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MyFitnessPal Community

Does "banking" calories work?

WeaTheRgrlx0x

Can I save about 100 calories a day and exercise calories leading up to an event where I know I'll eat a little extra? Does it work? Thanks!

Replies

avskk

Works just fine for me. I bank calories all week so I can relax on the weekends. I'm losing steadily.

ETA: You might see a temporary bump on the scale after your event from water weight and the weight of extra food in your system. If so, don't panic; it'll go away in a few days.

WeaTheRgrlx0x

Cool, thanks avskk! It makes sense, you save a few calories here and there for later!:)

Sued0nim

Yes

unknown

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bbell1985

Yes of course. How do you think people who have never had much trouble with weight maintenance have done it naturally?

Seffell

Yes, your body doesn't reset at midnight or on Monday

sardelsa

Yepp I do it all the time

Tacklewasher

Was under for the last 3 of 4 days knowing I was going out for a big meal last night. It will all balance out.

leanjogreen18

I've done it weekly for 4 months and I'm seeing a steady loss. It works.

JeromeBarry1

I hope it does, because I've been overdrawing my calorie bank account for the past week.

cwolfman13

Why wouldn't it...we count daily, but our body's count continuously...you don't reset at midnight every day.

bwogilvie

Yep. I lost 65 pounds by focusing on hitting my weekly calorie goal, regardless of whether I went over or under on any given day.

kgirlhart

It does work. The biggest problem I have with banking calories is that sometimes I don't "use" the banked calories. It wasn't a problem really when I was at a deficit, but now that I am in maintenance I am still losing so I try not to bank more than 50 per day.

WeaTheRgrlx0x

Thanks everybody! I appreciate you responding to my question! Hope you all have a great day!!

trigden1991

Adding my agreement to all of the above.

crzycatlady1

Yes, and it's a great strategy to make this whole thing sustainable for the long term.

GottaBurnEmAll

I do it all the time!

Alatariel75

80lbs down from eating lower during the week and higher on weekends.

LizzyJW55

Yes it does, try setting a weekly calorie goal and plan your days according to what you are doing during the week, it's the total at the end of the week that matters. In fact, it's been proven that it's better to have some higher calorie days while dieting to stop the body from going into starvation mode and slowing down metabolism. Best of luck :-))

sstini55

Someone said your body doesn't reset at midnight or Monday, but by doing this you are assuming it resets weekly??? That doesn't make sense.

Need2Exerc1se

Works for me. I do this every week.

ryry_

Because I'm a tried and true American, I spend my calories before hand and pay back the man afterwards.

lalee115

This excites me, as I went over yesterday but had "leftovers" from the week.

avskk

sstini55 wrote: »

Someone said your body doesn't reset at midnight or Monday, but by doing this you are assuming it resets weekly??? That doesn't make sense.

No one's saying it "resets" at all. It doesn't. We're saying a deficit over time is what matters, so it makes more sense and/or is simpler to keep an eye on the weekly (or monthly) totals.

JSaus13

It's not working for me now. I used to think that it did.

trigden1991

sstini55 wrote: »

Someone said your body doesn't reset at midnight or Monday, but by doing this you are assuming it resets weekly??? That doesn't make sense.

No one is assuming it "resets" at all. The philosophy is to look at your calorie intake as a rolling average and realising that daily increases/decreases are not of great importance. A week is a nice round chunk that everyone can easily go by.

pasunejeunefille

Is there a way to bank calories using the mfp app.? Or does everyone just compute them manually?

Intentional_Me

I'm also wondering if there is a way to view your week as a whole. I use android app but would hop on the computer if viewing weekly is possible .

Intentional_Me

I really should start banking too but I'm set to 1200 a day for 10 more pounds so I hate the idea of getting to eat even less some days. Maybe I should just cut 100 6 days a week so I have an extra 600 to play with on Sat or something. Plus I could add more with working out

workinonit1956

Intentional_Me wrote: »

I'm also wondering if there is a way to view your week as a whole. I use android app but would hop on the computer if viewing weekly is possible .

I use an iPhone and can view my last 7 day info by scrolling all the way down to the bottom of my diary and click 'nutrition'.