Is my math correct? Or am I way off track?

jmidd97
jmidd97 Posts: 84 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone!

I've had two special events this week that put me over my daily calories; one by a little bit, the other by a lot. I'm not freaking over this, as this is obviously going to happen, and I'm okay with that as long as its only very rarely, and for special occasions.
But I am trying to figure a way to keep me within my weekly deficit, if not my daily ones. I've read that the deficit is still "valid", and will still result in weightloss, is that correct?
I'm currently on a 1550 daily allotment in order to lose 0.5 lb per week, which means 10850 calories a week. Its Saturday night right now (in New Zealand) and my daily amounts since Monday have been:
1488+1580+1043+4000+82+500=8679 calories.
The 1580 and 4000 were the event days. The 1043 and 82 were my "recovery" days. The 500 is for today.
So my questions basically is, is that all okay? This should mean I have roughly 2000 calories left to have until Monday. If I stick to that, technically my weekly deficit wont have been ruined by those two days, and my weight loss should be unimpeded?

Thanks in advance, hope this all makes sense.

Replies

  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    Anything that requires you to eat 82 calories in one day and 500 the very next day is unhealthy in my opinion. If you're truly ok with going over, go over! Eating so few calories over two days to stay in your weekly deficit seems to be a sign that you're not ok with it. If you're trying to change your lifestyle, you're going to have to learn to be ok with some overages. There's no way you're going to be perfect your whole life, and the occasional surplus will not ruin your long-term weight-loss (and eventually weight-maintenance) goals!
  • hhazzouri
    hhazzouri Posts: 103 Member
    edited May 2016
    You more than made up for your the 4000 day with your recovery days, but a better idea would be to spread the surplus over a few days and/or bank extra deficit from the previous days.
  • djspacecaptain
    djspacecaptain Posts: 366 Member
    Theoretically if you end close to 10850 then your deficit for the week will be close to 0 and you wont either gain or lose. Remember 1 lb = 3,500 calories, so to lose 0.5 lb a week you need to be 1,750 under your weekly total.
  • jmidd97
    jmidd97 Posts: 84 Member
    djspacecaptain wrote: »
    Theoretically if you end close to 10850 then your deficit for the week will be close to 0 and you wont either gain or lose. Remember 1 lb = 3,500 calories, so to lose 0.5 lb a week you need to be 1,750 under your weekly total.

    Oh sorry, I meant 10850 calories IS my deficit total. That's the amount I need to stay at or under to lose 0.5 lbs a week.
  • EmilyEmpowered
    EmilyEmpowered Posts: 650 Member
    djspacecaptain wrote: »
    Theoretically if you end close to 10850 then your deficit for the week will be close to 0 and you wont either gain or lose. Remember 1 lb = 3,500 calories, so to lose 0.5 lb a week you need to be 1,750 under your weekly total.

    Actually, 1550 is not her TDEE- it is her calorie allotment given by MFP when she said she was looking to lose 0.5 lbs per week. So eating at 10850 for the week would mean she would lose 0.5 lbs that week.
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    How is no one concerned with the fact that she's planning to eat only 582 calories over two days?
  • djspacecaptain
    djspacecaptain Posts: 366 Member
    jmidd97 wrote: »
    djspacecaptain wrote: »
    Theoretically if you end close to 10850 then your deficit for the week will be close to 0 and you wont either gain or lose. Remember 1 lb = 3,500 calories, so to lose 0.5 lb a week you need to be 1,750 under your weekly total.

    Oh sorry, I meant 10850 calories IS my deficit total. That's the amount I need to stay at or under to lose 0.5 lbs a week.

    Got it! then again ya theoretically you should still lose 0.5lbs (give or take)
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    Yes, your math is good. I personally wouldn't eat 80cal/day to "recover" from the previous day. But in general, if you don't do it too often nothing bad will happen. Try to eat AT LEAST 1200 each day regardless of the weekly total.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    How is no one concerned with the fact that she's planning to eat only 582 calories over two days?

    She has eaten 500 so far today. She said she has 2000 more until Monday, that is another 700 today and another 1300 tomorrow. So all is good. The 85 on one of the days - not so cool but she ate 4000 the previous day so she won't die if it only happens rarely like that.
  • distinctlybeautiful
    distinctlybeautiful Posts: 1,041 Member
    gebeziseva wrote: »
    distinctlybeautiful wrote: »
    How is no one concerned with the fact that she's planning to eat only 582 calories over two days?

    She has eaten 500 so far today. She said she has 2000 more until Monday, that is another 700 today and another 1300 tomorrow. So all is good. The 85 on one of the days - not so cool but she ate 4000 the previous day so she won't die if it only happens rarely like that.

    Makes sense. When she said the 500 is for today I read that as her having allotted herself 500 for today!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited May 2016
    From Sunday to today she has logged:

    1873, 1488, 1566, 1043, 2767, 82, 899 for a total of 9718 calories. So she fasted for a day.. What is the big deal here? I do not see a 4000 calorie day on her diary.

    If you don't include sunday as her start week, then it is 7845, it is a little low IMHO for a week but she asked if she was going to keep the weekly deficit, so yes. But she still has the rest of today (unless she is done for the day) and Sunday to log... all is good..
  • TangledThread
    TangledThread Posts: 312 Member
    If you use mfp on your phone it does the math for you under the nutrition tab. I have it set to a rolling 7 days but under settings that can be changed to a static weekly option that will calculate what is left for the week.

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