Is this stupid?

In some ways, yes. In some ways, no.

On the "yes" side... mentality. If you find yourself slipping into a "I screwed up yesterday so now I have to fix it today" approach, that's probably not going to do you any favors in the log run. Beating yourself up today because of what happened yesterday/over the weekend/whenever else can be a slippery slope. This may or may not be the case for you, but it's worth being aware of.

On the "no" side... it's really just math. If you can be a little more strict on some days in order to have more leeway on others, then go for it. As long as you are in a deficit over time, you should see progress.

JasmineDiver22 wrote: »

No no no. I don't binge. I'm usually over like 100-300 cals.

That's really not that much variance day to day. I find it easier to have a goal range and average by week rather than try and hit a strict daily goal. That way I can build in splurge days eating out, too. Just because MFP defaults to a daily goal doesn't mean it's the only way to go.

Also, just because the app "lets" you select two pounds a week doesn't mean that's the best option to shoot for. If you're making healthy changes that you can stick to, you're on the right path. Work your way up to a bigger deficit, but don't let yourself think that you're only succeeding if you're losing 2 pounds a week. I spent years gaining this weight - even a month without gaining is an improvement.

Its not stupid. Thats called "banking calories". It can be useful if done right. You still need to get your nutrients every day. You have to learn to find the balance in it. Its pretty difficult to do bc people think that it means eating less one day and then eating whatever you want on the weekend. Do this multiply your daily calorie goals by seven to establish your maximum weekly calorie intake. As long as your not exceeding that,then you are safe. If you are gaining weight in the form of fat, then you may have to adjust your daily caloric intake by 200, then so on and so on. This is a hard thing to follow properly. Just watch your body and how it responds. Everyone is different.

I would say most of my days are like this. It works for me and allows me to still enjoy the foods I love

It sounds like you are just doing a variation of calorie cycling. Staying in calorie deficit at the end of the week is what matters.

If you are stalled out, then I would double/triple check my diary entries/logging efforts, exercise calories eaten back if you are eating some/all back.

Also weight loss is not linear, there will be weeks when you lose less or nothing and the next week you could do a significant drop, a lot of this can be due to female hormones and the up and and down in calories (lower carbs/sodium one day to higher the next, etc..), how well you are staying hydrated, any added stress to the body from activities/exercise (many things play a role in what you see weight wise on the scale)...

In the end its the method that works for you and gets you the results according to the rate of loss you should be expecting.

you over eat becuase you are cutting too much on the other days. Follow what mfp tells you and exercise...eat back some of your exercise calories.

When you're eating don't do the newbie thing and eat salads only or things that don't have enough volume. Lots of greens and lean meats like turkey/chicken...

My understanding is what you did the day before doesn't matter. Say today you go over-when you go to bed that stuff is going to sit in your stomach and turn into fat still. The next day when you don't eat much you might loose a little but probably not what you gained the day before. I would suggest forgetting what happened yesterday. Focus on today.

Meal planning can help with that. A great free meal planning site is pepperplate.com it isn't going to give you the calorie count but you can keep that in mind while making your menu. The site makes it so easy-I mean it even makes your grocery list for you. Just like anything it might take a bit to get your recipes into it bit one you do things are so easy!

I meal prep/grocery shop for 2 weeks. So I'll make my menu for 2 week and print is out. Then go back and hand write on there the calories to make sure I'm on point. I try to give myself a little leeway to be on the safe side. If you want-send me a message and I can send you an example. It might sound confusing!

JasmineDiver22 wrote: »

1510 cals daily which equals out to be 10570 for the week. Not sure how to maintain that weekly without not paying attention to daily..?

If you are using the app on a phone, you can look at your calories in a week view. It will show you your net and your under/over goal for the last 7 days. Takes a bit of playing to figure out (if you haven't logged everything for the day, go to yesterday then switch to week view to see the last 7 days).

I'm thinking your issue is more with accurate logging (using crappy entries from the MFP data base) and not using a food scale. But 3 weeks may not be a long enough time period especially if you hit TOM in there as that will impact your water retention.

It really doesn't matter when you start or end. Don't overcomplicate this. You need to have a deficit of 3,500 calories to lose a pound. Whether you get that in 2 days or spread out over 14 days is irrelevant. If you want to lose one pound a week that means you need to lose 3500 a week. So, could you eat maintenance 4 days and have -1,200 calorie deficits the other 3 days? Sure.

However, i think the key is doing something that is sustainable. Doing something that makes you miserable will only lead you to quit. If you like going up and down, that's fine. Some people eat more on weekends and less on weekdays because that's more sustainable for them. I personally like eating the same amount of calories every day, whether or not I exercise, so I average out my exercise calories over the days I don't exercise.

http://physiqonomics.com/fat-loss/

Again, I really suggest reading that. I think he does a good job of plainly nailing what's important and what's not.