Calorie deficit total week

Options
slimdownt
slimdownt Posts: 105 Member
in Food and Nutrition
If you go over your calories for the day but are under for the week, do you say that was a win?
Isn't the goal to be under for the week or am I misinformed?

PLEASE explain your answers. Thanks

Replies

  • BarbaraHelen2013
    BarbaraHelen2013 Posts: 1,940 Member
    Options
    Certainly, some people work out their average intake over a week. Nothing wrong with that if it still comes out at a deficit if your goal is weight loss.

    Extrapolating that further, it really doesn’t matter whether you were to choose a day, a week or a month etc...the end result would be the same if you ate less calories than you burned through daily life.

    It’s really what you find manageable and meaningful in terms of your own life patterns how you choose to ‘count’ and ‘reconcile’ your calories ‘in and out’.
  • corinasue1143
    corinasue1143 Posts: 7,467 Member
    Options
    I’m short sighted. I can only handle one meal at a time. I aim at 300-400 calories/meal.
  • slimdownt
    slimdownt Posts: 105 Member
    Options
    BarbaraHelen2013 wrote: »
    Certainly, some people work out their average intake over a week. Nothing wrong with that if it still comes out at a deficit if your goal is weight loss.

    Extrapolating that further, it really doesn’t matter whether you were to choose a day, a week or a month etc...the end result would be the same if you ate less calories than you burned through daily life.

    It’s really what you find manageable and meaningful in terms of your own life patterns how you choose to ‘count’ and ‘reconcile’ your calories ‘in and out’.

    Thanks makes sense.
  • LyndaBSS
    LyndaBSS Posts: 6,964 Member
    Options
    I treat each day separately. If I go over my calories on one day, I don't eat less the next day.

    I don't bank my calories over a period of days so I can splurge on a high calorie meal. Some do and it works for them.

    I choose to make this weight loss experience as simple as possible. That's what works for me.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Options
    If you are following MFP’s calorie goal, then the idea is to come as close to your goal as possible without going over it, not to be significantly under it. Depending on your stats, being far under your goal may put you at risk of undereating.

    You can go by a daily or weekly goal.
  • middlehaitch
    middlehaitch Posts: 8,484 Member
    Options
    I did weekly a lot of the time.

    I had ~100 cals either way leeway.
    Much more and I would start to lose my 0.5lbs a week deficit, much less and I would be lethargic, underperform, and be more susceptible to injury or illness.

    Daily, I was closer to a 20cal leeway unless I was banking cals on purpose.

    (I’m small so small cal variations are important to me)

    This included eating back exercise cals. First using MFP then my own data.

    Cheers, h.
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    Lots of us look at calories over the week whether we are losing or maintaining. If you use the app you can even track a weekly deficit. Additionally I often Bank calories for more indulgent weekend events. Never hindered my progress.
  • ElizabethKalmbach
    ElizabethKalmbach Posts: 1,416 Member
    Options
    I have a tendency to go to bed before Google Fit and MFP finish their caloric negotiation over my step count at the end of the night. Sometimes I wake up to find that Google snuck in 200 more food calories for me to eat AFTER I went to bed. Sometimes I try to eat them for breakfast by switching out my protein shake for something that involves more chewing (Weekends, usually.) Sometimes I just leave it until the next night and have a bowl of ice cream for dessert. :)
  • joone_9
    joone_9 Posts: 152 Member
    Options
    I’ve almost always banked cals to indulge a bit more on the weekend and always still lost weight. I use the daily goal to keep me on track through out each day though or I know I’d overeat. Do what works best for you and don’t eat under 1200 woman/1500 for men a day for general health reasons.
  • teresa19622015
    teresa19622015 Posts: 34 Member
    Options
    I do daily goal but if I’m over one day I try and cut back the next. I tend to go over when I’m doing more exercise, I don’t eat any exercise calories but in my head I know they’re there as a cushion!
    I weigh every day but look at it as a week by week loss, so it would be the deficit over a week I guess, but I need to calculate it on a daily basis.
  • mom2kpr
    mom2kpr Posts: 348 Member
    Options
    I have the premium for this reason. My calorie goal is different almost everyday. Sat & Sun are my higher calorie days - bigger lunch and dinner. During the week, my work-out days are slightly higher than my non-workout days. I determined what my calorie needs are for the week and went from there. I also adjusted my macros accordingly. It works great for me.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
    Options
    slimdownt wrote: »
    If you go over your calories for the day but are under for the week, do you say that was a win?
    Isn't the goal to be under for the week or am I misinformed?

    PLEASE explain your answers. Thanks

    Of course...energy balance happens on a continuum...you don't have some kind of midnight reset button. Time is a human construct.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    Options
    I lost weight eating at a big deficit twice a week and at maintenance calories the other five days so of course weekly balance was the important thing for me during my weight loss.

    But I also dislike restrictions and think your diet should fit into your lifestyle and not the other way round. I would feel like I was on a permanent restrictive diet if I had to micro manage each day's food intake.
  • hmhill17
    hmhill17 Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    I go by the day and usually don't eat back all my calories. If I've done that for 6 days, then on Sunday I'm allowed to splurge a little.
    For example: Last week I was about 1500 calories under for the week. So I let myself have a little extra at dinner. Maybe next week it's something else, like a steak dinner. It's what I decided to do when the 4 week mark hit and I was doing well with tracking and exercise and thought I could have some of the things that I used to gorge on but keep the portions under control.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,009 Member
    Options
    mom2kpr wrote: »
    I have the premium for this reason. My calorie goal is different almost everyday. Sat & Sun are my higher calorie days - bigger lunch and dinner. During the week, my work-out days are slightly higher than my non-workout days. I determined what my calorie needs are for the week and went from there. I also adjusted my macros accordingly. It works great for me.

    You dont need premium to see your weekly calories.

    I look at weekly calories all the time and I only have the free version.

    It divides each week into days on a visual graph thing so you can still see your daily intake as well as how many calories left for the week, and each week how many under or over you were, your daily average, your macro breakdown.

  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    Options
    I find if I look at the weekly calorie delta it keeps me on track regardless of a single days’s total.

Categories