Treat Meal

catsbfit

Hi,

I really fancy a treat meal tonight just feel like i need to scoff my face lol!, so my question is , last week i eat 7,835 that week out of 8,400 so that means i was under eating by 565 so can i eat this calories this week? And eat at maintenance calories today to get my treat meal so after calculating ive got 2,445 cals to eat. My maintenance calories is at 1880. Is this the correct way of doing this or am i going to gain weight?

Thank you!

corysmithsmail

I don't think you can "save" or bank extra calories for longer than a week. I feel like you would gain weight.

That said, if you are eating at a deficit for every day THIS week and then eating at maintenance for your treat meal, I don't think you will gain. But that is just my uneducated guess. lol

sardelsa

You will gain weight if you eat over maintenance over time. Even if you overeat you can balance it all out. I have refeed days where I go way over my deficit for the week (instead of taking 3 I took 4), then the next week I only have 2 refeeds instead of 3 and it all works out. Keep in mind you might retain some water depending on what you eat which can affect the scale, so don't be alarmed if that happens.

Panini911

i mean it should wash out. you lost a bit more one week and a bit less this week. But the "bit less this week" will be closer to what is recommended (you don't want to under-eat by that much most weeks).

janejellyroll

You will still be in an overall deficit if you carry calories from one week to another, but due to the increase volume of food in your body you may notice a temporary weight gain or not see the results you want *within that specific week*. Your deficit was larger than expected last week, your deficit will be smaller than expected this week. But over a longer period of time, this will balance out.

Temporary weight gain is no big deal, it happens to everyone even when they're successfully maintaining.

LivingtheLeanDream

If you feel the need to scoff your face its kind of a sign that you are in too aggressive a calorie deficit.
But technically yes you can bank calories and enjoy them in one meal.

catsbfit

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

If you feel the need to scoff your face its kind of a sign that you are in too aggressive a calorie deficit.
But technically yes you can bank calories and enjoy them in one meal.

Yeah my calorie intake is 1200 cals ive been doing this for 1 week and 2 days and im not sure if im starting to crash, im not hungry but i feel the need to have a very naughty meal such as a Chinise or a kebab! I really dont know why

cwolfman13

You don't gain weight (fat) with one measly meal regardless of how big it is just as you don't lose fat by skipping a meal here and there. To gain weight you need to consistently be in a calorie surplus to override your body's ability to maintain homeostasis...to lose weight you need to consistently be in a calorie deficit to override your body's ability to maintain homeostasis...occasional meals either way of the needle are completely irrelevant to the big picture.

LivingtheLeanDream

catzzm9768 wrote: »

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

If you feel the need to scoff your face its kind of a sign that you are in too aggressive a calorie deficit.
But technically yes you can bank calories and enjoy them in one meal.

Yeah my calorie intake is 1200 cals ive been doing this for 1 week and 2 days and im not sure if im starting to crash, im not hungry but i feel the need to have a very naughty meal such as a Chinise or a kebab! I really dont know why

And that's where your thinking (and a lot of peoples) is skewed, there's nothing wrong with a chinese meal or a kebab now and again or each week even - just account for the calories - you could share the meal which is plenty imo with a friend or your other half and you've halve the calories right away, around 800 cals covers a chinese I find. There are no naughty foods. Its all about the calories and being consistently at calorie deficit which leads to loss over time.

AnnPT77

corysmithsmail wrote: »

I don't think you can "save" or bank extra calories for longer than a week. I feel like you would gain weight.

That said, if you are eating at a deficit for every day THIS week and then eating at maintenance for your treat meal, I don't think you will gain. But that is just my uneducated guess. lol

You can bank calories for pretty much any arbitrary length of time. (I could look at my obesity and subsequent 50-ish pound loss as having banked surplus calories for around 3 decades, then spending those same calories on staying in a deficit for around a year. ). Your body doesn't have a clock or calendar for this sort of thing, and you're routinely gaining/losing tiny amounts of weight (even fat, immeasurable outside a lab ) over a day or few as your intake, activity, and metabolic processes balance out.

The thing is that the more of a roller coaster our intake calories are on, the more of a roller coaster our scale weight is on, from a combination of fat gain/loss, temporary water weight retention needed to metabolize additional carbs/sodium, and changes in average digestive system contents. Most people find the scale-weight roller coaster quite frustrating, so really extreme calorie banking strategies tend to have bad results for psychological (and appetite-management) reasons.

The net calories determine most of net fat storage or loss over a period of time. What period of time? Any.

ETA: Figure out how to achieve your calorie goal while fitting in reasonable portions of foods you crave along the way. That's the on-ramp to successful long-term weight maintenance. Part of that strategy, as others have said, is making sure you're not cutting calories too aggressively in the first place.

WinoGelato

catzzm9768 wrote: »

LivingtheLeanDream wrote: »

If you feel the need to scoff your face its kind of a sign that you are in too aggressive a calorie deficit.
But technically yes you can bank calories and enjoy them in one meal.

Yeah my calorie intake is 1200 cals ive been doing this for 1 week and 2 days and im not sure if im starting to crash, im not hungry but i feel the need to have a very naughty meal such as a Chinise or a kebab! I really dont know why

How much weight do you have to lose? What are your stats? What rate of loss did you select?

There really is no such thing as "naughty" foods, I mean, you're not a toddler are you? Food is just food. It can be calorie dense, nutrient dense, or even sometimes both. Nothing is objectively good or bad, it's all about context and dosage.

In principal what you're aiming for, where you look at total calories over a period of time to determine the long term impact on your calorie deficit and your weight loss is what many of us do. That said, it's been a week. You need to make sure you've got the basics down too - setting the right calorie goal for your overall goals, ensuring you are logging accurately, achieving good nutrition, finding foods that satiate you, etc. All of this is important, as is finding a way to work the foods you really enjoy in at a frequency you are comfortable with. Feeling like you need to "scoff your face" after only a week suggests that maybe some of those basics aren't well established yet.