Weekend binges wiping out weekly deficit
dracaene
Posts: 21 Member
I'm having this problem where I keep bingeing on the weekends. My daily calorie deficit is only 250, so these weekend binges are not only wiping out my entire weekly deficit, they may even be putting me over my maintenance calories. Normally I would suggest to myself that I increase my daily calorie limit to reduce the feeling of deprivation and maybe stop the weekend binges, but with only a 250 calorie deficit, there's really no room for that. Other than avoiding all social situations revolving around food, I'm really not sure what to do. Would appreciate any advice/tips!
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Replies
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Can you create a bigger deficit during the week?5
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Exercise more on the weekends.4
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I feel your pain, I gained three pounds in two days.0
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I'm in the same boat unfortunately:(0
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Take some responsibility for your own actions and stop overeating on the weekend.22
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Eat less through the week to create a larger deficit or
Eat less on the weekend to create a larger deficit or
Exercise more on the weekend to create a larger deficit or
Exercise more through the week to create a larger deficit
Create a larger deficit.14 -
I feel ya on this. I started pre-logging my weekends on Friday night to the best of my knowledge. This helps me at least be on the lookout for calorie bombs that are coming my way. I also decided a while back that my weekend is Saturday only. I can "weekend" eat on Saturday but Friday night is still on program and Sunday is still part of my week. It has really helped me gain control.9
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I'm having this problem where I keep bingeing on the weekends. My daily calorie deficit is only 250, so these weekend binges are not only wiping out my entire weekly deficit, they may even be putting me over my maintenance calories. Normally I would suggest to myself that I increase my daily calorie limit to reduce the feeling of deprivation and maybe stop the weekend binges, but with only a 250 calorie deficit, there's really no room for that. Other than avoiding all social situations revolving around food, I'm really not sure what to do. Would appreciate any advice/tips!
Maybe one day per week (Friday or Saturday) plan to eat at maintenance and eat all your exercise calories back. That way you get that mental feeling of "letting go" but you do it in a responsible way without ruining all the hard work you did during the week.0 -
I'm having this problem where I keep bingeing on the weekends. My daily calorie deficit is only 250, so these weekend binges are not only wiping out my entire weekly deficit, they may even be putting me over my maintenance calories. Normally I would suggest to myself that I increase my daily calorie limit to reduce the feeling of deprivation and maybe stop the weekend binges, but with only a 250 calorie deficit, there's really no room for that. Other than avoiding all social situations revolving around food, I'm really not sure what to do. Would appreciate any advice/tips!
Whilst I agree with other posters about taking some responsibility for your actions, here are a couple of things that I find helpful myself when I am feeling more indulgent than normal.
> I found myself unintentionally Intermittent Fasting because I get up slightly later than I do during the work week and go straight into my workouts (I can't stomach food before exercising, make me want to vom) so I have a 4-500 calorie brunch and then have the rest of my allowance + exercise calories to play with for the day. Which is more than enough for a couple of pints and a bar meal - usually chicken goujons with chips or a burger.
> Walking everywhere - I get a good 10000 steps in most days and this again gives me more calories to play with.
> Including stuff I like during the week, I almost always have chocolate on a daily basis, not a massive bar, just a kit kat or some malteasers (both under 200 calories) and maybe a small kids dairy milk bar (100 calories).
> Fakeaways - instead of depriving myself I occasionally have a takeaway but I'm trying to cut down on this purely because they are so hard to track if they aren't from a chain restaurant. So I make my own stuff some weekends from recipes I find on Pinterest so far I've tried:- Big Mac Fries
- Slow Cooker Lamb Kebab
- KFC Style Chicken (oven baked)
- 1 cal spray homemade fries
- Falafel
- Burgers
- Thai Green Curry
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Limit your daily total sugar intake (including fruit) to 50 grams or less, and also lower your daily carbs to 100 grams.. so at least your body won't store excess fat1
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JennaLynnNagy wrote: »Limit your daily total sugar intake (including fruit) to 50 grams or less, and also lower your daily carbs to 100 grams.. so at least your body won't store excess fat
The body doesn't store excess fat if you're eating in a deficit, it's not necessary to go reduce carbs or sugar to lose weight!11 -
Choose to not overeat. Nobody is shoving the food into your mouth. It's that simple . We choose what we put into our mouths. Choose to not overeat5
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I usually skip breakfast on the weekends, because I'd rather use those calories later in the day. We usually wind up just having brunch and then a light dinner.
You can also go to social situations and eat less. Have a meal before you go, so you aren't hungry. If you're at a restaurant, order something that can be shared with others, or just have a low calorie drink. If you're at a party or event, offer to bring something that you'd like to eat. Or suggest to your friends that you all do something together that doesn't feature food.1 -
JennaLynnNagy wrote: »Limit your daily total sugar intake (including fruit) to 50 grams or less, and also lower your daily carbs to 100 grams.. so at least your body won't store excess fat
Wait, so I can eat 6000 calories a day, as long as I'm limiting sugar and sub 100g of carbohydrates and not store excess fat?
Mind.
Blown.17 -
JennaLynnNagy wrote: »Limit your daily total sugar intake (including fruit) to 50 grams or less, and also lower your daily carbs to 100 grams.. so at least your body won't store excess fat
I think I'm going to need an explanation for this one.
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Weekends can be rough! I struggle with this too. I can be so good through the week because the majority of it, I am by myself, not influenced by other people's "yummy" choices. It doesn't sound like you're being irresponsible...for one, you're here--asking for advice! It sounds like the weekends are tough because of the social aspect of them.
I get it...Friday evening date night, coffee with the girls Saturday morning, Saturday evening BBQ with family, Sunday morning brunch...weekends can be tough. End of Story. (This may not be your typical weekend, but the number of interactions that revolve around food is greatly increased between Friday evenings and Sunday afternoons.)
I have never been a person who likes surprises, so I like to always know where I'll be going on the weekends. I research options before I arrive at restaurants so I know what my lower calorie options are, I always order a water even if I order a cocktail too. I try to do spritzers instead of full-bodied wine (can save you up to half the calories per glass!) When dinner comes, I make a mark down the plate and move half the serving over a bit and only let myself eat half then take the rest home. I know what I can order at the coffee shops and skip the bakery.
I also get into the "lazy weekend slump." Then, I keep a bottle of water with me at all times and try to find ways not to think I need a snack. The biggest help for me if simply not having high-calorie, sugary snacks around the house.
If I still have really overdone it, I throw in an extra workout or an additional 30 minutes on the bike...I do what I need to keep MFP daily number GREEN!
Good Luck!
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I think that if you do enjoy going out every single weekend and binging, you need to live for the weekend I guess. Eat less during the week, and workout more where ever you can.
I'm not sure about your thought process for eating more during the week so you are less hungry, because you would also have to avoid all social situations that involve food because you wouldn't be as hungry, and you know not eating what everyone else is, just isn't fun, and requires you to stay home and Netflix and Chill with you hands.
Or another option, research where you are going to eat, and eat what fits your calories, and not care what you friends think about it.0 -
Good advice so far. I guess really what I'm in need of are some coping mechanisms to help me stay in control, when I'm faced with trigger foods (foods that I cannot seem to help over eating) like baked goods, or potato chips. I have very little trouble maintaining discipline throughout the week, but it seems like every weekend lately has been some sort of special occasion where I wind up surrounded by food that I would normally not keep in the house precisely because I KNOW I have trouble resisting it.0
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If you really can't control yourself then I suggest you make a rule for yourself that you can't eat those things unless you're in a position where you can measure/weight them out and track them. Then, have a treat planned and waiting for when you get home. That way it's easier to say no to those things when you're out because you have something to look forward to later in the evening.2
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Well the simple answer is to not binge on the weekend. If you must, then pair it to with a hard workout session. I don't binge on the weekend, for now I just don't track on the weekends. I'm usually much more active so it helps to offset any gains.0
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When you eat the "junk" "binge" foods on the weekends, cut the portions in half. If you just absolutely can't avoid eating those foods, take a pause and have them box up half your food or order small/half portions if you can. Now a days a lot of places have healthier options, order only from the "lighter" menu.0
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Good advice so far. I guess really what I'm in need of are some coping mechanisms to help me stay in control, when I'm faced with trigger foods (foods that I cannot seem to help over eating) like baked goods, or potato chips. I have very little trouble maintaining discipline throughout the week, but it seems like every weekend lately has been some sort of special occasion where I wind up surrounded by food that I would normally not keep in the house precisely because I KNOW I have trouble resisting it.
So everyone has clearly beat me to the obvious. Which is that it's all self control and creating a larger deficit throughout the week.
I had a binge eating disorder so I understand how hard self control is to obtain and use consistently. But as far as coping with it, you have to learn what works for you. Personally I had to take myself out of situations that could exacerbate my problems. I didn't go out to eat, I only bought 2 days worth of meals at a time, and I avoided parties and special occasions. Now I have learned self control and I can be around food and not binge, but it took about 6 weeks of expelling myself from those situations.
I'm not saying you need to stop living. I hate seeing people have to do what I did and avoid social interactions. I'm just saying you need to learn what works for you.0 -
How can I bank calories for the weekend?0
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as reiterated: create a bigger deficit during the week. i know this weekend i'll be going out of town with my family to a small music festival, which i know will involve at least a corn dog and a a couple several beers. and while there will be a good amount of walking, i am planning for this week to exercise more (aka, actually exercise) and be very strict in staying within my set range in order for me to have enough wiggle room for some fun.1
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A little bit more deficit during the week, do something active to try and override some of those excess calories but imo try and rein in your weekend eating - I know that's what I had to do. Its fine to bank calories but if you are going to wipe out your calorie deficit you wont lose weight, in fact you could gain.0
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I decided to do some math to figure exactly how many calories I overate by, to hopefully use the dose of reality to make me feel better and/or give me a plan of attack so as to not continue in this pattern of overeating on the weekend.
As a result of my calculations, I realized that despite all the weekend overeating I had been under my daily calorie goal enough on the weekdays that, combined with my daily built-in deficit of 250 calories, somehow I was still in an overall deficit this week of 791 calories. Not my goal of 1750 calories deficit per week, but better than being in excess!
So now I feel a lot better.
But still, I need to work on not overdoing it on the weekend. I think that if I aim to eat “maintenance” calories on the weekend, then I won’t feel like “oh well, I’ve already blown it today so might as well eat this WHOLE bag of chips cuz I already ruined my deficit”.
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I love to party. I'll bank all my calories and macros within a day, so I can enjoy a party.
Since most party foods are usually high in fat and carbs, I'll eat lean meat and raw vegetables before the event. I find it helpful to stay within maintenance calories by having a very satiating meal before going to any social gatherings.
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I have this problem too, it's extremely frustrating.0
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