Weeks on, Weekends off? Healthy or not?

coffee4ndtv

Heyer lovely MFP people, It would be great to get some thoughts on what people think about the week on weekend off approach. Great plan or bad for your body?

But at the moment I've lost 17lbs and have a while to go. I've been doing it by in the week eating approx 1500-1700 calories per day but exercising between 800-1000 leaving a NET of 700 ish. Weekends are a different story! I'm talking mega calories here - sometimes 2500+ ! Exercise, most weekends is off the menu!

I always make sure my weekly average is roughly the 1325 calories that MFP set and on Wednesday weigh ins - despite a few weekend breaks, easter, christmas, whatever other excuse - it averages to about 0.9 lbs per week.

I've opened my diary up for scrutiny because I'm open to learning (whilst i'm secretly bricking it as well so be gentle!). But I believe that doing it this way i'm keeping myself motivated, not disallowing myself anything, still working off visceral fat, losing weight and what I believe, keeping my metabolism up. They are the pro's as I see them.

The cons? Not sure really - are there any? Am I messing my body up by doing this? Am I just being a binge eater? Should I learn that its bad to binge eat? Could I ever cope if I couldn't eat the stuff I want?

The way I see it, I'm going to get back into a maintenance routine when I'm done losing weight anyway - but for now its working right?

PS Thank you MFP, haven't felt this chuffed with myself in time and a half!

TeddyBear47

If it works for you then great. I don't think it would work for most people. Sooner or later the weekends will creep into the week. I don't have the will power to do that but if you do then more power to you, GOODLUCK.

mamaw322

I say find what works best for you and then stick with it! I have found consistency to be one of the secrets of weight loss. You have to stay with it day after day, if you are "bad" one day or one meal, just get back on the wagon.

JesterMFP

Can you still meet your calorie goals when averaged out over the week?

Do you think you can sustain this pattern once you reach your goal and are maintaining?

If the answers to both of those are yes, then I don't see a problem with it. I don't think it's a great idea to just stick to goal 5 days a week and then completely disregard the other two, because it would be pretty easy to undo your week's calorie deficit over a weekend. Maybe try it for a few weeks and see how you get on. Ultimately, if you want this to be a long-term thing, you need to find a pattern that works for you.

kerrbear79

That's actually exactly what I used to do before MFP; however I was 10 lbs heavier. After I had my 1st baby, I started using MFP to lose the rest of the weight I couldn't get off and have never gone back. It did "work" for me, being super good during week, then being bad on weekends, (not counting my calories), but like I said I was 10 lbs heavier. I much prefer using MFP and keeping track of calories, that way if I want a cookie or whatever I don't have to wait for the weekend, I just fit it in! So I personally like this way better.

Schraudt814

I feel like if it works for you then it's probably okay...it kinda depends what's causing those calorie counts on the weekends. If you're eating that much but still relatively okay, then I don't really see a problem with it. If it's balls to the wall (excuse the expression) going crazy eat whatever....then you might want to re think it. Just my two cents- I try to keep up with myself on the weekends but I usually lose around dinner time

Angierae75

I do one "cheat day" a week, generally a weekend day. But I don't use it as an excuse to go crazy all day. If there's something I'm craving during the week that does't fit into my calories, I can tell myself "You can have that on cheat day." Most of the time I don't even want it by the weekend, but it allows me to go out to dinner with friends or whatnot without having to stress about whether or not there'll be anything I can eat on the menu.

So it's usually more a "cheat meal" than a "cheat day", but I have a friend who has lost 123 pounds doing this, so as long as you can stick with it, it's not a big deal.

The way I look at it, I used to eat like that seven days a week. Cutting down to 1 day a week is still going to net me results.

joannezuk

I agree, you have to do what works for you. But I'm worried when you talk about the prospect of cutting things out entirely and not being able to ever eat your cheat foods again. I eat mine whenever I want them. I just track everything and negotiate with myself. So if I really want a chocolate square after supper, I'll calculate how much LESS cheese I can put in my supper, and save in other high-fat foods. Want a glass of wine tonight...add 15 minutes of HIIT to my workout before I go home.

Personally, I don't like to "save my calories" for the weekend, because once I start thinking about something yummy, I can't get it out of my mind. And if I try to put off my craving, the one chocolate today turns into a whole bag of Ghiradelli squares tomorrow. Knowing myself, I'd eat way more bad stuff if I had weekends "off" and didn't have to think about my choices. Based on the huge discrepancy between your weekday and weekend calorie intake, it sounds like that might be what you're doing.

I don't think that limiting your calorie intake means cutting out any of your favorite foods. We're planning on pizza and beer this Saturday. I know that if I eat clean all day and burn 500 or more calories, I can fit 3 pieces of pizza and a light beer into my day without going over, and my base is only 1400ish.