Under and over calories!

[Alison44]

Is it ok to be under your daily calorie allowance on one day and over the next???

[albinohedgehog]

Heya, im pretty sure this is ok. Ive read some people have a overall weekly calorie goal, so that they can be flexible on each individual day. If it works for you i think its fine. ☺

[RobLandsdown91]

I would agree with albinohedgehog and that I'm sure if you were to set a weekly goal (e.g. 14,000 - 2,000 a day) it would be fine. Just don't make a habit of it

[Caz28]

yes it's fine, weekly total is what matters. It's useful too, for example if you know you are eating out on a particular day and going to need more calories, you can save some off other days for it.

[MW50]

A small deficit followed by a small excess the following day will not be detrimental to your weight loss, in fact many people successfully follow a 5:2 diet which advocates a very low calorie intake on 2 days a week. However a large deficit/excess (feast & famine) on a regular basis may play havoc with your metabolism and slow down weight loss. It is very much a case of try whatever you feel drawn to and see what works best for you in terms of both weight loss and sustainability. Marian

[Alison44]

Thank you for all your replies😊 I've done slimming world on and off for a few years so trying to get my head round calorie counting instead of free amounts of certain foods!

[Hidden in reply to Alison44]

Hello am the same done slimming world and find it hard to get it out of my head but am on my second week and I do find this much better feel we have more choice with this Kim xxxx

[Diana]

Calorie cycling is healthy, it prevents plateaus too, keeps your body losing, and not to used to stuff, storing up cals is a good idea.

See your weekly total like a bank balance always in credit, that's the way I see it.

I use a mindset of mixing stuff up, finding new recipes and fav foods too, from lots of different sources too, stops me getting bored too

[elliebath Maintainer]

In my opinion Yes it is the only way that is sustainable in real life. It is the deficit over a week that really matters.

A further example of this is the 5:2 regime , more extreme but it works .

[Hidden]

Yes, I think it's fine, as long as you eat around the correct level of cals over the week. In fact, it can be useful if you;ve got a special occasion looming at the weekend to "bank" a few calories in the week so you can indulge a little bit at the do.

One caveat to that, though, is that I'd say avoid lurching from very low cal days up to very high cal days. My gut feeling is that our bodies like to be in a routine, and perform best when we give them around the same amount most of the time. There have been a few posts on here when people have said they've eaten 700 cals instead of 1500 in the day, and I think that is just too great a disparity unless it's once in a blue moon.