Weekly calories?

Some people do choose to go by a weekly goal rather than a daily one, and some save their exercise calories to enjoy larger meals on the weekend. As long as your numbers are coming out the same in the end, it should be fine.

Short answer: Yes you can.

Long answer: Generally I have found this works best swinging calories over a 48 maybe 72 hour period rather than a 7 day period. Certainly from a memory point of view also. If you are seeing the results (weight / inches you want and you feel energetic and not lethargic) then you are on the right track

Sort of.

In theory, I aim for a -500 calorie deficit every day.

In practice, as long as in the long term it averages out to at least -300/day for the week, I'm happy.

This isn't the advice you were asking for . . . . but

As a recent law school graduate - I can tell you - if swimming four days a week is what you WANT to do, even while you are in school, then it certainly is possible. You just have to make time to do it - putting yourself and your health as an equal priority to your studies.

Love yourself and do the things you need to do for yourself, to create healthy long-term habits. :-)

Yes, managing a weekly calorie budget works! During weight loss phase, I often stayed slightly under my goal during the week in order to have a "splurge" meal on the weekend and stay within my weekly goal. I experienced what you're talking about just this weekend. I did a long workout Saturday morning and didn't even feel like eating until dinner, so I had lots of "extra" calories that I didn't eat, but on Sunday, I woke up hungry which is unusual for me, so I ended up eating three meals as opposed to my normal two. In the end, it all evens out.

Yes, I go by weekly. Your body doesn't work on a 24 hour clock.

Has anyone ever tried it though?

yeah, for sure, it's called "calorie cycling." I've tried several different formulas for calorie cycling and my current one is def. the best one i've tried so far for several different reasons.

I like to go super low calorie, super low carb 4 days a week, then the last 3 days of the week i eat almost up to maintenance or only a 200 cal deficit. In the end im still at a 7000 calorie deficit for the week, and i've been consistently losing 2 pounds per week.

the reason why i think this method is great is because, after prolonged exposure to very low calorie deficits, your metabolism may begin to slow down a bit... and in my experience i always found that it usually took about 3 days of eating up to maintenance in order to reset my metabolism back to normal after having significantly slowed it down...

so, after much trial and error, what i finally did was design a weekly routine where i fit those 3 days of high calorie eating into my weekly cycle. 4 days of super low calorie + super low carb, followed by 3 days of high calorie eating whatever i want (up to maintenance). Those 3 days serve as a "metabolism reset" function in my weekly cycle, so my metabolism never really gets a chance to slow down, as its consistently being re-assured at the end of every week that im not starving.

the low carb is just a personal choice, i personally find that by eating non-starchy vegetables and protein during those 4 low cal, low-carb days i get full on a lot less calories, and im able to get a ton of natural vitamins, a ton of fiber. and without having to post links to pubmed, or PMC, there have been some studies that suggest low carb, ketogenic diets offer greater fat loss.