Averages: body doesn't work in 24 hr blocs should calories

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girlinagirdle
girlinagirdle Posts: 37 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

For the past month I've had weddings, holidays and birthdays. I've tried to cope with this by keeping my calories to a 'weekly average' rather than being strict on a day-to-day basis.

For example this week I am being strict during the week and saving' my exercise calories so I can 'blow them' at a wedding on Saturday. You can see from my diary that I'm due to do about five hours exercise on Saturday (I log only half my exercise calories)....when really I will have accumulated it all during this week.

Obviously not all months will be like this and i'd much rather eat my calories back on a day to day basis to ensure I feel satisfied and happy. But I was wondering:

a) do people use averages? generally find averages work for them?
and
b) as long as I am relatively sensible about this, don't 'save' half an hours run for two months hence is this likely to mess up my weight loss journey.

I'm wondering about all of this because I have been losing weight slowly but steadily for the past few months but seem to have hit a plateau and this is really only the thing that has changed. I'm comitted to doing this thing properly though.

I think my diary is open. I'm not sure. I'm a bit of a technophobe.

Thank you

Replies

  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
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    Provided your math is correct, there is no problem with using your built up calories on a different day. There are a variety of different "diets" out there like 5:2, where you fast (eat 500 calories) for 2 days, then eat maintenance calories for the 5 other days.

    As you've already pointed out, I think it's best to stick to whatever extra you have in a week and no longer, otherwise there definitely could be some unpleasant/unsafe consequences.

    The biggest problem with this type of calorie cycling is that it CAN lead to bad habits such as a starve binge cycle. So people who have had disordered eating in the past should not take on these types of eating patterns.
  • girlinagirdle
    girlinagirdle Posts: 37 Member
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    Thank you for taking the time to answer.

    I definitely do not starve myself (i do love my food) - I just tend to save all my exercise calories for a special event like a birthday (once a year!), wedding (not as many times a year) and holiday (I wish more than 1 a year).

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