Do you count calories by the day or by the week?

KrazyKrissyy
KrazyKrissyy Posts: 322 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard some people go by a weekly allowance as opposed to daily. Am considering doing this. What's your intake/experience?

Replies

  • afatpersonwholikesfood
    afatpersonwholikesfood Posts: 577 Member
    Basically by the day, but if I want to use more for some reason or need to do the math after a spontaneous late night snack, I care about the weekly total.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I look at my weekly goal instead of just daily.

    I try to be 100-200 cals under goal on Monday-Thursday so that I can eat more at the weekend if I go out etc.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    Usually I go by daily because I am a pretty consistant eater unless there is a holiday or special occasion. The weekly calorie goal is more important than the daily goal.
  • zyxst
    zyxst Posts: 9,149 Member
    I go by daily counts.
  • powered85
    powered85 Posts: 297 Member
    Daily
  • workinonit1956
    workinonit1956 Posts: 1,043 Member
    Daily, but sometimes I take a 7 day average just out of curiosity. Vast majority of days I'm under goal but very occasionally I go a bit over and then there are those days right around goal.
  • JessicaMcB
    JessicaMcB Posts: 1,503 Member
    I go by daily but mind the weekly numbers as well
  • 85Cardinals
    85Cardinals Posts: 733 Member
    edited September 2016
    Funny you ask, I stay up late, lots of post-midnight eating etc., so I sorta go by groups of days, usually 2 sometimes 3. In my mind, that is. And what is a "day" anyway, when you think about it.
  • msalicia116
    msalicia116 Posts: 233 Member
    Both. I know what my daily goal is to stay on track for my weekly weigh in and average. If I only looked at it by the day, and I veered off course, I would probably think I already messed up why not totally blow it. With a weekly goal in mind, there is no all or nothing thinking.
  • wagnerpe123
    wagnerpe123 Posts: 65 Member
    I enter my calories daily, but think in weekly terms. Sunday through Friday, I usually have a deficit in my MFP allowed calories. Then I "spend" those calories on Saturday.
  • nowine4me
    nowine4me Posts: 3,985 Member
    wagnerpe123 wrote: »
    I enter my calories daily, but think in weekly terms. Sunday through Friday, I usually have a deficit in my MFP allowed calories. Then I "spend" those calories on Saturday.

    Me too!
  • grammageegee
    grammageegee Posts: 78 Member
    Me three. Great minds tnink alike!
  • law102189
    law102189 Posts: 85 Member
    I do both. I enter daily and stay under my allowance every day (mostly), but save my exercise calories for Friday and Saturday so I can enjoy wine in the evenings. We also often get takeout pizza or Chinese food on Fridays, and have a nice dinner on Saturdays, so I need to bank as many calories as I can. This way I don't feel deprived or even as though I am dieting; it's more of a life-long lifestyle commitment.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,419 Member
    edited September 2016
    I log food daily, with a small deficit (like 200 cals/I'm at maintenance.) Then at the end of the week when I weigh in I record my weight and the week's average calories.

    I usually have a couple days when I eat over maintenance, so it balances out but it isn't a specifically planned day.
  • Seffell
    Seffell Posts: 2,244 Member
    I do daily but all I really care is weekly. Life happens so I prefer to indulge when I want to.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Both I guess. When I am tracking I try my best to hit my daily goals but I will sometimes eat less/more during the week to make up for overeating/undereating on weekends
  • SusanMFindlay
    SusanMFindlay Posts: 1,804 Member
    Daily, but I have a range I'm happy with and I keep an eye on the monthly average (automatically calculated in a spreadsheet I keep) to make sure it doesn't go *too* high.
  • jennypapage
    jennypapage Posts: 489 Member
    both i guess. i stick to my daily goal, but if i go over a couple days in the week, i don't sress because i know i had another 2 or 3 days where i was lower than my goal. so weekly it evens out.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Log daily.. I can tweak the diary daily to eat less or more but still meet the weekly goal.
  • selina884
    selina884 Posts: 826 Member
    Both - I try to keep daily controlled but ultimately what matters is the weekly target achieved.
  • Habiteer
    Habiteer Posts: 190 Member
    By the day. There's only so much micromanaging I want to do and I just like to listen to my body. If I need to eat over my goal one day, then that's fine as I probably needed that food to function or I had plans on doing something difficult later on.

    I'm not gonna purposefully under-eat just because I overate the day before in order to stick to some almost arbitrary guideline. I do track weekly weights though, which tells me whether I should be eating more on the higher end of my daily goal (if I'm losing weight too fast) or if I should be cutting back (if I'm not losing weight or losing it too slowly).

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