Weekday vs weekend calories

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Was wondering if any of you guys eat less calories throughout the work days and then more on the weekend? That might sound like a very simple question, but being at maintenance now I am thinking of saving more of my calories for the weekend. How well does that work?

Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    It works pretty well for me. There are many days when I will be under my goal by 1-200 calories and then I just roll it over to the weekend. When I do this, I'll often weigh a bit more on Sunday-Monday (depending on when in the weekend I eat them), but that's just because of more food in my body or eating more sodium.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    I tend to calorie cycle (when I'm in a deficit or maintenance) so I eat less during the week..with 2 lower days, 3 medium days and then on the weekend 2 high days... So I look at the weekly total. I loved it.. worked very well for me and my goals.

    I would say just be mindful you don't let your high days get out of control.
  • Armywife04_21
    Armywife04_21 Posts: 60 Member
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    It works very well, but it takes discipline - to eat more on certain days, but not lose control - to allow weight to fluctuate but not to let it creep up - to stay alert and take action before weight packs on, but not panic and eat too little or give up completely. Living in maintenance is in many ways like being a ninja :D

    When I first started maintenance I was loving it, now I feel like this *kitten* is hard!
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    It works very well, but it takes discipline - to eat more on certain days, but not lose control - to allow weight to fluctuate but not to let it creep up - to stay alert and take action before weight packs on, but not panic and eat too little or give up completely. Living in maintenance is in many ways like being a ninja :D

    When I first started maintenance I was loving it, now I feel like this *kitten* is hard!

    In my experience, it gets much easier. The beginning of maintenance . . . yeah, you're learning what works for you and what doesn't. It's a new set of challenges without the consistent "boost" of seeing your weight go down. But, for me, it didn't stay that way forever!
  • Armywife04_21
    Armywife04_21 Posts: 60 Member
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    It works very well, but it takes discipline - to eat more on certain days, but not lose control - to allow weight to fluctuate but not to let it creep up - to stay alert and take action before weight packs on, but not panic and eat too little or give up completely. Living in maintenance is in many ways like being a ninja :D

    When I first started maintenance I was loving it, now I feel like this *kitten* is hard!

    In my experience, it gets much easier. The beginning of maintenance . . . yeah, you're learning what works for you and what doesn't. It's a new set of challenges without the consistent "boost" of seeing your weight go down. But, for me, it didn't stay that way forever!

    That’s really good to know, I do have that guilt feeling sometimes but I know that I have to work on that. In the past I had that good and bad label for food, now I am trying to have a healthier relationship with food. It does scare me after losing a whole kid (51 lbs) lol, I don’t want to gain all that weight back obviously, but I want to enjoy foods and not obsess. Today I had a piece of carrot cake, I don’t remember the last time I had cake because I had labeled it as bad, but I noticed the more deprived the more I crave.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    It works very well, but it takes discipline - to eat more on certain days, but not lose control - to allow weight to fluctuate but not to let it creep up - to stay alert and take action before weight packs on, but not panic and eat too little or give up completely. Living in maintenance is in many ways like being a ninja :D

    When I first started maintenance I was loving it, now I feel like this *kitten* is hard!

    In my experience, it gets much easier. The beginning of maintenance . . . yeah, you're learning what works for you and what doesn't. It's a new set of challenges without the consistent "boost" of seeing your weight go down. But, for me, it didn't stay that way forever!

    That’s really good to know, I do have that guilt feeling sometimes but I know that I have to work on that. In the past I had that good and bad label for food, now I am trying to have a healthier relationship with food. It does scare me after losing a whole kid (51 lbs) lol, I don’t want to gain all that weight back obviously, but I want to enjoy foods and not obsess. Today I had a piece of carrot cake, I don’t remember the last time I had cake because I had labeled it as bad, but I noticed the more deprived the more I crave.

    I'm glad it helps. I'm the exact same way: sometimes I just need to have the cake, otherwise my entire life becomes about thoughts of cake and I don't want that.
  • NorthCascades
    NorthCascades Posts: 10,970 Member
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    I eat more on the weekends, but that's because I have a desk job limiting how active I can be most days.
  • Machka9
    Machka9 Posts: 24,954 Member
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    Was wondering if any of you guys eat less calories throughout the work days and then more on the weekend? That might sound like a very simple question, but being at maintenance now I am thinking of saving more of my calories for the weekend. How well does that work?

    Yes ... except ...

    I exercise a whole lot more on weekends.

  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Was wondering if any of you guys eat less calories throughout the work days and then more on the weekend? That might sound like a very simple question, but being at maintenance now I am thinking of saving more of my calories for the weekend. How well does that work?

    It works well! I like "banking calories" some days so I can have more to eat on other days.

    To help with this, keep tabs on your weekly Net Calories.

    In the app, go to Diary>Nutrition>Calories>Week View.

  • Armywife04_21
    Armywife04_21 Posts: 60 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    Was wondering if any of you guys eat less calories throughout the work days and then more on the weekend? That might sound like a very simple question, but being at maintenance now I am thinking of saving more of my calories for the weekend. How well does that work?

    It works well! I like "banking calories" some days so I can have more to eat on other days.

    To help with this, keep tabs on your weekly Net Calories.

    In the app, go to Diary>Nutrition>Calories>Week View.


    That’s a good feature to know! What’s the difference between the first number “net calorie” and the “average”?
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    Orphia wrote: »
    Was wondering if any of you guys eat less calories throughout the work days and then more on the weekend? That might sound like a very simple question, but being at maintenance now I am thinking of saving more of my calories for the weekend. How well does that work?

    It works well! I like "banking calories" some days so I can have more to eat on other days.

    To help with this, keep tabs on your weekly Net Calories.

    In the app, go to Diary>Nutrition>Calories>Week View.


    That’s a good feature to know! What’s the difference between the first number “net calorie” and the “average”?

    The first one is total net calories under/over during the past 7 days. You can scroll left using the arrows up the top to look at previous weeks.

    The second one, Net Average, that's your average net calories per day for those 7 days.
  • AMC110
    AMC110 Posts: 188 Member
    edited December 2017
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    What’s the difference between the first number “net calorie” and the “average”?
    I think 'net calories under/over weekly goal' is the number of calories you have gone over or fall short of your goal in a week, and it excludes (or filters out like a net) bonus calories burned through exercise. So if you go over your daily goal by 200 calories but burned it off through exercise this will be excluded from your net calories amount.

    'Net average' is the number of calories you have eaten (again minus exercise calories) per day over the 7-day period. So if you ate 1000 calories one day and 3000 calories on another day the average between the 2 days would be 2000 per day.
  • Armywife04_21
    Armywife04_21 Posts: 60 Member
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    Thank you!