Weekend binges wiping out weekly deficit

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Replies

  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    You say you "may" be wiping out your deficit. How has your weight loss been over the last month or two? Do you like the foods you are eating during the week, or are you eating foods you wouldn't otherwise in order to hit your calorie goal?
  • Islander4Life
    Islander4Life Posts: 22 Member
    My life in a nutshell. Loose 1-2 lbs during the week, gain 2-3 over the weekend.......... repeat......
  • Geocitiesuser
    Geocitiesuser Posts: 1,429 Member
    I've had two weekend binges and the scale is up now. A food binge is bad. Yes, you can absolutely wipe out and reverse a weeks worth of work in one day. The best way to avoid them is to keep busy, and keep preplanning all your food. Basically, at least for me, the weekend can't be any different from the week.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    cityruss wrote: »
    Limit your daily total sugar intake (including fruit) to 50 grams or less, and also lower your daily carbs to 100 grams.. so at least your body won't store excess fat

    Wait, so I can eat 6000 calories a day, as long as I'm limiting sugar and sub 100g of carbohydrates and not store excess fat?

    Mind.
    Blown.

    you have discovered the secret...
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
    I've set my MFP goal to -500cals (1 pound loss) a week I stick with it during the week than eat at maintenance (or slightly above) on the weekends I lose approx half a pound a week. :)


  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    dracaene wrote: »
    I decided to do some math to figure exactly how many calories I overate by, to hopefully use the dose of reality to make me feel better and/or give me a plan of attack so as to not continue in this pattern of overeating on the weekend.
    As a result of my calculations, I realized that despite all the weekend overeating I had been under my daily calorie goal enough on the weekdays that, combined with my daily built-in deficit of 250 calories, somehow I was still in an overall deficit this week of 791 calories. Not my goal of 1750 calories deficit per week, but better than being in excess!
    So now I feel a lot better.
    But still, I need to work on not overdoing it on the weekend. I think that if I aim to eat “maintenance” calories on the weekend, then I won’t feel like “oh well, I’ve already blown it today so might as well eat this WHOLE bag of chips cuz I already ruined my deficit”.

    how did you go back and calculate food already consumed??
  • dracaene
    dracaene Posts: 21 Member
    ndj1979 wrote: »
    how did you go back and calculate food already consumed??

    I looked at my log
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    dracaene wrote: »
    I decided to do some math to figure exactly how many calories I overate by, to hopefully use the dose of reality to make me feel better and/or give me a plan of attack so as to not continue in this pattern of overeating on the weekend.
    As a result of my calculations, I realized that despite all the weekend overeating I had been under my daily calorie goal enough on the weekdays that, combined with my daily built-in deficit of 250 calories, somehow I was still in an overall deficit this week of 791 calories. Not my goal of 1750 calories deficit per week, but better than being in excess!
    So now I feel a lot better.
    But still, I need to work on not overdoing it on the weekend. I think that if I aim to eat “maintenance” calories on the weekend, then I won’t feel like “oh well, I’ve already blown it today so might as well eat this WHOLE bag of chips cuz I already ruined my deficit”.

    Wait, so the binge was basically a Panera candy cookie a day for two days? So you're telling me while out in a social setting you can't have 500 calories less? That's like switching from rum and cokes to rum and diet cokes. Or not having that appetizer, or splitting the dessert instead of having it for yourself. I think sometimes we need to work on our view of food first before we start dieting. We get the notion of putting bad labels on the way we eat, and what we eat, so when we break one of these rules we set up of the bad food, and habits we come down on ourselves pretty hard.

  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    My life in a nutshell. Loose 1-2 lbs during the week, gain 2-3 over the weekend.......... repeat......

    Now that would be a binge. Eating 10,500 calories over maintenance a weekend. So that would mean you are actually up 1lb every week?

  • kellyfeb78
    kellyfeb78 Posts: 65 Member
    Weekends do me in too as I'm not at work but this weekend I stuck at it with mostly willpower and im feeling very proud of myself today as the scales are showing I've lost weight and not gained
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,068 Member
    dracaene wrote: »
    Good advice so far. I guess really what I'm in need of are some coping mechanisms to help me stay in control, when I'm faced with trigger foods (foods that I cannot seem to help over eating) like baked goods, or potato chips. I have very little trouble maintaining discipline throughout the week, but it seems like every weekend lately has been some sort of special occasion where I wind up surrounded by food that I would normally not keep in the house precisely because I KNOW I have trouble resisting it.

    This may sound stupid, but it works for some people in some situations: Mental rehearsal.

    By now, you know some trigger situations for you. During the week, think about your upcoming weekend and brainstorm some ways you could handle that weekend's probable challenges. Pick one or two to focus on.

    Let's just pretend that one is your friend ordering onion rings and wanting to share them with you, and further pretend that one of your ideas is to order a side salad to eat while friend eats the rings. Imagine what your friend will say and do. Think of responses ("I had such a heavy lunch, I know I'd pay for it if I eat something greasy" (which doesn't have to be true, BTW ;) ), think of feeling good about your choice, imagine the nice crispy romaine lettuce, think about whatever aspect(s) makes your idea a good choice for you.

    (Note: Your script could also be "eat one ring, then stop". There, you want to image how good the first bite tastes, but how you've kind of milked the good out of it at that point, and the greasiness is becoming just a bit much, so you don't want another. Knowing yourself, you know whether it would be better to eat one right away when urged, or wait until they're dwindling. The point is, there are lots of possible alternative "better" ways of handling any situation - you have to decide how to handle it in a way that works for you, but better meets your goals. It's a tradeoff between making current self happy, or making future self happy. Figure out how to pick future self more often.)

    Whatever you decide, just sit quietly and visualize the whole scenario a few times, focusing on how you want to behave, and the parts of the situation that will feel good to you. Make it as vivid an imaginary exercise as you can. Repeat this a couple of times during the week, maybe with slight variations for flexibility, but same basic idea. Rehearse your script.

    Come the weekend, the crucial point is the start of the scenario. Right then, cue your script. Then follow it.

    Like I said, it helps some people, sometimes.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    edited May 2017
    Eat less during the week
    Be more active, walk more, etc.
    Stay busy so you don't really think about eating. Some weekends I'm just so busy I forget to eat and by the time dinner comes around I have all these calories left for the day it's like a jackpot.

    An answer that may not sound very helpful... Just stop overeating. If you really want to lose weight/be healthy/ whatever your goals are, you will make better choices. It depends how bad you want it.
  • DapperDassie
    DapperDassie Posts: 190 Member
    cityruss wrote: »
    Take some responsibility for your own actions and stop overeating on the weekend.

    You've obviously never experienced binge eating disorder.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,968 Member
    pinuplove wrote: »
    Exercise more on the weekend to create a larger deficit or

    A side effect of this is typically not being tempted by food. I mean, it's pretty hard to binge on pizza and beer if you're on a trail surrounded by rocks and trees.
  • kimny72
    kimny72 Posts: 16,011 Member
    cityruss wrote: »
    Take some responsibility for your own actions and stop overeating on the weekend.

    You've obviously never experienced binge eating disorder.

    If you read her posts, we have no reason to think she has a binge ED. She is overdoing it a bit on the weekend. Obviously, there's a difference.
  • Iamnotasenior
    Iamnotasenior Posts: 235 Member
    edited May 2017
    I'm on a 1,200 calorie a day regimen, so I can blow through that in one restaurant meal. On weekends, I have my normal breakfast a little later than normal and then I eat a combination of lunch and dinner about 3 - 4 pm. That way, I can have a 900-calorie meal in a restaurant and then I'm done for the day. It's tough, but at the restaurant, if I order a sandwich, I'll only eat a small portion of the bread and then instead of fries or chips, I'll order a side salad or fruit. Most restaurants publish their nutrition information online, so I "Google" the restaurant website and their nutritional information so I know what I'm choosing before I order. A lot of times, that big pile of chips and cheese dip looks great until you see that calorie count staring you in the face.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
    Honestly, increasing you calorie deficit during the week might be more helpful because it'll give you more wiggle room at the weekend.
  • Jriggs46615
    Jriggs46615 Posts: 50 Member
    dracaene wrote: »
    I'm having this problem where I keep bingeing on the weekends. My daily calorie deficit is only 250, so these weekend binges are not only wiping out my entire weekly deficit, they may even be putting me over my maintenance calories. Normally I would suggest to myself that I increase my daily calorie limit to reduce the feeling of deprivation and maybe stop the weekend binges, but with only a 250 calorie deficit, there's really no room for that. Other than avoiding all social situations revolving around food, I'm really not sure what to do. Would appreciate any advice/tips!

    Are you depriving yourself so much during the week that you're going crazy on the weekends?
  • bigmuneymfp
    bigmuneymfp Posts: 2,235 Member
    I was up 7 lbs today from my last weeks low
  • Islander4Life
    Islander4Life Posts: 22 Member
    bagge72 wrote: »
    My life in a nutshell. Loose 1-2 lbs during the week, gain 2-3 over the weekend.......... repeat......

    Now that would be a binge. Eating 10,500 calories over maintenance a weekend. So that would mean you are actually up 1lb every week?

    A little less but fairly close: I started MFP at 153 and was 158 this morning. I've been doing it for about 2 months. So far..... I'm sucking. Its all from eating out on weekends. Chinese food, nachos at the pub, blizzards with the kids. With these foods I find it easy to go 2000-2500 over my calorie goal.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    It's like this, if you want to lose weight then you have to curb the excess eating :/ there is no easy solution but to be more mindful and aim to keep eating out to a minimum on weekends - e.g have one biggish meal sure but make it just one. It all depends how badly you want to lose.
    I'll enjoy one takeout a week but I share it with my husband to half the calories - the portions are too big for one imo.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    I have the same issue OP. The only way I can keep a decent deficit is to increase my deficit during the week (400 usually).
  • beanz744
    beanz744 Posts: 221 Member
    dracaene wrote: »
    Good advice so far. I guess really what I'm in need of are some coping mechanisms to help me stay in control, when I'm faced with trigger foods (foods that I cannot seem to help over eating) like baked goods, or potato chips. I have very little trouble maintaining discipline throughout the week, but it seems like every weekend lately has been some sort of special occasion where I wind up surrounded by food that I would normally not keep in the house precisely because I KNOW I have trouble resisting it.

    Maybe taking out ur phone at this getherings once a while check what a 2000 calorie will do to ur daily n weekly limit. Think abt all the hard work that uve done during the week n r u willing to give it all back. I m not saint n I eat out n I drink but now I plan for it n leave a room for around 800 to 1000 calorie for that event n I never eat the whole dish of food by myself. But if u keep sticking 2000 or more calories in ur stomach every chance u get then not even god can help. U must take the ultimate responsibility.

    Good luck n be strong!