Suppose during the week you eat healthily but on the weekend you have a splurge on bad stuff - will that completely undo your good work? Or can you get away with one bad day a week?

I think it all depends on how 'good' you are during the week and how 'bad' the splurge will be. For example if you're super strict during the week, perhaps eating quite a low calorie diet, but then at the weekend completely binge, the slip up will up the pounds considerably. However, if your eating healthilily and consuming the right amount of calories, a few splurges (not a complete binge) might be just what you need.

There is the possibility though that you might put a pound on or so but you need to decide whether you could deal with this. In the past I have gone mad if I have put a pound on and have resorted to binging because I feel so bad! Now though I do have the occassional 'bad' meal (or night) and then if I am unlucky enough to gain a pound I know that within three days, if I resort to my diet and exercise, it will go.

Additionally, I have found that gaining a pound and then being strict again shifts more weight on me! I think it's because my body switches to normal mode rather than starving mode. Enjoy the grub! ;)

At the moment I'm having a bad day per week, or at least one bad meal. It's inevitable, being invited our for a work dinner or celebrating a birthday or whatnot and I don't want my 'health kick' to completely ruin any enjoyment of my social life!

I try and be 'well behaved' about it though and not splurge on the wine or eat anything deep fried, for example, but I certainly let myself indulge more than I would ordinarily.

The reason I eat so healthily and exercise during the week (at the moment, anyway, if I can keep it up!) is so that I can have my little indulgence at the weekend and not feel guilty or face horrific weight gain. I enjoy food A LOT and to never indulge would make me seriously unhappy. It's all about a balance and if you go over the top once in a week you shouldn't let it get you down, you can just work harder next week.

A few years ago, I read an article in a slimming magazine which said that you shouldn't just count calories on a daily basis, but that you should look at the total over a week.

If you are trying to stick to 1500 calories a day, then you need to eat no more than 10,500 calories in a week and if you think of it that way, you can save up some calories each day so you can have eat a few more at the weekend.

You don't have to be counting calories to make this work for you and you might also find it useful to think of the total balance of nutrients over a week. If you have a couple of days eating red meat and few vegetables, balance it by having a couple of meat-free days with extra fruit.

They also pointed out that the 'day' doesn't have to run from midnight to midnight: you can calculate your daily amounts from any time you choose if it makes it easier. When I was following a low-calorie diet, I would tend to eat too much in the evening and I used to start my dieting day at 7pm which meant that, if I ate too much for my evening meal, then I would need to eat much less during the next day. I found this much easier to live with because I didn't have to feel that I had been good all day and 'ruined' it in the evening.

I do a bad day each week - it usually is a Sunday with a few pints in the pub replaces the water I usually drink followed by a roast with lots of roast spuds and maybe a chocolate inbetween. No exercise as such either(should this be on the confessions board?). Then I compensate on the Monday by doing a bit more exercise, or I may have already compensated on the Saturday before - this makes me even stevens and I am guilt free without feeling deprived and so far - it works!

I agree that so long as you balance calories over a week, it's fine to go a bit over your allowence on one or two days (you just need to be correspondingly under on other days!)

I'm "good" during the week in the office, then relax at weekends -- I usually have at least one meal where I eat whatever I darn well like.

Even if it means you lose weight a little bit more slowly, it's worth it if it helps you (a) enjoy your life and (b) not give up after a couple of weeks of being too strict with yourself.

I've also heard (not sure if it's true) that if you consistently eat, say, 1500 cals/day, your body will start to adjust to that. So having a day or two when you eat a good bit more can startle your body and help you to lose weight more successfully.

Good luck!

Ali

I lost a lot of weight on Slimming World diet a couple of years ago and the one thing that spurred me on was that every Monday after my weekly weigh in I would have a binge evening.

Obviously had been good in the day running up to the weight in then after the weigh in whether I had lost/stayed the same or put weight on I would have a binge for instance usually consisted of a chinese takeaway, bottle of wine and large packet of maltesers and I lost 2stone 6lbs in eight months.

I would not recommend necessarily eating that much but it goes to show that as long as you don't mind losing weight at a slower pace then a binge once a week or every now and then does not matter. Hope this helps.

For many of us, the important thing is not to give up if we have a binge day of unhealthy eating. Accept that we will have lapses. Or, like yesterday, a day where no matter what I did and what I ate, I was starving all day.

I like Chris D's proposition of thinking of calorie intake over a week rather than a day. Seems more sensible. Same with exercise - if you miss the odd day, you immediately go back to square one.

I tend to relax my diet on a Friday night. I may go to the gym during the day and be fairly good but in the evening I will generally eat and drink more. However, I do find that since being careful I just cannot eat too much without feeling ill and bloated. Fortunately that hasn't affected my drinking.