is it ok to count calories by week rather than day

perdie7

I don't exercise on Sunday, and it's a bad eating day for me...usually some kind of potluck, or meal or dinning out. Just wondering, if I eat less/exercise more on Saturday and Monday, so my goal over the three days is good, does it still work.


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Sherbog

It works for me. I always exercise more before the planned eating event. That way the calories are already paid for. It's all a math game for me.

karleen

depends on how over the top you go, some people allow a cheat day each week anyways. that doesnt mean scarf down 3000 calories of junk and a bunch of booze [althought ive done it many times im sure!]

i'm sure working harder saturday and monday should help counteract the bad day as long as it's not too extreme

ninelives58

Yep. I do it all the time and it's working just fine.

xSophia19

Counting my calories each week instead of each day would confuse me =/

UponThisRock

Yes, that's what I do. A day is just a useful way to break things up, the body doesn't burn actually operate in separate 24 hour blocks.

However, don't use week-by-week tracking as an excuse to let things get out of hand.

ninelives58

Agree with Karleen though, even the cheat day should still be in moderation.

gp79

Yes I believe it's fine. Sometimes when reading about different IF regimens I think that the overall weekly calories are being tracked. For instance if someone is doing 1 24 hour fast per week, 3 days of being in a calorie surplus and 3 days of eating at maintenance, It's almost as if the calories from the 24 hour fast are being applied to the 3 surplus day meals (1/3 per day). At the end of the week, the numbers would average out, essentially keeping you on target (whatever your target may be).

jmvh59

Ofcourse. To lose weight, you have to burn more calories than you consume. That is it. If you consume a lot of calories, you may want to consider doing some exercise to help your body burn what you've put into it. Building stronger muscles means your body needs to burn more calories just to survive. If you weigh in every day you'll probably freak out after your splurge days. (I recommend weighing in once per week on the same day and time--mine is Monday as soon as I wake up. I also take measurements and calculate bodyfat every 4th weigh in.) I like having splurge days once a week or so, because they help boost my motivation levels and seem to keep my metabolism up as well.