taking a day off harmful?

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loistryin
loistryin Posts: 70 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Does taking a day off once a week ( staying at recommended calorie level ) affect weight loss too awful bad? I am having trouble staying on every day and think if I allow myself one day off a week it might help.

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  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
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    Are you asking about taking a day off from exercise? If so, by all means do it - it' beneficial rather than harmful. Muscles repair and heal at rest, our bodies need a break!

    I'm on the first day of a rest WEEK, which I do about every 8 weeks or so. I always take at least one day off each week, but once in awhile a full week off is just refreshing for me.

    I will still eat well, staying within goal or close to it, and I was active today in working in my garden, walking my dogs, etc, but no planned exercise.
  • djc315
    djc315 Posts: 585 Member
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    Depends what you mean by an off day when it comes to eating. Eating once a week at maintenance won't hurt you or stop weight loss, it will slow it down but not by much.

    Another thing, if you are restricting yourself too much every day you won't stick with it. What are you trying to cut out that you are allowing yourself to have on your off days? Can't you enjoy those things any day of the week but in smaller amounts?
  • loistryin
    loistryin Posts: 70 Member
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    I meant taking a day off from eating to be at my calorie goal. I want to know if any do it on purpose with goal of getting back on track next days.
  • quirkytizzy
    quirkytizzy Posts: 4,052 Member
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    That is absolutely valid. A lot of users have a regular "free day" or "free meal." Helps keep us sane. Also allows us to eat big amounts for holidays any whatnot without damaging our goals.
  • LiftAllThePizzas
    LiftAllThePizzas Posts: 17,857 Member
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    Does taking a day off once a week ( staying at recommended calorie level ) affect weight loss too awful bad? I am having trouble staying on every day and think if I allow myself one day off a week it might help.
    If you're eating at a deficit for 6 days and at maintenance for the other one day of the week you will lose weight at 6/7ths the rate as you would have otherwise. If it keeps you sane, happy, and on track then it is obviously more than worthwhile! :)

    But you should consider your current plan. If it is that difficult/miserable then maybe your deficit is too big, or you are trying to be too restrictive about foods. Whenever you reach your goal weight you will want to be accustomed to a style of eating that will keep you there permanently.
  • RangerJess
    RangerJess Posts: 32
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    For exercise, I'd recommend a rest day a week or so. Otherwise you're just beyond exhausted! At least I am.

    For the calories, I'd try and stay on as close as possible. I know there are times I can't (it works out to about once every two weeks) - whether it be a holiday, or my kryptonite of hibachi - but it happens and you can't feel guilty or bad about it. Everyone's body is different. You may find that it works or you!

    You could also try adjusting your goals? I started at out at losing one pound a week, and I was miserable. I changed it to losing half a pound a week, and it's so much easier to stay in my goals. The weight loss is slower, but it's ever so slowly happening so I'm OK with it.

    I hope this helps!
  • ReverseEngineered
    ReverseEngineered Posts: 15
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    Do whatever you are comfortable with. I've been eating at a 800-1000 deficit for over 6 months and have taken a day off now and then for special occasions (family supper, Christmas, Easter, etc.). I find that, even when I do, I don't really end up eating at maintenance anyway, because I'm so used to eating less that I'd literally have to eat an entire meal to be back at maintenance, so I really only end up about 400-500 calories over my usual goal. In the grand scheme of things, it means very little. Think of it this way: taking a day off means you're one day further from your goal. If you don't mind pushing the finish line back a day, then by all means, go ahead.

    Just remember not to fall off completely. It's easy to say, "Oh, one more day couldn't hurt," but try not to stray for long or you'll find that maintenance has become your new habit. It's hard enough to get into the weight-loss habit the first time; avoid having to do it a second time.

    Enjoy your day off and good luck on your weight loss!
  • AliciaStinger
    AliciaStinger Posts: 402 Member
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    Basically, imagine your calorie intake being over a week...so if you go over by 200 calories one day, but are 100 calories UNDER the next two days, it still averages out. Taking a day off will not harm you; at worst it will slow you down a little bit. However, I have two suggestions for you:

    1. I know that, unrestricted (and within arm's reach of sweet foods) I could easily eat twice my calorie goal. I would recommend logging anyway, even if you eat well over calories, just to have an idea of how far off you are.

    2. If you don't want to see yourself "in the red" then I would recommend eating two normal meals and treating yourself on the third, whether it's IHOP for breakfast or two dinners. That way you don't go super-over and really slow yourself down.

    Good luck!! :-D
  • SJackson50
    SJackson50 Posts: 282 Member
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    1. I know that, unrestricted (and within arm's reach of sweet foods) I could easily eat twice my calorie goal. I would recommend logging anyway, even if you eat well over calories, just to have an idea of how far off you are.
    Good luck!! :-D

    I agree! Log anyway! I have a cheat meal every week (and McDonald's once a month!!!) and I ALWAYS log it.
    Good luck!
  • SatchGallamax
    SatchGallamax Posts: 549 Member
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    If you're having trouble every day, I would suggest making sure that you have a realistic and sustainable calorie goal (this helps: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/937712-in-place-of-a-road-map-ver-3-0).

    Also, you can aim to balance out your calorie goal weekly vs. daily. Going over one day and under the next doesn't matter as much, so long as you hit your weekly totals.

    Good luck!
  • ShannonMpls
    ShannonMpls Posts: 1,936 Member
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    I'm with you - tracking every.single.day felt like drudgery. Plus, events come up where you want to be a regular person who eats food without trying to track every last calorie.

    while losing weight, I regularly took 2-3 days off per month. It wasn't scheduled - if I had a work event or a birthday party, I just took that day "off" from logging.

    YMMV, though. This worked for me because:

    1) I usually exercised on those "off days"
    2) I got right back into logging the very next day...no lagging.
    3) I didn't (usually) treat these as binge days - I likely exceeded maintenance, but not by hundreds let alone thousands of calories.
    4) I eat very well on tracking days. Empty calories are minimal. We prepare all our food, I eat lots of plant based foods, high protein, generally clean.

    Now that I'm maintaining, I do so by eating at a slight deficit during the week and whatever I please on weekends.

    This works for me mentally - I never feel deprived, I have no problem saying no to things like the constant barrage of cookies and pastries at work knowing I can eat what I want on my "off" day.

    It's really what works for YOU.
  • loistryin
    loistryin Posts: 70 Member
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    What a great idea. I think I will go back and reset my goals to half a pound a week. It took me a while to put all this weight on....so why not go the slow route to losing it? I beat myself up when I mess up, but have lost 8 pounds the past 8 weeks with help from a sensible program at work. Thank you for a common sense possible solution.
  • rsoice
    rsoice Posts: 212 Member
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    I will say two things. I agree with those that said ensure that your "free" day is also a workout day to lessen the impact. The other thing that I'll say is this. We (wife and I) have one reward day per week when we eat what we want. Granted we've only been doing this calorie counter thing for a couple of weeks but have dieted over the last 12 years more often than not. Last Tuesday there was a pot luck at work and I ate what I wanted but kept track of what I was eating as well. That evening I entered every bite into the calculator and was shocked and a little disappointed in myself. My daily calorie intake is 1,430 calories and is built based upon my pursuit of losing 1 1/2 pounds per week. After I entered everything, I was 1,500 calories over that. In one day I'd eaten 2,950 calories because I ate what I wanted. That is nearly 1 pound worth of calories in a single day. To top it off, I didn't work out that day. The next morning, I was up 3 pounds.
    I would only suggest caution and overoptimism on being able to eat the way we want because that's what got us here in the first place.
  • JossFit
    JossFit Posts: 588 Member
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    I will say two things. I agree with those that said ensure that your "free" day is also a workout day to lessen the impact. The other thing that I'll say is this. We (wife and I) have one reward day per week when we eat what we want. Granted we've only been doing this calorie counter thing for a couple of weeks but have dieted over the last 12 years more often than not. Last Tuesday there was a pot luck at work and I ate what I wanted but kept track of what I was eating as well. That evening I entered every bite into the calculator and was shocked and a little disappointed in myself. My daily calorie intake is 1,430 calories and is built based upon my pursuit of losing 1 1/2 pounds per week. After I entered everything, I was 1,500 calories over that. In one day I'd eaten 2,950 calories because I ate what I wanted. That is nearly 1 pound worth of calories in a single day. To top it off, I didn't work out that day. The next morning, I was up 3 pounds.
    I would only suggest caution and overoptimism on being able to eat the way we want because that's what got us here in the first place.

    I understand you're trying to be supportive, but this is a bit of scaremongering on your part. Lets look at the math;

    Your daily GOAL is 1,430 calories for an aim of 1.5 pounds lost per week. Basically that would be a weekly deficit of 5,520 calories, or a daily deficit of 750 calories. Lets assume then, based on that, your 'maintenance' calories would be 2,180.

    If you ate a total of 2,950 calories for the day you really were only 770 calories over maintenance. The generally accepted thought is that it takes approximately 3500 calories to gain or lose a pound, so at 770 calories over maintenance you didn't gain 3 pounds OF FAT overnight. At most you gained about 1/4 of a pound and the rest was just sodium/water/glycogen/poop.


    So to the OP - I second the idea of aiming for a smaller daily deficit so that you don't feel the need to "take a day off". If you believe horse-crap like the post above, seeing a gain overnight from a day off is likely to scare you into thinking that taking a day off equals instant fat gain and failure because you 'gained' weight from it.
    I DO think you need to give yourself days off from logging and stressing now and again (special occasions/holidays/family events), but for day-to-day a smaller deficit usually does the trick.

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