1 day off from counting calories a week?

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2

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  • KetoTeacher
    KetoTeacher Posts: 163 Member
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    I tries it but cannot do it. I do take one or two days to have special treats and log them. Sometimes I go over a few hundred and sometimes they fit in
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    3dogsrunning wrote: »
    Try it and see. I tend to go way overboard on non-logged days. I was erasing my weekly deficit with less strict weekends.
    But that was me. You may do just fine.


    This is pretty much exactly what I was going to say.

    Try it. If things go well, great! If you find things are going south, then don't do it any more.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,372 Member
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    I don't see the point... My diary is a tool. How am I supposed to adjust my numbers if the data is inaccurate?
  • natboosh69
    natboosh69 Posts: 276 Member
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    Nah I could easily blow out a whole week's deficit in one day.
  • CalorieCountChocula
    CalorieCountChocula Posts: 239 Member
    edited June 2016
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I don't see the point... My diary is a tool. How am I supposed to adjust my numbers if the data is inaccurate?

    Assuming of course the data is accurate to begin with. Even the fruit and veggies you eat have different calorie values that vary depending on the season among other things. Packaged foods are flat out allowed to be off by something like 20% (or so people say). Then there's the restaurants. Assuming a place even lists their calorie info the portion size is probably never right. Plus all you hear when people ask about eating someplace that doesn't have nutritional info is "just estimate but still log." So in other words, guess.

    At best all that hard data everyone is feverishly collecting down to the calorie is at best a reasonable predictor of which direction your weight will go and when it doesn't go the way it should the best advice people can offer usually amounts to, "weight loss isn't linear, you're not a robot, blah blah hormones." I'm not a robot? That's what you got? Then why the hell am I collecting all this data like one? LOL

    EDIT: Worth confessing I do of course count calories and find it work relatively well. The idea that it needs to be done with military precision is completely ridiculous though. The vast majority of people who have success are usually doing other things to make up for the inherent failures built into calorie counting.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,013 Member
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    Francl27 wrote: »
    I don't see the point... My diary is a tool. How am I supposed to adjust my numbers if the data is inaccurate?

    This is kind of how I think. My diary is a tool to help me understand if I'm on track, and if not, why I'm not. If one day every week I'm not collecting data, I'm missing a big piece of the puzzle! And for me logging over time became an unconscious habit, I seriously hardly even have to think about it anymore. I'm not sure that would've happened if I didn't do it every single day.

    Maybe one day eyeballing portions and not worrying about exactly what you're eating would give you the break you're looking for, but I would still log it. And if you're new, I would advise against it. If you find logging a pain in the butt, it does take time to make it a normal part of your routine. And if you find it stressful, it's important to work at taking the emotion out of eating. It shouldn't be stressful :drinker:
  • Xo_healthylc
    Xo_healthylc Posts: 77 Member
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    Why not set your standard for losing two pounds a week 6 days a week and maintain on the 7th day. It helps me stay sane
  • acbraswell
    acbraswell Posts: 238 Member
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    akf2000 wrote: »
    you eat gold fish in america?

    Haha :) Goldfish crackers, the most perfect processed snack cracker ever! They're little cheesy crackers in the shape of a smiling fish. So tasty! At least now they have a whole grain version, while still processed, at least it has a little fiber.
  • Beautiful_Warrior94
    Beautiful_Warrior94 Posts: 197 Member
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    Xo_healthylc wrote: »
    Why not set your standard for losing two pounds a week 6 days a week and maintain on the 7th day. It helps me stay sane

    This is my method
  • Anabug81
    Anabug81 Posts: 161 Member
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    Yes, on Sunday my rest day!
  • slava977
    slava977 Posts: 20 Member
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    I started on the weight loss journey exactly a month ago and I can tell that I won't be able to track calories every day.. there are days when I'm out all day and there is just no way to measure or estimate the amount of calories in something which I buy already prepared.. How do I estimate the amount of calories in a bowl of Hot&Sour soup from a small family restaurant? Or the amount of calories in a home made cabbage roll which I had visiting my friends? Whatever I input would not be accurate - so I'd rather input nothing for that day.

    I know some people need to be super strict about tracking every day but I think others are ok to skip one day a week.
  • slava977
    slava977 Posts: 20 Member
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    I forgot to add - "others are ok to skip one day a week as long as they are still reaching their goals". Would be a shame to put a lot of effort 6 days a week only to undo everything on day #7. Perhaps track 7 days a week for 1 month and then 6 days a week in the 2nd month - and see if your results are same.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    It wouldn't work for me. One trip to my favorite pizza/seafood/chinese/fast food place would mow down my deficit in a heart beat.
  • almostanangel21
    almostanangel21 Posts: 143 Member
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    slava977 wrote: »
    I started on the weight loss journey exactly a month ago and I can tell that I won't be able to track calories every day.. there are days when I'm out all day and there is just no way to measure or estimate the amount of calories in something which I buy already prepared.. How do I estimate the amount of calories in a bowl of Hot&Sour soup from a small family restaurant? Or the amount of calories in a home made cabbage roll which I had visiting my friends? Whatever I input would not be accurate - so I'd rather input nothing for that day.

    I have this problem, too; we tend to go out for brunch and do things like hit the movies or sightsee on Sundays. I text myself with what I've eaten and try to find an equivalent, but I know that it can't be accurate. (E.g. there's no listing for a restaurant-made blueberry waffle. We try to eat/shop locally, but the downside of that is that they often don't have nutrition info.) I still log it though, and that brings me back to OP's question.

    I'm just now back on MFP, but from my past go-round, I know that not logging actually tempts me to eat unhealthy things that I normally wouldn't; I have a day off from "confessing," so to speak. It sounds like you're pretty balanced about your eating as a habit, but my concern would be that your brain might trick you into eating more on unlogged days, even if you didn't consciously make that a "cheat day." Everyone's different; maybe try it for a month and see if your progress stalls.
  • Wolfena
    Wolfena Posts: 1,570 Member
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    Eventually you will be able to calculate in your head what you are eating and won't NEED to log in the diary.... Some people enjoy it, I think it's a pain in the butt and can't imagine doing it every day for the rest of my life.

    Anyway, so long as you aren't using the idea of not logging it in writing to go on a crazy binge, I think it's fine
    :)
  • leanjogreen18
    leanjogreen18 Posts: 2,492 Member
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    I have a "controlled" cheat day. I eat near maintenance once a week however I do log it and I have 2 lower calorie days during the week so my overall weekly calorie count remains at my deficit. Average calories I eat a week are 1250. This works for me.

    Right now I also don't eat my exercise calories (i'm just walking right now) so I have a bank of about 200 per day that should I go over I feel I'm covered. I will eventually eat 50% of my exercise calories but right now I have plenty of energy.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,182 Member
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    If I didn't count the calories I'd still know how much they were. It's not as if I have a one day to treat myself badly plan.
  • st476
    st476 Posts: 357 Member
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    This wouldn't work for me either because I would get excited about having an off day and probably eat things I don't usually have, which are really high in calories. Eating only 1000 calories extra would already undo 2 days which just doesn't seem worth it to me.

    You could maybe consider 5:2? It's where you eat 500 calories 2 days a week and then eat at your TDEE for 5 days. Instead of doing that though, I like to eat 500 one day then add those extra 700 calories onto the next day (since I aim for 1200, which would be 1900). This might help if you want to still lose weight but eat more some days, even though the 500 calorie days are kind of hard
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,750 Member
    edited July 2016
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    slava977 wrote: »
    Whatever I input would not be accurate - so I'd rather input nothing for that day.

    I've seen this said a few times and I don't think I'll ever understand it.

    If you eyeball it, there's a chance you might be right (or close enough, which is the same thing in the real world). If you don't log at all, you're guaranteed to be wrong. However many calories were in it, it wasn't zero!

    I eyeball 90% of the time, and I am currently losing weight at exactly mfp's predicted rate. If the rate slows, I'll know I'm underestimating and I'll start weighing portions for a bit to get my eye in again, or I'll consciously start increasing my estimates.

    Everything is an estimate. Leaving an empty space in your diary because you can't be perfectly accurate is a case of "the perfect is the enemy of the good". It's like saying you won't budget for groceries because you don't know exactly how much they'll cost, or you won't buy socks because they don't exactly match the size of your feet.

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