Is it O.K. to indulge in extra calories for a weekend?

Zenexercise

I could not control myself and eat more than my allowed daily calories
I was doing well and have lost 40 pounds. But, on some days (especially weekends) I seem to want to eat more and indulge in sweets and snacks.
What do you advice?

melimomTARDIS

Eat at a slight deficit, and bank those calories for the weekend?

junebug_1977

I have always allowed Friday night to be my pizza night and I eat as much as I want. It helps me to stay on track during the week if I know I have that to look forward to.

queenliz99

I eat lighter during the week so I can indulge a little on the weekends.

KazzBeDoinIt

If I have any plans on "cheating" or eating something sweet- I wait for the weekend. I, most of the time don't end up eating goodies knowing how hard I worked all week but yet I do keep in mind I have the option open if I want it?

Lrdoflamancha

I use a weekly approach not a daily one.... I have 14,000 calories per week. As long as I dont go over this amount I am golden.

Zenexercise

Thank you all.

UnicornAmanda

Definitely don't beat yourself up! We can't be perfect all the time, right?! Stay within your calories during the week and you will be fine to indulge a little on the weekend!

lynney_s

Thank you Zenexercise for asking the question - I was kind of beating myself up for over indulging a little yesterday but all the responses make me feel a lot better! Thanks everyone!

FitPhillygirl

I don't think it will hurt anything as long as you are within your weekly calorie goal. Unless you're talking about a 1,000 calorie meal or something, lol.

SergeantSausage

Everything is "OK" ... but it all comes with a price and the price is likely to push your goals back on the timeline. If you're fine with that then have at it.

Ellaskat

I workout harder on the weekends so that I can eat more of what I want - this morning I had pancakes with bacon - but I worked my butt off so it will still be in my calorie range for the day:)

socajam

I starting zig zagging my calories, using Saturday and Sunday as my high calorie days (those two days are my weakest). So far I have lost 3.4 lbs since the beginning of the January. It may not seem a lot, but for me that is a mountain.

I plug my numbers into www.freedieting.com

ef5Tornado

The Pizza Thing: So I eat pizza on Friday nights with my kids. I always cut the slices in half and eat the number of slices I normally would if I didn't half them. It's a psych, but it works if your a visual eater like I am. The key is to eat those slices s l o w l y and savor every bite.

Timorous_Beastie

queenliz99 wrote: »

I eat lighter during the week so I can indulge a little on the weekends.

This is me. I actually only log my food M-F and don't track a damn thing on weekends. It worked for me brilliantly before (until an injury and depression made me self-medicate with Butterfingers). I don't pig out on weekends (well, not most weekends) but I won't turn down a glass of wine or extra slice of pizza, either.

LivingtheLeanDream

melimomTARDIS wrote: »

Eat at a slight deficit, and bank those calories for the weekend?

^^ this

nxd10

If I want something, I eat a little of it. I always have a 1/4 cup of ice cream. I'll have a square of chocolate if I want some. It fits into your day. Denial just makes you want to eat more.

Like everyone else, you're going to eat more some days than others. That's how it average it. But it has to AVERAGE OUT.

Good luck!

pkw58

The longer I am on maintenance and logging my calories daily, the more I need to look at my trends. Right now I am on a trend - I am not hungry till noon. Some days that is my biggest meal, other days it is not, but I function better physically if I don't eat more than 600 calories at lunch. so a new thing with my logging is remembering to log my feelings and thoughts also. It is pretty amazing. The happier the conversation at lunch, the less I eat. so a bad habit was trying to creep back into my life , and I am squashing it!

autumnblade75

Eileen_S wrote: »

I don't think it will hurt anything as long as you are within your weekly calorie goal. Unless you're talking about a 1,000 calorie meal or something, lol.

If you're talking about a 1000 calorie meal, well, some of us just call that "dinner."

If you are eating at a deficit of 500 calories per day and one day per week you eat an EXTRA 3500 calories (over your goal calories) you will negate your weekly deficit and you will be at maintenance for the week.

I don't know how much of a deficit you are eating at, or how much extra you eat on the weekend. You may be able to lose weight with that strategy, or you might find that you can eat more than the deficit you banked all week, and you'll gain. It will all come down to the numbers.

RaspberryTickleChicken

Since OP is positing this in maintaining I can only assume OP is.

Periodic indulgence will not make a difference on the grand scheme of things imo.

Short answer: If your weekly total calories allowance is 10,000 and even with the weekend indulgence for the week you are within the 10,000 then theoretically there should be no weight gain.

It's just not humanly possible to eat on plan 100% of the time that is why I absolutely love the 80/20 concept. Doing a variation 90/10 I have been able to keep my nutrition in check with ease and without ever feeling of deprived. It's human nature to rebel with deprivation so I generally just don't recommend it.

Having said that though, indulge within reason. Meaning portion out the bag of chips, cookies, etc and don't eat the entire family size bag.

P.S. Cautionary tale of eating junk food ... many studies have shown that junk food is particularly bad not because of the calories but because of it's ingredients' impact on brain chemistry. The science explains that high sugary & processed foods triggers 'feel good' biochemistry in our brains. So essentially our brains get become dependent to said 'feel good' biochemical. That is why it's so difficult for many to eat healthy because for all intent and purposes our brains are addicted. Complicate that with emotional eating its a perfect storm of a life time of vicious cycle.

I have noticed that since I generally eat healthy, every once in a while I will have a small bag of Doritos. After consumption I will notice that I want more Doritos and typically the few days immediately after I find myself hankering for other similar nutritious poor foods. But once I muscle through those initial few days after consumption, my hankering disappears & I don't miss it. SO in my own experience, the science behind the potential addictive quality of junk food holds some truth. So my strategy is just not buy it - EVER! I never stock it in the house. I don't bring cash to work for vending machines and the like. It's silly but it works for me.

Good luck!

Roxiegirl2008

I will have one meal (not a full day) of something that I might be really craving. For example boneless wings from Buffalo Wild Wings (yummy fried goodness). I will make sure that day I have a really high calorie burning workout and watch my other meals through out the day. I may skip an afternoon snack to use those calories toward that meal.

Just log and don't beat yourself up about it. I have found that if you allow yourself some flexibility you are more likely to be successful.

Good luck!

free1220

I just had a Mcdonalds choco shake,looked up the cals and HOLY COW!!! 700cals.....not again...sheesh!

cwolfman13

the bottom line is still the bottom line...

paulawatkins1974

I have the same problem lately. I'll be good all week and then one day messes everything up. I've been hovering at the same weight now for 2 months

airmedic8

my wife and I have fast food friday...few meals of stuff we crave. By the end were satisfied and ready for the week ahead after that. It helps keep your sanity

KANGOOJUMPS

OF COURSE! I work extra hard all week just so I can party it up all weekend.

free1220

I usually behave during the week too,then Friday or Saturday I'll get a pizza and pig out....just gotta sometimes.

snowflake930

Do whatever works for you.

MKEgal

If you want to eat something, eat it, just eat a reasonable portion.
If you eat too much, log it, figure out how not to overeat again, & move on.
Be flexible, forgive yourself.
Realize that it takes 3500 calories to gain (or lose) a pound, so unless you've gone really really overboard you haven't thrown yourself all that far off track. And if you're counting from your goal, which is probably a 500 calorie deficit, maybe you're only eating at maintenance for one day. So you're a day behind where you would have been. Big deal.
Even if you do gain a pound, you're not far behind where you would have been.

Edwardshar

Eat whatever you want on the weekends, calories don't count those days.

Timshel_

What works for you, or what works for someone else is going to vary. My rule of thumb is, I can have a few higher calorie meals in a week, but overall I will have to at least maintain and not gain.

For example, I normally eat around 1700 - 2000 calories in a day, which is at deficit. However, I know on a few weekends I have chowed in the 3500 calorie range for a day. No biggy if it is one, or even two days of that because my normal daily deficit is more than enough that at the end of the week it is a wash. I might even throw in a bit of extra exercise just to bring it down.

For me, I have to only splurge here and there though or it gets back out of hand quickly.

Another way I splurge at times is, I will just have a little something around one big ol' meal in a day. Yesterday I had a bagel for breakfast and planned a small dinner knowing I was going out for this bad boy for lunch! All fit within the maintenance calories of the day that way.



So again, that works for me, but you have to find your own limits and rules for enjoying life as well as maintaining a healthy balance and intake.