Eating back weekday exercise calories at weekends ?
Fantasyfan882017
Posts: 26 Member
Hi I have lost 2 stone and a half so far but still have a lot of weight to lose. I do long walks for exercise during the week but dont always eat back my exercise calories as exercise seams to reduce my appetite.
I am less active at weekends when my children are off nursery as can't go my long walks. I seam to be more hungry at weekends. Is it ok to eat back exercise calories at weekend's? Will I still lose weight doing this? Any advice would be appreatiated
I am less active at weekends when my children are off nursery as can't go my long walks. I seam to be more hungry at weekends. Is it ok to eat back exercise calories at weekend's? Will I still lose weight doing this? Any advice would be appreatiated
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Replies
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A lot of people do save a few calories. A few, like 500 or so - not thousands. If you find you're using it as an excuse to eat way over, then it may not be a solution.
I used to do that, but I found I didn't make that transition very well. It's difficult for me to have two days of 2000 and then five days of 1500.
The math works, though - so yes is the answer to your question. 4 -
I've done this the last 2 weeks first week I went up in weight by 0.6 now I'm back down to where I was although I am the same and not usually hungry during the week having high calorie weekends and low calorie week days I e basically maintained the past 2 weeks instead of losing
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This is one of those things where if it works for you, it works. The math is on your side—there are lots of different ways to accomplish “eat less.”
Our brains are endlessly complicated, though, so for each of us there will always be some ideas that work better and many that don’t get off the ground. So try it for a month, keep watching the scale, and see how it goes for you. 3 -
If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.4
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During the week, I eat back 50% or less of my exercise calories. During the weekend, I usually eat back all of my exercise calories and on one day (usually Friday or Saturday) I eat back all of my exercise calories and then some (those are usually 2000-2400 cal days). It’s working very well for me because it’s easy to be strict during the week knowing that the weekend is around the corner and I can cut loose a little. I’ve lost 48 lbs since March with this approach.
Side note: I use a food scale to maintain accuracy at all times (this point has been crucial for my success).5 -
CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained??? 0 -
CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
Are you using a food scale? Also, 2 weeks isn’t long enough to see a real trend.2 -
CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
2 weeks isn't long enough to see a trend, and you really should start your own thread rather than get your stats and situation confused with the OP's.
OP, many people look at their deficit weekly instead of daily. As a previous poster mentioned, the key is how big a calorie swing you're asking from weekday to weekend and how that affects you appetite wise and psychologically. No harm in trying it out for a few weeks and see how it goes.
Congrats on your progress so far!4 -
Thanks for the advice. I will give it a try and see how it goes 2
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sarahlucindac wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
Are you using a food scale? Also, 2 weeks isn’t long enough to see a real trend.
Yes for everything right down to my hot sauce that usually works out under 10cals I know I have to be more patient my point is you can be doing everything right and the scale not budge or go up down and back down in my case0 -
To answer your initial question. There really isn't a right way or a wrong way when it comes to exercise calories and either eating them back, eating some of them back or not eating them back at all. It comes down to what works for you! Some people never eat them back, others always do. So weather to eat them back on the weekends again depends entirely on what matches your life and your state of mind.
Weekly deficits are as effective as daily deficits. All things being equal, your budget was probably set because of a desire to lose a certain amount of weight per week. That got divided in 7, and you ended up with a daily allowance. Where are when the calories come in, for the most part, are a matter of personal preference. Some people eat one meal a day, some people have a cheat day where they surpass their budget by as much as 1000 cals for the day. As long as the weekly budget is in deficit you should lose weight.
I will also add, although you will notice it probably is the most asked question/answer in the forums. One week is not enough to start debating the merits of a diet plan. I wouldn't really worry too much unless a month went by and progress wasn't being made. There are just so many factor that enter into these things. Especially when exercise is first introduced.2 -
CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
You probably should read a few posts about the accuracy of FitBit. If you have just started exercising regularly, any activity with 400+ calories per hour is suspect. You can burn that much and a lot more but it takes pretty intense exercise to do it, at a level that pretty much requires you to be fit to start with. I am a 5'7.5" male ~157 pounds. I exercise a fair amount - 3 times a week for an hour at the gym, some TRX workouts at home, try to get out and paddle SUP a couple of times but that's getting less frequent due to weather. I rarely burn more than 2500 a day and certainly don't average more than that. I am within a couple of months of 60 and suffer a little adaptive thermogenesis from past crash dieting so my base burn is slightly lower than you might expect, but only slightly. I lost ~65 pounds and have maintained the loss about 7 months. I weigh nearly everything I eat, so I am pretty confident about knowing my numbers are good overall (I don't get them right day to day, which annoys me, but isn't a long term problem).
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CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
You have a history of restricting and binging. This has been covered before, and you're always advised to even out your calories more to break the cycle. Have you tried that?4 -
Fantasyfan882017 wrote: »Hi I have lost 2 stone and a half so far but still have a lot of weight to lose. I do long walks for exercise during the week but dont always eat back my exercise calories as exercise seams to reduce my appetite.
I am less active at weekends when my children are off nursery as can't go my long walks. I seam to be more hungry at weekends. Is it ok to eat back exercise calories at weekend's? Will I still lose weight doing this? Any advice would be appreatiated
I am another who calorie cycles weekly. In the app from your diary choose 'nutrition' and change the view from day to week. I use this to keep an eye on how I'm tracking. I don't restrict too much during the week or have big blow outs every weekend, though. It boils down to a few hundred calories difference on a high day vs a low day most of the time.2 -
CarvedTones wrote: »CarvedTones wrote: »If you burn more than you eat across the week, you will lose. As long as you aren't eating at very low calorie levels multiple days in a row. it isn't unhealthy to have uneven days.
7/10 172 lbs 14/10 172.6 lbs today 172lbs average burn over 2 weeks from Fitbit 2763 average intake 1692 average deficit over 2 weeks 1071 but I've basically maintained???
You probably should read a few posts about the accuracy of FitBit. If you have just started exercising regularly, any activity with 400+ calories per hour is suspect. You can burn that much and a lot more but it takes pretty intense exercise to do it, at a level that pretty much requires you to be fit to start with. I am a 5'7.5" male ~157 pounds. I exercise a fair amount - 3 times a week for an hour at the gym, some TRX workouts at home, try to get out and paddle SUP a couple of times but that's getting less frequent due to weather. I rarely burn more than 2500 a day and certainly don't average more than that. I am within a couple of months of 60 and suffer a little adaptive thermogenesis from past crash dieting so my base burn is slightly lower than you might expect, but only slightly. I lost ~65 pounds and have maintained the loss about 7 months. I weigh nearly everything I eat, so I am pretty confident about knowing my numbers are good overall (I don't get them right day to day, which annoys me, but isn't a long term problem).
My tdee on none exercise days eg just pottering around the house is around 1900 I average 15-20k steps per day plus sometimes use the stationary bike I do know from previous experience that's it over estimates by 2-300 per day
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