Does anybody have one "eat as many calories as you want" day a week & lose weight?

newstart1988
newstart1988 Posts: 154 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Have you lost weight doing that?
«13

Replies

  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited July 2017
    Depends on if you have a reasonable deficit or not.

    Reasonable, and eating a reasonable amount over normal deficit amount - would not undo a whole week's worth of doing it right - and would likely be beneficial.

    Unless it caused you totally lose it.

    Even there though, if you had a 500 cal daily deficit, and went over on a weekend day, you'd have to hit goal, eat 500 more, and then eat 3000 more to wipe out what the week caused.
    That would be like purposeful pigging out for many.

    But if you just had a planned splurge meal, ate smaller or no breakfast, and little lunch, and good long workout - then it's unlikely dinner would cause any more harm than increased sodium intake causing water retention for a few days.
    But that's not like real fat weight gained anyway - obviously don't weigh on Sun or Mon unless you can totally separate your emotional response from purely data numbers for curiosity's sake.

    Plenty of people do similar.

    But just like anything - planning is needed. If you don't plan to succeed, you plan to fail.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    edited July 2017
    Nope. Because a day like that could easily destroy my calorie deficit for the entire week.
  • samhynes7469
    samhynes7469 Posts: 23 Member
    a cheat day could undo all the work you put in to the past week , but 1 cheat meal , like on fri. , or sat , on your off day( if you keep it reasonable) is recommended . you can easily work it in to your calories for the day, you just have to plan ahead . my cheat meal is always mediterranean food !
  • marqjcubs
    marqjcubs Posts: 2 Member
    A lot of people do this I believe, where they follow a plan for the week and usually on Sunday they'll have a feast. I know one girl who makes sure she doesnt binge by listing her cravings through out thee week and choosing three on sunday for her meals, along with a nice water/tea and a brisk walk.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,189 Member
    marqjcubs wrote: »
    As for me, if I were to do that, I would douse what I could in hot sauce to speed my metabolism up.

    I literally drink hot sauce straight from the bottle and guarantee its done nothing for my metabolism!
  • elliej
    elliej Posts: 466 Member
    No but if I know I'm going to a birthday party or special event once in a while I will give give up the counting and eat what I want for that event - trying to make good decisions if I can. I am fully aware that if I do that I can give up on losing anything that week, and possibly the week after.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    It really does depend on how many calories you can put away. I would struggle to eat enough in one day to completely wipe out a whole weeks deficit.
  • MFPSK1977
    MFPSK1977 Posts: 31 Member
    Nah. I can easily put away 5000 calories at a buffet. I wouldn't want to disappoint myself seeing the scale jump up several pounds the next day. I wouldn't want to induce a dopamine rush from food ever again, because in my experience it is hard to jump back into the swing of things. My goal is to learn to eat for the weight I want to be.
  • Dottyx
    Dottyx Posts: 2 Member
    Food is one of life's pleasures and it's a shame when people say they have an 'all or nothing' approach to eating. I think when people deny themselves it's likely they'll end up (in their minds) 'failing' at some point and going back to old habits when they see certain foods as 'cheats' or 'no go areas'.

    For me, I've stopped using this sort of language and have changed my lifestyle to incorporate a wider range of foods. My husband and I both work full time in education so I plan our lunches/dinners in the week and shop to ensure that I have plenty of healthy options to snack on.

    I like experimenting with food and have found that this has been one of the ways to success. Spicing up meals in the week with a range of different grains, vegetables and herbs make all meals enjoyable and not something 'you have to eat'. because it's good for you. I have an ever growing range of recipe books from Persian to Cantonese: you'll find that often these foods are naturally healthier, but utterly delicious.

    On Friday evening, after a long week, we go to the supermarket and choose what we fancy for an easy tea: perhaps Pizza or a shank; a selection of cheeses and definitely a desert, or a bar of chocolate each. We also choose a bottle of wine to enjoy over the Friday and Saturday evenings. He plays football and I go to gym and then it's 'flop' down on the sofa and chill. On Saturday mornings we usually have a tea cake or a bacon sandwich and then we have an 'ordinary' weekend - balanced but not strict, (so, if we want butter on our toast we'll have it). The difference is that as we have trained ourselves to eat better over a period of time, we're more aware of our appetite and so where once we'd keep going back to the cheese board until our stomachs hurt, we now cut a reasonable amount and put the rest away before sitting down and relaxing.

    The real change for me has been exercise. I know people don't want to hear it, but you'll never maintain weight loss if you don't do the two together. I exercise three to five times a week - three at the gym and one to two following a DVD at home. Not only have I lost weight but more importantly, I've seen a change in the shape of my body and my state of mind. Again, I switch things around; try different equipment and DVD routines to ensure that it stays fresh and enjoyable. There's nothing better than an hour in the gym; head phones in, dance music on, to work out the stresses of teaching college students I can tell you!

    I'm fifty but I look and feel better than I did fifteen years ago. I would urge others not to exclude things; if you feel they are 'denying' yourself, you are more likely to all out 'binge' at some stage and then feel awful. The key question is are you 'enjoying' your food? If the answer is 'no' then, even if you do lose weight, you're likely to ditch the 'healthy' side and revert to old habits when you hit your goal: thereby ensuring the cycle starts again.

    'Everything in moderation' is the key: food is there to be enjoyed! Hope you all find a happy medium.

    Sorry about the essay - force of habit!
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
    No - I can easily eat 10k+ calories in a day.

    But I do often have days or weekends that I eat significantly over maintenance requirements, but do ok without compensating- overall of course it slows weight loss, but happy to mix up my metabolism a bit.
  • ElvisPedro
    ElvisPedro Posts: 7 Member
    Apparently, Dolly Parton eats no carbs during the week and eats what she wants at the weekend. Not sure I could totally shun carbs for five days straight, though.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    No. My weekly deficit is usually around 1200cal. If I ate as much as I wanted on one day a week I would gain.
  • firef1y72
    firef1y72 Posts: 1,579 Member
    Yep Tuesdays, but there again I tend to burn somewhere in the region of 2000 exercise Calories on a Tuesday (PT+Zumba+Insanity+Boxercise+lifting+walking to and from each class), which gives me 3000+ Calories to play with and even splurging I can't eat that many.
  • TikiKitsune
    TikiKitsune Posts: 10 Member
    My cheat days are usually only 300 extra calories. (Almost every day of the week, I'm under daily goal by around 200 and I'm on track for losing 1.5lbs per week, so I don't mind if it's just 1lb per week) and I usually have these "cheat days" once per week. I don't even think I could eat much more than that without feeling sick, I've just kinda gotten used to only eating around 1100-1200 calories per day at this point.
  • nyponbell
    nyponbell Posts: 379 Member
    Once a week would be too often, I think. Mostly because the deficit here is generally around 500 cals. I try to incorporate chocolate (my junk of choice) in my everyday totals, if I want it (I always want it). I am planning on trying to have one day of PLANNED extras once a month, where I make pizza and have some extra chocolate, as that takes me over. I'm still going to log everything though, because "eating as many calories as I want" without consideration for how many calories it was is what got me into this mess in the first place! :smile:

    And this day would be a day when I take a 10km walk and do some weight lifting as well, so I'd have some added calories out and not eat just from my previous deficit.

  • theWODdoll
    theWODdoll Posts: 90 Member
    Unless you're doing a competition where you perform 3-5 workouts in one day at high intensity and/or heavy weights it's not worth it. You want to stay away from extremes. So when a "cheat day" arises, make it a cheat meal only, not an entire day, and make it on a day you workout so you burn some of it off too :)
  • RedheadedPrincess14
    RedheadedPrincess14 Posts: 415 Member
    I do it once every couple months
  • estherdragonbat
    estherdragonbat Posts: 5,283 Member
    edited July 2017
    I indulge more on Friday night and Saturday, but while it's technically, 'as many calories as I want', what it translates out to is 'eating the food I want, within my limit, and exercising to increase that limit'. Fridays I have my usual (roughly 300 calorie) breakfast, walk about 2 hours, and have a light lunch (One veggie sushi roll at 180 calories). My walk is to do the grocery shopping and I get myself a sliced-cheese sandwich on a bagel for Saturday, too. Then I log what I'm planning to eat for supper, which is often in the neighborhood of 1,100 calories. If I have any left over, then I'll snack a bit during the day. Otherwise, no.

    Saturday, I usually (barring the absence of my favorite cookie at the refreshments buffet after services, in which case I pick something else), have a frosted shortbread, 2 pieces of potato kugel, and some melon for breakfast. Lunch is prelogged and probably about 900 calories. I walk 2 or 3 hours, broken up: 20 minutes to and from synagogue. My walking buddy and I meet up after lunch and walk about 2 hours, sometimes more. I have the bagel for dinner.

    Yes, I eat the food I want, but I make sure I'm still within my deficit for the day.

    Note: I also weigh in on Sunday morning, so knowing that's coming up helps keep me on the rails, too.
  • laurenebargar
    laurenebargar Posts: 3,081 Member
    No Because what was the point of working hard all week, when you could easily undo everything you did with one day.

    I have a calorie goal on the lower end of things (1,300) and on Saturday I had pizza, chicken wings, a few beers and a few other things. I exercised a little more, played outdoor games while drinking and with my exercise calories was still within my calories for the day. I logged everything and knew that when dinner time came I would only have *one* slice of pizza because thats realistically all I could fit, I didnt miss the second or third slice at all.

  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I definitely indulge on weekends (but I have planned for it since I eat less during the week), is it as much as I want, not really. Sometimes maybe. But I am not the type to eat enough to blow my deficit completely out of the water either. Usually only ends up being one or two meals and the rest of the day I eat light and stay active.
  • Zara_Pi
    Zara_Pi Posts: 141 Member
    I'm on OMAD and eat as much as I want and lost 12lbs in 6 weeks to get to 98lbs. And with no exercise.

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