Thread: do I lose the same amount of weight by staggered calories?

Hey calorie peeps,

If I stagger my calories, how will it effect my weight-loss? For example, if I eat 1200 calories per day, I am eating 8400 calories per week. Does it make me lose more / less / the same weight whether I eat 1200 per day, or whether I eat 8400 per week but do it, say

3 x 500
4 x 1725

or

4 x 1800
3 x 1000

or

2 x 2000
4 x 880

All of which add up to 8400.

Would it make a difference what order I did them in? For example, if I ate them staggered (a day with the higher calories, a day with the lower calories), or whether I ate all the 880 days then the two 2000 days?

I have the opportunity of some regular social things which involve food and I don't want to miss out. However I still want to lose weight, steadily.

Are any of those options which I suggested, dangerous? I've heard over and over to not eat less than 1200 calories a day for a woman. Is this still the case if I am eating more the next day in a way which the full week still averages out to 1200 per day?

Thanks for your help!

According to Jillian Michaels and many other health and fitness gurus - zig zagging calories is actually a very successful tool for weight loss and its your weekly calorie target that you have to aim for and not daily :-) so go for it! I do it too.

Yeah - what Lauren said - I think this is way more sustainable and convenient and advocates a more normal approach to eating than strictly adhering to an exact same number every single day.

Thanks, guys! That's a real relief Is there any danger in eating less than 1200 calories per day, as long as I'm eating at least 8400 (7 x 1200) per week? Actually, to even stagger my calories I'd *have* to eat less than 1200 on some days!

Have you looked into JUDDD? Or any other form of intermittent fasting? That's basically what you're describing - there's a JUDDD sub-forum on here, and people seem to get good results from it. I always look at my calories weekly too, but don't have any really low days - like my grub too much, lol. xx