very tenuous and delicate psychological aspect with this. Personally, doing a full fast crosses that line for me. I might eat a little lighter before or after a large rich meal or maybe go for a longer hike that weekend.
I can’t tell you how to live your life but if your first thought at going over calories a bit is to ‘compensate’ by not eating that’s a bit of a red flag. Being mentally and physically healthy is important too!
What’s healthy and fine will vary from person to person, but I think it’s important to recognize that this would be the first steps to disorder eating for many.
This “compensation” thinking is dangerous and can spiral out of control into something ugly. Just carry on as regular, over to your next fast like normal. Consistency is more important than these small things, over time, consistency is what gets the job done. The right mindset helps maintain it - which also requires consistency.
I don’t. I follow a pretty strict plan right now of 3 weeks of maintenance or bulk calories with 16/8 followed by 1 week of a cut with OMAD and low calories.
I don’t think it matters much if you overdid it for one day. Generally this isn’t too bad. You’ll likely just gain a little more water/glycogen. You’d have to really overdo it to actually gain fat.
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Just go back to your regular schedule and it should be fine after a few days.
I am trying to practice 80/20. That means, its ok to not be perfect as long as you are having habits and routines thats gonna take to to your goal in the long run. If you find yourself overeating majority of the days then you should considering making a new plan that will work for you. But i do not think, thinking in the terms of “compensating” is the right way to go for a healthy and sustainable lifestyle.
Nope. If (and when) I overeat I just go right back to “the plan” and try to identify a replacement behavior (going for a walk, listening to a podcast) for the next time I have a craving like that. Slowly but surely the cravings have faded
I don’t beat myself up over it. I don’t try to overcompensate for it. I don’t say “F it, I’ll start again tomorrow.”
I just make the next healthy decision
I don’t have a calorie goal, but if I did I would rather compensate by working out more, for instance taking an extra half hour walk or something similar. Nothing too crazy, allow yourself to live a little too 🙂
I definitely used to overeat after a fast. As i kept going though id feel really gross overeating after a fast and things sorta just equalized to a reasonable level. Don’t let it get you down though, and don’t over do your next fasting to the point you hate and dread it! stay consistent with your fasting windows and use your next fast breaking meal to experiment with foods that fill up your belly and give you the nutrients you need! Its a learning process, and you’ve got it my fellow human!
Good advice, all! Thank you. I am definitely not here for “punishing” myself for overeating. Was just wondering how others react to a mistake breaking their fast.
80/20 seems fair. Yesterday was only day 5 and part of my 20, I suppose.