1 day high calorie in two months helps weight loss?

CarobChip108
CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I have steadily lost about a pound a week for 10 weeks, I eat at 1200 calories (i'm only 5') and eat half to 75% of my exercise calories usually. Three days ago I had a day where I ate most likely 1800-2000 calories (I didn't log I was embarrassed I know I should have but it would have been an estimation anyways lol).

Anyhow after that I continued the same routine and two days later I had lost 1.5 pounds since the previous week. I totally thought that day would have negated the rest of the week. I don't think a cheat meal a week is a good idea for me, but could having a cheat day where I eat super high calorie than normal once a month or once in two months actually help speed up weight loss? Has this ever happened to you?

Replies

  • sunandmoons
    sunandmoons Posts: 415 Member
    edited October 2015
    No. It doesn't work for me to cheat. And if you cheat yourself you should log it.

    I'm betting 1200 calories is too low if your cheating/overeating.
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    CarobChip108 wrote: »

    I don't think a cheat meal a week is a good idea for me, but could having a cheat day where I eat super high calorie than normal once a month or once in two months actually help speed up weight loss? Has this ever happened to you?

    It's never happened to anyone. In the history of the world.
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    It was a social gathering with friends so it was more the atmosphere that sparked it, and I was expecting not to lose anything for the week, but it was actually a little bit more than normal. I don't feel 1200 is too low for me on non--exercise days. But I have heard a little of the whole leptin idea, where eating high calorie once in awhile can help spark metabolism. For two weeks before I started eating at 1200 I was eating at 1500 and doing Insanity, and it wasn't until I went to 1200 that I started to lose a pound a week.
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »

    I don't think a cheat meal a week is a good idea for me, but could having a cheat day where I eat super high calorie than normal once a month or once in two months actually help speed up weight loss? Has this ever happened to you?

    It's never happened to anyone. In the history of the world.

    Ok I was curious, perhaps I just had more of a deficit on the other days which mitigated for that one day.
  • sunandmoons
    sunandmoons Posts: 415 Member
    edited October 2015
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    It was a social gathering with friends so it was more the atmosphere that sparked it, and I was expecting not to lose anything for the week, but it was actually a little bit more than normal. I don't feel 1200 is too low for me on non--exercise days. But I have heard a little of the whole leptin idea, where eating high calorie once in awhile can help spark metabolism. For two weeks before I started eating at 1200 I was eating at 1500 and doing Insanity, and it wasn't until I went to 1200 that I started to lose a pound a week.

    I bet its low. www.scoobysworkshop.com
    Plug your numbers in. 1200 calories are ok if your elderly and laying in bed all day. Insanity workout, how many calories do you intake those days you workout?
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    it gave me 1265
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    edited October 2015
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise, about 1200 on non-exercise days. Stature should have something to do with it, right? I'm barely 5 foot, I don't think I should eat the same for a 5'6 person.
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise.

    If you were losing a pound per week keep doing what you were doing.
  • sunandmoons
    sunandmoons Posts: 415 Member
    edited October 2015
    Theres nothing wrong with get togethers and enjoying life. Just log it anyway and carry on. Once every couple of months shouldnt hurt.

  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,647 Member
    I don't know about it increasing your weight loss, but I will say this: there is no such thing as cheating in weight loss. There's nothing wrong with going over now and then, and logging it or not logging it makes no difference, especially if you don't know how much you ate in the first place. It might even help you stay on track to live it up now and then. Just try not to make a habit of it.
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise.

    If you were losing a pound per week keep doing what you were doing.

    I plan on it, it's just good to see that if I go to a celebration once a month or every two months, easing up on the strict numbers for a day won't have any adverse reactions lol.
  • ncboiler89
    ncboiler89 Posts: 2,408 Member
    edited October 2015
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise.

    If you were losing a pound per week keep doing what you were doing.

    I plan on it, it's just good to see that if I go to a celebration once a month or every two months, easing up on the strict numbers for a day won't have any adverse reactions lol.

    If it makes you happy then there are no adverse reactions. Lets say you go nuts one night. That may add one half a day to the timeline of reaching your weight loss goal. Who cares!!!
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »
    I don't know about it increasing your weight loss, but I will say this: there is no such thing as cheating in weight loss. There's nothing wrong with going over now and then, and logging it or not logging it makes no difference, especially if you don't know how much you ate in the first place. It might even help you stay on track to live it up now and then. Just try not to make a habit of it.

    Yes living it up every now and then, I guess "cheat" isn't the proper word. Yes I agree I definitely don't want to make it a habit. The whole inspiration for this thread though was the fact that I had lost more than average, it seemed interesting to me, but like I mentioned before, perhaps it was just more of a deficit on the previous days.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    I think it can help, and not just psychologically. If you are losing a pound a week at your height, depending on how active you are, you might be eating below your BMR for extended periods of time. I really would try to switch up my intake here and there, and eating at least at maintenance is a good thing to throw in every now and then. Plus, you get to pick an extra treat or two! Yum :)

    I had a planned treat once every week to two weeks anyway the whole time I was losing. I never noticed any problems (except cravings the next day). My loss was too gradual to tell too much week to week, but I never had long plateaus like you'd expect at such a tight deficit.
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    sunandmoons wrote: »
    Theres nothing wrong with get togethers and enjoying life. Just log it anyway and carry on. Once every couple of months shouldnt hurt.

    Yes, I will log if does happen again!
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member

    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise.

    If you were losing a pound per week keep doing what you were doing.

    I plan on it, it's just good to see that if I go to a celebration once a month or every two months, easing up on the strict numbers for a day won't have any adverse reactions lol.

    If it makes you happy then there are no adverse reactions. Lets say you go nuts one night. That may add one half a day to the timeline of reaching your weight loss goal. Who cares!!!

    Yes, I think slow and steady is good for me! (:
  • CarobChip108
    CarobChip108 Posts: 54 Member
    cafeaulait7 wrote: »
    I think it can help, and not just psychologically. If you are losing a pound a week at your height, depending on how active you are, you might be eating below your BMR for extended periods of time. I really would try to switch up my intake here and there, and eating at least at maintenance is a good thing to throw in every now and then. Plus, you get to pick an extra treat or two! Yum :)

    I had a planned treat once every week to two weeks anyway the whole time I was losing. I never noticed any problems (except cravings the next day). My loss was too gradual to tell too much week to week, but I never had long plateaus like you'd expect at such a tight deficit.

    Thats a good idea, how often would you eat at maintenance while you were losing? Yes I did notice the next day I had cravings too, another reason I would want to stay away from such an occurrence. lol But eating at maintenance, here and there like you said could help metabolism. I obviously don't know the science behind all this, but I am sure prolonged eating at a deficit is hard on the metabolism. What was your deficit?
  • lc355
    lc355 Posts: 91 Member
    "CarobChip108 wrote: »
    Has this ever happened to you?

    Yes, and I always wonder why. There must be a reason for it. Maybe as that 'extra' food leaves our body it drags some extra water with it. Or maybe we burn a bunch of extra calories as our bodies desperately try to process the extra food. Either way I don't think it is reliable enough to do it deliberately on a regular basis as its probably water fluctuations rather than actual fat loss.
    If you think of your calories and weightless over a month then going over really only averages out to a few extra calories per day so shouldn't affect the overall trend.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    cafeaulait7 wrote: »
    I think it can help, and not just psychologically. If you are losing a pound a week at your height, depending on how active you are, you might be eating below your BMR for extended periods of time. I really would try to switch up my intake here and there, and eating at least at maintenance is a good thing to throw in every now and then. Plus, you get to pick an extra treat or two! Yum :)

    I had a planned treat once every week to two weeks anyway the whole time I was losing. I never noticed any problems (except cravings the next day). My loss was too gradual to tell too much week to week, but I never had long plateaus like you'd expect at such a tight deficit.

    Thats a good idea, how often would you eat at maintenance while you were losing? Yes I did notice the next day I had cravings too, another reason I would want to stay away from such an occurrence. lol But eating at maintenance, here and there like you said could help metabolism. I obviously don't know the science behind all this, but I am sure prolonged eating at a deficit is hard on the metabolism. What was your deficit?

    My treats put me over maintenance, lol, so my treat days were my higher calorie days. That's because my deficit was only 200-250 a day, and the treat was usually a 250-400 calorie pastry or pasta :) Yum!

    If I eat higher one day, I often naturally eat lower the next, though, so many weeks it wasn't really extra at all. I know I get hungrier and hungrier the longer I never have a high day, so they help satisfy that somehow.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
    Just because your weight went down at that time doesn't mean what happened the day before did it.

    1: it's medically impossible for a calorie surplus to create weight loss.

    2: hormones, time of month, sodium intake, exercise/activity, dehydration ALL affect your weight and water retention. It's one of those that caused your weight to be high for a while and then drop, and of course your calorie deficit on other days.

    Glad you're learning! Well done.
  • cnbbnc
    cnbbnc Posts: 1,267 Member
    I have had that happen to me in the past. I have no idea what to attribute it to, but it has happened. That being said, im not trying to do it and I would never make a habit of it.
  • Soopatt
    Soopatt Posts: 563 Member
    I have also had this happen to me.

    I have also found that this month, which has been my worst month ever since being on MFP (way more sugar and carbs, bigger portions, odd choices, several days over, several days of guessing), has not been all that different weight loss wise to the other months. It makes no sense to me, but I do not feel I can rely on it so I am trying to get my mind right and get back on track.

    I figure - if I can still lose in a month where I have eaten entire large pizzas (twice) and mountains of fast food and desserts and am over my calories every second or third day lately (sometimes by a lot), then imagine how well I can do if I eat better!

    It is rather baffling though. My body is a mystery to me.
  • parfia
    parfia Posts: 184 Member
    I do find that eating at maintenance for one weekend can help kick myself out of a dry patch in terms of weight loss - but I think that it is more psychological to be honest :) x
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    I have steadily lost about a pound a week for 10 weeks, I eat at 1200 calories (i'm only 5') and eat half to 75% of my exercise calories usually. Three days ago I had a day where I ate most likely 1800-2000 calories (I didn't log I was embarrassed I know I should have but it would have been an estimation anyways lol).

    Anyhow after that I continued the same routine and two days later I had lost 1.5 pounds since the previous week. I totally thought that day would have negated the rest of the week. I don't think a cheat meal a week is a good idea for me, but could having a cheat day where I eat super high calorie than normal once a month or once in two months actually help speed up weight loss? Has this ever happened to you?

    Just do the math.
    add up your weekly deficit, Did you eat 5000 fewer calories then you burned ?

    If you created a 5000 calorie deficit for the week then congrats, you lost 1.5 pounds of fat.
    If your deficit wasn't 5000 then the Diffrence is water weight. Your body is constantly balancing water content. You use water to digest food, so a larger then normal meal can temporariraly reduce your body's water content just like consuming more sodium can make you temporarily retain more water. Many other body functions also cause your body to retain or release water.
  • Camo_xxx
    Camo_xxx Posts: 1,082 Member
    Keep in mind, 1 gallon of water weighs 8.3 pounds
    16 oz , which is a popular size of plastic water bottle weighs 1 pound.

    If you are drinking your 64 oz of water every day that weighs 4 pounds
    So figure on a typical day your body is processing at least 4 pounds of water not even counting the water content of the food you eat.
  • hamelle2
    hamelle2 Posts: 297 Member
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    CarobChip108 wrote: »
    On average I eat about 1400 though when I exercise.

    If you were losing a pound per week keep doing what you were doing.

    I plan on it, it's just good to see that if I go to a celebration once a month or every two months, easing up on the strict numbers for a day won't have any adverse reactions lol.

    You are doing great! I believe your calories are perfect for you....a nice even loss each week. And I assume you feel energetic and not hungry enough to chew off your arm. Lol. And yes, I have dropped an extra lb or 2 after upping my calories for a day nOw aND then.. Scientific? Dunno... :)


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