No worry weekends?

Ready2BFitMom

Have any of you had success with weight loss where you track your calories closely all week and then don't on the weekend? Im certainly not talking about going nuts and eating junk all weekend. Just sort of taking the weekend off from counting calories but still choosing healthy options.

StaciMarie1974

Would depend on your deficit during the week - if you are aiming for 250/day it would be easier to 'eat it all back' than if you're aiming for 750-1000/day.

When I was losing I allowed myself 1-2 days a month to eat at maintenance. Still logged to the best of my ability and having those extra calories when I wanted them was nice. An extra 500-1000 can go a long way.

Now I'm at maintenance and instead of a goal weight I have a range of 123-128. If I'm on the low/mid end I estimate more, and even splurge more without stressing over it. I know if I hang out at the high end I can increase my accuracy and trim back to a 100-200/day deficit. Its working for me so far.

ckspores1018

I'm sure this works for some people but it certainly doesn't for me. Generally, when I don't count for a day or two, the whole thing falls apart. I need the routine and accountability all the time. Maybe one day it'll be different but my relationship with food has not gotten to the point where I can do this.

macgurlnet

I'm not great at estimating portions yet and I don't like doing math. Logging makes things easier since I have it all right there and can say "oh, awesome, I can have that snack I want" or "Darn, don't have enough calories for that, better go for a walk."

Or I can say "the hell with it" and eat stuff anyway. In the end, what matters to me is having the numbers so I can use them as reference as my weight fluctuates.

~Lyssa

bpetrosky

Maybe you can try this experiment:

Portion and weigh out what you think you would eat on your non-logging days and see what it comes to in calories. If you find you find you're not significantly higher in calories than normal, you might do well with this idea.

You can try it for a few weeks and follow your progress, and if it looks like it's slowing you down you can always fall back to logging each day. If having a day or two off occasionally helps you stick a plan long term, you can make it work with MFP.

Unknown

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callsitlikeiseeit

i log everything, every day.

cheat days or weekends turn into weeks, months years..... and 250 pounds.

I eat what i want every day - just a whole lot less. i drink beer, eat chocolate, eat fast food all the time.... and still lose weight.

everyone does what works for them, though....

mkakids

It CAN work, depending on the person. It does not work for me.

gypsyish

I've gotten to the point where it only takes me around 5 minutes a day to log anyway, so it's not really a big deal for me to continue on the weekends.

whmscll

This doesn't work for me. I need to log and measure every day. Sometimes I'll have a "cheat" meal where I'll go way over calories for a special occasion, but I limit this to one meal and track closely the rest of the weekend.

vivmom2014

I eat a lot more on the weekends, but that's only because I have time to exercise a lot more. And I log it all.

liftlovelunge

I eat more on weekends but as others have said I also tend to move more on weekends. I also log everything. I was actually over my calories yesterday, but I still logged all 2,500 of them! I'd rather see that I'm in the red and hold myself accountable than to avoid it.

WeddedBliss1992

when i had reached my goal weight before, i took weekends off, every weekend i ate anything and everything i wanted, then during the week, i stuck to 1200cal/day. i was able to easily maintain my weight. hopefully i can get back to my goal weight and i might try that again.
but i won't try it until i hit goal.

folgers86

I can't cheat if my goal is to lose weight. I don't eat perfectly ALL the time, but by saying I can eat whatever I want every weekend I'm setting myself up for disaster.

kshama2001

ckspores1018 wrote: »

I'm sure this works for some people but it certainly doesn't for me. Generally, when I don't count for a day or two, the whole thing falls apart. I need the routine and accountability all the time. Maybe one day it'll be different but my relationship with food has not gotten to the point where I can do this.

Ya, I experimented with the cheat meal concept and it turned into a cheat evening, and then a cheat afternoon and evening and then I realized I'm better off just eating lighter and exercising more during the day Saturday if I'm going out Saturday night.

Machka9

Ready2BFitMom wrote: »

Have any of you had success with weight loss where you track your calories closely all week and then don't on the weekend? Im certainly not talking about going nuts and eating junk all weekend. Just sort of taking the weekend off from counting calories but still choosing healthy options.

Nope.

That's precisely how I got here!

I'd lose weight during the week ... I'd let myself go a bit on the weekends and gain it all back. Once in a while, I'd gain a bit extra. And 4 years later, I'd put on 15 kg.

That might work for maintenance, but when I was on a mission to lose those 15 kg, I had to be focused 100% of the time.

That said, extra exercise helps.

shadowfax_c11

I occasionally choose a day to eat at maintenance or at a smaller deficit, but I always. always, always weigh and log my food. Mindless eating is what got me here in the first place and my desire to change that is greater than my need to be lazy for a couple of days.

callsitlikeiseeit

liftlovelunge wrote: »

I'd rather see that I'm in the red and hold myself accountable than to avoid it.

all of that and more..... you can lie to yourself all you want, but your body knows. why bother lying? if your mfp friends make you feel bad, you need to find new mfp friends.

Shanairah1991

I always track. If I go out to eat my cheat meal I always estimate and on the high side. I recently had a SMALL slice of pie at work and I wanted to input 800 calories but my co-worker said my slice was no more than 350. I logged 400. You see my point in over estimating. It has worked for me!