How consistently do you eat calories each day?

SpookyPockets
SpookyPockets Posts: 33 Member
in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I'm just wondering how other people maintain and how much everyone's experiences vary and what a normal attitude to this is?

Do you eat roughly your maintainance calories each day, do you try to even it out over the week, or do you have a different way of working out what you need?

Replies

  • kami3006
    kami3006 Posts: 4,979 Member
    I maintain by watching my weekly calorie goal. I prefer eating my cardio calories on lifting days as I'm not hungry on the former but want to eat everything on the latter. So some days are lower, some higher. This also helps me to fit in more calorie dense foods/meals. In the end, it balances out.

    I lost weight, five years ago, doing the same thing.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    Even if there is a "normal" it's not helpful to an individual unless normal matches their preferences.

    My diet fits round my social life and exercise and as such it's all over the place day to day, week to week, even season to season. At a rough guess my daily intake varies from an unusual 1500 to an equally unusual 6500 on a big cycling event day. I don't log food anymore, just keep an eye on my weight trend and adjust if I want or need to.

    When I did log food I found a same every day allowance felt really restrictive even at pretty generous maintenance levels.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    I am pretty close most days with an occasional splurge over. I generally eat extra calories for burns on the day I do the exercise; it's usually first thing in the morning. I track very carefully each day but rarely look back across days. My goal is currently set to a deficit, slowly losing toward the bottom of my range. I have a 10 pound maintenance range and I am currently very close to the middle.
  • Keto_Vampire
    Keto_Vampire Posts: 1,670 Member
    I literally eat the same prepackaged portion foods (~same kcals total) each day 6-7/7 days a week when trying to lose weight;
    when maintaining, it's more like 4-5/7 days a week. Diet >>> Exercise
    I do need to up my kcals for a day every 1-2 weeks when dieting though because @ some point the deficit begins to impact my activity level (mainly NEAT & meeting minimum steady state cardio goals)
  • SummerSkier
    SummerSkier Posts: 5,129 Member
    Also, if you haven't already, read some of the threads which are stickied at the top of this forum. Very helpful.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,175 Member
    I target eating under maintenance most days, because I like to eat indulgently now and then . . . occasionally, very indulgently. If my weight is up higher than I'd like, I stick to the "under" days more often, or cut it back further. I still log most of the time, though I'll skip it if it was an unusual day that would be hard to estimate/log (potluck meal, something like that); I didn't skip difficult to estimate days while losing.

    After a while, a "normal attitude" is doing whatever works for you, which may or may not be what works for others.
  • LivingtheLeanDream
    LivingtheLeanDream Posts: 13,342 Member
    edited January 2019
    I'm in year 6 of maintenance, I eat at small deficit during the week so I can eat a bit above my TDEE at the weekend - it has worked a dream for me :smile:
    So Mon - Thurs I average 1800 cals, then Fri-Sun 2100. - weekly numbers average 13500 = approx 1929 cals a day. I'm 5ft 2 and pretty active. I only loosely count calories now, haven't logged any food in a few years apart from now and again to see how my macros are doing. (still use a food scale regularly though so I don't get portion creep)
  • Noreenmarie1234
    Noreenmarie1234 Posts: 7,492 Member
    I like to vary depending on how hungry I am. I try to stay within 2100-2600. Some days I just am naturally more hungry so I eat 2600 (sometimes more if I ate at the low end for a few days). I find it helps me because I don't want to force myself to eat on days I just don't want to, and don't want to feel like I should limit myself on days I am hungry or want to indulge. I like being able to eat "what I want" using a range. I found when I tried sticking to a set number, I felt deprived some days. It depends what works for you and what will help you be satisfied and happy in maintenance.

    Some weeks I eat 2600 all week, but if my weight starts to go up, I will just balance it with some lower days or exercise a little more to balance it out. Like around the holidays I ate 2600 for a few weeks, but just exercised a bit more and didn't gain.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    My 'normal' right now, eat the same amount of calories everyday (including rest days) except my 'long run' day (Saturday) my highest calorie burner of the week, this is my indulgent day.

    Currently 1/2 marathon training, races will be completed 2nd week of April, I stick to a calorie/macro balance during the week that works well for my training needs and do what I call flex weekends (flexible calorie choices) for my indulgent day and rest day on Sunday.

    My calorie needs may change some after training is over, so its normal for my 'normal' to change.

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