Questions about banking my calories.

Crafty_camper123
Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all. I have a question here about banking calories for the week to keep your weekly average in a deficit. First off my stats:
Age 30
Height 5'3"
SW:155
CW: 139
Open Diary feel free to look if it helps.

I have a vacation to Florida coming soon in July and would like to lose as much as I can before then. (While doing so in a healthy manner of course.) I'm looking to lose up to 10 lbs by then. That puts my daily calorie goal at 1200. Now let me preface my question by stating my health is more important then losing 10lbs by mid July. This sets me at 1lb loss a week. I'd honestly be happy with 5 (.5lb loss a week), which is healthy and reasonable.

Now my question. I realize that women should not eat under 1200 calories a day. However I would like to have my weekly average be as close as I can get it. But, I want to be prepared for days that I'm either super hungry, or days when I am invited to go out to eat. On those days I can easily eat 1700-2500 calories through the day. Is there any harm in having days where I eat between 800-1100 calories on some days to have a weekly average that is at or above 1200? Or is it harmful to my health to eat under 1200 in any circumstance? Yesterday for example I accidentally netted 648 after exercise. But it was too late in the day to have another meal. I had to get ready for bed for work the next day. If having a few days under 1200 and a few days over maintenance is harmful to my health, I'll work to eat a bit more evenly. Or, just work to lose at a slower rate. What are your thoughts?

Note: I tried doing some googling on the subject and got either some quack that wants to sell me his paleo diet, general advice about not eating a VLCD and why it could be harmful, and ED support sites. I do not have an ED, and I am not advocating a VLCD. (Eating less then 1200 daily to lose weight)

Replies

  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    I use the Weght Watcher healthy guidelines as my backbone for nutrition. I often save my calories from my exercise for unexpected dining out events or catered meeting. My diary is open and shows a spike on cinco de mayo. I don’t always track my water but I do drink 4-8 cups per day
  • emmamcgarity
    emmamcgarity Posts: 1,594 Member
    Myfitnesspal does get upset if I eat under 1000 calories and it triggers a warning. So I make sure to get 1000 minimum before any exercise.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Weekly calorie average > daily calorie intake.

    In other words, if 1200kcal x 7 days = 8400kcal weekly calculated total to remain in a deficit, feel free to play around with the intake for the days. I just wouldn't advise stringing multiple low calorie days in a row, not because you're going to damage anything permanently, but because it actually sucks mentally and physically.

    Given that you're aiming for 1lb/wk loss, that would likely mean 1700kcal/d is your maintenance, so technically anything less than 11,900kcal/wk is a deficit. You could even make it an even 10k/wk just to give you some allowance to remain in a running deficit and some breathing room to keep calories manageable.

    I usually just follow the heuristic to eat as much as you can that still allows you to lose weight, as opposed to the more common alternative of restricting as much as you can tolerate. But since you're on a time schedule, do what you gotta do, but be smart about it.
  • Crafty_camper123
    Crafty_camper123 Posts: 1,440 Member
    anubis609 wrote: »
    Weekly calorie average > daily calorie intake.

    In other words, if 1200kcal x 7 days = 8400kcal weekly calculated total to remain in a deficit, feel free to play around with the intake for the days. I just wouldn't advise stringing multiple low calorie days in a row, not because you're going to damage anything permanently, but because it actually sucks mentally and physically.

    Given that you're aiming for 1lb/wk loss, that would likely mean 1700kcal/d is your maintenance, so technically anything less than 11,900kcal/wk is a deficit. You could even make it an even 10k/wk just to give you some allowance to remain in a running deficit and some breathing room to keep calories manageable.

    I usually just follow the heuristic to eat as much as you can that still allows you to lose weight, as opposed to the more common alternative of restricting as much as you can tolerate. But since you're on a time schedule, do what you gotta do, but be smart about it.

    That makes sense. I have been losing the slow and steady way since the beginning of the year. While the 10lbs dropped would be cool, I'm not dead set on it. I was just curious on the effects of undereating a few days a week while eating above goal or above maintenance the rest of the week. I kind of wanted to drop sort of fast for summer then maintain for a while. Definitely not something I want to do long term.
  • anubis609
    anubis609 Posts: 3,966 Member
    Crafty_camper123 wrote: »
    anubis609 wrote: »
    Weekly calorie average > daily calorie intake.

    In other words, if 1200kcal x 7 days = 8400kcal weekly calculated total to remain in a deficit, feel free to play around with the intake for the days. I just wouldn't advise stringing multiple low calorie days in a row, not because you're going to damage anything permanently, but because it actually sucks mentally and physically.

    Given that you're aiming for 1lb/wk loss, that would likely mean 1700kcal/d is your maintenance, so technically anything less than 11,900kcal/wk is a deficit. You could even make it an even 10k/wk just to give you some allowance to remain in a running deficit and some breathing room to keep calories manageable.

    I usually just follow the heuristic to eat as much as you can that still allows you to lose weight, as opposed to the more common alternative of restricting as much as you can tolerate. But since you're on a time schedule, do what you gotta do, but be smart about it.

    That makes sense. I have been losing the slow and steady way since the beginning of the year. While the 10lbs dropped would be cool, I'm not dead set on it. I was just curious on the effects of undereating a few days a week while eating above goal or above maintenance the rest of the week. I kind of wanted to drop sort of fast for summer then maintain for a while. Definitely not something I want to do long term.

    Right on. It's not going to do much to undulate high and low days throughout the week. Problems only occur when lows or highs are chronic.

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