Deficit: weekly or daily?

heathersmilez
heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
edited September 22 in Food and Nutrition
Quick opinion poll about deficit especially for those of you who enjoy a treat meal weekly or just plain screw up. My question is, is the deficit daily or weekly?

Meaning, if you screw up one day do you just move on or if you decrease your cals over the next 2 days you’ll rectify and damage you’ve done (of course not encouraging starving) - especially if you only weigh-in 1x week?

I had an evening snack and went 1100 cals over my goal Sunday yea, naughty naughty. Monday I was 800 cals under my goal and today I will be 500 cals under my goal (all staying around 1200 cals a day so I AM eating) therefore is that naughty day forgiven by chance?

Replies

  • KellyBurton1
    KellyBurton1 Posts: 529 Member
    Bump... interesting, been wondering myself!
  • pftjill
    pftjill Posts: 488
    No you do not go under on the other days. Your body has energy requirements and is burning calories on it's own just to do its daily functions. So the calories you are given on here are pretty accurate to what you need to be consuming. A 3500 calorie deficit is equal to 1 lb. One day is not at all going to throw you off. Keep eating as you normally would and just get in the gym or get out those videos and work out. Never give a deficit on another day because you went over one day. You need those calories just for your body to function!!
  • AskTracyAnnK28
    AskTracyAnnK28 Posts: 2,817 Member
    The healthy thing to do is just to acknowledge it and move on...don't starve yourself and mess up your body the days following :-)
  • Celo24
    Celo24 Posts: 566 Member
    I'm certainly not an expert but my wife and I always have a "cheat meal" on Friday nights when we blow it out and eat whatever the heck we want. As long as I exercise the rest of the week and stay at or near my calorie goals, I generally lose weight. When you are 500-800 calories below your target, your body runs the risk of getting confused and thinking it's starving. If that happens, then it stores MORE fat from the foods you eat. My advice would be to give yourself a weekly cheat meal and once it's done, go back to your normal routine rather that trying to compensate for that meal. Just don't do it more than once a week.

    Also, if you do weekly weigh-ins (I do the same), make sure you aren't eating anything too salty the night before and that you don't overhydrate either. Both of those things can cause an artificially high number on the scale. Good luck!!
  • eleanoreb
    eleanoreb Posts: 621 Member
    My nutritionist told me about damage control. What you do is spread the deficit over the following 2 days. So if you exceed your calories by 1000, make sure to have a deficit of 500 for the following 2 days. This way you won't gain weight back.

    best of luck and don't be too hard on yourself, we all haev days like that every now and then
  • Kristyb1010
    Kristyb1010 Posts: 39
    That is a great question! I went way over yesterday and was wondering how I should approach the next couple of days.
  • johnandholli
    johnandholli Posts: 26
    I am a very inconsistant person, so I am good at messing up. On the 1st and the 2nd I over did the calorie and was 600 over. Yesterday I was better and only 83 calories over. My down fall is sugar. Cookies and pure sugar icing, like gingerbread house icing or cookies filled with it. That blows it every time. Yesterday, I even incorporated sugar, I just ate good the rest of the day. I don't try to skimp the days after, but I do try to go back to eaitng the right amount of calories, and don't get discouraged, I just move on and get back on track.

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  • wriglucy
    wriglucy Posts: 1,064 Member
    Your body will kind of balance itself out. If you eat more one day, maybe the next day you won't be as hungry and not eat as much. I know it takes a deficit of 3500 calories to lose 1 pound of fat, and because that is so high, it's better for a weekly goal.
  • heathersmilez
    heathersmilez Posts: 2,579 Member
    My nutritionist told me about damage control. What you do is spread the deficit over the following 2 days. So if you exceed your calories by 1000, make sure to have a deficit of 500 for the following 2 days. This way you won't gain weight back.

    best of luck and don't be too hard on yourself, we all haev days like that every now and then

    I like this answer! :)

    As previously mentioned, I would not encourage starving i.e. eating less than 1200 cals a day to correct this problem and 2 days of eating 1200 when MFP suggests 1700 (due to 500 cals burned during cardio each day) should not affect my metabolism. Consistent under eating for over a week may show some slow down but most research says it takes several weeks to fully be in starvation mode so 2 days of eating less should be fine.

    In response to the fact that 1 day "won't hurt you" overall, yes I agree but that extra 1000 cals means you now need to have a deficit of 4500 cals a week to loose that 1 lb, basically your hard work over the week went out the window which of course is no one’s fault but my own.

    Thanks for your opinion everyone, it seems you should forgive and forget but since yesterday was my larger deficit, I might as well keep it up today and eat only 1200.
  • eleanoreb
    eleanoreb Posts: 621 Member
    you can also workout more to gain some extra calories :)
This discussion has been closed.

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