Eating maintenance on weekends?

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LauraSrock18
LauraSrock18 Posts: 125 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hey all! My name is Laura & I’m currently trying to lose the last 15lbs to reach my goal of 165! I’ve been stuck at 180.4 for 3 weeks! I’m trying to be patient and
I truly want to make this a lifestyle so I can maintain my weightloss long term!

By the end of my week I’m usually craving larger meals & all the treats I typically don’t eat! I try to avoid “cheat days” with no tracking due to a binging history! I work out 4-5 times a week & average 20,000 steps per day at least.

I’m thinking of eating at maintenance Friday’s (weigh in day) + Saturday
Then right back to my deficit on Sunday-Thursday! Has anyone incorporated this into their routine & continued with consistent weight loss?☺️

Replies

  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,978 Member
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    It’s fine to do that. Your loss will be a bit slower but as long as you’re in an overall deficit for the week you’ll still lose.

    I do know people who do this and it helped them with adherence.

    Just keep in mind that the last pounds are slow and easily masked by water weight fluctuations. Having a couple higher calorie days may exacerbate this.
  • LauraSrock18
    LauraSrock18 Posts: 125 Member
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    @sijomial interested to hear what you have to say
  • Duck_Puddle
    Duck_Puddle Posts: 3,224 Member
    edited January 2019
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    A lot of people follow a weekly calorie goal - essentially eating slightly under their calorie goal most days to allow for days they know will be over - while still coming in on target for the week.

    I have a (correctly) low calorie goal. I also crave treats and fast food and things that I can’t usually fit into my usual calorie goal (at least not in quantities that will leave me satiated). So I come in a bit under my goal most days; and then have a day when I I am over goal (and usually over maintenance - but still coming in at my average for the week). That higher calorie day I can have a donut (which is tasty but not at all filling) AND enough “good” food that I’m not going to be ravenous until my next meal.

    It you have a history of binges, I would caution that taking these slight reductions to an extreme (like with a typical 5:2 pattern) may not be the best route.

    But having a variable intake level is very common and many work to a weekly calorie goal to facilitate it and keep things in check.
  • Orphia
    Orphia Posts: 7,097 Member
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    LauraSrock18 wrote: »
    Hey all! My name is Laura & I’m currently trying to lose the last 15lbs to reach my goal of 165! I’ve been stuck at 180.4 for 3 weeks! I’m trying to be patient and
    I truly want to make this a lifestyle so I can maintain my weightloss long term!

    This will help you.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/113609/relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner/p1


    LauraSrock18 wrote: »
    By the end of my week I’m usually craving larger meals & all the treats I typically don’t eat! I try to avoid “cheat days” with no tracking due to a binging history! I work out 4-5 times a week & average 20,000 steps per day at least.

    I’m thinking of eating at maintenance Friday’s (weigh in day) + Saturday
    Then right back to my deficit on Sunday-Thursday! Has anyone incorporated this into their routine & continued with consistent weight loss?☺️

    Thinking eating can be "cheating" actually leads to bingeing.

    Allowing yourself treats regularly avoids the deprivation/binge cycle.

    Having said that, higher calorie days are a normal part of life (holidays, birthdays, time of month, etc).

    The MFP app lets you check your weekly calories.

    Diary>Nutrition>Calories>week view>Net

    It's perfectly OK to eat more some days, so long as you eat less some days and you're at your right limit for the week. That's how I've maintained an 80 lb loss for nearly 3 years.

  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    LauraSrock18 wrote: »
    Hey all! My name is Laura & I’m currently trying to lose the last 15lbs to reach my goal of 165! I’ve been stuck at 180.4 for 3 weeks! I’m trying to be patient and
    I truly want to make this a lifestyle so I can maintain my weightloss long term!

    By the end of my week I’m usually craving larger meals & all the treats I typically don’t eat! I try to avoid “cheat days” with no tracking due to a binging history! I work out 4-5 times a week & average 20,000 steps per day at least.

    I’m thinking of eating at maintenance Friday’s (weigh in day) + Saturday
    Then right back to my deficit on Sunday-Thursday! Has anyone incorporated this into their routine & continued with consistent weight loss?☺️

    what do you have your calorie deficit set to at the moment?

    I bank calories Monday to Thursday for the weekend, and also my biggest exercise day is usually at the weekend so i can eat significantly more then.

    I also do 4 weeks of a deficit and 1 week maintenance, which helps!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    LauraSrock18 wrote: »
    @sijomial interested to hear what you have to say

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    Carving up your weekly calorie allowance to suit your preferences, make adherence easier, work around your social life and routine sounds completely sensible to me. Making something hard that requires long term persistence as easy as possible and less unpleasant seems a good strategy. Practicing eating at maintenance when closing in on goal also seems a good thing.

    Personally I find same every day eating (whether in a deficit or at maintenance) dull and restrictive feeling. I lost my weight eating in the 5:2 pattern, maintain long term with an erratic and flexible eating level (daily, weekly even seasonally). I'm losing a few pounds of "Christmas Pudding" at the moment and my eating is all over the place, there's some days I find it easy to shave off some calories and some days like today I'm out for a curry with friends and I definitely won't be in a deficit.

    On the flip side some people like the discipline of same every day volume, same foods, same routine - if that's not you then don't do it.
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,389 Member
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    I'm just trying to lose the tiny bit of weight I gained while moving internationally and adjusting to my new life. I usually eat at a very small deficit (about 300kcal) during the week and a smaller one during the weekend. This pretty much comes down to one extra slice of bread with lovely local cheese, and maybe an extra snack if I go out and get hungry. My actual deficit is a bit bigger as I do some interval workouts whenever I feel like it. It works for me as I don't feel like I'm restricting, but I'm still losing a bit of weight very slowly.

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