Weekly Vs Daily Calorie Goals

Tari_D

Hi all,

I just wanted some quick advice. Does it matter if your daily calorie intake varies (above and below target) as long as you are under your weekly target?
Or is it better for weight loss and health to stay within your daily targets?

So for instance yesterday I still had over 500 calories left (including excersize calories added on) meaning that all in all I was under 1200 for the day (which when I finished my entry for the day MFP told me was risking starvation mode) but at the weekend I'm going out so I will likely go over (meaning MFP will tell me that if I carry on this way I'll gain weight). But overall for the week I will be under 9800 calories (my daily 1400 x 7) because I plan it that way.

Thanks in advance

seekingstrengthX2

Sounds like you've got it all figured out!

LOL

If that works for you, go for it. For me personally, I need to stay under my goal every day to stay in routine and see daily progress. If looking at it all weekly works for you, go for it. Whatever works!

Tari_D

Sounds like you've got it all figured out!

LOL

If that works for you, go for it. For me personally, I need to stay under my goal every day to stay in routine and see daily progress. If looking at it all weekly works for you, go for it. Whatever works!

Thanks It does seem to be working for me so far but as I've only been doing it a couple of months I was wondering if I might be missing something more important in the long run.
Thanks for the encouragement!

jacksonpt

Some of both.

Obviously a little fluctuation day to day isn't a bad thing (and realistically, how consistent can you really be long term?), but by the same token you probably don't want to starve yourself one day so you can go completely crazy the next. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend "saving" cals from Monday and Tuesday so that you can go out Friday and Saturday. If you want to "bank" a few cals Thursday for use Friday, then go for it.

Just be reasonable and have a little common sense about it all. Pay attention to how your body responds and how you feel and go from there.

Tari_D

Some of both.

Obviously a little fluctuation day to day isn't a bad thing (and realistically, how consistent can you really be long term?), but by the same token you probably don't want to starve yourself one day so you can go completely crazy the next. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend "saving" cals from Monday and Tuesday so that you can go out Friday and Saturday. If you want to "bank" a few cals Thursday for use Friday, then go for it.

Just be reasonable and have a little common sense about it all. Pay attention to how your body responds and how you feel and go from there.

Thanks for the advice. Recently I've been quite up and down from trying to incorporate big things like birthday meals but normally it's a bit over one day a bit under another. I never really feel starved as it's usually just not eating back excersize calories. I'll try and increase my excersize more towards the end of the week if I've got a big weekend coming up!

jacksonpt

Some of both.

Obviously a little fluctuation day to day isn't a bad thing (and realistically, how consistent can you really be long term?), but by the same token you probably don't want to starve yourself one day so you can go completely crazy the next. Similarly, I wouldn't recommend "saving" cals from Monday and Tuesday so that you can go out Friday and Saturday. If you want to "bank" a few cals Thursday for use Friday, then go for it.

Just be reasonable and have a little common sense about it all. Pay attention to how your body responds and how you feel and go from there.

Thanks for the advice. Recently I've been quite up and down from trying to incorporate big things like birthday meals but normally it's a bit over one day a bit under another. I never really feel starved as it's usually just not eating back excersize calories. I'll try and increase my excersize more towards the end of the week if I've got a big weekend coming up!

Sounds like you're doing ok then.