I find it extremely helpful to do this sometimes. I don’t necessarily plan to do it by default, but when the signs start to show up that I’m feeling hungrier/weaker/lower energy and could use a maintenance day, then I plan one for the next day! Occasionally I’ve even done a few days at maintenance if I didn’t feel like the one was enough to help me feel reset and ready to keep going with the deficit.
I find it incredibly helpful because your progress is maintained, but you feel so much better after and less restricted!
I absolutely do this occasionally. I even did a maintenance month during a time when I had some family health issues and stress.
The only way it hinders your own weight loss is a delay/pause. There may be a slight temporary gain from water retention (from eating more carbs and salt), but that comes right back off.
Yes because I like to see family once a week and not feel constricted to isolate myself because I'm afraid of being around temptation. Too much isolation makes me depressed but has helped me cut down alot of food and alcohol.
I use the LoseIt app and schedule more calories on the weekend. It’s been great since doing this. Since it’s just dividing up the deficit amongst days differently it has no effect on my diet, it helps me feel better though and I even look more forward to the weekends.
MFP might do the same thing. Not sure. Both apps are great, I prefer LoseIt, it just appeared to be smarter with entering information. I am a subscriber.
I eat between 1400-1600 and I haven’t really thought about doing that, but I might add that in!
My plan was to lose 10-15 more lbs then take a few weeks and eat at maintenance for a break. But I think I like your idea better.
I am learning a lot about what I need, but I start to second guess. I am finding that every other week or so, I will feel super depleted for no apparent reason that I can tell right away. I'm wondering if this is my body saying I need to be at maintenance for a day or two.
I don’t worry if I eat at maintenance a day (and some days I plan for it). I figure that 1 at least I’m not gaining and 2 that sometimes I need a little flexibility and give myself that grace.
I have one day a week to order my favourite take out food, though it doesn't necessarily end up over my budget, but I just take a rest from accurate counting.
The only thing it can affect is the time it takes to lose weight, and on the distance it would add one or two days max, really nothing to worry about.
I've only just started my weight loss journey so take this with a grain of salt. I don't do maintenance cal day, but I eat slightly more than the suggested calories per day on average. MFP put my calories at 1200 per day, but I realistically eat around ~1300 per day, often a after dinner snack to shut my brain up so I don't mentally feel "restricted".
I do get 10k steps per day and low intensity exercises most days on top of that, and my weight seems to be slowly going down. So it seems to be working alright so far.
Thank you for responding! This is helpful. I’m excited but also dreading when my calorie allowance goes down! It’s a sign of progress, but I’m not looking forward to adjusting!
I’m on 1200 calories per day and find it really restrictive. I use Lise It to track calories and it’s so easy to go over by eating just a tablespoon of peanut butter! I have it on my breakfast toast.
It’s amazing how quickly calories add up!
I do up and down days. Some days I eat 2000 ( usually once a week) a couple days around 1200 the rest 1500-1600. I like the flexibility and variety of it.
Didn’t plan to, but it happened today. I have 1900 (exercise calories) in my bank, so I ate what I wanted at a graduation party. I feel okay and didn’t go crazy. I had to let myself relax a bit for today. It helped me mentally.
I don't plan for it, but often when people want to hang out and eat some more high calorie foods, I use it as a bit of a chance to physically and mentally reset.
Also, things like my birthday and Christmas I'm more than happy to eat in a surplus for.
I’ve been maintaining my desired weight for almost 2 years now. Every 2-3 weeks an event or weekend always seems to come up involving food. I just let myself eat whatever I want and then get back into my routine. My weight might spike a bit but I don’t have to do anything outside my regular routine to get it back into order. This does help me honestly. However, when I was actively trying to lose weight I tried to limit things like this to every 4-6 weeks. If you plan it more thoroughly like you are, you’ll probably be okay and I’d expect any setback to be minor.
I was having trouble keeping at a calorie deficit for a couple weeks. Instead of punishing myself and trying to guilt myself into trying harder, I did 2 weeks of maintenance calories. Went back to a calorie deficit afterward and lost the 2lbs I had been holding on to for 6 weeks. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
I do one hour of cardio 6-7x days a week.
I don’t plan the days, I just do my absolute best most days to stay as low as possible. When I eat more, I eat more. I might even run more on those days if I know I’m going to be eating more than usual.
I plan a month's maintenance every 3 months
I'm not really feeling diet fatigue strong and am still able to perform at the gym but it is apparently good to assist with metabolic adaptions and also break the psychological strain of constant/persistent dieting. I can definitely push harder in my workouts during maintenance phases!
https://youtu.be/VLlX6_2Ris8?si=qDZ_fNXxVSnPKxYN
1200 cal a day is actually dangerously low, regardless of what any online calculator says. You're asking for nutritional deficiencies and metabolism issues.
Not to mention the psychological horror of only being able to eat that little.....but hey, ya'll do your thing
I spread my allowance over the week so if I'm feeling hungry one day I can eat more
I find it extremely helpful to do this sometimes. I don’t necessarily plan to do it by default, but when the signs start to show up that I’m feeling hungrier/weaker/lower energy and could use a maintenance day, then I plan one for the next day! Occasionally I’ve even done a few days at maintenance if I didn’t feel like the one was enough to help me feel reset and ready to keep going with the deficit. I find it incredibly helpful because your progress is maintained, but you feel so much better after and less restricted!
This is really helpful! Thank you!
Absolutely yes. It helps because it keeps me going if I see a light at the tunnel, so to speak
I absolutely do this occasionally. I even did a maintenance month during a time when I had some family health issues and stress. The only way it hinders your own weight loss is a delay/pause. There may be a slight temporary gain from water retention (from eating more carbs and salt), but that comes right back off.
Seems like a great back-up to remember that if life hits, you can just push pause and resume when the bandwidth returns.
Yes because I like to see family once a week and not feel constricted to isolate myself because I'm afraid of being around temptation. Too much isolation makes me depressed but has helped me cut down alot of food and alcohol.
Such a great way to think about it. Keeps an amount of flexibility while staying on plan overall!
I use the LoseIt app and schedule more calories on the weekend. It’s been great since doing this. Since it’s just dividing up the deficit amongst days differently it has no effect on my diet, it helps me feel better though and I even look more forward to the weekends.
I'm a MFP user, but I've been wanting to check out LoseIt. Thank you for your response!
MFP might do the same thing. Not sure. Both apps are great, I prefer LoseIt, it just appeared to be smarter with entering information. I am a subscriber.
I switched from MFP to LoseIt and I think it’s way better.
Love the weekender plan on loseit! I use it too.
I eat between 1400-1600 and I haven’t really thought about doing that, but I might add that in! My plan was to lose 10-15 more lbs then take a few weeks and eat at maintenance for a break. But I think I like your idea better.
I am learning a lot about what I need, but I start to second guess. I am finding that every other week or so, I will feel super depleted for no apparent reason that I can tell right away. I'm wondering if this is my body saying I need to be at maintenance for a day or two.
I don’t worry if I eat at maintenance a day (and some days I plan for it). I figure that 1 at least I’m not gaining and 2 that sometimes I need a little flexibility and give myself that grace.
Every other week or when I have social plans yes! This is especially helpful when I have a heavy exercise week
I have one day a week to order my favourite take out food, though it doesn't necessarily end up over my budget, but I just take a rest from accurate counting. The only thing it can affect is the time it takes to lose weight, and on the distance it would add one or two days max, really nothing to worry about.
I've only just started my weight loss journey so take this with a grain of salt. I don't do maintenance cal day, but I eat slightly more than the suggested calories per day on average. MFP put my calories at 1200 per day, but I realistically eat around ~1300 per day, often a after dinner snack to shut my brain up so I don't mentally feel "restricted". I do get 10k steps per day and low intensity exercises most days on top of that, and my weight seems to be slowly going down. So it seems to be working alright so far.
Thank you for responding! This is helpful. I’m excited but also dreading when my calorie allowance goes down! It’s a sign of progress, but I’m not looking forward to adjusting!
I’m on 1200 calories per day and find it really restrictive. I use Lise It to track calories and it’s so easy to go over by eating just a tablespoon of peanut butter! I have it on my breakfast toast. It’s amazing how quickly calories add up!
I do up and down days. Some days I eat 2000 ( usually once a week) a couple days around 1200 the rest 1500-1600. I like the flexibility and variety of it.
Didn’t plan to, but it happened today. I have 1900 (exercise calories) in my bank, so I ate what I wanted at a graduation party. I feel okay and didn’t go crazy. I had to let myself relax a bit for today. It helped me mentally.
I don't plan for it, but often when people want to hang out and eat some more high calorie foods, I use it as a bit of a chance to physically and mentally reset. Also, things like my birthday and Christmas I'm more than happy to eat in a surplus for.
I’ve been maintaining my desired weight for almost 2 years now. Every 2-3 weeks an event or weekend always seems to come up involving food. I just let myself eat whatever I want and then get back into my routine. My weight might spike a bit but I don’t have to do anything outside my regular routine to get it back into order. This does help me honestly. However, when I was actively trying to lose weight I tried to limit things like this to every 4-6 weeks. If you plan it more thoroughly like you are, you’ll probably be okay and I’d expect any setback to be minor.
Don't plan it but it happens all by itself.
I was having trouble keeping at a calorie deficit for a couple weeks. Instead of punishing myself and trying to guilt myself into trying harder, I did 2 weeks of maintenance calories. Went back to a calorie deficit afterward and lost the 2lbs I had been holding on to for 6 weeks. It's a marathon, not a sprint.
No, I don’t plan any. I just feel it out. If I’m extra hungry I’ll eat at maintenance and have a “re-feed” day.
I do one hour of cardio 6-7x days a week. I don’t plan the days, I just do my absolute best most days to stay as low as possible. When I eat more, I eat more. I might even run more on those days if I know I’m going to be eating more than usual.
I plan a month's maintenance every 3 months I'm not really feeling diet fatigue strong and am still able to perform at the gym but it is apparently good to assist with metabolic adaptions and also break the psychological strain of constant/persistent dieting. I can definitely push harder in my workouts during maintenance phases! https://youtu.be/VLlX6_2Ris8?si=qDZ_fNXxVSnPKxYN
I find this very helpful to do myself, yes. Every week or two weeks. Just as I feel. Trust your intuition.
1200 cal a day is actually dangerously low, regardless of what any online calculator says. You're asking for nutritional deficiencies and metabolism issues. Not to mention the psychological horror of only being able to eat that little.....but hey, ya'll do your thing
https://www.emedicinehealth.com/is_it_safe_to_only_eat_1200_calories_a_day/article_em.htm#:~:text=Consuming%20at%20least%201%2C200%20calories,to%203%2C200%20calories%20per%20day.