So do calories ever roll over?

Slimkickin23

I have excercised a lot over the pat couple of days (yesterday, saturday, and sunday) and i never eat back all of those excercise calories. Am i suposed too or what? Also if I was like 500 cal under yesterday and i accidentaly went over today would that be bad or okay? I am not going to go over on purpose but I was just wondering. PLease excuse the spelling mistakes! (my downfall ) Anyway. . .
, Chloe

blh_1010

I wonder the same thing. But really, I don't know.

whalertly

I do my best to consider each day its own, and only aim for the goals of each day. If you are good or bad one day, sure, it effects your current change, but the overall impact is minimal. By aiming at each day, you keep yourself on a pattern, which keeps you from gorging or starving

as for eating the calories, you should try to get as close to the goal plus the exercise as possible. If you burn 300 exercising, and have a goal of 1200, you need to be as close to 1500 as you can be. THis keep you healthy and at the right levels

sharonuk10

I asked a similar question to this the other day. Some said yes you can carry them over as it all evens out in the end. But others said no they did not think the body worked that way. Here is how I look at it:

MFP cuts your cals by 500 a day so after 7 days you have had 3500 cals less than you should do. That 3500 cals loses you a pound (since 3500 cals equals a pound). So IF you have burned more one day then the next and you do go over by a bit the next day I do not see why it does not all workout in the end anyway. As an example say you had 500 cals leftover everyday after you exercise that is an additional 3500 a week so therefore you would lose another pound a week. With all that I do not see why some would say it cannot carry over.

Hope I made sense!! LOL

Edited to add: when I asked I had burned 1398 cals on a 3hr 40min walk and had over 1000 cals leftover that day. The next day I did no workout as it was a rest day. My body was still feeling hungry and recovering from that walk. I did go over that day by 125 cals. It did not worry me.

whalertly

though, technically eating 600 one day and 1800 the next will let you still reach your goal, it is a bad idea to train your body like that. THe more you stay the same, the easier it will be to eat that ammount

barbiecat

:flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: :flowerforyou: being consistent helped me reach my goal.....sometimes circumstances throw you off balance for a day or two, but sticking to a plan is the best path to success :bigsmile:

mamagooskie

I personally think it's okay.

I find some of my best weekly losses are on weeks in which I've had a "cheat" day or 2. My calories vary day to day and I've lost 70 lbs in 6 months so far.

Sometimes I eat all my calories and exercize ones, sometimes I eat just the minimum 1200, and sometimes I go on eating benders that are unrecordable and I've been having steady losses for 1/2 a year.

So a day or 2 here or there where you go over will be just fine......gotta look at the BIG picture!!!

nehtaeh

I follow what Sharon said and I think I agree with that, although I really don't have a clue. Since the calorie deficit is calculated over a week I don't see why you couldn't follow the weekly logic for over/under totals.

While I see what people are saying that sticking to the same thing daily makes it easier to reach your goal and stick with this, that is more of a personal thing and how to not fall into old habits.

I belive that WW is set up for a weekly thing so the points can be used over the week. If you save your points, you can use them on a Friday night or something. I've never actually done the program so I could be wrong.

whalertly

there is no problem going +/- 10% or so, but remember, 10% is not a whole lot. Going up or down a higher ammount can easily throw you off, or get dangerous. Take it to the extreme, and you go from starving to gluttony in one day, which is not all to great for convincing your body to loose extra calories

oats4breakfast

Lookl up calorie staggering.
All this is is a formula based off of 3500 cals equals 1 pound lost. It's over time too and not all our bodies and food is the same, so it's not a perfect formula.

There is no problem going under/over on your daily quota, so long as you average out over time. i.e. 200 over one day, followed by 200 under, followed by a 0, followed by a 200 over, followed by a 300 under, followed by a 100 over is the same amount of calories as 0 over/under for 7 days.

It's easier, for "myfitnesspal" and general math equations in general to massage a bunch of numbers and come out with one answer, than it is to massage the same numbers, and come out with more than one answer.
e.g. 2+2 = 4 is easy to compute/program instead of 2+2 = 3+1 = 4 or 2+2=1.5+2.5=4 etc even though these are both correct.


This daily number simply makes it easier for us to understand. You're not loosing 0.15 pounds a day in a linear fashion, like the "500" cal deficit would have you believe. It's a process over time. So, if every single day in your life is different, and so long as you're eating healthy and creating the deficit over time, you will loose weight, It just won't ever be in a perfect straight line. Even if you eat exactly the same every day. Just make sure you average out properly over time. Ensuring you average out per week is easier than doing it over a month, but there's probably no reason why the month thing wouldn't work either .... like if you fasted every 4 days like I've read some people do.

alantin

There is an excellent post by Banks about exercise calories here: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/108362-eating-to-fuel-your-body-very-long

There is also discussion and some good points about banking calories.