Weekly Calorie Limit...Good or bad?

RainbowsandWeed26

Hey everyone, I was wondering what your thoughts are on practicing a weekly calorie limit versus a traditional daily calorie limit. What are positive things about it versus negative things about it? Personal experiences with experimenting with daily versus weekly calorie limits?

janejellyroll

From my point of view:

The positives are that it's much easier to fit in special events or a day on the weekend where you want to eat/drink more.

The negative is that it can be sometimes easy to get "in debt" and wind up in a cycle where you think you're going to balance out the week, but you keep eating over your daily goal and not doing it. I was able to overcome this, but for some people it can be a challenge.

magster4isu

I think it depends on the person. For me it's easier to juggle one day at a time.

ryenday

I went 5:2 IF in the beginning of October and am having so much more weight loss success than I did on a daily restriction of calories. Funny thing is, my weekly calories from October til now are pretty much identical to the previous 5 months.

I think a lot of it is mental and personality. I know I will restrict my calories extremely on Tues and Thurs so if a treat presents itself on Saturday - say a piece of butterscotch pie - I feel free to enjoy it. But I never could make room for it on 1200 a day. So as I look beyond weight loss I'm going to work calories on a weekly basis. - bank calories for weekends and social occasions.

For me, looking at calories on a weekly basis - well it is a game changer all to the positive. But my husband watches me and says he'd never want to eat with a week allowance in mind, for him it would sap much of his eating pleasure.

NorthCascades

Both will work if some properly. It's easier for me to think about today than the whole week, so I have daily goals.

Need2Exerc1se

I would never have achieved my goals without it. It's how I ate when I was thin for decades, how I ate when I was losing weight, and how I eat now that I'm back in maintenance.

SuzySunshine99

I'm in maintenance and a weekly goal works better for me and my lifestyle.

I eat at a deficit on days that I work. I'm too busy those days to worry about eating too much anyways.

I eat at a surplus on days that I am off of work to make up for it.

It evens out in the end for me.

But, it's totally personal preference.

sheltrk

I've been at or near-maintenance for 2-3 years now. I eat at a deficit on weekdays, and splurge a little bit on the weekends. My net weekly calorie total stays right in line with my maintenance goal. It works great for me. Weekends are typically "fancier" meals for me. My weekday meals are fairly spartan, predictable affairs, but I'm really OK with that.

I started out with the "weekly goal" while I was still in weight-loss mode (but close to my goal). I had to be a bit more restrictive on my consumption, but looking forward to dessert and/or cocktails on the weekends gave me some added motivation to "stick to the plan"

Rosemary7391

It works well for me - I use beeminder to keep track of it so I'm not allowed to get into a calorie debt!

Stockholm_Andy

It's the same thing essentially. As is a monthly and annual calorie intake.

You don't lose or gain weight significantly in 24hs. It's done over weeks, months and years.

The longer term view of things people take, generally, the better they'll do.

MsHarryWinston

I take things a day at a time but I balance weekly. So if say on Monday I’m just not very hungry or I ate low calorie high volume food, and I’m 200 calories short I just let it go and “Bank” those calories. Then if I’m extra hungry on Thursday I can eat an extra 200 calories and it all balances out. But I never think to myself “I’ll play it fast and loose today and worry about it later in the week.” I always try to be close to target day by day, I just don’t freak out if I’m not.

This has also really helped me recognize a super hungry day vs a very low hunger day, and that both come very regularly for me, so I will balance out. So now if I’m super hungry in the AM I dont freak out and try to ignore it for fear of “falling off the wagon”, I’ll eat a huge breakfast and just see how my body feels later in the day.

Looking at the week view helps remind me that every food choice isn’t do or die and to remember the big picture.

Lounmoun

I look at both daily and weekly calories.
I think weekly is useful if you are going to have high and low days in a week. If you eat about the same most days just looking at daily calorie intake is probably fine. Both methods of looking at calories with get you there in the end if you are sticking to your goal.

kieranar

I just keep,within my BMR basal metabolic rate range for Calabria per day , works well for me for maintaining my weight

ladyhusker39

I'm very much a "tomorrow is another day" kind of girl. I track my food today and rarely look at it after the end of the day. The only exception is that I often do a lot of physical activity on Saturday and will carry some of the calories to Sunday when I tend to veg more.

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

kieranar wrote: »

I just keep,within my BMR basal metabolic rate range for Calabria per day , works well for me for maintaining my weight

You just lie there all day and don't move?

RuNaRoUnDaFiEld

I'm a week;y tracker, fits in my weekend meals out and drinks.

Chrissykriz7

Is there a way to set weekly calorie targets vs daily calorie target on the app? I would love to try this

Tacklewasher

Chrissykriz7 wrote: »

Is there a way to set weekly calorie targets vs daily calorie target on the app? I would love to try this

Not really. You set them daily but can look at weekly reports on the app (not the web version). I do a rolling 7 day and try to hit a bit less than my target. But I've got MFP set to 1 lb loss and am using exercise to increase that to 1.5, so I'm kinda using it different.

g_poleman

I manage by the day but in the end I am only interested what it looks like at the end of the week.

jjpptt2

I think for a lot of people, it's a natural next step in calorie counting. They start with a by-the-day approach. Once they get a feel for that, for portion sizes and all the rest, it's a natural next step giving them a bit more flexibility and leniency with the numbers.

But ultimately, as others have said... it's just another method that may or may not work for you. Biggest pros are a bigger picture view, cons are the "in debt" feeling (IMO).