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

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Zenexercise
Zenexercise Posts: 14 Member
edited January 2015 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
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?
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Replies

  • melimomTARDIS
    melimomTARDIS Posts: 1,941 Member
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    Eat at a slight deficit, and bank those calories for the weekend?
  • junebug_1977
    junebug_1977 Posts: 7 Member
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    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
    queenliz99 Posts: 15,317 Member
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    I eat lighter during the week so I can indulge a little on the weekends.
  • KazzBeDoinIt
    KazzBeDoinIt Posts: 58 Member
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    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
    Lrdoflamancha Posts: 1,280 Member
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    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
    Zenexercise Posts: 14 Member
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    Thank you all.
  • UnicornAmanda
    UnicornAmanda Posts: 294 Member
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    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
    lynney_s Posts: 89 Member
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    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
    FitPhillygirl Posts: 7,124 Member
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    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
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    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
    Ellaskat Posts: 386 Member
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    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
    socajam Posts: 2,530 Member
    edited January 2015
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    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
    ef5Tornado Posts: 1
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    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
    Timorous_Beastie Posts: 595 Member
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    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
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
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    melimomTARDIS wrote: »
    Eat at a slight deficit, and bank those calories for the weekend?

    ^^ this
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
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    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
    pkw58 Posts: 2,038 Member
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    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
    autumnblade75 Posts: 1,660 Member
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    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
    RaspberryTickleChicken Posts: 629 Member
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    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
    Roxiegirl2008 Posts: 756 Member
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    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!

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