Weekday calories and weekend calories...

HakunaMatata137

Throughout the week, I have my MFP calories set to as low as they can go - 1200/day to lose 2lbs/week. Well, some days I eat more, especially when I work out, and it can go up to 1400-1800. But I try not to go higher than that during the week.

But the weekend comes and I go out pretty much every Saturday night with friends and drink and have good food, and I enjoy having a little break from strict calorie counting. But I don't wanna totally go off the wagon and not care about what I eat or how many calories I eat. So do you think I would still get results if I eat a consistent 1200-1400ish calories/day during the week, but move it up to like 1800-1900 calories for Saturday and/or Sunday? And maybe even more if I workout? Or would that be a bad idea for weight loss?

Wondering your thoughts on that! Thanks!

kami3006

It’s fine. Many people bank calories for the weekend or follow a weekly calorie goal. As long as it balances out you’re good.

ETA... been doing it for years with no problems.

MammaC66

If you are not careful, you can use up your weekly deficit by going over on the weekends. Personally, I think it is better to keep your calorie count the same on weekends as you do during the week with maybe just an occasional splurge.

NorthCascades

Do the math and figure out if it's ok - how much is ok, really.

Or, try it for a month and watch the scale.

23rochelle23

Because it matters what you do over time not on a single day I would do the following:

Work out your TDEE (or do as sedentary and then add purposeful exercise calories - most people do 50-75% of calories ‘burned’ due to inaccuracies of burn calculators)
TDEE x7 = maintenance calories
Maintenance calories -6000 (1200 x 5 days)
= remaining calories

From whatever number you get deduct 3500cal for each pound you want to lose per week (you may not weigh enough to be able to eat a reasonable amount and lose 2lb/week so be realistic if you need to slow it down a little.

Whatever remains is your ‘weekend budget’
Divide by 2 and have at it. If you eat more during the week then you might need to move some calories around :-)

Lounmoun

HakunaMatata137 wrote: »

Throughout the week, I have my MFP calories set to as low as they can go - 1200/day to lose 2lbs/week. Well, some days I eat more, especially when I work out, and it can go up to 1400-1800. But I try not to go higher than that during the week.

But the weekend comes and I go out pretty much every Saturday night with friends and drink and have good food, and I enjoy having a little break from strict calorie counting. But I don't wanna totally go off the wagon and not care about what I eat or how many calories I eat. So do you think I would still get results if I eat a consistent 1200-1400ish calories/day during the week, but move it up to like 1800-1900 calories for Saturday and/or Sunday? And maybe even more if I workout? Or would that be a bad idea for weight loss?

Wondering your thoughts on that! Thanks!

Are you losing 2 lbs a week the way you are doing things? Are you happy with your rate of loss?
Are your maintenance calories at least 2,000? Do you ever log your weekend food and drinks to see if you are not exceeeding your maintenance?
People lose weight all the time without calorie counting. If what you are doing gets you acceptable results then it is fine. If you stop losing at the rate you want or at all you should probably track better and stick to your goal more strictly.

paperpudding

23rochelle23 wrote: »

Because it matters what you do over time not on a single day I would do the following:

Work out your TDEE (or do as sedentary and then add purposeful exercise calories - most people do 50-75% of calories ‘burned’ due to inaccuracies of burn calculators)
TDEE x7 = maintenance calories
Maintenance calories -6000 (1200 x 5 days)
= remaining calories

From whatever number you get deduct 3500cal for each pound you want to lose per week (you may not weigh enough to be able to eat a reasonable amount and lose 2lb/week so be realistic if you need to slow it down a little.

Whatever remains is your ‘weekend budget’
Divide by 2 and have at it. If you eat more during the week then you might need to move some calories around :-)

Or you could just use the weekly calories section on MFP - set your week to start on Mon - whatever you have left after Friday is your weekend budget.

cmriverside

paperpudding wrote: »

23rochelle23 wrote: »

Because it matters what you do over time not on a single day I would do the following:

Work out your TDEE (or do as sedentary and then add purposeful exercise calories - most people do 50-75% of calories ‘burned’ due to inaccuracies of burn calculators)
TDEE x7 = maintenance calories
Maintenance calories -6000 (1200 x 5 days)
= remaining calories

From whatever number you get deduct 3500cal for each pound you want to lose per week (you may not weigh enough to be able to eat a reasonable amount and lose 2lb/week so be realistic if you need to slow it down a little.

Whatever remains is your ‘weekend budget’
Divide by 2 and have at it. If you eat more during the week then you might need to move some calories around :-)

Or you could just use the weekly calories section on MFP - set your week to start on Mon - whatever you have left after Friday is your weekend budget.

The free version on the website doesn't have a weekly breakdown. I have to do it on an Excel sheet.

paperpudding

Yes it does I use it all the time.

amy19355

HakunaMatata137 wrote: »

Throughout the week, I have my MFP calories set to as low as they can go - 1200/day to lose 2lbs/week. Well, some days I eat more, especially when I work out, and it can go up to 1400-1800. But I try not to go higher than that during the week.

But the weekend comes and I go out pretty much every Saturday night with friends and drink and have good food, and I enjoy having a little break from strict calorie counting. But I don't wanna totally go off the wagon and not care about what I eat or how many calories I eat. So do you think I would still get results if I eat a consistent 1200-1400ish calories/day during the week, but move it up to like 1800-1900 calories for Saturday and/or Sunday? And maybe even more if I workout? Or would that be a bad idea for weight loss?

Wondering your thoughts on that! Thanks!

HakunaMatata137 wrote: »

Throughout the week, I have my MFP calories set to as low as they can go - 1200/day to lose 2lbs/week. Well, some days I eat more, especially when I work out, and it can go up to 1400-1800. But I try not to go higher than that during the week.

But the weekend comes and I go out pretty much every Saturday night with friends and drink and have good food, and I enjoy having a little break from strict calorie counting. But I don't wanna totally go off the wagon and not care about what I eat or how many calories I eat. So do you think I would still get results if I eat a consistent 1200-1400ish calories/day during the week, but move it up to like 1800-1900 calories for Saturday and/or Sunday? And maybe even more if I workout? Or would that be a bad idea for weight loss?

Wondering your thoughts on that! Thanks!

It sounds to me a little like you would like to have your cake, and eat it, too!

The way I am trying to manage this very question in my own life is to stay focused on portion control.

I don’t deny myself the item of interest, but less of it passes my lips.

23rochelle23

paperpudding wrote: »

23rochelle23 wrote: »

Because it matters what you do over time not on a single day I would do the following:

Work out your TDEE (or do as sedentary and then add purposeful exercise calories - most people do 50-75% of calories ‘burned’ due to inaccuracies of burn calculators)
TDEE x7 = maintenance calories
Maintenance calories -6000 (1200 x 5 days)
= remaining calories

From whatever number you get deduct 3500cal for each pound you want to lose per week (you may not weigh enough to be able to eat a reasonable amount and lose 2lb/week so be realistic if you need to slow it down a little.

Whatever remains is your ‘weekend budget’
Divide by 2 and have at it. If you eat more during the week then you might need to move some calories around :-)

Or you could just use the weekly calories section on MFP - set your week to start on Mon - whatever you have left after Friday is your weekend budget.

Or this :-) whatever works for you. You’d maybe still need to change your stats by the sound of it though.... generally speaking if MFP is recommending 1200cal you may not be able to lose weight at the rate you’re hoping - if you look at the below someone with those stats is still ‘overweight’ (BMI 26.62) and to lose 2lb a week would need to be on 706cal/day... seven days a week... so using the weekly total and eating at 1200/cal (the minimum MFP will allow as a target) would be 1lb a week... even though mfp would still show the ‘goal’ as 2lb/week - and there is no room for the weekend ‘blow out’ in that 1lb/week. If however you adjust it to half a pound a week

TDEE x7 = 11942
-6000
=5942

So say we deduct 1750 for 0.5lb/week
=4192 for the weekend. Which allows for a few glasses of something special at the weekend

(I find it satisfying working it out this way and actually had my calories set at maintenance for a fair while as I preferred to see my ‘leftover’ amount to try and target my weight loss each week as I find it easier to stick to but as said above if your not into the numbers set your weekly target and go from there)

bigbandjohn

It may slow you down. but I see no reason you can't go higher on a weekend if that will keep you on the path of overall weight loss. Calculate maintenance calories and use that on the weekend. So you have 5 days where you are aiming at 2 lbs/week and 2 days at maintenance. You will end up around 1-1/2 lbs/week average.

On a personal note, you may want to recheck your maintenance numbers every 10-15 lbs when doing this, as the maintenance calories get smaller as you lose weight.