How to count calories, can I average it out?

[Teapot74]

Am a serial Dieter. I tend to go to extreme measures. Lose a lot of weight. Get bored. Give up. Pile it back on. Part of the problem is I like to let go at least at the weekend. I am currently carb free and very bored of it :( I'm off on holiday for 1/2 term and will need to lose a stone when I come back, ideally before christmas so want to have a rethink. Will I lose weight if I average out 1200 calories a day 5:2 style eating more at the weekend i.e 1200,500,1200,500, 1650,1650,1650 ? I'm just under 5"6 and am a stone over my ideal weight.

[justcallmethefixer]

Sounds like calorie cycling to me. As long as you are in deficit overall you should loose weight.

[Teapot74]

Looked up calorie cycling and Eatstopeat seems to be popular. Has anyone tried it?

[RandallFloyd]

Yep, as long as it averages out over the week you'll be fine.
The human body is far more sophisticated than the diet-peddlers would have you believe. Digestion is constant, it doesn't start from scratch every morning.

The constant drudge of never having a day off us what makes most of us cave, being able to have the odd off-day makes it much more doable. Plus, IMO, it's a much more healthy way of eating. Psychologically as well as physically.

I lost 5 1/2 stone doing almost exactly what you plan to do. Instead of sticking rigidly to 1200 a day I just made sure I was under 8400 at the end of the week.

Good luck!

[RandallFloyd]

I used MyFitnessPal, btw.

[aNoteToFollowSo]

Eeh by gum I'd listen to Randall if I were you OP. She is the revered Chief of Chiefs, mentor to many would-be losers. She knows all there is to know about calorie cycling (as I now know it's called).

[Teapot74]

Thank you. Sounds like I have a plan. Am fed up of depriving myself! I really need a glass of wine!

[HeeHiles]

I really need a glass of wine
There's 200 calories right there!

Also - 1200 calories is a guide, if I eat that many I put on weight, my body only needs about 900 calories as I'm very petite. Couldn't understand why I was putting on weight! Until I realised 1200 was too much - so managed to lose 3 stone!

[RandallFloyd]

Oh blimey, cheers Note. High praise indeed! (Although unwarranted)

A good way to work out what your body needs is to work out your BMR once you've done that you can follow the instructions on that site to work out your own personal calorie goal. It's never going to be an exact science but it's a good guide.

[Teapot74]

Thanks for that link, that's a great help, was just plucking numbers from the air TBH. I'm just under 2000 a day on that. so 1250 a day to lose 1.5 lbs a week, so fingers crossed my numbers are about right.

[RandallFloyd]

It's good isn't it, makes you feel like you've got a proper starting point instead of just guess work.

Good luck

[Teapot74]

I've been on about 1100/1200 calls a day for the last 7 weeks (low carb high protein). For the 1st 4 weeks I lost 3-4lbs a week but only lost about 3/4lbs in the last 3 weeks. This has been very demoralising :( I have yo yo dieted in the past and my PT blames that. Although it's hard to work out why such drastic weight loss should stall so dramatically? Just wondering how I could avoid this when I start again after my holiday...

[RandallFloyd]

.I think mixing it up helps sometimes.

After a while your metabolism seems to get used to having the same number of calories every day and it sort of plateaus.

I find a couple of high calorie days followed by a couple of very low ones seems to kick start things again.

Disclaimer - I have absolutely no medical facts to base that on, it's just how it worked for me!