Weekly cals vs daily

bexxgirl

Hi everyone!

Just wanting some input from people on the matter of adhering to weekly totals, as opposed to daily.

As I've settled into the MFP routine, I've found that I invariably have a couple of normal days a week, in terms of hunger. But I also have a couple of madly hungry days and a couple of days where I'm struggling to meet my cal requirements as I'm just not interested in food.

Have many people had success with tracking based on weekly increments, as opposed to daily?

What have your experiences been?

Cheers!

bexxgirl

Bumpity, bump bump, bumpity bump bump, look at Frosty go....

Inebriated

I find tracking weekly calories works better for me.

zenJes

i have no idea sorry hun but interested on what other people say so.. BUMP!!

SwimKitty

I've been wondering myself ....

LearningToLoveMyself

I usually try and stay under daily but if I go over a day i try and make it up later on because I like my weekly to be even if not under.

nz_deevaa

I go over some days and eat less/exercise others so that at the end of the week my 'weekly average' bar is still green.

tageekly

I've tracked my calories weekly since I started MFP - partly because the phone app does it for you. I find I stress much less if I go over one or two days a week if I know I have "leftover" calories. I still make healthy choices and try to hit my macros most days but do have days where I can't get a workout in or have a dinner out and I just make up the calories the next day or two. I've been losing really consistently since I started...

cannie55

I focus more on my weekly average. It gives me more flexibility to enjoy a dinner out with friends or something, I know if I go over calories on one day I'll make it up on the other days. I just make sure my weekly average stays below my daily goal. To me it feels more much sustainable and less restricting to have some options in how much I'm eating each day.

bexxgirl

I think I'm going to give this a try for a while. I'm definitely interested in changing my approach from time to time, to mix things up and keep them interesting!

JennieAL

I prefer an overall weekly approach than just daily. Don't get me wrong, I do pay attention to my numbers each day... But there's more flexibility when you see it stretched out over several days. I like it that you can see the ups and downs... Days where I work out harder I typically eat harder... So it tends to all balance out in the end.

CyanideCyster

Yep I have always done this and never hit a plateau, the weights always come off great. I think because your mixing it up, calorie wise, day to day, it helps boost metabolism. Its like integrating a naturally occurring spike day or days into your plan!

hannata86

Yep I have always done this and never hit a plateau, the weights always come off great. I think because your mixing it up, calorie wise, day to day, it helps boost metabolism. Its like integrating a naturally occurring spike day or days into your plan!

I really like the spike theory personally. As long as your arent falling below 1200 net on any day, or eating a spike on the day before weigh in its all good

I worked out my BMR as just over 2000. with TDEE of inactive (1.2) that gives me a weekly maintenance of 16800.
If I had a single high day of 4000 calories, and 6 days of 1400 calories, I'm still working on a deficit of 4400 (total 12400 eaten in the week), which is just over 1lb a week. Not too shabby! I like spiking/zigzagging because its far more flexible. Then with the inactive TDEE, I can eatback calories if I do exercise. Yay!

Can you actually log calories weekly as opposed to daily on MFP? The only thing thats annoying about zigzag is that I have to remember to keep a running total of my weeks calories =P

hagamivida

Yep I have always done this and never hit a plateau, the weights always come off great. I think because your mixing it up, calorie wise, day to day, it helps boost metabolism. Its like integrating a naturally occurring spike day or days into your plan!

I really like the spike theory personally. As long as your arent falling below 1200 net on any day, or eating a spike on the day before weigh in its all good

I worked out my BMR as just over 2000. with TDEE of inactive (1.2) that gives me a weekly maintenance of 16800.
If I had a single high day of 4000 calories, and 6 days of 1400 calories, I'm still working on a deficit of 4400 (total 12400 eaten in the week), which is just over 1lb a week. Not too shabby! I like spiking/zigzagging because its far more flexible. Then with the inactive TDEE, I can eatback calories if I do exercise. Yay!

Can you actually log calories weekly as opposed to daily on MFP? The only thing thats annoying about zigzag is that I have to remember to keep a running total of my weeks calories =P

You still have to log daily but you can look at your "reports" tab and get weekly everything (on the computer version and on the iphone app).

Annmarie49

I use the weekly balance, i find Mon-Fri I am very seldom distracted from my plan and have my workouts/gym planned.

Invariably, Sat & Sun are less 'regimented', meeting up with friends/family/dinner out/drinks etc.

I find I can work the calorie intake over the week (staying under my daily allowance by a small percentage) and this allows me to participate in 'social' weekends and not feel deprived/frustrated. I count up what calories I have left and usually manage to work these in on the weekend.

It will be interesting to hear what others have to say about it and what there success has been like...