Easter has come and gone. You may have eaten a bit more chocolate than you should have. I certainly did... If you're like me, this post may come in handy to help get you back on track.
I've gone over this before in a previous post, but I really want to hammer this into your brains. This time I've included a table to make it a little easier to understand!
If you're tracking your calories every day and eating in a deficit consistently, you will lose weight. It's as simple as that. But if you aren't consistent then this is where you may stop seeing results.
Let me explain why.
The table below shows two guys; Guy A and Guy B. For the sake of this post we'll assume their maintenance level of calories are the same, therefore the need to eat the same amount of calories to lose weight.
So according to this table, Guy A and B must eat under 2500 calories per day OR less than 17500 calories per week to lose weight.
Guy A consistently eats less than 2500 calories, except from Friday - he eats his maintenance level of calories on this day. This is okay, because his total calories for the week is under 17000 and his average total calories per day is 2100. Guy A will lose weight.
Guy B eats way under his maintenance level from Monday-Thursday, but he ends up going a bit crazy at the weekend. Even though he was eating far less than Guy A on weekdays, gorging on food at the weekend can ruin your progress. Guy B's total calories for the week is 17500, and his average total calories per day is 2500. Guy B will remain the same weight.
This goes to show why "cheat days" can be so dangerous! Rewarding yourself at the weekend with a large Domino's cheese pizza (2000+ calories!!) because you ate well throughout the week will likely set you back a few paces. You must stay consistent if you're serious about weight loss.
So next time you get a bit carried away and eat over and above your calorie allowance, don't use this as an excuse to keep eating rubbish the rest of that week.
Don't tell yourself you'll eat better "next week, starting on Monday...".
As long as you stay under your total weekly calorie allowance, like Guy A, you'll continue seeing results week in, week out.