How exactly does it work?

cyberiantigeress

We talked about it at work - for the likes of weight watchers, they can collect their points and have binges on weekends without putting on weight.

So when does your body calculate calories and exercise and work out whether you should lose weight or gain it?
Daily? Weekly?

SideSteel

cyberiantigeress wrote: »

We talked about it at work - for the likes of weight watchers, they can collect their points and have binges on weekends without putting on weight.

So when does your body calculate calories and exercise and work out whether you should lose weight or gain it?
Daily? Weekly?

It's continuous. You are constantly storing and oxidizing fat. Shortly after a meal, fat oxidation goes down and fat storage goes up. In between meals fat storage goes down and fat oxidation goes up.

What matters is the net difference between fat storage and fat oxidation and this is primarily determined by caloric balance over that time period.

usmcmp

All the time. Your body burns calories constantly. During the day you eat more calories than you are using at that time, so the slight surplus gets banked. Since you don't eat while you are sleeping that slight surplus gets used to keep you breathing and your heart beating and tissue repair along with many other processes, which result in a deficit over the 24 hours. Over days/weeks the deficit (or surplus) adds up and you lose weight (or gain). You might gain or lose ounces daily, but the long term trend is what is important.

cyberiantigeress

Ok thanks. So I could bank my deficit for weekends as well?

SideSteel

cyberiantigeress wrote: »

Ok thanks. So I could bank my deficit for weekends as well?

In theory, yes.