A lot of clients come to me frustrated that they can’t seem to lose weight. They see fluctuations throughout the week but ultimately at the end of each week they’re at the same weight they were when they started.

Careful observation of their eating habits often uncovers the cause of the weight loss delay: They’re only ‘dieting’ 5 days out of the week. They’re a classic workweek dieter.

Meaning, they’re watching their intake Monday – Friday. They’re eating in a deficit. They’re eating ‘right’ so they can lose weight, but then the weekend comes…and they go crazy! Pizza, wine, chips, margaritas, ice cream, cake, the works!

It’s as if the weekend comes and it’s all bets off. Eat everything in sight. Sound familiar?

I get it! It’s much harder to keep your caloric deficit during the weekend. Not only is your schedule off, but when the weekend includes celebrations or get-togethers with family and friends, avoiding the temptation of foods you’ve avoided all week long can be hard.

The reason weight loss stalls in the case of the workweek dieter is because all the progress made Monday through Friday is ‘undone’ during the weekend.

Let’s look at some numbers:

Caloric Needs: 1800

Daily Caloric Deficit for Weight Loss: 1750/day

Monday: 1750

Tuesday: 1750

Wednesday: 1700

Thursday: 1750

Friday: 1800

Saturday: 2000

Sunday: 2100

Notice how this client ate a 250-calorie deficit total M-F. She was crushing it…feeling good, feeling lean, feeling successful! But then, when the weekend hit, she actually ate back 300 calories. Leaving her UP by 50 calories at the end of the week. At this rate, the client will NOT lose weight. Not if she continues to overeat on the weekend.

It’s really easy to blow your weekly deficit on the weekend. Especially when you’re feeling lean and good after a week of eating great. But in order to be successful in the long-term, you’ve got to maintain the deficit week after week. Calories still count on the weekend so if you are serious about your goals, you need a plan for the weekend too!

What is that solution? Calorie cycling!

Calorie cycling is a process where you create a calorie goal for the week but intentionally set lower calories during the week (deficit) and higher calorie days on/near the weekend (close to maintenance calories).

As a result, you’ll see continued weight loss and/or fat loss over time because you are still in a deficit for the week overall but aren’t sabotaging your progress by overeating on the weekend anymore. If you’re going to enjoy your weekend, why not plan for it?

With a set plan you’ll do better both during the week and on the weekend.

You no longer need ‘cheat’ days. You’ll stop ‘starting over’ every Monday. You’ll actually see the results you’ve set out to achieve

CTA