Daily vs Weekly calorie intake

preyaticintent
preyaticintent Posts: 46 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I see or hear people sometimes saying "I had above goal calorie intake today, but should be fine cause I'm under for the week." Is this a legit way of thinking?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Yes. Your body doesn't go by 24 hours days. Lots of people prefer to do a weekly deficit to account for weekend events or special occasions.
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    Yeah.
  • gcaracciolo2
    gcaracciolo2 Posts: 130 Member
    Sure is and works for many people.

    Your body doesn't care about any time-frame such as a 24 hour period and will gain/lose according to calories in vs calories out. A week is sufficient enough to provided flexibility without being too overwhelming (I wouldn't recommend doing monthly, for example).
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited April 2016
    A lot of people balance calories by the week. This makes it easier to work with going out, birthdays, and holidays while still maintaining a deficit or even when trying to maintain.

    The phone app has a graph under Nutrition were you can keep an eye on your weekly NET avg.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    Yes. Instead of rollover data in your cellphone plan, it's rollover calories in your body.
  • ryry_
    ryry_ Posts: 4,966 Member
    That's how I've been doing it lately. A lot easier mentally for me.
  • joolie1234
    joolie1234 Posts: 126 Member
    edited April 2016
    I go by the week. Its very freeing.

    You need to have a deficit of about 3500 calories over the course of a week to lose a pound.
  • clark614
    clark614 Posts: 92 Member
    How do you track this?
  • jax_006
    jax_006 Posts: 87 Member
    joolie1234 wrote: »
    I go by the week. Its very freeing.

    You need to have a deficit of about 3500 calories over the course of a week to lose a pound.

    Where can you locate in the nutrition tab your deficit? Would it be under "Calories over weekly goal" or "net calories under weekly goal"? Sorry if it sounds dumb, just want to be sure I understand.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    jax_006 wrote: »
    joolie1234 wrote: »
    I go by the week. Its very freeing.

    You need to have a deficit of about 3500 calories over the course of a week to lose a pound.

    Where can you locate in the nutrition tab your deficit? Would it be under "Calories over weekly goal" or "net calories under weekly goal"? Sorry if it sounds dumb, just want to be sure I understand.

    Look at the net one.
    I don't believe the total one factors in exercise burns.
  • jax_006
    jax_006 Posts: 87 Member
    shadow2soul wrote: »
    jax_006 wrote: »
    joolie1234 wrote: »
    I go by the week. Its very freeing.

    You need to have a deficit of about 3500 calories over the course of a week to lose a pound.

    Where can you locate in the nutrition tab your deficit? Would it be under "Calories over weekly goal" or "net calories under weekly goal"? Sorry if it sounds dumb, just want to be sure I understand.

    Look at the net one.
    I don't believe the total one factors in exercise burns.

    Thank you! :)
  • earthapple
    earthapple Posts: 6 Member
    I was just wondering this very question today! On Sunday I went for a 6 mile hike (it took us 4 hours not including breaks), and I've been crazy hungry the last couple days.

    Was worried maybe I was getting sick because I felt so starved trying to stick with a happy medium of what I normally eat and what I should eat to lose weight...balancing calories weekly sounds like the ideal system for me, since when I do exercise it's in bursts over 2-3 days rather than a little bit every day.

    Thank you for posting this question! :)
  • AspenDan
    AspenDan Posts: 703 Member
    I've for the most part only care about the weekly averages..I often eat twice as many calories on my days off as I do the days I work..and weekly averages make me feel less crap about that.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    Yes. Your body doesn't go by 24 hours days. Lots of people prefer to do a weekly deficit to account for weekend events or special occasions.

    How many hours "day" does it go by without being detrimental by all the fluctuation? Example: can I do 500 cal on Monday, 600 on Tuesday, 2500 on Wednesday for a 1200/day profile?

  • BurnWithBarn2015
    BurnWithBarn2015 Posts: 1,026 Member
    i do this while maintaining

    Some days a bit more other days a bit less, but average is 14000 calories a week

    I just calculate it or dont really bother with it...seems to be second nature by now.

    but when you do MFP than bank them pre-log So when you eat 1200 one day and you should eat 1500 bank ( log with quick log) 300 extra for a day ahead or whenever you plan to eat them.

    I dont log in MFP so my system is easy with a calendar overview too. So i can see my weekly average. I pre log my meals days ahead so i know aboutish what i have left or what and when i have to much

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