Weekend Calories

katherinewease

I finally hit my maintenance goal on Friday! And then Saturday was my birthday and I went a little crazy over my calorie allotment...

I had a tendency to do this while I was dieting and have still lost 40 lbs since January, but I always feel so guilty after eating more on weekends. I don't want to live with this guilt anymore every Monday morning.

Who "banks" some extra calories for the weekends? If so, how many calories do you allot yourself for weekday and weekend?

Alatariel75

I have been most successful at losing weight when I've eaten low during the week and higher on weekends. I find it pretty easy to stick to 1200-1300 on weekdays and that gives me 2000 ish per day on the weekend. It just makes sense to me to do that and takes the stress out of the weekend.

ahoy_m8

I bank calories for wine on weekends. 1750 TDEE, weekdays 1600 food, weekends 1600 food + 7 alcohol drinks (mostly wine).

Kimblesnbits13

I bank calories when losing and maintaining. When I'm on weight loss mode (as of now getting rid of 3-4 lbs) I can't go as crazy as I didn't while maintaining. Right now I try to keep my weekends around 1800 and when I was maintaining it would be like 2,500 weekends.

nxd10

Don't feel guilty. A good strategy is to be absolutely rigid about your weekly goals but flexible about daily ones. I usually go over on Friday. I'm usually less hungry Saturday and go under. If I know I'm going out I bank the calories. It's a lot easier than trying to make them up later.

skymningen

I bank calories for special events (like birthdays or the wedding today), but I am actually the other way round than everyone seems to be: I NEED to eat more during weekdays when I am working, even though I have a sedentary job. Somehow I need to fuel my brain. During the weekend I can take more time preparing food, buying fresh vegetables on Saturday and also it is easier to cope for me if I am hungry. The first thing that shuts down when I am hungry is my ability to think, I don't need that for housework and lazy weekend evenings.

TavistockToad

I try and save around 100 cals a day Monday to Thursday so I can eat more at the weekend. Plus my long run is usually on a Saturday so I get extra cals from that too.

Also, my weigh in day is Friday so I don't see the fluctuations from eating more over the weekend!

sijomial

I don't log my food any more but no I don't bank calories. Personally I don't want or feel the need for that level of planning or control.

If I see an upward long term weight trend then I simply correct it by reducing calories slightly for a while.
Reactive rather than proactive as I have huge variations in both sides of the CICO equation.

NorthCascades

I don't have to go to work on the weekends, so I have time to spend the day hiking or go for 4+ hour bike ride. Skipping a meal or two is involved a lot of the time. So I wind up eating more to catch up on Mondays.

kgirlhart

I try to eat a lighter lunch and breakfast on the weekends so I can eat more later in the day or have room for some extra drinks. Banking calories during the week works for a lot of people, but I notice that if I do that I often don't use up the calories I banked and then I end up under eating for the week. I tend to naturally have some days that are a little under and some days that are a little over so it balances out.

BlessedBeyondMsr

I try to come in under my calorie goal Mon-Fri, and splurge on the weekends so that I don't feel deprived. I do still work out on weekends as well. I met my goal weight this way and it works for me.

AnnPT77

I bank quite a bit (up to 200-300 calories on a low day) to allow for some periodic indulgence, but it's not as neat and tidy as banking weekdays to indulge on weekends. I'm retired; my whole life doesn't work like that. This isn't working perfectly for me, but I'm still trying trying to fine-tune to make it workable.