AN INTERESTING QUESTION I HAVE...

NewBeginning2010

I know the basics is have a deficit and you will lose weight. My goal is 2 pounds a week so a deficit of 1,000 calories a day. i eat 1200 per mfp.

The question is what if my deficit at the end of the week is - 7,000 calories. Whether it is 1,000 calories a day or more or less, if it equals the amount of 7000 at the end of the week does it matter or make a difference?

sonjavon

I would say it depends... you don't want to eat nothing today so that you can eat 2400 calories tomorrow... it's important to eat enough each day to keeo your blood sugar levels going and to keep your body working efficiently. But - if you are over or under by 100 calories or so each day... probably not a HUGE deal as long as it works out within a reasonable period of time.

That being said - I'm certainly no expert and someone might know more than I do....

taryn_perry

There are some good forums for newbie's to check out on the calorie deficit thing, but like the previous post, you want to be mindful of what your daily calorie intake is. You don't want to "stash" your calories for one day, as it will completely sabotage your metabolism. It's all about eating small meals 2-3 hours a day. That will keep your metabolism up and keep your body as a fat burning machine.

Be sure to check the "sticky notes" that have been written by the experts, that will answer a ton.

drvvork

:flowerforyou: Just an overall observation is that our bodies work on a 24 hour phase - sleep work rest then sleep again... I know I didn't work too well on no sleep for 3 days then try to play catch up... sorry... I don't believe your body would be forgiving in the long run. :flowerforyou: JMO

armywifelong

It is about metabolism. If your body goes very long with adequate nutrition, this slows your metabolism heavily. You should try to eat 1200 calories spread over 5-6 smalls meals a day, which keeps your metabolism engaged constantly. Hope this helps!

lisawest

My calorie alotment is higher than yours, so I don't know how this would work with your calorie alotment. However, when I hit a "mini-plateau" not too long ago, I did a calorie "zigzag." That was where one day I would eat my alotment of 1600. The next day I would eat 1400. Day 3 I would eat 1800. Day 4 was 1500. Day 5 was 1700. Day 6 was 1450 and day 7 was 1750. If you do the math, I still ate the recommended 11,200 calories for the week. I just made my body guess as to how many calories it was going to get that day. I did this for a couple weeks and broke the plateau, then I went back to my normal eating.

Having said that, it worked for me because I was well above the recomended baseline of 1200 calories. I'm not sure how doing something similar would affect your metabolism since your recommended is the baseline. I know that it takes more than just 1 day below 1200 to cause your body to "horde," but I don't know what a zigzag would do. More research might be in order.