You eat really well Monday through Friday, and once the weekend rolls around, you splurge a little (or a lot) to reward yourself for being so good all week. Eating the foods you crave is essential when it 
comes to eating healthy, but you don't want to overdo it on the weekends, undoing a week's hard work. According to a study in the International Journal of Obesity, those people who ate a consistent amount of calories all seven days of the week were 50 percent more likely to maintain their weight than those who followed strict diets only Monday through Friday. With that said, it's best to stick to consuming the same amount of calories each day, and allow yourself a few 100- to 200-calorie treats throughout the week. Then once Saturday comes, you won't feel the need to binge on foods you've missed out on.
Featured
Trying to Lose Weight? Be Consistent With Calories Each Day
1 Person Likes This Please login or register to like this
UrbanBohemian11 Comments Post a Comment
More on FitSugar
Fall Award Season
Top Brands
View Collection
Jimmy Choo
Early 20
I see myself in that : )
1So sad how a couple day's worth of indulgences can overrun at least a few weeks' worth of hard work. Very sad indeed.
2It's not so much food indulgences on the weekend that get me... it's the liquid calories. Weekend is wine/beer/margarita time!
3No, this is crap. You can have one cheat day and lose weight. This wouldn't work AT ALL for me. A little treat every day is a slippery slope for me. Having a day on Sunday when I can eat what I want is important to long term management. There's no WAY I can plan on keeping weight off if I have to completely restrict my calories every single day. Unrealistic.
4I could really go for that burger right about now...
5Flamingo, if a study of a lot of people showed this pattern, it isn't "crap". It's just what works better on average, but perhaps not for you. Also, you probably don't completely overdo it on Saturdays, but some people don't have that control.
6I disagree with this. I eat super clean during the week knowing I'll have a couple "bad" meals during the week and I've lost 30 pounds since January. I believe that if you get the body used to eating the same amount of food every day you'll plateau. Not that there's anything wrong with plateaus but it's pretty tough to overcome mentally when you get stuck for a long period of time.
I think what this study IS saying is that maybe people can't get back to eating healthy after a weekend of bingeing. It's probably also a reflection of people not eating enough during the week and then going REALLY crazy on the weekend.
I suppose this is also for maintaining weight and not losing so it might be different.
7Durp, that should have read " I eat super clean during the week knowing I'll have a couple "bad" meals during the weekEND and I've lost 30 pounds since January."
8Uh oh.
In the past (well last year), I lost around 30 lbs in 6 months, because I did my 'diet' on weekdays and on weekends (the days when I went out to eat with family and friends), I tended to 'splurge.' Had my burgers, Chinese food, etc.
Basically, I could've lost more and faster if I didn't have those weekends 'splurge,' eh? Hmmm. Interesting.
9I'm the exact opposite of you, flamingo. If I were to allow myself a cheat day on the weekend, I'd go hogwild and I'd probably overdo it. What works best for me is to let myself have a small treat daily so I don't feel the need to eat all my treats on the weekend.
10Eating monotonously every day is a good way to plateau and hinder weight loss.
11Post New Comment
Please share your opinion with our community, but make sure it is on topic and follows our Community Rules. We moderate comments and prohibit personal attacks, threats, spam, lewd images, or the promotion of your personal website.