Day off

miadaldry

Does anyone else have a day off from logging once a week? I've used mfp religiously for 7 months and have struggled recently, was diagnosed with ednos and am now trialling having one day a week where I don't log my food. I eat about 1000 cals a day mon-sat (I know, not enough but I'm working on it) then Sunday I don't go mad, don't eat a load of crap I just eat how I think normal people probably eat in a day without logging. Eg. Cereal with milk and maybe one piece of toast for breakfast, a sandwich, fruit and chocolate bar for lunch then something like chicken with pasta/rice or another food i would usually avoid for dinner. Then possibly dessert if I'm feeling good. I'm scared I'll gain weight from this though, is that possible?

bwogilvie

You'll gain weight if you eat more calories than you expend, whether you log them or not. The log is just a tool. If you don't know how many calories you eat on your day off, you might gain weight, or you might not. What kind of progress have you made so far? Results are the gold standard; if you are losing weight at a reasonable rate, then keep doing what you're doing. But if you're not losing weight, then reconsider.

I consider my calorie goal to be a weekly one: that is, instead of eating 1650 net calories a day (my current goal), I aim to average that over the course of a week. I have 11550 calories each week. Some days I might not be very hungry, or I might do a hard workout, and I could net 1400. Other days I decide to stop for a beer and pretzels with friends after work, and I might net 2100. As long as it all evens out in the end, I'm happy. But I log everything, as honestly as I can.

BTW, if you're struggling to meet your calorie goals during the week, you may be overly restrictive. Unless you're planning to cut out a food for the rest of your life, you shouldn't cut it out when you're losing weight. Instead, figure out how to eat less of it. Measure out 2 ounces of pasta, instead of 4 or 6. Make a small dessert. Enjoy your food, just enjoy less of it.

Liftng4Lis

Taking a whole day off would make logging for the rest of the week counterproductive. That one day, could put you over.

Capt_Apollo

i don't schedule a weekly day off from logging. life seems to take care of that for me. like yesterday, i didn't log because i went out with friends and family for brunch, and it was close to impossible to log most of my food intake. something like this happens every 2-3 weeks.

yoovie

you don't have to micro manage so perfectly - your body is amazing. As long as you aren't cultivating bad habits, you can relax this much

tulips_and_tea

I'd say you don't have to view the logging itself as a trial or a burden. If you log all the other days during the week I'd personally not just skip one day because that would throw off your charting and history.