Alternate counting days?

laurahamm96
laurahamm96 Posts: 46 Member
in Getting Started
When I was on weight watchers I used to count from 5pm to 5pm the next day. This worked for me as if I over ate at dinner I was more likely to learn my lesson and limit my calories of after dinner snacking.

Im not sure if this would work with counting calories however. Im also not sure how my exercise calories would work at that point also, because unlike exercise points in weight watchers the exercise calories dont hold over the next few days.

Anyone have any experience with this? any input?

Replies

  • ell_v131
    ell_v131 Posts: 349 Member
    I never did weight watchers but I imagine it works just like exercise calories. Exercise is for overall health, diet is for weight and fat loss.

    What you need is a daily number that is realistic and has you losing 0.5-2lbs depending on how much you have to lose. The less you need to lose, the less your deficit should be.

    When you put that goal into MFP, it will be NET calories. Whatever exercise you do you will put in and eat those calories back. General consensus is eat about 50% back as MFP overestimates. I eat them all lol

    now as for the question of whether the cals hold over to the next day... can't split weight loss into 24h segments. It is what you do long term that counts. So if you exercise off 500 calories today and ate 1500, you had 1000cals (too little) and next day you don't exercise but eat 2000 (and let's say your goal was 1500), then you're averaging 1500 over the 2 days and it's perfectly fine. Even if this happens 3 days later it's fine. Look at your weekly nutrition charts in your phone app, and make sure that your average NET income is on par. That way you are on the right track without having to be perfect each day.
  • Amandainportland
    Amandainportland Posts: 3 Member
    This is my second time getting fit by calorie counting.. I was very successful the first time but life hit me a huge curve ball and I am nearly back to square one. I do not have a direct answer to your question but maybe something that can help over eating at dinner.

    I worked with a trainer for six months not being as successful as i should have been and we talked about my food diary. She knew I was doing the hard work at the gym but could not figure out how I was not loosing more weight. I told her that I tended to horde my calories for dinner. Every day i would wright in my diary what i ate as I ate it. She looked at me and said that is the problem.

    In order to control your intake you have to plan. You create your food diary the day before and put down exactly what you are going to eat and when you are going to eat it for the next day. It takes a few extra minutes but it stops your mind from playing games. You know you are going to get something to eat and will never be starving. You already made your mind up what your gonna eat there is no thinking needed and the possibility for overeating will diminish greatly.

    Keep on going!!! Your totally worth it!!
    Amanda
  • nxd10
    nxd10 Posts: 4,570 Member
    Well, you could customize your account by renaming your meals and changing your time zone (I'm serious) to make it work for you. If you hand log exercise it doesn't matter. If you use something like a fitbit, you'd have to match that time zone with the one on MFP.

    Sound like you would be better watching your weekly calorie goal than your daily ones anyway. I find the ipad/iphone/android app much better for that than the website. Click on 'nutrition' then 'weekly and gives you a weekly average and shows whether you are netting above or below your goal for the days you've logged that week.

    More importantly, I think you just need to rethink why weight watchers didn't work for you. Sounds like you're falling into the same traps here.

    Measure, log, hit your goals, repeat. It's boring but it usually works.
  • laurahamm96
    laurahamm96 Posts: 46 Member
    weight watchers did not work because I dont have the time to figure out points while food shopping, I have three young boys nd my life is busy, adding more stress by figuring out a made up number just made my life harder.

    I did not know that you could look at it weekly! I will try that. Thank you!
  • auntiebabs
    auntiebabs Posts: 1,754 Member
    Okay, I've a really hard time being consistent. I was feeling really horrible about my over days until I started keeping a spread sheet for 10-averages.

    I recognized that as long as I wasn't eating too much crap (sugar or processed foods) I tended to even out over a couple of days. I decided that if I was under by 500 calories one day, I didn't need to feel bad if I was over by 400 calories the next day.

    If I've worked out, but haven't eaten my calories, my body still needs proper nutrition whether the clock goes past midnight or not.

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