Eating less on weekdays to make up for weekends?

viglet

So I have been following your group for a little while now. I have been working towards following the TDEE minus 20% method but am finding it a bit difficult.

Just some background information... I started loosing weight in July 2012. I began at 228lbs (at 5'2 thats hella big). Since then I have dropped down to 160lbs by counting calories and doing mostly cardio. I was also doing some bodyweight interval type workouts through fitnessblender.

In the past, I would eat anywhere from 1200 to 1350 calories during the week and eat up to 2300 calories on weekends (maybe more). It would average out to around 1550-1600 (right around where my TDEE minus 20%). I had great success with that.

Now I am trying to work towards eating 1550 daily. I am doing stronglifts 3 times a week and still doing cardio on off days. I still have 30lbs (maybe more) to get rid of. But I just can't seem to shut my mouth on weekends. I still just over eat and never meet my macros properly.

So my question is, if my calories over the week average out to my TDEE minus 20%, is there any harm with going back to eating less on weekdays and eating more on weekends IF I am still meeting my macro goals? (hopefully that makes sense)

Edit: Just as an example, my tdee mins 20% is around 1550 calories. If I eat 1900 Saturday, 1900 Sunday, 1150 Monday, 1150 Tuesday , I just made up for the calories on the weekend. So, Wed, Thurs, Fri, I can eat 1550. :embarassed:

The_Enginerd

The only problem I could see is if eating that little during the week is affecting your gym performance. Many people eat to average over the week and I know some who do intermittent fasting.

kristen2713

The only problem I could see is if eating that little during the week is affecting your gym performance. Many people eat to average over the week and I know some who do intermittent fasting.

Agreed. Your body doesn't know what day of the week it is, and I've heard quite a few people having success with this type of method, and it helps them to stay on track. Congrats on your success so far!!! But I also agree with above about performance and such...you need power and energy to lift especially. Maybe you can make sure one of those is a rest day and one is cardio rather than lifting? Another option is to maybe drop to TDEE - 15% and slow down your loss a bit, but still enjoy life? 1150 just sounds painful, even if you're only talking 2 days :noway: Or increase your lifting to 5 days, decrease your cardio and reap the benefits of weight training and eating :bigsmile:

SideSteel

So my question is, if my calories over the week average out to my TDEE minus 20%, is there any harm with going back to eating less on weekdays and eating more on weekends IF I am still meeting my macro goals? (hopefully that makes sense)

Edit: Just as an example, my tdee mins 20% is around 1550 calories. If I eat 1900 Saturday, 1900 Sunday, 1150 Monday, 1150 Tuesday , I just made up for the calories on the weekend. So, Wed, Thurs, Fri, I can eat 1550. :embarassed:

Training performance would be a big concern as would dietary adherence.

I'm not suggesting that you DON'T do it. If you want to try it and you find that it works well for you then you should roll with it, but I'd question this:

But I just can't seem to shut my mouth on weekends. I still just over eat and never meet my macros properly.

And instead I'd suggest examining that statement and figure out what's primarily responsible for this. It may be beneficial to find a way to remedy that or at least tone it down so that the differences between the low and high days aren't as drastic.

EDIT: Additionally, reducing the weekday intake to allow for more freedom in your social life, may be somewhat different than under-eating to try to compensate for poor self control. That's not meant to be suggestive of your scenario, I'm just trying to illustrate the difference.

MstngSammy

in for info....

viglet

The only problem I could see is if eating that little during the week is affecting your gym performance. Many people eat to average over the week and I know some who do intermittent fasting.

I find that my lift on Monday's is usually great. It might be because I eat more on weekends. Now my Wednesday lift is probably where I would see the most difficulty. Maybe instead of doing a drastic low calorie for Monday and Tuesday, I might just eat a little less on M-F.

Or increase your lifting to 5 days, decrease your cardio and reap the benefits of weight training and eating :bigsmile:

hahaha I would really love to do that! The only thing is that I am doing the stronglifts program and it says to only do it 3 times a week!

And instead I'd suggest examining that statement and figure out what's primarily responsible for this. It may be beneficial to find a way to remedy that or at least tone it down so that the differences between the low and high days aren't as drastic.

EDIT: Additionally, reducing the weekday intake to allow for more freedom in your social life, may be somewhat different than under-eating to try to compensate for poor self control. That's not meant to be suggestive of your scenario, I'm just trying to illustrate the difference.

I agree with toning it down. I am sure my husband can agree with me that I am not the most pleasant of people when I eat low calorie.

But as you mentioned, it isn't so much self control as it is enjoying my social life. As an example, I visit my parents on a weekly basis. My father has this local bakery that he buys dessert from every week. It is "his thing" I guess. And in the beginning, I would just flat out refuse to eat his baked goods. But it got depressing seeing how sad he would get about it. Or when I visit my mother in law (who is Eastern European) and she makes all these yummy Croatian treats. She is never mean about me not eating it, but I can see how happy she gets when I at least enjoy it a bit. And that doesn't mean I should binge and eat a pound of pupusas or cevapi, but I do tend to go over mostly because I just can't even know what the actual calorie count of these things truly are.

In the end, I think I will focus on still trying to maintain my calorie goal on weekends. Because as it has been mentioned, if I just let myself not GAF, I will probably end up eating WAY more then anticipated!