? can you really save calories and use them later

Blondie9292

I like red wine. I don't drink every week but when I have it I do like 3 or 4 glasses. I know it's really bad for the belly. Can I really bad k those calories I don't use during the week and use them 2 or three times a month towards this without a huge negative impact?

arditarose

Yes.

I bank calories all week so I can eat 2500-3000 calories on Saturday. I did it in a deficit, and do it on maintenance. I just have to watch my macros and make sure I'm properly fueled for workouts.

WBB55

*looks skeptically at 3 or 4 glasses*

I don't know how many ounces are in one of your glasses, but I wouldn't "save" up calories for more than a week, myself. That being said, binging twice a month on booze won't derail your weight loss, but I wouldn't plan on your loss being linear and predictable if you make something like this a habit.

You could try having 3 or 4 glasses of something with a little less alcohol. Like a white wine spritzer. That way you can keep up with your friends but will overall be consuming less calories and alcohol.

BramageOMG

I work with a Wino, um, I mean a woman who loves her wine. Any suggestion of a Spritzer would get you a punch in the eye.. with that said: Yes, you can bank calories.. be reasonable. When I was in weight loss mode I would save up for Pizza once a week and my losses were linear over 5 months. (-68 lbs)

oh_happy_day

I do this to a certain extent. I'm going out for brunch tomorrow and know it'll be hard for me to stay within my calories so I've made sure I've had a few days this week where I've been 200 calories under my usual deficit just to give myself some wiggle room. I love red wine too and it does have some health benefits. Make sure you're counting your glasses properly. I know the way I pour my glass is more than a standard drink. So keep on top of it!

MysticRealm

I eat 200-250 under my daily goal so i have extra Cala to use on the weekend.

kami3006

I wish I could use my husband's banked calories.

professionalHobbyist

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

Asher_Ethan

Yeah I definitely bank my calories so I can drink 5+ drinks twice a week. I'm still losing.

arditarose

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

wat?

kami3006

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

Nothing is falsified. They just eat say 100 cals less each day and have those extra 500 cals on the weekend.

ETA: basically looking at a weekly intake instead of a daily one.

kristydi

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

I don't think anyone is suggesting people record inaccurately. Just that they eat (and record) a bit less for several days so they can have a bigger calorie count on certain days without going over their weekly goal. They're just splitting up their weekly calories in unequal parts. For example my daily goal is 1500 calories. That's 10500 per 7 day period. Rather than eating 1500 every day, I may eat 1400 for 6 days and eat 2100 on 1 day. The weekly total is still 10500. I'm still in a deficit and I haven't falsified anything.

arditarose

kristydi wrote: »

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

I don't think anyone is suggesting people record inaccurately. Just that they eat (and record) a bit less for several days so they can have a bigger calorie count on certain days without going over their weekly goal. They're just splitting up their weekly calories in unequal parts. For example my daily goal is 1500 calories. That's 10500 per 7 day period. Rather than eating 1500 every day, I may eat 1400 for 6 days and eat 2100 on 1 day. The weekly total is still 10500. I'm still in a deficit and I haven't falsified anything.

What she said.

barbecuesauce

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Calories are units of energy you get from food.

They don't bank aside of your body banks them as fat.

So yes, you can bank lots of calories! That is why most of us are here.

Why not just record accurately what you intake and let it all work out.

Those that claim to bank calories say it all works out that way too. So why falsify your intake.

I don't see why do it. Just record what you actually do. If you don't, then you won't be able to see if it actually really does work out.

I don't think OP is talking about putting today's wine on Monday's tab.

But if you're questioning whether it's possible to consume 500 calories over your maintenance today, then go back to eating 500 under maintenance every other day and still lose weight, it totally is.

professionalHobbyist

Well why not just do your daily log to reflect your daily intake?

In the end just do what you want, but at that point it isn't a true daily log.

The question was, can you bank calories

Ironically you do bank calories in the form of added fat.

You can't bank negative energy. You burn off that fat. There is no shell game with calories. It is the dreaded CICO.

But everyone is an adult and does as they see fit. I personally think it is a bad practice for me. If I over eat on a day it goes in the log! An 1800 calorie order of spare ribs is in mine! Ha.... And they were dang good and worth it.

For me it was always wrong thinking about food. So I keep it simple.

So no, I don't play games with recording calories. Maybe I was a worse case than most. It has been a year and a half and I have lost over 125 lbs. so it was kind of lose weight or die.

arditarose

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Well why not just do your daily log to reflect your daily intake?

In the end just do what you want, but at that point it isn't a true daily log.

The question was, can you bank calories

Ironically you do bank calories in the form of added fat.

You can't bank negative energy. You burn off that fat. There is no shell game with calories. It is the dreaded CICO.

But everyone is an adult and does as they see fit. I personally think it is a bad practice for me. If I over eat on a day it goes in the log! An 1800 calorie order of spare ribs is in mine! Ha.... And they were dang good and worth it.

For me it was always wrong thinking about food. So I keep it simple.

So no, I don't play games with recording calories. Maybe I was a worse case than most. It has been a year and a half and I have lost over 125 lbs. so it was kind of lose weight or die.

No one is playing games. I think you are very confused. We keep a weekly deficit...which is still the "dreaded cico" you speak of. Everything is logged.

barbecuesauce

arditarose wrote: »

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Well why not just do your daily log to reflect your daily intake?

In the end just do what you want, but at that point it isn't a true daily log.

The question was, can you bank calories

Ironically you do bank calories in the form of added fat.

You can't bank negative energy. You burn off that fat. There is no shell game with calories. It is the dreaded CICO.

But everyone is an adult and does as they see fit. I personally think it is a bad practice for me. If I over eat on a day it goes in the log! An 1800 calorie order of spare ribs is in mine! Ha.... And they were dang good and worth it.

For me it was always wrong thinking about food. So I keep it simple.

So no, I don't play games with recording calories. Maybe I was a worse case than most. It has been a year and a half and I have lost over 125 lbs. so it was kind of lose weight or die.

No one is playing games. I think you are very confused. We keep a weekly deficit...which is still the "dreaded cico" you speak of. Everything is logged.

Yeah. I looked at it as this: as long as I had a deficit of 3500 for the week, splurging was fine.

arditarose

UltimateRBF wrote: »

arditarose wrote: »

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Well why not just do your daily log to reflect your daily intake?

In the end just do what you want, but at that point it isn't a true daily log.

The question was, can you bank calories

Ironically you do bank calories in the form of added fat.

You can't bank negative energy. You burn off that fat. There is no shell game with calories. It is the dreaded CICO.

But everyone is an adult and does as they see fit. I personally think it is a bad practice for me. If I over eat on a day it goes in the log! An 1800 calorie order of spare ribs is in mine! Ha.... And they were dang good and worth it.

For me it was always wrong thinking about food. So I keep it simple.

So no, I don't play games with recording calories. Maybe I was a worse case than most. It has been a year and a half and I have lost over 125 lbs. so it was kind of lose weight or die.

No one is playing games. I think you are very confused. We keep a weekly deficit...which is still the "dreaded cico" you speak of. Everything is logged.

Yeah on the app at least it shows you your weekly deficit. A lot of people myself included like to keep an eye on that as well as the daily deficit. It's not cheating or playing games....it's working with the data.

Agreed. Data is key.

@professionalHobbyist, this would work the same way doing it backwards-eating over one day, perhaps unplanned, and then fixing it up over the course of a day or two by eating under your deficit goal.

MysticRealm

professionalHobbyist wrote: »

Well why not just do your daily log to reflect your daily intake?

In the end just do what you want, but at that point it isn't a true daily log.

The question was, can you bank calories

Ironically you do bank calories in the form of added fat.

You can't bank negative energy. You burn off that fat. There is no shell game with calories. It is the dreaded CICO.

But everyone is an adult and does as they see fit. I personally think it is a bad practice for me. If I over eat on a day it goes in the log! An 1800 calorie order of spare ribs is in mine! Ha.... And they were dang good and worth it.

For me it was always wrong thinking about food. So I keep it simple.

So no, I don't play games with recording calories. Maybe I was a worse case than most. It has been a year and a half and I have lost over 125 lbs. so it was kind of lose weight or die.

Are you crazy or is it just the way you post?

This is how I 'bank' calories (and record them)

Monday I ate 1449 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Tuesday I ate 1452 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Wednesday I ate 1700 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Thursday I ate 1446 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Friday I ate 1449 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Saturday I ate 2000 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.
Sunday I ate 2400 calories, so I record all the food in my diary that leads up to me eating that amount.

My daily cal goal is 1700, my weekly cal goal is 11,900. For the week I posted above I would have eaten 11896. This means I am under my weekly cals by 4 calories.

Yes, you create MORE deficit during the week so you 'lose more' then on the weekend you have a surplus so you 'gain' but it all works out to the same loss as you would eating your daily goal everyday.