Count by the week or day?

  • I'm very conscience to counting by the day all week, except saturday for whatever reason. That the most likely day for there to be a party or something going on. Recently, today is my boyfriends birthday so last night we had a party for him. Had a piece of cake, some crackers, meat and cheese. Only had 2 small mix drinks with vodka/water.

    But throughout the rest of the week, m calorie intake has actually been in a deficit due to my exercise. So if going by the day, my Saturdays suck really bad.

    But going by the week, I'm on target or sometimes even under. I know the body cant tell that sunday si the start of the week and saturday night is when the calorie clock gets refreshed, but I'm assuming it knows how long 7 days are.

    My biggest issue is that all of this occurs at night, about 2 hours before bed. I know I need to limit binge days, which like I said occur once a week (sometimes, sometimes not)
    . But how negativly is that going to affect my weight loss if it takes 3500 calorie deficit a WEEK, to lose a pound ?

    Can anyone clear the air for me ? thanks
  • I definitely think your weekly deficit is more important than your daily deficit... but I also wouldn't count on my exercise calories to give me that weekly deficit unless I had a REALLY fancy heart rate monitor, since exercise calories are so frequently overestimated.
  • It won't negatively effect your weight loss, so long as you're in an overall caloric deficit. There are lots of diet plans that do this explicitly, for example intermittent fasting and weight watchers with flex points.
    Your body won't know the difference, because it's responding to (relatively speaking) long term changes. It also doesn't matter what time of day (or night) you eat, or how many meals the calories are divided over.

    I do this too, with 3 day averages. (I could do weeks, but 3 days at a time is simpler for me, lol.) I can plan a higher calorie day, or just actively compensate when I have an unplanned one.

    It CAN affect your water weight, but don't let that spook you. Water weight goes up and down with carbs and salt, so it's probably a good idea to weigh in after one of your lower calories days.
  • Thanks guys!

    Vabs, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe I'll do the 3 day thing. A week is too much to keep track of !