Over eat then under eat?
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So, I am considering going over my daily cals for the day, and then making up for it my being under by the amount I am over today, tomorrow. do any of you do this? eat over your intake one day and then compensate by eating less the next?
I do that routinely. I eat much less during the week than I do on the weekends. I do this specifically so I don't have to think about it on the weekends. I don't binge or go crazy on weekends, but I don't log or count calories. I just exercise, eat, drink and be merry. Then Mon - Fri I eat lighter and exercise. Not starving, but light.0 -
Hope the MBA is not in nutrition.
Just for those that don't know... an MBA is Masters of Business Arts... not science.
Actually, here in the states it is a Master's of Business Administration and is a masters of science degree, not a master's of arts. It's typically 18 classes and takes around 4 years to complete if you do the program part time by working full-time. It's pretty standard at all schools and yes, it's science not art. At least here in the states.
Fine... But its not a "science" degree. Otherwise I would have had to obtain a 'BS' in business administration rather than a 'BA' in business administration first.
It is an "arts" degree. And I am in the states. Your credentials don't make you any more correct about the point that you were trying to make.
Oh... yeah... and I've taken most of those classes and I don't recall ever studying anything on nutrition or Circadian rhythyms.
It's a science degree. *bashes head up against wall*
Clearly you missed all of my points.
All of them.
I will state them here one last time:
1. It's confusing to calorie cycle but if it works for you, go for it.
2. "under eating" or "eating below goal" on a regular basis (i.e. a deficit to the already factored in deficit here) is not suggested.
Jesus... I thought you were leaving???0 -
I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time with the "24 hour" theory. So what you are saying is that your body "stops" or "resets" at midnight biologically speaking? So if I ate 3500 extra calories one day, my body would metabolize those cals to fat and I would be one pound heavier at the stroke of twelve? Or vice versa? Meaning every day is truly a new day and nothing you did previously has any bearing on today. If this is the case, then, by your theory, your diet starts over every day, meaning that any deficit or overage you had the day before vanishes at midnight. I don't think the body works like that.0
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Jesus... I thought you were leaving???
:sad:0 -
Yeah, if you overeat, your body hangs on to all those calories, even if you undereat later. It has no way of regulating anything beyond 24 hours. It really confuses things. That's why all your gym sessions should take place between 11:30 and 12:30 at night- it will cause complete muscle confusion and really speed up your gains.0
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The OP really just wanted to know if it was okay to go over her daily calorie goal with a piece of chocolate... 50 calories over is all we are talking about here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1018282-sitting-beside-a-bar-of-chocolate
Really?! Forget it. It's not worth fighting over a piece of chocolate...Geezus.0 -
This is how I do it. I'm more concerned about my weekly goals instead of daily. My BMR is 2100 and I eat 2200 and have been losing .5 to 1 pound a week. If I eat 2400 calories one day and 1800 the next and 2100 the next and blah blah blah blah, as long as I'm hitting weekly goals, I don't mind. It works for me.
The problem you run into is people who will turn it into an ED.0 -
Your body is on a 24 hour clock per my doctor. I'm going with what he says. That's why we have our sleep cycles and all of our other body's rhythms and cycles. 24 hours. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being realistic. If I eat 3,000 calories one day and only 1,500 the next it does not "undo" the day before. I have to be under by 500 calories per day not per week. See what I mean?
The only potential issue arising from circadian rhythm is that protein synthesis rates are lowest in the morning after an overnight fast so you might want to consider having dietary protein sooner rather than later.
In the overall scheme of things it is not worth worrying about for most people.
Calorie cycling is fine.0 -
Yeah, if you overeat, your body hangs on to all those calories, even if you undereat later. It has no way of regulating anything beyond 24 hours. It really confuses things. That's why all your gym sessions should take place between 11:30 and 12:30 at night- it will cause complete muscle confusion and really speed up your gains.
So THAT'S what I've been doing wrong... damnit, I knew it was something simple.
*sets alarm for 11:15*0 -
I do this pretty often. I will have 2000 calorie days and then 1300 calorie days. So far it hasn't hindered my progress. Mostly it happens on days I've worked really late, don't eat much at work to begin with and then have a lot of food to cook/consume when I get home. Sometimes I'm just tired, so I'll try to pack in as much calorie and usually protein dense food as I can and then don't sweat it. I know it will balance out in the long run and it has.
Right, see you said "1300" there's people in this topic talking about going under a bunch of days...so under 1,200. When you're going under you're at say...1300. I don't think there's anything healthy about say: 3,000 (Monday), 2,000 (Tuesday), 800 (Wed-Thurs since you're banking a bunch of calories), 1100 (Friday--gotta BANK UP for the weekend) and 2,500 both Sat-Sun. WTF is that. Your body is not a bank and you can't bank up anything.
Woah, hold up! The OP isn't saying that this is what she's going to do. All she has asked is if she goes over today can she stay on track by being under by the same amount of calories tomorrow. And the answer to that is yes, she can. There is no indication that the OP intends to do this on a regular basis.
I have done this on occasion, and over the last 5 months I've lost 24lbs and am 4lbs away from my goal weight - so it can work.
Just read your most recent post...are you for real?
MFP is set up for 24 hours of logging so that people can see how we'll or not they are doing day to day. It gives a breakdown of how you are doing so that you can spot possible issues.
It's also for motivation! Daily good comments will courage and motivate people to keep going. Google positive reinforcement - it's a well know psychological technique most famously studied by Pavlov and his dogs.
Are you saying I'm a dog?
Bloody hell, I hope that's an attempt at humour.
No, I'm not calling you a dog.
Pavlov actually used dogs in his study which led to him discovering the psychological technique which is called positive reinforcement, hence why I referred to him as Pavlov and his dogs.
I know. You really felt the need to explain that? :flowerforyou:
Quite evidently.0 -
This is kind of the concept of Weight Watchers. You have a minimum to eat each day, then you have a cache of points/calories you can choose to use or not throughout the week, as well as exercise calories that you can use throughout the week.So, I am considering going over my daily cals for the day, and then making up for it my being under by the amount I am over today, tomorrow. do any of you do this? eat over your intake one day and then compensate by eating less the next?
Yes, it works.0 -
I'm going to make one more attempt at this.
Lets say that you have an energy requirement of 2000 calories per day to maintain bodyweight. Lets suppose that this maintenance requirement is the same on a daily basis (incorrect in real life but for purposes of example):
This person eats as follows:
Monday: 1500 calories (-500 or 500 under energy requirement)
Tuesday: 2500 calories (+500)
Wednesday: 1500 calories (-500)
Thursday: 1500 calories (-500)
Friday: 1200 calories (-800)
Saturday : 2200 calories (+200)
Sunday 1850 calories (-150)
Sum: -1750.
Now lets suppose they eat at -250 per day the following week.
M 1750 (-250)
T 1750 (-250)
W 1750 (-250)
Th 1750 (-250)
F 1750 (-250)
Sa 1750 (-250)
Su 1750 (-250)
In both cases we have a total energy deficit of 1750 cals at the end of the week.
Both of these methods will produce weight loss and I would claim that they would be roughly equivalent given this example. You could build a case for one method being superior for adherence reasons or some type of cyclical method being potentially beneficial in lean athletes for partitioning effects depending on when training occurs but now we're splitting hairs and discussing things that aren't relevant for the majority of the population of this site.
^^^^^ This . . . . its called zig zagging or calorie cycling- either way the premise is eat more on some days and less on others for an "overall" deficit in the long term- keeps your metabolism from slowing down becuase it never knows what to expect (if a person eats 1300 calories every day over a long period of tinme the body will adjust to that 1300 calories- hence a plateau).0 -
I'm going to make one more attempt at this.
Lets say that you have an energy requirement of 2000 calories per day to maintain bodyweight. Lets suppose that this maintenance requirement is the same on a daily basis (incorrect in real life but for purposes of example):
This person eats as follows:
Monday: 1500 calories (-500 or 500 under energy requirement)
Tuesday: 2500 calories (+500)
Wednesday: 1500 calories (-500)
Thursday: 1500 calories (-500)
Friday: 1200 calories (-800)
Saturday : 2200 calories (+200)
Sunday 1850 calories (-150)
Sum: -1750.
Now lets suppose they eat at -250 per day the following week.
M 1750 (-250)
T 1750 (-250)
W 1750 (-250)
Th 1750 (-250)
F 1750 (-250)
Sa 1750 (-250)
Su 1750 (-250)
In both cases we have a total energy deficit of 1750 cals at the end of the week.
Both of these methods will produce weight loss and I would claim that they would be roughly equivalent given this example. You could build a case for one method being superior for adherence reasons or some type of cyclical method being potentially beneficial in lean athletes for partitioning effects depending on when training occurs but now we're splitting hairs and discussing things that aren't relevant for the majority of the population of this site.
^^^^^ This . . . . its called zig zagging or calorie cycling- either way the premise is eat more on some days and less on others for an "overall" deficit in the long term- keeps your metabolism from slowing down becuase it never knows what to expect (if a person eats 1300 calories every day over a long period of tinme the body will adjust to that 1300 calories- hence a plateau).
I'd debate the bolded part until someone becomes quite lean at which point it might be possible to get some refeeding type of benefit. For the vast majority of people I don't believe there's any evidence that any metabolically beneficial effect will occur when comparing cyclical intake to steady intake.
And the only reason I'm posting this is to that overweight people doing steady intakes don't suddenly think they need to change things in order to get some type of metabolism boost.0 -
Your body is on a 24 hour clock. Sorry. You can't make stuff up. You can of course log a bad day and do better tomorrow and the next day.
I hope you're being sarcastic?
Your body is NOT on a 24 hour clock, at least not when it comes to weight loss. What matters is your overall calorie intake over time. If you're generally eating less than you burn, you'll lose weight.
What a lot of people (inlcuidng myself) do is look at our WEEKLY goals instead of daily. I net about 1400 calories a day, which is 9800 per week. As long as at the end of the week I'm at or below 9800 calories, I'm going to lose weight right on track... even if I went over a couple days.
So the short answer is yes, you can go over and make up for it the next day. I do it all the time and have had great success.
THANK YOU for pointing that out. Your body doesn't strictly know when it should or shouldn't turn into a pumpkin that specifically!0 -
The OP really just wanted to know if it was okay to go over her daily calorie goal with a piece of chocolate... 50 calories over is all we are talking about here.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1018282-sitting-beside-a-bar-of-chocolate0 -
All science and MBAs aside...
Some days I'm hungrier than others. I'm not shoving food in to my not hungry body and I'm not depriving myself when I'm hungry and have eaten reasonably but am already at or near my "max."0 -
I kind of do this by accident. When I'm with my partner, we tend to eat more. When I'm by myself, I don't eat as much. I make sure it's not wildly over or under in either circumstance, but I will indulge and make up for it the next day by working off the excess calories.0
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If they eat over maintenance on one day they will gain fat acutely. If they then create a deficit the next day or two, totaling 3500 calories, they will lose the fat they gained on that day they over-ate. Over time the summation of all these days of fat gain vs fat loss will determine how much NET FAT they gain or lose.
The point is that it's the effect over time (continually) of fat oxidation vs fat storage. How you partition your calories from a day to day basis is far less important than the average intake over the course of weeks/months.
^^^^Listen to this guy. He knows his stuff.
Truth. When I wonder about someone's credibility on the forums, I often look to their profile picture or weight loss ticker for guidance. Based on this guy's picture, I'm pretty sure he knows a thing or two about weight loss and body composition.
I've actually never been overweight.
It's interesting you are trying to argue this with Weight Watchers as an example. You do know that it's built into their system that you can eat an extra amount of points per week? You can eat those extra points on top of your daily points all in one day or you can divide them out over the week. So your argument using WW actually goes against what you are saying. The thing that matters is that you don't go over your total calories for the week. I do it and know many others who do as well.0 -
It's a science degree. *bashes head up against wall*
Clearly you missed all of my points.
All of them.
I will state them here one last time:
1. It's confusing to calorie cycle but if it works for you, go for it.
2. "under eating" or "eating below goal" on a regular basis (i.e. a deficit to the already factored in deficit here) is not suggested.
There are some forms of Intermittent Fasting that are really going to blow your mind!0 -
Your body is on a 24 hour clock. Sorry. You can't make stuff up. You can of course log a bad day and do better tomorrow and the next day.
I hope you're being sarcastic?
Your body is NOT on a 24 hour clock, at least not when it comes to weight loss. What matters is your overall calorie intake over time. If you're generally eating less than you burn, you'll lose weight.
What a lot of people (inlcuidng myself) do is look at our WEEKLY goals instead of daily. I net about 1400 calories a day, which is 9800 per week. As long as at the end of the week I'm at or below 9800 calories, I'm going to lose weight right on track... even if I went over a couple days.
So the short answer is yes, you can go over and make up for it the next day. I do it all the time and have had great success.
Your body is on a 24 hour clock per my doctor. I'm going with what he says. That's why we have our sleep cycles and all of our other body's rhythms and cycles. 24 hours. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being realistic. If I eat 3,000 calories one day and only 1,500 the next it does not "undo" the day before. I have to be under by 500 calories per day not per week. See what I mean?
If this is so and you can't "undo" what you've done before, then we could argue that attempting to lose weight is an exercise in futility, because that's EXACTLY what the MFP weight-loss protocol involves. Individuals eat at a deficit this day / week / month / year because they ate at a surplus on previous days / weeks / months / years and their body stored the extra calories as fat. They are eating at a deficit now to "undo" the surplus they consumed before.
For the OP: You can do it, but I would tell you to be very careful.
The reason I say this is that you need to make sure you don't get into a "I can make it up later" trap like this:
1) You overeat Monday, but say "I can make up for it on Tuesday".
2) You overeat / Fail to compensate on tuesday but say "I can make up for it on Wednesday".
3) Wednesday comes around and you STILL overeat or fail to compensate. Once again, you're okay with this because you have the thought that you can make up for it at a later time.
4) Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Next thing you know, you've ended up with consuming a surplus in the current timeframe because you haven't gotten around to making up for it.
Because this is a spontaneous, unplanned day where you will go over, it might be an idea to take today as an "over" day and re-focus back on your goal tomorrow. That way, you maintain your focus on that same number.
If you're willing to put in the work that is necessary to control calorie cycling, go for it. But remember that it's going to involve more math on your part.0
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