Does anybody have one "eat as many calories as you want" day a week & lose weight?

Depends on if you have a reasonable deficit or not.

Reasonable, and eating a reasonable amount over normal deficit amount - would not undo a whole week's worth of doing it right - and would likely be beneficial.

Unless it caused you totally lose it.

Even there though, if you had a 500 cal daily deficit, and went over on a weekend day, you'd have to hit goal, eat 500 more, and then eat 3000 more to wipe out what the week caused.
That would be like purposeful pigging out for many.

But if you just had a planned splurge meal, ate smaller or no breakfast, and little lunch, and good long workout - then it's unlikely dinner would cause any more harm than increased sodium intake causing water retention for a few days.
But that's not like real fat weight gained anyway - obviously don't weigh on Sun or Mon unless you can totally separate your emotional response from purely data numbers for curiosity's sake.

Plenty of people do similar.

But just like anything - planning is needed. If you don't plan to succeed, you plan to fail.

Nope. Because a day like that could easily destroy my calorie deficit for the entire week.

A lot of people do this I believe, where they follow a plan for the week and usually on Sunday they'll have a feast. I know one girl who makes sure she doesnt binge by listing her cravings through out thee week and choosing three on sunday for her meals, along with a nice water/tea and a brisk walk.

marqjcubs wrote: »

As for me, if I were to do that, I would douse what I could in hot sauce to speed my metabolism up.

I literally drink hot sauce straight from the bottle and guarantee its done nothing for my metabolism!

It really does depend on how many calories you can put away. I would struggle to eat enough in one day to completely wipe out a whole weeks deficit.

Food is one of life's pleasures and it's a shame when people say they have an 'all or nothing' approach to eating. I think when people deny themselves it's likely they'll end up (in their minds) 'failing' at some point and going back to old habits when they see certain foods as 'cheats' or 'no go areas'.

For me, I've stopped using this sort of language and have changed my lifestyle to incorporate a wider range of foods. My husband and I both work full time in education so I plan our lunches/dinners in the week and shop to ensure that I have plenty of healthy options to snack on.

I like experimenting with food and have found that this has been one of the ways to success. Spicing up meals in the week with a range of different grains, vegetables and herbs make all meals enjoyable and not something 'you have to eat'. because it's good for you. I have an ever growing range of recipe books from Persian to Cantonese: you'll find that often these foods are naturally healthier, but utterly delicious.

On Friday evening, after a long week, we go to the supermarket and choose what we fancy for an easy tea: perhaps Pizza or a shank; a selection of cheeses and definitely a desert, or a bar of chocolate each. We also choose a bottle of wine to enjoy over the Friday and Saturday evenings. He plays football and I go to gym and then it's 'flop' down on the sofa and chill. On Saturday mornings we usually have a tea cake or a bacon sandwich and then we have an 'ordinary' weekend - balanced but not strict, (so, if we want butter on our toast we'll have it). The difference is that as we have trained ourselves to eat better over a period of time, we're more aware of our appetite and so where once we'd keep going back to the cheese board until our stomachs hurt, we now cut a reasonable amount and put the rest away before sitting down and relaxing.

The real change for me has been exercise. I know people don't want to hear it, but you'll never maintain weight loss if you don't do the two together. I exercise three to five times a week - three at the gym and one to two following a DVD at home. Not only have I lost weight but more importantly, I've seen a change in the shape of my body and my state of mind. Again, I switch things around; try different equipment and DVD routines to ensure that it stays fresh and enjoyable. There's nothing better than an hour in the gym; head phones in, dance music on, to work out the stresses of teaching college students I can tell you!

I'm fifty but I look and feel better than I did fifteen years ago. I would urge others not to exclude things; if you feel they are 'denying' yourself, you are more likely to all out 'binge' at some stage and then feel awful. The key question is are you 'enjoying' your food? If the answer is 'no' then, even if you do lose weight, you're likely to ditch the 'healthy' side and revert to old habits when you hit your goal: thereby ensuring the cycle starts again.

'Everything in moderation' is the key: food is there to be enjoyed! Hope you all find a happy medium.

Sorry about the essay - force of habit!

Apparently, Dolly Parton eats no carbs during the week and eats what she wants at the weekend. Not sure I could totally shun carbs for five days straight, though.