Dividing calories into following week?

Seat12v

Just wondering if you run short of calories and you still want to consume more then your allowance for what ever reason towards the end of a week is it feasible to divide that said meal into the following week over three to four days say just to stay on track?

AnnPT77

It's alright, but it seems unnecessary. If you go a bit over, even quite a bit over, just log it, let it go, and get back to your standard healthy routine. It's a drop in the ocean that is the rest of your life. The majority of our days determine the majority of our progress.

Thinking of food as something you have to "make up for" is a toe on the slippery slope toward a bad relationship with food. Most of us have some over goal days, and some under goal days. It all works out.

If you're losing a pound a week, you could eat 500 more calories one day, and it would only delay your reaching goal weight by one day. It's not a big deal, as long as it's quite occasional. Even if it's more than that, if you're still in a deficit on average for the week, you'll still lose weight, just less slowly.

If you find it happening often, that you're hungry well before you get to calorie goal, it's worth considering whether you're trying to lose weight unsustainably fast, or perhaps your current eating routine (what you eat, when you eat it) isn't ideal for keeping you feeling reasonably full and happy.

Best wishes!

Lietchi

When I know beforehand I will have a high calorie meal - a family dinner for example - I will bank some calories a few days beforehand and/or skip breakfast/have a light lunch that day.

When it's unexpected, I just log it and move on, I won't 'punish' myself afterwards.

Strudders67

I look at the Weekly View option on the app, every few days. When I was losing, I'd try to aim for my average weekly cals to be roughly in line with my goal but, where something unexpected happened (or even something expected), I'd at least aim for the weekly average to be under my maintenance number.

If your average is a little over, as AnnPT77 says, over a longer period of time that's immaterial. If it takes you an extra few hours to get to your goal is that really such a big deal?

paperpudding

Yes definitely run calories over to the next day or a day later in the week or over the next few days - thats what the weekly view is intended for.

Not sure I would run them from one week to the next though.

Once a week is finished, on target or not, i start afresh the next one.

nanastaci2020

I will sometimes plan ahead, by saving a few calories each day over a few days to plan for a higher calorie day to come. Such as eating 100-200 less AND walking an extra 20-30 minutes (for another 100-150) on Thur and Fri to help boost my Saturday allowance.

Even though the #s may be the same, I don't think I'd be comfortable having an unexpected big day and then planning to 'pay for it' over the next few days. To me that would be a slippery slope. Good intentions and all, but kind of like using credit cards to pay for something you can't afford. I'd be afraid that as the next few days unfolded, things would come up to make it hard to shave/save those calories I'd already used.

So for me it is a matter of planning. On the other hand, I do think sometimes you need to make decisions on the fly. And if something came up unexpectedly, and I ate 500-600 over my allotment for that day: it would not mean the end of the world.

Hanibanani2020

I bank calories if I’m planning a big day but if I overeat in the moment I log and move on.

cmriverside

I over ate a lot during weight loss and still today. By "a lot" I mean I ate a couple thousand extra calories on the regular, and every week I had one day where I was over by 700-1000. Just log it and move on.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul is an old phrase but it applies here. I make each day a new day, I don't borrow or lend calories. That can quickly become disordered/neurotic.

It doesn't make a difference if I don't do it day after day after day.