Viewing eating as a weekly thing?

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  • fearlessleader104
    fearlessleader104 Posts: 723 Member
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    OP, that's exactly what I have done. I ate more than my maintenance calories for the past few years, and now I am eating less to make up for it. It's not over until you are dead.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
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    I definitely eat more than once a week. Usually more than once a day! :smiley:
  • ErinMcMom
    ErinMcMom Posts: 228 Member
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    I often eat over calories on the weekend and work off the overages on my Monday workout (Mondays I have longer to workout while my husband watches the kids). Usually I have a snack to replenish the calories I burned off during my workout, but on Monday nights I don't and I use those extra calories to cover my weekend overages. I move foods over to Monday from in my tracker so all the days will be in the green. If I REALLY go crazy on the weekend it's not always possible to get everything back in the green, but I usually can. If I can't, I call it a wash and move on with life.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    I would never make up for overeating food the next day - If I haven't already got the spare calories from the previous 7 days under calories I don't eat it

    I don't have the confidence that I would actually make it up

    Oh and the defecit has to be within the last 7 days too...

  • Pootler74
    Pootler74 Posts: 223 Member
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    I often carry over food items to the next day, just so that I can stay under the red line. I wouldn't carry over for longer than two days though, as I know I'll get myself into calorie arrears.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    BernadetteChurch wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    Sometimes I eat a bit more. Sometimes I eat a bit less. If it balances out over the week it's all good.

    Doing it over a month is dumb though because, let's be honest, you'll just find yourself on day 29 with 5,000 Kcal to make up.

    Please don't call people and their methods dumb because you've decided that their method can only end badly.

    Which it generally will, because most people who try and balance things out over a month will end up with thousands of net calories and very few days in which to discount them.

    So, yeah. Dumb as a sack of rocks.

    I'm dumb as a sack of rocks then. Thanks for your invaluable input. Do stop generalising, though. I've never found myself with a 5,000 calorie deficit on day 29 of the month, and actually find tracking calories in this way to be very beneficial.

    OP asked for people's opinions/experiences and I gave mine. I didn't recommend it for everyone or anyone. And I certainly didn't ask for anyone else's opinion.

  • maxit
    maxit Posts: 880 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Maintaining homeostasis is something we are programmed for. Animals (which we are) are wired to manage being over-fed one day, under-fed the next. My own experience is that when I am eating very few processed foods (that is, food that I eat is close to its natural state except for being cooked), I wake up quite hungry on the day after I may have left too many calories unconsumed, and not hungry (more like - I could eat now, or I could take the dog out for a couple of miles before breakfast) on the day after I have eaten closer to (or above) "maintenance."
  • higgins8283801
    higgins8283801 Posts: 844 Member
    edited December 2014
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    I count daily. But on weigh in day, I add up what my weekly calorie intake and subtract weekly BMR and calories burned. I then divide by 3500 to see if it's close to what I weighed in. It's usually pretty accurate.
  • Change1992
    Change1992 Posts: 40 Member
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    Well, it sounds like most people do it over a weekly basis but I see no problem doing it longer. I also understand people that just say, 'If you go over, you should acknowledge it and move on' because it can turn into a cycle I imagine!

    Like I said previously, if you can do the maths, and are fine with the scales then I really don't see it being an issue either way. Some really interesting points about carrying calories over though.

    Thanks for all the opinions/experiences guys :)
  • abatonfan
    abatonfan Posts: 1,120 Member
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    I understand doing it as a weekly thing, but I cannot personally see myself reducing my kcals by 20 over the next month to make up for a 600kcal surplus.

    Most of the time, I look at it from a weekly perspective whenever I eat below 1200 net for the week and need to go over my kcal goal in order to be at 1200 net (I might have to do it this week due to finals -I am never hungry when I am stressed) or if I know I want to eat so many kcals above my goal for one day (such as Thanksgiving dinner) and need to eat 100-200kcals below my goal for five days in order to eat an additional 500-1000kcals that day.
  • amf0324
    amf0324 Posts: 46 Member
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    I track my food daily, with the intent of coming out to 1200 per day on a weekly basis (I'm only 5 feet tall which is why my cals are so low).

    This gives me some wiggle room so I can socialize on the weekends without totally breaking the bank.

    I have lost an average of 0.8 - 1.2 pounds per week this way.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    I wish MFP would display weekly calories at-a-glance. I was under five of seven days this week, but yesterday was -48 and today is -61 and I find that red so demoralizing.
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
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    maxit wrote: »
    Maintaining homeostasis is something we are programmed for. Animals (which we are) are wired to manage being over-fed one day, under-fed the next. My own experience is that when I am eating very few processed foods (that is, food that I eat is close to its natural state except for being cooked), I wake up quite hungry on the day after I may have left too many calories unconsumed, and not hungry (more like - I could eat now, or I could take the dog out for a couple of miles before breakfast) on the day after I have eaten closer to (or above) "maintenance."

    It isn't a question of whether we are capable of averaging over an extended period. That's why we're all fat. We're averaging over several years and our bodies are storing food until we need it. The real question is what method will do the best at ensuring that consistently use the previously stored food. For me, that is daily, because if I push calories off into another day then I'll keep pushing it forward. That may not be true of other people, but it is for me. When I reach the end of the day and I only have a few calories left, I convince myself not to go over by reminding myself that in a few hours I'll have a new 1600. I would hate to wake in the morning and already have some number of calories taken away from that because I over ate the day before.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    BernadetteChurch wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    BernadetteChurch wrote: »
    herrspoons wrote: »
    Sometimes I eat a bit more. Sometimes I eat a bit less. If it balances out over the week it's all good.

    Doing it over a month is dumb though because, let's be honest, you'll just find yourself on day 29 with 5,000 Kcal to make up.

    Please don't call people and their methods dumb because you've decided that their method can only end badly.

    Which it generally will, because most people who try and balance things out over a month will end up with thousands of net calories and very few days in which to discount them.

    So, yeah. Dumb as a sack of rocks.

    I'm dumb as a sack of rocks then. Thanks for your invaluable input. Do stop generalising, though. I've never found myself with a 5,000 calorie deficit on day 29 of the month, and actually find tracking calories in this way to be very beneficial.

    OP asked for people's opinions/experiences and I gave mine. I didn't recommend it for everyone or anyone. And I certainly didn't ask for anyone else's opinion.

    But you feel the need to offer your own

    Two way street, luv.

    I'm not quite sure you grasp the difference between opinion and experience.

    I said I track calories monthly. That is my EXPERIENCE. Had I said anything other than what works for ME, and suggested anything was right or wrong for everyone, that would be OPINION. And I don't recall offering my OPINION anywhere.

    You said what I do is dumb, dumb as a sack of rocks, in fact. That is your OPINION, and of course you're entitled to it. But the only person actually ASKING for opinion in this thread is the OP. And no one, anywhere, is ever asking for plain rudeness.
  • BernadetteChurch
    BernadetteChurch Posts: 2,210 Member
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    herrspoons wrote: »
    BernadetteChurch wrote: »

    I'm not quite sure you grasp the difference between opinion and experience.

    I said I track calories monthly. That is my EXPERIENCE. Had I said anything other than what works for ME, and suggested anything was right or wrong for everyone, that would be OPINION. And I don't recall offering my OPINION anywhere.

    You said what I do is dumb, dumb as a sack of rocks, in fact. That is your OPINION, and of course you're entitled to it. But the only person actually ASKING for opinion in this thread is the OP. And no one, anywhere, is ever asking for plain rudeness.

    Err... your diary is open. Since you started recording in December you have been as follows:

    1/12 228 under, 2/12, 103 over, 3/12 43 under, 4/12 43 under, 5/12 5 under, 6/12 1 under.

    So you are tracking weekly, if not daily, not monthly. You might do a count at the month end and if you have a surplus treat yourself to a cookie or whatever, but this isn't the same thing because you're not creating a surplus over a period of days or weeks that you have to make up later in the month.



    With respect, you know sweet FA about me, what I'm doing and how I'm doing it.

    So please stop just saying stuff because you think it proves whatever point you're trying to make.

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