weekly net calories

Yes I actually use this quite often but not like oh I ate 400 under monday and now on friday I'm going to eat an extra 400. I usually only use this if its within a days period or so. Regardless there's nothing wrong with doing that its all about overall caloric intake. However, if you weigh yourself daily this could prove to give you different results depending how drastic the calorie split up is. Like if you ate 800 under one day and then 800 over the next the scale could reflect that. Over a few days though it will all balance out.

I just go day by day. I never even thought to hold over calories for the next day or another day. I try to limit myself to one day at a time. I know I just started a few days ago, but so far I like doing it this way. Good luck in all that you want to accomplish.....

I'm so glad I found this thread. I wonder how many days we can "hold over" calories and I wonder how many days I can "hold over" exercise. Yesterday was my rest day and I barely moved while going over my calorie intake by nearly 500 calories. Today I ran 9.33 miles and will be significantly under my calorie intake. The next three days are going to be rough at work; I'll have little to no time to exercise and I'll probably just hit my calories. I wonder if I work hard today and go under and then work out hard Thrusday after my work stuff calms back down if that all equals out of if I should do something different all together.

I go by my weekly net calories all the time. I love it as it allows me flexibility. This is especially important to me because on days that I have higher calorie burns, I typically eat too low as exercise takes away my appetite. And then I can eat more on a different day to ensure that I am not eating chronically low and, thus, in danger of slowing down my metabolism. It's also a way to 'bank" calories to "spend" at social events.

Unfortunately, the website doesn't do this very well. However, if you have a smartphone or tablet, use the MFP app. It has a great weekly page which gives you your daily average for that week plus the number of calories you are over/under your weekly target.

Remember, your body isn't a clock that starts over at midnight. What is important is your average intake over time, this includes calories and nutritional values, and your average outgo (exercise) over time. Of course, this is much easier to handle if you're not a slave to daily weighing. I typically only weigh about once a week at most, usually less than that, so little upswings after a higher calorie day don't mess with my head.

In my opinion...you could do this by the week, month, or year. I try to do mine weekly.

I think it would be okay to net the calories but I would keep track only a week at a time. When I was on Weight Watchers we could do this, but only during a week's time....Then, you would start calculating all over. We also weighed in once a week. They warned us of not reaching our minimum "points" (points in WW are figured by calculating amount of calories, fat & fiber in foods) I have figured the calorie intake according to the foods in my point range & it is very comparable to the amount of calories MyFitnessPal has figured I need ....Also, if we didn't get our minimum points in during the week it was possible to NOT lose weight (probably due to "starvation mode.") I have also wondered about this on this site, also. Someone mentioned the MFP smartphone app that can give you a weekly net calorie amount...I may check that out. Good luck!

So, the answer to your questions are yes...But, I wouldn't try to balance out any calories past 1 week's time frame....