Is everyone ALWAYS under their calorie goals, or is it an average?

Emmy4444

I'm frustrated and confused by calories. I just generally hate that there's a number applied to food. But if I need to adhere to this magical numbers game to lose weight, I guess I'm stuck.

During the week, I have no problem meeting my calorie goals. I eat the same thing pretty much every day, and it's always delicious and I'm not exceptionally hungry. I also exercise 3-4 times per week, cardio + strength training.

So when I go out on the weekend and drink, or eat more than normal, or different things even, when I go over on my calories, just how detrimental is it? Am I setting back a week's worth of progress or am I just averaging out? Am I sabotaging myself just by indulging on days that are a bit more restful than others?

Numbers.

It comes down to numbers and I hate numbers. How do I wrap my head around this madness?

Unknown

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Christine_72

Check out what your weekly deficit is in your diary

PammieSuzyQ

I'm under 7 times out of 10, but I'm working on that.

girlviernes

I am always under, but then I have a fairly cushy goal and I have some more room from exercise daily.

girlviernes

Yeah, I would recommend you do the weekly deficit goal. You could also have one calorie goal for week days and one for the weekend. You can basically tweak this however works best for you.

kegglemax

i always try to go over, but then again im using mfp to gain weight

MelodyandBarbells

Average for me. And on the iOS app there's an option to lock down the "start" of the week to any day of your choosing for reviewing your calorie summary, rather than a seven day running total

Weekly or no weekly, though, it's possible to wipe out your efforts with a couple days of eating and drinking but I'm sure you'll put in the work to keep things balanced

flatlndr

In the last year, I've focused on the weekly average. My Mon-Fri were typically under by a bit, my Sat was usually over, and my Sun pretty much spot on.

As I heard someone say in a nutrition podcast, you don't have to be an A+ every day of this journey ... if you're B+/A- on average overall, with only the occasional F (for fail) days, you're doing fine.

(Apologies if the school grade letters don't make sense to all)

Sued0nim

Emmy4444 wrote: »

I'm frustrated and confused by calories. I just generally hate that there's a number applied to food. But if I need to adhere to this magical numbers game to lose weight, I guess I'm stuck.

During the week, I have no problem meeting my calorie goals. I eat the same thing pretty much every day, and it's always delicious and I'm not exceptionally hungry. I also exercise 3-4 times per week, cardio + strength training.

So when I go out on the weekend and drink, or eat more than normal, or different things even, when I go over on my calories, just how detrimental is it? Am I setting back a week's worth of progress or am I just averaging out? Am I sabotaging myself just by indulging on days that are a bit more restful than others?

Numbers.

It comes down to numbers and I hate numbers. How do I wrap my head around this madness?

If you don't like numbers, just use the pictures ...there lovely charts to help you

Weekly averages are what counts

Use this chart on the app and set it to last 7 days ...

lieajane

TBH, I hate numbers too. I've started to weigh SOME of my food out of curiosity but I certainly don't track all my food and exercise - the levels of crazy it would drive me to are just not worth the extra weight loss.
Instead, I try to eat consciously - know roughly what I'm eating and why, and be sure that the food has something other than carbohydrates to sustain me. BUT - for me, weight loss is a side effect to fitness and feeling healthy, plus I enjoy working out and would choose a bike ride over a burger any day (problem is most days I would go for a bike ride and have multiple burgers and cake too). YMMV.

Don't forget your calorie goal already has a deficict built in, so you do have a little room to not count it perfectly, if you're willing to accept that your weight loss will be slower than predicted.

tigerlily_

I agree with the others - I'm under my calorie goal some days so that I know I've got a 'cushion' for if I go out and drink too much wine / eat a whole pizza on other days. I find this a LOT easier than trying to stick to an exact number every day with no wiggle room for general life fun

elixile

I'm with others on this. I do go over (usually at the weekend) but look at weekly average as I'm going along. As Lieajane mentioned, your goal already is at deficit (if you're not on maintain or gain) so if you keep to around that you will lose weight. I have lost a stone but it has been slow for me as I've not been that strict. I want this to be a long-term change so I'm trying to be realistic and therefore patient.

Though I know what to do though to lose more quickly now and have identified parts of my diary which could be reduced to help that (for me milky coffees and alcohol play a huge part). That's why logging is really helpful, even if you aren't weighing everything to the nth degree. But if you are less strict, expect to lose less quickly.

Ooci

I think it does very much depend where you are in your weight loss journey. There's a lot less wiggle room at the end of it - where I am now.
I've pretty much always gone over my goal and I've lost weight - 40 lb - quickly at first - more slowly as it went along - grinding to a halt at times during the 14 months I've been doing this.
I'm still finding I can get away with one bad day if I'm on or slightly under the calorie goal the other days.

TimothyFish

I don't give myself permission to eat more than the daily limit.

GingerbreadCandy

I am always under, but then again, I exercise (do yoga) daily, and depending I either won't or will eat half of my exercise calories back. (20 min of Yoga, for instance, among to 95 calories in MFP or something like that. since MFP tends to grossly overestimate the burn, however, I don't see a point).

TheEats

I average over the week. I am usually under Monday to Friday, and then use my "spare" calories at the weekend, to indulge in some chocolate, biscuits and richer meals. Works well!

ITVGuy2000

I'm not. I just try to be honest. Bad day... log it... good day... log it and celebrate it. It seems like most of the folks I am friend-ed with log pretty honestly. I try.

BuddhaMom74

rabbitjb wrote: »

Emmy4444 wrote: »

I'm frustrated and confused by calories. I just generally hate that there's a number applied to food. But if I need to adhere to this magical numbers game to lose weight, I guess I'm stuck.

During the week, I have no problem meeting my calorie goals. I eat the same thing pretty much every day, and it's always delicious and I'm not exceptionally hungry. I also exercise 3-4 times per week, cardio + strength training.

So when I go out on the weekend and drink, or eat more than normal, or different things even, when I go over on my calories, just how detrimental is it? Am I setting back a week's worth of progress or am I just averaging out? Am I sabotaging myself just by indulging on days that are a bit more restful than others?

Numbers.

It comes down to numbers and I hate numbers. How do I wrap my head around this madness?

If you don't like numbers, just use the pictures ...there lovely charts to help you

Weekly averages are what counts

Use this chart on the app and set it to last 7 days ...

Mind. Blown. Love this! Didn't know it existed!!

Jagerin

I'm generally under my goal count for the day, but I do try to get as close as possible. Most days, I end up with 50-100 calories left over. That is usually taken care of on Saturdays when I have my weekly gaming sessions and we drink a lot of vodka and rum. It all evens out.

lbride

I always go over my cal goal on the weekend. Still end up losing.

999tigger

It isnt madness at all. Why not just learn how the math works and then track your calories like almost everyone else? If you dont want to track then your accuracy will decrease and you may not even know whether you are in deficit or surplus. Its up to you. If you cant be bothered to track or the math is too demanding for you, then dont and maybe try another approach instead like 5:2.

kendalslimmer

It depends on how over the top your weekends are. If you still end up with a 'weekly' deficit, then I think it should be fine, but if you don't...

Just log everything and maybe try to squeeze a bit more exercise into your weekends? Roller skating, walking, whatever. Something active!

NoelFigart1

I try to be under for the day every day and succeed about 70% of the time. Since I started in October, I've failed to be under for the week once -- Christmas week.

Liftng4Lis

It's the total caloric deficit that counts (yes lots use a weekly total). If you're still within your allotment you're fine. If you had a daily deficit of 500, and went out and ate 4000 on the weekends, then of course you wouldn't lose.

snowflake954

Ooci wrote: »

I think it does very much depend where you are in your weight loss journey. There's a lot less wiggle room at the end of it - where I am now.
I've pretty much always gone over my goal and I've lost weight - 40 lb - quickly at first - more slowly as it went along - grinding to a halt at times during the 14 months I've been doing this.
I'm still finding I can get away with one bad day if I'm on or slightly under the calorie goal the other days.

I agree 100% with this. However when I began 2 yrs ago, unlike you, I was very interested to see how many calories I eat a day, and how much I burn excercising. It was fun to find out. If you approach it in a different way, perhaps it won't bother you so much and you'll be more likely to be successful. I go over more now since I have 12 lbs to go, and as above, have run out of wiggle room. I just keep truckin' along---I don't care how long it takes, and I love my swimming now more than ever. I hope you can make peace with the "numbers", when you think about it they are an important part of our life. Wishing you the best of luck.

lbride

BTW I am NEVER under my cal goal and always over it. Only have 10 lbs to lose and still lose weight (but I have the "assigned" calorie goal of 1200 from MFP - I tend to log breakfast and lunch and then try to eat sensibly the rest of the day (hard to log at home from kids at dinner/night) so end up estimating and prob come in around 1600 call per day. And weekends, I have a hard time counting but am hoping to get better. In any event, I have still lose a few lbs being so lax.

Sued0nim

BuddhaMom74 wrote: »

rabbitjb wrote: »

Emmy4444 wrote: »

I'm frustrated and confused by calories. I just generally hate that there's a number applied to food. But if I need to adhere to this magical numbers game to lose weight, I guess I'm stuck.

During the week, I have no problem meeting my calorie goals. I eat the same thing pretty much every day, and it's always delicious and I'm not exceptionally hungry. I also exercise 3-4 times per week, cardio + strength training.

So when I go out on the weekend and drink, or eat more than normal, or different things even, when I go over on my calories, just how detrimental is it? Am I setting back a week's worth of progress or am I just averaging out? Am I sabotaging myself just by indulging on days that are a bit more restful than others?

Numbers.

It comes down to numbers and I hate numbers. How do I wrap my head around this madness?

If you don't like numbers, just use the pictures ...there lovely charts to help you

Weekly averages are what counts

Use this chart on the app and set it to last 7 days ...

Mind. Blown. Love this! Didn't know it existed!!

...enjoy

Revonue

Most weeks: six days out of the week I am under, and one I am over. The one day I am over doesn't hurt my progress. I am sure you can find any number of ways to fine-tune your calorie count to your liking. Maybe have the days during the week be set at a higher weight loss rate (higher deficit) and the weekend be set at maintenance or a lower weight loss rate. Easy to stick to without having to worry about math/numbers.

cwolfman13

Emmy4444 wrote: »

I'm frustrated and confused by calories. I just generally hate that there's a number applied to food. But if I need to adhere to this magical numbers game to lose weight, I guess I'm stuck.

During the week, I have no problem meeting my calorie goals. I eat the same thing pretty much every day, and it's always delicious and I'm not exceptionally hungry. I also exercise 3-4 times per week, cardio + strength training.

So when I go out on the weekend and drink, or eat more than normal, or different things even, when I go over on my calories, just how detrimental is it? Am I setting back a week's worth of progress or am I just averaging out? Am I sabotaging myself just by indulging on days that are a bit more restful than others?

Numbers.

It comes down to numbers and I hate numbers. How do I wrap my head around this madness?

A calorie is just a unit of energy. Your body requires XXXX amount of energy to maintain the status quo. When you consume more energy than your body requires, that energy gets stored for later use as body fat. When you consume less energy than your body requires you dip into your energy reserves (fat stores) to make up the difference.

It comes down to the bottom line...if you have a deficit of energy over the course of about 7 days you will lose roughly 1 Lb. If you eat at a deficit all week during the week but maintenance on the weekend, you're still going to lose weight, it's just going to be a little slower.

Don't overcomplicate something that is not at all complicated...it's 5th grade math.

avskk

Sometimes I'm under by a lot, sometimes I'm over by a lot, sometimes I'm spang on. My weekly deficit remains pretty consistent, though, so I'm not too fussed about the daily. I do kind of try to make sure my overs are balanced by my unders -- in other words, I'm not under by 200 calories one day but eating an extra 800 the next. My average on an "over" day is an extra 300-400 calories (essentially putting me at maintenance for that day) and my average on an "under" day is to be short by about the same.