Daily Count versus Weekly Count

LaurenAOK

This is the first time I am hearing about this concept. So for tracking weekly calorie goals, do you enter all your weekly calories into one day in the diary? sorry if this is a dumb question.

Not a dumb question! This is actually the one bone to pick I have with MFP - they don't have this feature on the actual website. But on the app, you can go to nutrition and then click weekly and it will show your calorie totals for the week and say if you're over or under your weekly goal. It's really handy.

LeonCX

Thank you also JoanJett and Lauren for your input I learned lots today. :drinker:

cwolfman13

I apologize if others have posted this before, but are there many people out there who do a weekly total for calories, as opposed to a daily count?

Since I started in January, I've been doing about 1250 calories a day... But I've been wondering lately about the practice of having a weekly limit instead... For example, if I'm under calories today, can I apply those calories tomorrow...

Granted, I wouldn't be under very often, because I already set my number so low (and I try not to be too low each day), but for when I know I'll need it, I'd consider leaving some room for the next day.... For example, I'm going to the Fair tomorrow... Might get a nice snack, cuz - Fair Food... But I don't want to go over if I don't have to, and today, if I don't over snack, I'd maybe have a couple hundred calories left over (plus I have calories from earlier in the week from exercise)...

In general, anyone utilizing weekly totals instead of daily totals, and if so, is it working for you? Thanks in advance for any information ya'll can provide...

What really matters is your net position overall over the course of time...daily...weekly...monthly...yearly...whatever...it really doesn't matter...

When I gained my weight, it was about 40 Lbs over the course of 8 years...that averages out to a trend of roughly a 250 calorie surplus per month...but there were most certainly weeks and months when i was substantially over and weeks and months when I was undoubtedly in a deficit or at maintenance...but my net position over time was that of a surplus of energy thus causing my body to store fat and ultimately weight gain (albeit very slowly).

It works the exact same in reverse for weigh loss. It's your overall net position that counts. That said, you're already eating very low calories at 1250...I would hesitate to eat much less than that even if you're planning to eat more at a later date, particularly if you're exercising...your body needs energy now, not five days from now.

chad_phillips1123

I focus more on my weekly count because one day isn't going to make or break you. That doesn't mean eat more than your BMR for 2 days and fast all the others. I usually have a day or two a week that I go over my daily goal (esp with football season in full swing). Since I've still got a lot to lose and exercise quite a bit, I usually end up well under my weekly calorie goal even with a day or two over. As I get close to my goal that margin will shrink, but I think a weekly focus works fine.

ZhaoWei76

Thank you to everyone for your answers, opinions, and information... It was very helpful, indeed...

Personally, I would still track daily... My goal is always to be under on calories for the day... But if I tried the weekly intake, it would be more about little amounts leftover each day, that could then be used later... So even if I stayed at 1,200 from Monday thru Friday, that would give me an extra 250 calories to use on Saturday... Or if I went over by 200 on Tuesday, I'd just try to save room the rest of the week...

As it is, I'm exercising more now than I was when I started, but not nearly as much as I'm sure others are... I've lost about 55 pounds since January, mainly staying at my calorie deficit (with some walking or eliptical thrown in, but not a consistent thing)... So at 1,250 calories, It's not like I'm not burning 1,000 calories and only netting 250... I'm maybe burning 150 calories a day from walking (if I'm tracking it correctly)...

That said, I generally won't eat back exercise calories, because I don't get them that often (although in the last month or two I've gotten to walking at least 3 or 4 days a week)... I might go over the 1,250 by like 100 or something on those days, but I try not to...

I didn't know about that feature on the phone app, so thanks for that, as well... I do use my phone often to track, so that will be helpful to know...

Also, thanks for the spreadsheet idea... I do like to track things in Excel, so that might be useful for experimenting with the weekly totals, instead of daily...

I'm thinking I might give it a try for a week or two, see how I like it... It sounds like most people who've tried it have still lost weight..