Do Weekends Ruin Your Calorie Deficit?

One of my 1-on-1 coaching clients recently asked me the following question.

“If my maintenance calorie level is 2,000, and I eat 2,000 calories for five days (weekdays) and then 3,000 calories for two days (weekend), can I still lose weight?”

This is a great question for two reasons.

1. It’s a very common question
2. It may be the single, biggest reason you’re not losing weight

Hopefully point number 2 got your attention.

Let me illustrate why using money as an example.

Allowance

Imagine you’re 10 years old again and your parents give you a $10 weekly allowance.

Your parent’s only requirement is do not spend more than $10 a week.

🤫 It’s 2023 so assume your parents set up Apple Pay so you can technically spend more than $10 a week.

Now, let’s say each weekday you buy $2 worth of candy on the way to school.

$2 * 5 days = $10

Simple, right?

Oh wait, you’re out of money and there’s still two whole days left in the week!

Calorie…Allowance?

Calories, like the allowance in this example, are no different.

If you calculate your maintenance calories to be 2,000 per day that adds up to 14,000 calories per week.

So, what happens when you eat at maintenance (2,000/day) for 5 days and then eat above maintenance (3,000/day) for the weekend?

You’ve consumed 16,000 calories which is 2,000 calories over your weekly limit of 14,000 calories.

Long story short: you will not lose or maintain your weight since you are eating above your calorie limit, even if it’s just for two days.

Weekday Dieters

This is a classic case of someone who says they’re doing everything right but just can’t seem to lose the weight.

The mental trap here is you feel like you’re doing more good than bad.

I mean, you were good for 5 out of 7 days! That’s a good week, right?!

Unfortunately, dieting isn’t very forgiving in this context.

Our good habits have to average out across the entire week, not just the weekdays.

75 out of 100 for 7 days = 525 points

100 out of 100 for 5 days = 500 points

It’s better to be consistently sub-optimal than inconsistently perfect.