Is it O.K. to indulge in extra calories for a weekend?

Absolutely ! I actually changed my weigh in date a long time ago, so I could indulge on the weekend if I wanted to, and still bounce back in time for my Thursday morning weigh in....LOL Planning is everything !

One of the things I like about MFP is that it moves me beyond "I was good today/I was bad today" and gives me the tools to actually analyze my habits and patterns. Recently I took a look at my net calories over the last 90 days, and found it instructive. Of those 90 days, 21 were days I did not make my net calorie goals, and several (Thanksgiving, our Christmas party, a friends Christmas party) were positively blow-outs. But most of my weekly totals were nevertheless under my goal. There were four weeks that my weekly total exceeded my goal (unsurprisingly, they were Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, New Year's week, and the week of our annual holiday party), but even the worst of those was only 314 calories over my goal. Since my goal is a 250 calorie deficit per day -- 1750 calories/week -- going 300+ calories over for the week still left me with around a 1400 weekly calorie deficit -- not within my goal for that week, but a deficit nevertheless and one that should lead to weight loss, albeit more slowly than meeting my goal. And, indeed, I still lost at least 8-10 pounds over that 90-day period, in line with my goals (1/2 pound per week).

So that's my long-winded, data-driven way of saying a once-a-week lapse isn't going to derail you. Good luck!

JazzAmbassador wrote: »

One of the things I like about MFP is that it moves me beyond "I was good today/I was bad today" and gives me the tools to actually analyze my habits and patterns. Recently I took a look at my net calories over the last 90 days, and found it instructive. Of those 90 days, 21 were days I did not make my net calorie goals, and several (Thanksgiving, our Christmas party, a friends Christmas party) were positively blow-outs. But most of my weekly totals were nevertheless under my goal. There were four weeks that my weekly total exceeded my goal (unsurprisingly, they were Thanksgiving week, Christmas week, New Year's week, and the week of our annual holiday party), but even the worst of those was only 314 calories over my goal. Since my goal is a 250 calorie deficit per day -- 1750 calories/week -- going 300+ calories over for the week still left me with around a 1400 weekly calorie deficit -- not within my goal for that week, but a deficit nevertheless and one that should lead to weight loss, albeit more slowly than meeting my goal. And, indeed, I still lost at least 8-10 pounds over that 90-day period, in line with my goals (1/2 pound per week).

So that's my long-winded, data-driven way of saying a once-a-week lapse isn't going to derail you. Good luck!

Love this long-winded, data-driven post! Similar pattern for me. It's SO helpful to be able to see what you're doing over time which is why I always prefer to log and know what's really happening rather than say "oh well,since it's a blowout of a day I won't even bother logging it."

We all overdo it now and then. Just make certain that you make meet your calorie intake on the majority of days, and you'll be fine.

NEVER deprive yourself.

You may never go over, doing so is self defeating!