Help with "banked" calories

sarab260

Hi everyone!

As always, I have a strange question for all of you. A couple of things happened this week that contradicted each other...
1) I found out on Sunday that my favorite frozen yogurt shop is closing on Friday (today), so I got frozen yogurt every single night this week — not exaggerating.
2) I wanted to save up calories for Halloween weekend, where I predict I will be indulging in a lot of sugary sweets and — even spookier — lots of adult beverages.

So, my question is this. With exercise, I still had 3-500 surplus calories each night, and I was hoping to use that as a "bank" to not feel guilty about going a little crazy tonight and tomorrow. Is this a reasonable approach, or should I just write this weekend off as a wash and try not to gain too much?

I know having a calorie bank for the weekend helps some people, but I wasn't sure how applicable it was if those calories were purely exercise calories (since I used all regular calories, and then some on frozen yogurt treats).

Let me know your thoughts!

malibu927

That's pretty much how banking calories works. Enjoy yourself!

Bshmerlie

That is how banked calories works but you are counting on the surplus from exercise calories. And looking at your diary it looks like you are figuring 800+ calories per day. That seems like an excessive amount unless you are exercising 3-4 hours per day. My point is if those exercise calories have been exagerated and then you eat them back you are then going to be in a calorie surplus not a deficit. I think you should try to curb it a little bit this weekend or it may take you a couple of weeks to recover from this one.

Emily3907

I wouldn't count the weekend as a wash. Still log everything, even if it means going over. Better to log it and know for sure than to not log and quickly go down that candy spiral.

sarab260

Bshmerlie wrote: »

That is how banked calories works but you are counting on the surplus from exercise calories. And looking at your diary it looks like you are figuring 800+ calories per day. That seems like an excessive amount unless you are exercising 3-4 hours per day. My point is if those exercise calories have been exagerated and then you eat them back you are then going to be in a calorie surplus not a deficit. I think you should try to curb it a little bit this weekend or it may take you a couple of weeks to recover from this one.

They aren't manually added; it's linked with my AppleWatch. It's based on an average of 2 hours of exercise per day, 1.5 of cardio and .5 of weight training. I haven't heard any reviews that the AppleWatch over-estimates calorie burn, but it's still very new, so hard to say!

sarab260

Thanks everyone! I was definitely planning on logging still, just wasn't sure if I should feel really nervous about letting myself go over a lot, or if I should feel that I have some wiggle room because of the bank. I also just wasn't sure if people had differing opinions about banked exercise calories vs. banked daily allotted calories.

Thank you all for your help & input!

brb2008

I say you enjoy the day, you know you have a bank and keep track of everything anyway. Then back to whatever your plan is right away on Sunday morning.

sarab260

brb2008 wrote: »

I say you enjoy the day, you know you have a bank and keep track of everything anyway. Then back to whatever your plan is right away on Sunday morning.

Good plan thank you!

Yi5hedr3

This is dumb.