Eating based on daily needs or by weekly average?

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snake_man_32
snake_man_32 Posts: 31 Member
edited January 2022 in Health and Weight Loss
Hello everyone! Sorry if the title is confusing, but I’m wondering if it’s better to determine caloric needs based on a daily basis or weekly then divided by 7?

Currently, I eat based on how much energy I need on a daily basis. I’m 6’2” and 190 pounds, so I eat about 2,250 calories on days I’m sedentary and 3,000 on days I work a physical job. I eat 2,700 calories on days I don’t work but exercise. (If these numbers seem off I’m recalling them by memory.)

I’ve lost a lot of weight doing this, but I seem to have hit a plateau. The biggest problem is I get very hungry the days I don’t work or exercise and am supposed to eat around 2,250 calories.

OTOH If I were to estimate my caloric needs per week then divide by seven, I’d eat around 2,750 calories every day. So I’d over-eat on sedentary days and under-eat on work days.

What works best for you? I’m thinking of going to weekly total divided by 7 to avoid the days I eat only 2,250 calories. I’m betting that I’m overeating on the low-calorie days.

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  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
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    It works out the same in the end for an average weekly deficit if you are doing the math right.

    What's better therefore is what is better for YOU.

    Do you do better with totally preplanning your meals, and that helps you adhere?

    Or can you vary and still plan enough to adhere?

    And then on your work days - if no energy and binging - that's not good.

    As to why so hungry - I'm betting because you are attempting an extreme diet very close to goal weight. Being that tall, you must be close. Probably over 250 cal deficit is extreme. You may have been for some time already. Just hope your body is only at point of feeling hungry.
    When that stops usually means body gave up that method and will adapt others ways to stop the craziness. Bad news then.

    Closer to goal weight, reasonable diet and not extreme means less deficit than earlier on in diet.
    You are probably attempting to keep the same deficit - recipe for failure or at least making it more difficult than it needs to be.
  • snake_man_32
    snake_man_32 Posts: 31 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    It works out the same in the end for an average weekly deficit if you are doing the math right.

    What's better therefore is what is better for YOU.

    Do you do better with totally preplanning your meals, and that helps you adhere?

    Or can you vary and still plan enough to adhere?

    And then on your work days - if no energy and binging - that's not good.

    As to why so hungry - I'm betting because you are attempting an extreme diet very close to goal weight. Being that tall, you must be close. Probably over 250 cal deficit is extreme. You may have been for some time already. Just hope your body is only at point of feeling hungry.
    When that stops usually means body gave up that method and will adapt others ways to stop the craziness. Bad news then.

    Closer to goal weight, reasonable diet and not extreme means less deficit than earlier on in diet.
    You are probably attempting to keep the same deficit - recipe for failure or at least making it more difficult than it needs to be.

    Ok this makes sense. I started out at 220, not huge but I was skinny-fat with central obesity. I’ve built some muscle but my goal is to get down to sub 15 percent body fat.

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