Does 1 bad day cance 5 good ones?

alexiaschulz · March 2012

Suppose you are trying to lose weight slowly, so you're only eating a 100-200 calorie deficit. My question is, if I stay at my calorie goal for 5 days in a row, but have a bad day on the 6th and eat ~250 over that day, is that breaking even in terms of weight loss? Did I really just cancel out 5 days of hard work by having one extra beer and four chocolate almonds?!

ArroganceInStep · March 2012

Suppose you are trying to lose weight slowly, so you're only eating a 100-200 calorie deficit. My question is, if I stay at my calorie goal for 5 days in a row, but have a bad day on the 6th and eat ~250 over that day, is that breaking even in terms of weight loss? Did I really just cancel out 5 days of hard work by having one extra beer and four chocolate almonds?!

Unfortunately yes. How did you calculate your target to come up with the 100-200 calorie deficit? 200 calories per day is a target loss of less than half a pound a week.

EDIT: Brain fart, 150*5 > 250. But the idea of cancelling out is true.

nickyrobinson · March 2012

All in the math...

1 day at +250 = 250
5 days at - 150 = -750
6 day total = -500

You're at a 500 calorie deficit for the week. Do this 6 more times and you've lost a pound. So, you didn't cancel it out.

Take heart and keep on cranking!

alexiaschulz · March 2012

Unfortunately yes. How did you calculate your target to come up with the 100-200 calorie deficit? 200 calories per day is a target loss of less than half a pound a week.

I don't actually have to lose that much weight (maybe around 15 lbs or so), so yes, I was aiming at around 1/2 lb a week, but trying to build better eating habits by using MFP to track and and observe both what I eat, and how regularly I excercise.

SoDamnHungry · March 2012

It cancels out some of the calories you saved before, but it's not a dire situation. In the grand scheme of things, 250 calories is hardly anything. It's going over by 250 multiple times a week that will slow your weight loss. Just keep trucking. One slip-up isn't going to ruin the whole game.

ArroganceInStep · March 2012

I don't actually have to lose that much weight (maybe around 15 lbs or so), so yes, I was aiming at around 1/2 lb a week, but trying to build better eating habits by using MFP to track and and observe both what I eat, and how regularly I excercise.

What I was trying to get at was the specific number. If, for example, you're using the number churned out by MFP at 1/2 lb loss per week. That's a daily 500 calorie deficit not counting exercise. Lets say you want to go out for drinks on Friday, and think you'll blow 1000 calories at the bar. If you exercise every week day and burn 200 calories each time or eat 200 calories below what MFP has targeted for you, you'll have built in room for the Friday splurge while still maintaining your targeted weight loss goal. Quite a few people incorporate 'cheat days' into their diet. It helps psychologically for some, but really all it is is a bigger deficit during the week followed by a refeed to moderate that deficit somewhat. Hope that helps.

alexiaschulz · March 2012

What I was trying to get at was the specific number. If, for example, you're using the number churned out by MFP at 1/2 lb loss per week. That's a daily 500 calorie deficit not counting exercise. Lets say you want to go out for drinks on Friday, and think you'll blow 1000 calories at the bar. If you exercise every week day and burn 200 calories each time or eat 200 calories below what MFP has targeted for you, you'll have built in room for the Friday splurge while still maintaining your targeted weight loss goal. Quite a few people incorporate 'cheat days' into their diet. It helps psychologically for some, but really all it is is a bigger deficit during the week followed by a refeed to moderate that deficit somewhat. Hope that helps.

For my weight, it's more like 200, I need to eat 1650 to maintain, and 1450 to lose 1.2 a lb a week. I admit that this is a new experience for me, I've never had to watch what I eat before, and only since having a kid 3 years ago have I ever had difficulty managing my weight. I've actually had quite a bit of trouble even sticking to the (comparatively large) 1450 calorie allotment, and in fact, I frequently use exercise to meet (or get near) my cal goal. It would be hard for me to store up a net deficit enough to earn myself a splurge day, I'm afraid.

That being said, MPF projections are actually slower than my experience, i.e., I've been losing weight faster than projected by MFP even though I usually wind up eating 50-100 cals more than what the recommend. So I'm still just trying to figure it all out. I have heard the first 5 lbs come off quicker than the 10 after that.

Thanks alot for the advice, planning for a splurge day might be what I need to do, because I have a regular day that I meet up with friends.

ArroganceInStep · March 2012

For my weight, it's more like 200, I need to eat 1650 to maintain, and 1450 to lose 1.2 a lb a week. I admit that this is a new experience for me, I've never had to watch what I eat before, and only since having a kid 3 years ago have I ever had difficulty managing my weight. I've actually had quite a bit of trouble even sticking to the (comparatively large) 1450 calorie allotment, and in fact, I frequently use exercise to meet (or get near) my cal goal. It would be hard for me to store up a net deficit enough to earn myself a splurge day, I'm afraid.

That being said, MPF projections are actually slower than my experience, i.e., I've been losing weight faster than projected by MFP even though I usually wind up eating 50-100 cals more than what the recommend. So I'm still just trying to figure it all out. I have heard the first 5 lbs come off quicker than the 10 after that.

Thanks alot for the advice, planning for a splurge day might be what I need to do, because I have a regular day that I meet up with friends.

Bear in mind that the calculation MFP uses (as with all calculations for this sort of thing) is just an estimate. It's not necessarily 100% accurate, but is a good starting point. Assuming your weight loss has been consistently greater than expected (i.e. if it's only been one week, there's loads of things that could be going on that skew the results somewhat) then you can safely plan in a few more calories per day, or one larger splurge per week. Planning it out ahead of time, though sometimes very difficult to do, is very successful for a lot of people. Good luck!

jacksonpt · March 2012

Just do the math. It really depends on what a "bad" day is for you. If you're 250 cals under for 6 of 7 days, and 500 over on that 7th, then no, it doesn't negate all the work you did. It negates 2 of the good days, but not the other 4.

This is a good example of why it can be helpful to look at things by the week, not just by the day.

And as said above, all the numbers that we throw around (consumption, burns, deficits) are all just estimates. Ultimately how your body responds is a better indicator of "success" than is the end number.

bcattoes · March 2012

It's unlikely that you cancelled out your good work. It could depend on how accurate you are with your measurements, but even with only 100 deficit everyday you had a 500 calorie deficit when you ate the 250 extra. So you still have a 250 deficit. If you had a 200 deficit each day you'd have a 750 deficit. Likely you are somewhere between, but doing this exact same thing for a month or so and you'd probably still lose a pound.

Lizajane42 · March 2012

Thanks alot for the advice, planning for a splurge day might be what I need to do, because I have a regular day that I meet up with friends.

I also have a regular meeting with friends once per week. We consistently meet on Thursdays, so I always know Thursday is the day I will go over on my calories. If you can truly keep to only an additional 200 calories on those days, I think that is amazing. I tend to go significantly higher than that!

Just be cautious and don't let 1 day a week grow to more than one day a week- it is a bit of a slippery slope. (as I well know...)

Does 1 bad day cance 5 good ones?

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