How consistently do you eat calories each day?

SpookyPockets

I'm just wondering how other people maintain and how much everyone's experiences vary and what a normal attitude to this is?

Do you eat roughly your maintainance calories each day, do you try to even it out over the week, or do you have a different way of working out what you need?

zeejane03

My 6 year maintenance anniversary will be in April of this year.

For me personally, I've discovered that I get bored easily in maintenance, which leads to sloppiness. I've become very interested in nutrition and how food choices may play a role in long term health, so I spend a lot of time reading about nutrition topics, I experiment with different way of eating (currently playing around with the DASH protocol) etc.

Throughout all of this though I'm mindful of my calorie intake and do mental calorie math throughout the day, as well as daily weigh-ins and then I still use my food scale to spot check servings sizes a few times a week. Regardless of what way of eating I'm experimenting with I know that CICO is what dictates my weight management plan. I also refuse to completely cut out any foods that I enjoy eating.

BZAH10

"Normal attitude" is whatever works for each person.

I average out my calorie intake over time. Not just a week but all the time. On days I am really active I'm not very hungry but a day or so later I am so I'll eat a bit more. On days I'm sedentary I eat very little because I'm simply not hungry. I'm an intuitive eater though, so my method is probably different than weighing and logging and tracking exact calories.

kami3006

I maintain by watching my weekly calorie goal. I prefer eating my cardio calories on lifting days as I'm not hungry on the former but want to eat everything on the latter. So some days are lower, some higher. This also helps me to fit in more calorie dense foods/meals. In the end, it balances out.

I lost weight, five years ago, doing the same thing.

spiriteagle99

I'm a runner, currently training for a marathon, so my exercise differs every day. Some days I run 5 miles, some 18, some none. My basic food doesn't change that much though, except that I'll allow myself more treats (beer, ice cream) on days that I run longer. My CI-CO seems to balance over the week, though I don't really push to make it perfect. If I'm hungry I eat. If I exercise a lot, I eat. If I take it easy on a rest day, I try to eat less. I log but don't weigh what I eat. I weigh myself once or twice a week, and if I see the weight going up, I'll cut back a bit. Somehow, this has kept me maintaining for several years.

sijomial

Even if there is a "normal" it's not helpful to an individual unless normal matches their preferences.

My diet fits round my social life and exercise and as such it's all over the place day to day, week to week, even season to season. At a rough guess my daily intake varies from an unusual 1500 to an equally unusual 6500 on a big cycling event day. I don't log food anymore, just keep an eye on my weight trend and adjust if I want or need to.

When I did log food I found a same every day allowance felt really restrictive even at pretty generous maintenance levels.

AdrianSee1975

I eat the same calories daily regardless of whether I exercise or not that day.
However, about every 5th day I do have a high carb day where I increase carbs up to 500g from my regular 250g/day.
At 170lbs I’m losing weight on average of 2750 daily calories, although at an extremely slow rate.
Consistent wit diet and exercise is what works best for me.
Currently sitting at 5.4% body fat.

CarvedTones

I am pretty close most days with an occasional splurge over. I generally eat extra calories for burns on the day I do the exercise; it's usually first thing in the morning. I track very carefully each day but rarely look back across days. My goal is currently set to a deficit, slowly losing toward the bottom of my range. I have a 10 pound maintenance range and I am currently very close to the middle.

Gisel2015

Not very consistent anymore after being in maintenance for 9 years. At home, I weigh and log my food but as I said in other threads, I am not OCD about it. When I eat out, and unless the restaurant has the nutritional information listed on line, I don't bother logging. The same when I am on vacation. And since I eat out at least twice a week, my weekly intake is not too easy to monitor.

I have a pre-set number of daily calories and macros than I need to meet, and that includes exercise calories (TDEE). But I don’t worry if I go over sometimes or if I stay under some days. If my weight is steady and within the upper and lower self-determined range (only +/- 2 lbs because I am small and old), I am OK.

My "normal attitude" maybe different to other people's attitude, but it works for me and that is all that matter.

Keto_Vampire

I literally eat the same prepackaged portion foods (~same kcals total) each day 6-7/7 days a week when trying to lose weight;
when maintaining, it's more like 4-5/7 days a week. Diet >>> Exercise
I do need to up my kcals for a day every 1-2 weeks when dieting though because @ some point the deficit begins to impact my activity level (mainly NEAT & meeting minimum steady state cardio goals)

SummerSkier

Also, if you haven't already, read some of the threads which are stickied at the top of this forum. Very helpful.

AnnPT77

I target eating under maintenance most days, because I like to eat indulgently now and then . . . occasionally, very indulgently. If my weight is up higher than I'd like, I stick to the "under" days more often, or cut it back further. I still log most of the time, though I'll skip it if it was an unusual day that would be hard to estimate/log (potluck meal, something like that); I didn't skip difficult to estimate days while losing.

After a while, a "normal attitude" is doing whatever works for you, which may or may not be what works for others.

LivingtheLeanDream

I'm in year 6 of maintenance, I eat at small deficit during the week so I can eat a bit above my TDEE at the weekend - it has worked a dream for me
So Mon - Thurs I average 1800 cals, then Fri-Sun 2100. - weekly numbers average 13500 = approx 1929 cals a day. I'm 5ft 2 and pretty active. I only loosely count calories now, haven't logged any food in a few years apart from now and again to see how my macros are doing. (still use a food scale regularly though so I don't get portion creep)

Noreenmarie1234

I like to vary depending on how hungry I am. I try to stay within 2100-2600. Some days I just am naturally more hungry so I eat 2600 (sometimes more if I ate at the low end for a few days). I find it helps me because I don't want to force myself to eat on days I just don't want to, and don't want to feel like I should limit myself on days I am hungry or want to indulge. I like being able to eat "what I want" using a range. I found when I tried sticking to a set number, I felt deprived some days. It depends what works for you and what will help you be satisfied and happy in maintenance.

Some weeks I eat 2600 all week, but if my weight starts to go up, I will just balance it with some lower days or exercise a little more to balance it out. Like around the holidays I ate 2600 for a few weeks, but just exercised a bit more and didn't gain.

RoxieDawn

My 'normal' right now, eat the same amount of calories everyday (including rest days) except my 'long run' day (Saturday) my highest calorie burner of the week, this is my indulgent day.

Currently 1/2 marathon training, races will be completed 2nd week of April, I stick to a calorie/macro balance during the week that works well for my training needs and do what I call flex weekends (flexible calorie choices) for my indulgent day and rest day on Sunday.

My calorie needs may change some after training is over, so its normal for my 'normal' to change.