How to use a weekly deficit instead of daily?

laraaragon
laraaragon Posts: 90 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've always followed the daily calories allowed , but I read many people use a weekly dificit here. Pros and cons? How to calculate a weekly deficit? Thanks

Replies

  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,294 Member
    multiply your goal by 7, and try to hit that. though I wouldn't suggest eating 500 cals for 4 days the the remaining cals in 3
  • natboosh69
    natboosh69 Posts: 277 Member
    In the nutrition tab on the phone app you can see your total cals for the week.

    Pros - easy way of seeing 'banked' cals for treats or weekends etc.
    Cons - personal thing but sometimes when I eat a tad too much I'll say oh change my goal from 1.5lb a week to 1 so I have more cals, and then when I run out change it to 0.5 a week then maintenance...a bad habit I'm trying to get out of. I pre-log all my meals at the start of the week but the negative side is I can see how many I have left over for the week and use all those extra cals up far too early instead of leaving them for unplanned extras.
  • FGTisme
    FGTisme Posts: 87 Member
    I will normally try and stay within my daily goal, but if I know I have an event, party, dining out etc, I will bank 100-200 calories each day during the week before (or after if needed) to keep my weekly total within range. I use weekly to fit weight loss into my life.
  • FGTisme
    FGTisme Posts: 87 Member
    Also, the weekly calorie amount can be found (on mobile at least) when you hit "nutrition"(at bottom of food diary) then select "calories" and it will tell you at the bottom how many weekly calories you have left.
  • tiffkittyw
    tiffkittyw Posts: 366 Member
    edited March 2016
    I do it this way and for me there are no cons, only pros. I grocery shop on the weekend and plan out my meals and snacks for the week. I pre-log my food each week and also log my dinner out/drinks for Saturday night. I check the daily average under the nutrition tab to be sure I'm meeting my calorie goal. I have a Fitbit and what I recently realized works best for me is to set my calories on each to sedentary maintenance and then when exercise is added I can check the net calories under goal and project my weight loss for the week (1,750 1/2 lb, 3,500 1 lb etc...). I also can add up my daily calories left over each day to get an idea if I'm at 1/2 lb or 1 lb loss for the week. I think looking at your calories from a weekly balance perspective helps you to be able to fit in more yummy foods because some days you can eat more and other days less to balance out the numbers.

    Edit: if you think you might want to have a night out one day, but it's not planned yet you can just quick add the estimated calories your willing to spend to see your averages and then do the actual logging when you know what you're going to eat/drink.
  • punkyb07
    punkyb07 Posts: 43 Member
    @FGTisme Thanks for that, I never knew that it provided the net calories for the week. That was exactly what I'd been looking for!!!
  • MommyMeggo
    MommyMeggo Posts: 1,222 Member
    FGTisme wrote: »
    I will normally try and stay within my daily goal, but if I know I have an event, party, dining out etc, I will bank 100-200 calories each day during the week before (or after if needed) to keep my weekly total within range. I use weekly to fit weight loss into my life.

    This. I don't log for weekly tracking but I will use the preceding or remaining days to off set over spending of my calories. So in that way I look at it as a weekly total.

Categories