question regarding calories per day

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moment_to_arise
moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey everyone, I just signed up today (considering switching from WeightWatchers which I have been on for awhile now... never heard about this before, love that it's free!)

I know one thing I liked with the weight watchers was the cheat points per week, so I could eat a little extra every day if I wanted or have 1 day a week where I splurged a little bit...

without knowing much about the system here, is there a function built in for that? Does it allow you to go over your allotted calories per day if you happen to have a heavy eating day?

Also, is it bad if you don't completely meet your calories per day? Like... if I end up 100-200 under for some reason (not that I am planning on doing that, but there are day where I don't eat as much...)

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  • stonel94
    stonel94 Posts: 550 Member
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    I want to know the same thing about the calories, I figured as long as you're eating over 1200 you should be fine, but maybe not.
  • moment_to_arise
    moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
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    anyone?
  • moment_to_arise
    moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
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    still looking for a response from someone?
  • msnailgun
    msnailgun Posts: 8
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    I was on weight watchers for a while too. And I wondered the same thing. If you go to your 'goals' page, it tells you the calorie deficit for your activity versus how much you eat. It seems to me as long as you stay under that, it would be the same as the extra points with ww's. Because if you have something special at the end of the week, you might go over that day for your total calories, but for the entire week your deficit will still be the same or under. I hope that made sense.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    Lots of people "save up" for a planned large meal or celebration. Naturally thin people often eat less before or after a big meal. It's normal.

    You'll have to figure out what works for you. There is no way to change calories from day to day, but you can add up the week's calories and divide it by 7 for an average. It's better, in my opinion, to learn to manage your daily food so you don't get into the binge/restrict cycle.

    "Cheat" meals are a common phrase. I don't like that phrase because it gives food an emotional hook.


  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,867 Member
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    There isn't really a function like that per sei. I don't just track by the day, I look at the overall week...I have days when I'm a bit under and days when I'm a bit over. A lot of people have splurge days...I don't necessarily, but once every couple of weeks I eat to maintenance. I'm right on track and have been losing about 1.3 Lbs per week since late October.

    In RE to eating under...this really depends. It's not good to net under your BMR for significant amounts of time. Being under here or there probably isn't going to make a difference, but a lot of people get in the habit of being a couple hundred calories under all of the time thinking that they're doing themselves a favor. You absolutely do yourself no favors eating below your BMR on a regular basis. Mind you, that is net to BMR.
  • tsh0ck
    tsh0ck Posts: 1,970 Member
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    add me, if you'd like, and I can help with what I've learned over the last year. could also direct you to some folks that I learn from that know way more than I do.

    but, the simple answer to this, I suppose ...

    if you go under 100 or 200? no biggie. everything is an estimate. now, of course, we want to estimate as close to what's accurate as we can. but there is no real reason to stress about every single calorie. (that said, some people with major food struggles in the past seem to need to do this. track every single bite of every single thing. if it is the only way for you to stay on track, that's great. but I think that tends to make everything far more stressful than it needs to be.)

    I know some swear by 1200 calories, but I think it's far too low for most people. you can "eat more to weigh less." do a search on here for the phrase and see what I mean. but essentially, take it slow and steady. easier to keep up with, and you are going to be more full and happier. I wouldn't set it to lose more than 1.5 per week.

    as far as built-in cheat? not sure exactly what you mean. this helps you track. some days, I don't bother tracking. I know I'll be over that day. no biggie. I'll get back on the next. or, if you go under a bit today, you can go over a bit tomorrow and it's all a wash. weight loss is cumulative, after all.

    but many people here have a 'cheat day' planned for the week. if you eat well 6 of 7 days, and that helps you keep on track, go for it. I kind of like the fact that I don't have to even think about logging food for a day and just ... eat. that said, at a certain point, I've started to eat near where I should even on days I don't physically track.

    good lord. that's rambling. ha!
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
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    The system doesn't MAKE you do anything. It makes recommendations, you decide to follow them or not. If you chose to go over 1 day, then you go over.
  • numsquat
    numsquat Posts: 133
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    Having done WW (and was successful), no, there is nothing here specifically like how Weekly Points work. One nice thing about MFP is that you can customize things to fit how you want to things to work. If you do a search for "BMR TDEE" you will find many ways to customize your experience here.

    Personally I use a basic spreadsheet to track my RMR (vs BMR), calorie intake and calories burned. I add my RMR and calories burned, subtract my calorie intake and calculate any over/under calories. I track by the week. I never eat below my RMR and try not to eat under RMR+calories burned by more than 200. Those extra unused calories I can save up for special events. I've set it up similar to WW Weekly Points but have to earn the extra calories instead of having a set number the beginning of each week like WW. I also know my TDEE and use that as a reference point to not eat over but most of the time I can go easily over as my actual exercise calories burned each week is usually higher that the calculations of moderate activity (though is lower much of the time at the next higher activity level), the reason I track my exercise calories.

    In the end you just need to play with things to find out what works for you.
  • moment_to_arise
    moment_to_arise Posts: 207 Member
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    thank you so much everyone who responded.

    im definitely going to try this out for a week and see how i like it... but i am thinking i will cancel my WW subscription and just use this, im loving it so far.

    really appreciate the feedback guys! i'll have to click around a bit and read up more on what you guys recommended :happy:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,121 Member
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    thank you so much everyone who responded.

    im definitely going to try this out for a week and see how i like it... but i am thinking i will cancel my WW subscription and just use this, im loving it so far.

    really appreciate the feedback guys! i'll have to click around a bit and read up more on what you guys recommended :happy:

    Here is some helpful stuff:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/186814-some-mfp-basics

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/groups/home/3817-eat-more-to-weigh-less (someone above mentioned this, it's a Group - read their pinned posts at the top of their forums)


    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/804485-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12 (this is a very detailed explanation of how to figure your actual calorie needs)

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