exercise to cheat?

Hi guys, I've just come over from slimming world, because it wasn't working for me. My question is...If I eat within my calorie range 6 days a week and exercise 5 days a week, without using the exercise calories at all. Do you think I'd be able to cheat on a Saturday night and still have a loss without it undoing all my good work on the previous 6 days? I weigh in on a Saturday morning?
«13

Replies

  • manicautumn
    manicautumn Posts: 224 Member
    Why don't you just eat back the exercise calories?
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
    It's fine. Many people follow their weekly calories rather than daily in case they want to indulge once or twice.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    It's fine. Many people follow their weekly calories rather than daily in case they want to indulge once or twice.

    This
  • atypicalsmith
    atypicalsmith Posts: 2,742 Member
    I save up calories all the time to splurge and still manage to lose a pound a week.
  • Sabine_Stroehm
    Sabine_Stroehm Posts: 19,263 Member
    malibu927 wrote: »
    It's fine. Many people follow their weekly calories rather than daily in case they want to indulge once or twice.

    This. And notice the wording.
  • forgtmenot
    forgtmenot Posts: 860 Member
    edited May 2015
    As long as you still count your cheat meals and you aren't going over your calorie goals for the week, yes. You should be fine. I personally use my exercise calories to have a small "cheat" everyday, so I don't feel the need to have a big cheat day. If it works better for you to save it up until the end of the week and you still stick to your calorie goals for the week, you would still total out to the same number of calories overall so you would still lose.
  • Asher_Ethan
    Asher_Ethan Posts: 2,430 Member
    That's how I drink wine on the weekends!
  • angmilla1977
    angmilla1977 Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks everyone, it's usually just for a bottle of wine or two on a Saturday so I shouldn't be going over my exercise calories for the week.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,627 Member
    i exercise to EAT .... not to CHEAT (nothing is off limits for me)
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,706 Member
    One of the reasons I exercise every day is to give myself some extra calories to use for extra food.

    I keep my net calories under 1250, but there are days when I'm eating 1400 cal, or 1600 cal or more. :) Because I have exercised enough to do that.

    It's not cheating, it's strategic planning. And I'm working for it.
  • Merkavar
    Merkavar Posts: 3,081 Member
    How much is a cheat?

    If you saved up a deficit of 3000 during the week then at 4k over on Saturday you going to go backwards.

  • pmg2000m
    pmg2000m Posts: 44 Member
    Merkavar wrote: »
    How much is a cheat?

    If you saved up a deficit of 3000 during the week then at 4k over on Saturday you going to go backwards.
    Good question, it depends on what you consider a "cheat". If I have an event where I know I may eat a bit more, or have a drink or two, I consider that day a "maintenance day" and eat what would be maintenance for me. This would usually mean maybe 500 or so additional calories above my weight loss plan, rather than the 500 calorie deficit. As long as you're not going overboard, then you can certainly work it into your weekly plan.

  • Nony_Mouse
    Nony_Mouse Posts: 5,646 Member
    If you're saving calories, or earning extra calories through exercise, so you can have extra sometimes it is not cheating. God I detest that word. Such negative connotations, like you're doing something 'naughty'.
  • Merci4u
    Merci4u Posts: 41 Member
    I agree, its not cheating. Cheating implies you are doing something for nothing and you certainly are working for those extra drinkies.

    I do this (I call it banking cals) but only for special occasions. Exercise is not exact on how many calories you have burnt so you might be considerably over estimating your exercise and end up not losing anything
  • likehlikeo
    likehlikeo Posts: 185 Member
    I do that as well. But I rarely eat over maintenance when I try to use my banked calories (I'm like Scrooge with calories). Exeption: when I had a few drinks too many at the club and my brain is on autopilot..THEN I will have fries + falafel or something similar for breakfast B) but this is a rather rare occation..I usually try to manage to go home without a stop at the turkish diner ;)

    OP: If you manage to bank some cals: use them for something like wine and enjoy it :)...I mean...you earned this bottle!
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
    It's not cheating

    It's monitoring your calorie defecit across the week, and it's how I lost and maintain my weight

    I'm not the same 'hungry' each day .. and some days I fancy going out to eat

    Use the report on the app - weekly - it gives you how many calories you ate each day, average across the week and how many you have left to hit your defecit across the week and you can set it to a rolling 7 days

    My one rule is not borrowing from the future though
  • yogeshvaraom
    yogeshvaraom Posts: 45 Member
    it's usually just for a bottle of wine or two on a Saturday
    Not for nothing but that sounds like it might be ok on your diet and not so good for you in general.
  • NoIdea101NoIdea
    NoIdea101NoIdea Posts: 659 Member
    rabbitjb wrote: »
    It's not cheating

    It's monitoring your calorie defecit across the week, and it's how I lost and maintain my weight

    I'm not the same 'hungry' each day .. and some days I fancy going out to eat

    Use the report on the app - weekly - it gives you how many calories you ate each day, average across the week and how many you have left to hit your defecit across the week and you can set it to a rolling 7 days

    My one rule is not borrowing from the future though

    All of this. Make sure you log your cheat too and be honest about what your cheating with; I tend to not eat back some of my exercise calories so I can have a bit of a splurge at the weekends, as that is my 'down time' and I know I am prone to consuming more during those two days. However, there have been a couple of times where I haven't really kept track of it, then finally added everything up and realized I had gone way over for the week-it is surprising how quickly it can all add up!
  • cityruss
    cityruss Posts: 2,493 Member
    Remain at a weekly deficit.

    That really is all there is to it.

    How you go about creating that deficit is up to you.
  • angmilla1977
    angmilla1977 Posts: 16 Member
    Thanks a lot for your responses guys. I will probably use a maximum of 1000 over my daily allowance, so should have earned more than enough to cover it and still be in deficit. I'm going to look now at the weekly report and see if I cam figure it out