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Weekly/Monthly caloric tracking vs daily?!
nancyjay__
Posts: 310 Member
Ok so I'm not passing judgment! I honestly want to know do some people really track their calories in a weekly or monthly rate rather than daily? I guess I could research this online but I want to see if people who have tried it can comment... In my opinion overeating one day and not eating your daily calories another will just ruin your metabolism, mood, energy level, among other things ...
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When it comes to food, I'm not convinced that our body "knows" the 24-hour day. Most people who I have seen advocating for this aren't doing anything drastic -- they're just taking a couple hundred calories off one day and adding them to another. It's hard to see how this could impact metabolism, mood, or energy. Lots of users here have also had success with the 5:2 plan, which is a variation of the same thing.0
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I see. Im saying it would affect me because of weight training I do 300 cals would be substantial. It would piss me off if I can't have a post workout meal or not give me the energy if I miss a preworkout meal. But I guess I can see how it won't impact another's diet.0
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I do it all of the time; skip a meal, eat light, fast a day or what ever feels comfortable so I can enjoy my food and my life and not gain weight. Which of course means I'm not overeating... because I'm not gaining weight.
Metabolism, mood, energy level and other things are all doing fine.0 -
AlabasterVerve wrote: »I do it all of the time; skip a meal, eat light, fast a day or what ever feels comfortable so I can enjoy my food and my life and not gain weight. Which of course means I'm not overeating... because I'm not gaining weight.
Metabolism, mood, energy level and other things are all doing fine.
How long have you been doing this?0 -
On and off for the last twenty years. Consistently for the last 2 or 3 years though since I've joined MFP.nancyjay__ wrote: »AlabasterVerve wrote: »I do it all of the time; skip a meal, eat light, fast a day or what ever feels comfortable so I can enjoy my food and my life and not gain weight. Which of course means I'm not overeating... because I'm not gaining weight.
Metabolism, mood, energy level and other things are all doing fine.
How long have you been doing this?
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AlabasterVerve wrote: »I do it all of the time; skip a meal, eat light, fast a day or what ever feels comfortable so I can enjoy my food and my life and not gain weight. Which of course means I'm not overeating... because I'm not gaining weight.
Metabolism, mood, energy level and other things are all doing fine.
I've always done the same for my whole adult life, whether I'm trying to lose weight or not. Some days it's easy to not eat much or I'm not hungry. I'm rarely hungry for breakfast so I often skip it and eat a big dinner.
When I'm trying to lose weight, I still eat a big dinner but I'm smarter about what I eat so I get fewer calories for lots of food.
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I have been thinking about this too, I am currently trying to stay between 1100-1500 per day (pref closer to 1200) however I am also very sedentary right now as I recover from shoulder surgery, so my only fitness atm includes walking and stretching. I have also began to fast one day a week, and I'm on week three now- so far so good. I started my weight-loss journey a month ago and have managed to lose 10lbs with just walking and watching my daily calories. That includes several *overboard* days....
The hardest part is timing my eating around medication times, many times I've forgotten and had to eat a small snack just to take my pain meds, and even though it puts me over my calories for the day I remember I can just walk a little extra the next day, and I do! So far so good
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sushi4days wrote: »I have been thinking about this too, I am currently trying to stay between 1100-1500 per day (pref closer to 1200) however I am also very sedentary right now as I recover from shoulder surgery, so my only fitness atm includes walking and stretching. I have also began to fast one day a week, and I'm on week three now- so far so good. I started my weight-loss journey a month ago and have managed to lose 10lbs with just walking and watching my daily calories. That includes several *overboard* days....
The hardest part is timing my eating around medication times, many times I've forgotten and had to eat a small snack just to take my pain meds, and even though it puts me over my calories for the day I remember I can just walk a little extra the next day, and I do! So far so good
Funny the reason I am interested in this topic is because I just had surgery two days ago and feel like without my usual weight training I'm going to gain too much in my recovery period0 -
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nancyjay__ wrote: »
What's the thought process behind the theory that under eating on one day and over eating on the next and so on would ruin your metabolism?
My manager at work thinks that by eating only dinner he will lose weight. I have been working with him for a year now he never eats breakfast or lunch, smokes cigarettes all day and his liquid intake isn't much over an occasional cup of coffee. But he hasn't lost ANY weight he's got a tummy pouch thing going on and is not at all muscular. I was curious about his diet so I told him to download MFP and i occasionally look at this diary which consist of 800-1000 cals a day he is about 5"8 at like 150-160 lbs. I just wonder if his weird eating habits of eating all his calories in one meal and stress level are the reason he doesn't lose weight0 -
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nancyjay__ wrote: »sushi4days wrote: »I have been thinking about this too, I am currently trying to stay between 1100-1500 per day (pref closer to 1200) however I am also very sedentary right now as I recover from shoulder surgery, so my only fitness atm includes walking and stretching. I have also began to fast one day a week, and I'm on week three now- so far so good. I started my weight-loss journey a month ago and have managed to lose 10lbs with just walking and watching my daily calories. That includes several *overboard* days....
The hardest part is timing my eating around medication times, many times I've forgotten and had to eat a small snack just to take my pain meds, and even though it puts me over my calories for the day I remember I can just walk a little extra the next day, and I do! So far so good
Funny the reason I am interested in this topic is because I just had surgery two days ago and feel like without my usual weight training I'm going to gain too much in my recovery period
What was your surgery??0 -
nancyjay__ wrote: »nancyjay__ wrote: »
What's the thought process behind the theory that under eating on one day and over eating on the next and so on would ruin your metabolism?
My manager at work thinks that by eating only dinner he will lose weight. I have been working with him for a year now he never eats breakfast or lunch, smokes cigarettes all day and his liquid intake isn't much over an occasional cup of coffee. But he hasn't lost ANY weight he's got a tummy pouch thing going on and is not at all muscular. I was curious about his diet so I told him to download MFP and i occasionally look at this diary which consist of 800-1000 cals a day he is about 5"8 at like 150-160 lbs. I just wonder if his weird eating habits of eating all his calories in one meal and stress level are the reason he doesn't lose weight
The issue is the you can only see what he's eating or not when you are with him but you don't see what he might be eating behind the scenes. People are more likely to say they are doing everything right and there has to be something wrong or their bodies work different before they admit the are not actually doing what they need to be doing and they are to blame.
At his height a range of 150-160 is pretty large and depending on the amount of muscle the man is carrying his could have a relatively high bf% of pretty lean on the opposite spectrum. Lacking lbm and having a higher than optimal bf combined with lack of physical activity can have his TDEE lower than it could be.
Also take into consideration that just because someone logs something on MFP that doesn't mean that exactly that or that amount. And if he knows people are looking at his diary he very well could be omitting things he does eat. We can't use examples like him as a way to develop theories because there can be many variables that we aren't faction in.
I mean he even goes to add beers he drinks. He's not particularly ashamed of his lifestyle. But yes I don't see everything he eats. He also sweats profusely. Idk if that has anything to do with it. He does however openly admit to not doing ANY kind of physical activity...I guess I'm just trying to figure out an equation without all the variables.
Question: someone can have a "healthy" diet even eating one or two times a day or moving cals from one day to another?0 -
Its hard to say, sometimes I try to imagine how humans developed over the last 2 million years and try to make some kind of logic from that and the last couple hundred years. With all the articles, studies, and science out there, its just so complicating for our very diverse being. Our bodies are strange!0
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sushi4days wrote: »
What was your surgery??
I had an appendectomy two days ago nothing major but still took me out of a competition I was doing
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When losing weight, I was a daily calorie counter. For maintanance, I look more at the weekly totals instead. I like to eat out on the weekends, so I'm usually over, so I eat under during the week.0
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I've been doing a weekly schedule for about 2 years. It has not affected the rate I lose/maintain at (lost 95 pounds so far). If you look closely at some people who happen to maintain a low weight without trying you will notice they unconsciously self-regulate their calories by having a huge appetite one day, or for one meal, but then eat a very light day/meal on another. Your boss is eating all of his calories after a certain hour. It does not matter how long he goes without food, if he over-eats for dinner he will gain/not lose weight. For perspective: the average American consumes 4500 calories on thanksgiving, so it's entirely possible to be overweight eating only one meal a day.
As far as healthy goes, vitamin deficiencies don't form in one day. That takes at least weeks or months of consistently under-eating the nutrient. Have you never had a full day of eating mostly nutrient poor food? Everyone has those without problems. Problems arise only when the overall diet is poor in calories and/or nutrients.0 -
It makes sense for people not to want to eat close to bedtime or eat a lot right before sedentary times of the day because you can't burn calories as efficiently at these times.
Is this a myth? from the info above seems like a myth but it does make sense. Especially when ive read (random articles) you burn cals more efficiently right after a workout and your largest meal should be breakfast and smallest dinner.
Sorry for my disorganized thoughts Im just having an ah ha! Moment I think0 -
one of the things I recently learned on MFP is that in the reports section you can see your daily calorie intake over a week or 30 days or 90 days. Also being really good about keeping track of my personal data on spreadsheets. I took that information and found my average calorie intake.
there are other reports too which I found very helpful. My dr wants me to decrease sodium intake and on the reports I can see how I'm doing longer term.0 -
nancyjay__ wrote: »It makes sense for people not to want to eat close to bedtime or eat a lot right before sedentary times of the day because you can't burn calories as efficiently at these times.
Is this a myth? from the info above seems like a myth but it does make sense. Especially when ive read (random articles) you burn cals more efficiently right after a workout and your largest meal should be breakfast and smallest dinner.
Sorry for my disorganized thoughts Im just having an ah ha! Moment I think
Meal time, frequency and size do not have much of an effect. The results of studies on the matter are mixed, so there is no definite answer to this. Even in studies that did produce results, the effects are so marginal that they are not worth considering. It's best to focus on what affects 99.9% of the fat burning process instead of sweating the 0.1%.0 -
amusedmonkey wrote: »nancyjay__ wrote: »It makes sense for people not to want to eat close to bedtime or eat a lot right before sedentary times of the day because you can't burn calories as efficiently at these times.
Is this a myth? from the info above seems like a myth but it does make sense. Especially when ive read (random articles) you burn cals more efficiently right after a workout and your largest meal should be breakfast and smallest dinner.
Sorry for my disorganized thoughts Im just having an ah ha! Moment I think
Meal time, frequency and size do not have much of an effect. The results of studies on the matter are mixed, so there is no definite answer to this. Even in studies that did produce results, the effects are so marginal that they are not worth considering. It's best to focus on what affects 99.9% of the fat burning process instead of sweating the 0.1%.
Thanks for the info! That's kind of the hypothesis I had when posting this0
This discussion has been closed.
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