Calorie cycling- Am I doing anything wrong?

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XLMACX
XLMACX Posts: 346 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Right so I have been doing MFP around 4 weeks now I find it really easy to stick too my usually routine is I have one kind of treat day a Saturday were I eat 2100 (my allowance is 1600).

I then eat 100cals less Mon-Thurs to balance it out this works good for me. The only time I really seem to struggle is when there is a bank holiday and on the Sunday I tend to drink wayyyy too much and eat wayyyy too much! The first bank holiday this happened I over ate by 1700 cals, and then ate less through the week and maintained which I was happy with. But this bank holiday I was a lot worse.

My knowledge of calorie cycling is to go on the weekly total rather then the daily so im trying to make sure it all is in the green by cutting back this week. At first I started Monday with a fast day but couldn’t eat 500 was too little so decide to just cut on down calories throughout the full week.

Now I know some days calories are REALLY low and not healthy I get that but this is a one off I don’t intend on doing it every week, I’m just wondering if going on a weekly figure rather then a daily one does it matter what the daily calorie intake is?? Also will doing this just for 1 week mess up my metabolism?

Sunday ate- 3000 over my allowance of 1600 – ( so 900 over my maintenance)
Monday ate – 770
Tuesday ate-1043
Wednesday are- 1200
Thursday will eat- 804
Friday will eat -1200

The foods i have been eaten on the low days are like i would any other which combined lots of protein,carbs, veggies and fruits.
I’m not a binge eater or have any problems with food whatsoever I just happened to over indulge with friends and now im trying to “un-do” the damage lol.

Thanks.

Replies

  • Angylisis78
    Angylisis78 Posts: 32
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    I’m not a binge eater or have any problems with food whatsoever I just happened to over indulge with friends and now im trying to “un-do” the damage lol. >

    You said the above but your post has soooo many red flags that say just the opposite. Eating 3000 calories over your allotted 1600? You ate triple what you should be eating, to live. I would seriously give some thought to what's causing this.

    IMHO, "calorie cycling" is a bunch of hooey, and it's not going to help you drop any faster than just eating normally. If you average X number of calories for the week, then you average X number of cals for the week. Cycling is just harder on you, and it makes it easier to go way too over or way too under a day. (or several).
  • XLMACX
    XLMACX Posts: 346 Member
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    Thanks for your advise but as i said this was a ONE OFF. T
    he reason i ate that amount was due to me been at a party and eating and drinking certainly adds up especially when Chinese take out is involved! it didn’t help I had the beer munchies also from 2 days partying lol!
    seriously i know i have no ED for FACT. As for calorie cycling again this is a ONE OFF and surely its better to eat less through week then to eat even more as that would result in a gain

    more calories in =weight gain???????
  • Jestinia
    Jestinia Posts: 1,153 Member
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    Is it working for your particular goals?

    Do you feel okay, even during your low days? No dizziness, fatigue, anything like that?

    Do you know of any medical reason why you shouldn't be doing this?

    If not, what's the problem?
  • Angylisis78
    Angylisis78 Posts: 32
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    Thanks for your advise but as i said this was a ONE OFF. T
    he reason i ate that amount was due to me been at a party and eating and drinking certainly adds up especially when Chinese take out is involved! it didn’t help I had the beer munchies also from 2 days partying lol!
    seriously i know i have no ED for FACT. As for calorie cycling again this is a ONE OFF and surely its better to eat less through week then to eat even more as that would result in a gain

    more calories in =weight gain???????

    Well, I didn't say you had an ED. If you're fine with what you're doing, then what's the problem?
  • aimladuke
    aimladuke Posts: 60 Member
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    I think this is fine! There are actually people who do this routinely to maintain. They will eat 100-200 calories less through out the week so they can relax a little and enjoy on the weekends. Another idea is to earn back some exercise calories. Again, sometimes ppl will "bank" exercise calories if they are planning a for a treat or a party. The only warning I will give you as a PP stated, is it is important to listen to your body. If you aren't feeling well (on your low calorie days) , then it is important to give your body the fuel it needs.
  • doubleohstatus
    doubleohstatus Posts: 37
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    Thanks for your advise but as i said this was a ONE OFF. T
    he reason i ate that amount was due to me been at a party and eating and drinking certainly adds up especially when Chinese take out is involved! it didn’t help I had the beer munchies also from 2 days partying lol!
    seriously i know i have no ED for FACT. As for calorie cycling again this is a ONE OFF and surely its better to eat less through week then to eat even more as that would result in a gain

    more calories in =weight gain???????

    What she was saying was that you'd get the same result from evening out your calories for the week rather than having low and high days. So for example I added the totals for what you put down for Monday-Friday. It equals 5,017 (way too low normally but i understand that you're trying to undo Sunday's damage). If you are to equally divide this by 5 you'd get ~1003 cals per day. you're not taking in more calories at the end of the week, its the same. You'd feel a lot better than having to stay at 770 or 804 for a day (personally i wouldn't go lower than 1200). As for your food choices when out with your friends as well as your craving for beer or w/e, you need to consciously make better choices or get new friends that aren't enablers/peer pressuring you (i don't know the actual situation lol just general advice here :]). That is where your problem may lie. Do portion control, if you're going to have a beer have one or at max two. I totally understand on saving cals for holidays cause I usually cut 500 from my daily allowance (which is 2000 right now) for the week and exercise a bit more when a holiday like Christmas and Thanksgiving roll around. That makes sure that no matter what I will stay within my cal goal. Plus knowing what you have accumulated over the week lets you know just how far you can go on said holiday.
  • Angylisis78
    Angylisis78 Posts: 32
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    Thanks for your advise but as i said this was a ONE OFF. T
    he reason i ate that amount was due to me been at a party and eating and drinking certainly adds up especially when Chinese take out is involved! it didn’t help I had the beer munchies also from 2 days partying lol!
    seriously i know i have no ED for FACT. As for calorie cycling again this is a ONE OFF and surely its better to eat less through week then to eat even more as that would result in a gain

    more calories in =weight gain???????

    What she was saying was that you'd get the same result from evening out your calories for the week rather than having low and high days. So for example I added the totals for what you put down for Monday-Friday. It equals 5,017 (way too low normally but i understand that you're trying to undo Sunday's damage). If you are to equally divide this by 5 you'd get ~1003 cals per day. you're not taking in more calories at the end of the week, its the same. You'd feel a lot better than having to stay at 770 or 804 for a day (personally i wouldn't go lower than 1200). As for your food choices when out with your friends as well as your craving for beer or w/e, you need to consciously make better choices or get new friends that aren't enablers/peer pressuring you (i don't know the actual situation lol just general advice here :]). That is where your problem may lie. Do portion control, if you're going to have a beer have one or at max two. I totally understand on saving cals for holidays cause I usually cut 500 from my daily allowance (which is 2000 right now) for the week and exercise a bit more when a holiday like Christmas and Thanksgiving roll around. That makes sure that no matter what I will stay within my cal goal. Plus knowing what you have accumulated over the week lets you know just how far you can go on said holiday.

    That's exactly what I was saying :) Thank you for putting it more succinctly than I apparently can this early.

    Edited to say: I also "save up calories" for things like, well, I'll go 25-50 below my daily goal so that on Saturday night I can have some popcorn with a tbsp of real butter drizzled on it. There's nothing wrong with saving up some cals, and having a treat, or having a treat one day and burning it off with exercise over the next five (thusly having a deficit after you eat it rather than before). But I would try to even it out (to the OP here) so it's easier on your body both mentally and physically, and I would certainly not try to go 3000 cals over, that's what got us into the mess we're in, in the first place KWIM?
  • XLMACX
    XLMACX Posts: 346 Member
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    ah i understand now thank you :) x

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