5 Day Goals

I hate missing goals (I mean really hate - bugs me immensely). I have my daily calorie goal, and am OK to hit this most days - but I have odd days where it is incredibly difficult to hit this target (client entertaining, celebrations etc...). I know that there are always ways to somehow stay within the calorie goal - but I don't want this to be so hard that I resent it.
So I've come up with something that works for me - might be of use to others of a similar ilk....
I take the numbers (specifically the calorie goal taking into account calorie allowance earned through exercise and my actual calorie intake) from my daily summaries and insert them into a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet automatically produces a 5 day rolling average of actual calories consumed versus target. In any period I may have one or even two days where I miss the daily target, but by working really hard and/or being very careful with my diet on the days immediately before and after these "bad" days I can keep my 5 day rolling average an the right track. I feel motivated to do this and will really focus on having very good days immediately to counter any slip-ups. I treat this 5-day rolling average as my most important goal, and focus on it far more than the one-off single day goals.
I also use this spreadsheet to total the measured calorie "deficit" and then compare the projected weight loss (using 3,500 calories = 1 pound of fat) with the actual weight loss and also with the fat loss. It's interesting if you're a teenyweeny bit geeky!!
Happy to send a copy of the spreadsheet to wherever it could be of use - not everyone is a black belt in Excell!!

BestRegards,

John

Replies

  • sunshine1992
    sunshine1992 Posts: 22 Member
    This sounds awesome! I try to do this too.. but I sort of just guess/look at weekly calorie numbers. Would be awesome to see your spreadsheet (I too, am a tiny bit geeky!) That is generous of you =)

    They say it is good to have some days a bit higher too, keeps your body guessing and fights against plateaus.

    All the best in your journey
  • OK no worries - will try to work out a way to get the spreadsheet available for you to look at / plug your own readings in. Not seen anyone passing email addresses on MFP so there are probably rules against this! Anyone know how to pass this type of info / input to other MFP members ??
    Good luck with your efforts! :happy:
  • Caz104
    Caz104 Posts: 62 Member
    I would love to see your spreadsheet. Some days I know that I would like the availablity to go over my calories if I could make up for it over the next few days. As long as there is a deficit at the end of the week I should loose weight.
  • ncthomas09
    ncthomas09 Posts: 322 Member
    Thats what I do only I'm not smart enough to figure out excel even tho I have a graphic design degree :ohwell: :grumble: