Can Exercise Calories be Saved?

sherisse5

I recently switched from the weight watchers program. It worked much the same, but instead of counting calories you counted points. If you earned extra points through exercise you were allowed to swap them out for extra food points anytime during the week. Is it the same here? If I earned 200 extra calories from exercising on Monday, could I save them to use on Friday?

thegeordielass

Calories in and calories out are long term running totals. Your body can't really say "the 200 cals extra today came from Monday". As long as you're running at a deficit in the long term (weeks and months) you'll lose weight. Your body doesn't know to allocate a certain number of calories to a day so you can pretty much do as you like so long as you keep the deficit long term.

crisma1974

Yeap!!! I save some for an extra treat on the weekend.

malibu927

Use the app to follow a weekly calorie goal. It will show you how many calories you have remaining for the week.

h1udd

Although be wary on how accurate the exercise calories are... ie only bank 50% of them, otherwise you might find your weekends are ruining your deficit

sijomial

A weekly "budget" gives more flexibility to fit your diet into your lifestyle rather than try to fit your lifestyle into your diet - which may well make adherence easier.

LivingtheLeanDream

I save/bank calories from during the week even at maintenance so I can eat more on the weekends.

ejg1010

As other posters have said, it's perfectly OK to work to a weekly goal, rather than a daily goal. I do the same and it allows me a bit more flexibility to save calories for the weekend, a glass (or two) of wine or for a meal out.

You could try eating back 50% of your exercise calories to begin with and see how your loss goes, then play around with increasing that if your rate of loss is too high or you are hungrier because of your workouts. Exercise calories are often overestimated and we probably burn less than what we think.