Can I "save" exercise calories for another day?

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Replies

  • Moana41
    Moana41 Posts: 35
    Seriously?
    No unfortunately you can't just save calories for another day. Everything resets at midnight, Cinderella.

    lol
  • devil_in_a_blue_dress
    devil_in_a_blue_dress Posts: 5,214 Member
    Why can't you save your calories for another day?

    No, you shouldn't store them up for weeks on end, but within a week or so is fine. What is the difference if you save 500 from today to use tomorrow or double up on your workout the day after eating a bit too much... there is none in the end.

    WW is specifically designed to help people keep track of their activity points on a weekly basis. Not that they are the gold standard -- but think about it, it helps promote a healthy lifestyle by encouraging people to plan ahead so they don't "fall off the wagon" so to speak.

    So yeah, anyway -- I lost 30 pound on WW, 14 with MFP -- I "saved" calories. So it works and won't ruin your progress.

    In addition, lots of people say that spiking their calories ( planning to eating 1,300 one day, then 2,000 the next, then 1,500 and so on) helps them lose weight faster -- my husband is one of them. He's also lost about 30 pounds.
  • SmartAlec03211988
    SmartAlec03211988 Posts: 1,896 Member
    I bank my calories all the time, so on the weekend I can just eat whatever and still be under at at par with my weekly calories. Hasn't had any adverse affect on my weight loss.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
    Seriously?
    No unfortunately you can't just save calories for another day. Everything resets at midnight, Cinderella.

    Is everything ok at home dear or did you just not ate today and wanna be mean to strangers online? Everything will be OK love.

    @OP. Its perfectly OK to save them, You're fine to eat them back after a few days, your "clock" doesn't reset at any particular time. Want proof, try weighing yourself before and after you goto bed, there will be a weight difference which shows your metabolism is still working which means nothing stopped working when you were sleeping.

    Also, yes you should eat back the workout calories or any of the saved calories but donot "force" yourself to but at the same time don't make it a habit to undereat alot whether you're hungry or not. I suggest eating back atleast half your calories. If you burn big amounts of calories like I do something (2000+ calories) then eat whatever you can back and save the rest of the calories for a day when you're not gonna workout or wanna eat outside or have a desert, dangit you earned that desert!
  • educatyion
    educatyion Posts: 31 Member
    Yes, you can save them. When I did Weight Watchers, they counted your total exercise calories for the week. As soon as your new week started, you lost them if they were not usurped. EnJOY indulging in the calories you sweat hard for this past week!
  • Kenzietea2
    Kenzietea2 Posts: 1,132 Member
    You can, and still lose weight. BUT it is recommended you eat the calories you need on the day you do the harder work out. My dietician said it is like a calorie bank for the week, not just day to day. I really only use that if I have had a bad day or two, and then limit my calories for the next few days to make up for it. I typically don't do it the other way around, but- you CAN save calories, sure.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
    yes... in a way. do a big run on monday, and you might not be super hungry that day, but the next day you'll be more hungry. so it's ok to eat more that day. heck, if you are still a little extra hungry on wednesday, thats okay too. but if you are still eating extra on friday and you haven't worked out since monday, you're in the wrong.
  • Linbo93
    Linbo93 Posts: 229 Member
    If you were to somehow have a 3,500 calorie deficit in one day, you would not lose a pound of fat overnight. You might lose due to water fluctuation, but not true fat loss. The calorie deficit you have over time is what causes true fat loss. If you want to average your calories over, say, 1 week, and make sure that what you averaged came out to your calorie goal, you would do fine,

    In fact, there's a whole school of people who deliberately do that just to keep the body guessing.
  • blessedsuccess
    blessedsuccess Posts: 8 Member
    Think of your total calories, foods/variety of foods, exercise, weight loss on a weekly basis. Lots of people do well with eating less one or two days of the week and eating a little more (e.g., for a social occasion) later in the week.

    It so much less stressful this way.
  • stuffinmuffin
    stuffinmuffin Posts: 985 Member
    Can I "save" exercise calories for another day?

    I do. I average out my calories over the week (monday - sunday). On sunday I typically eat out or make something extra yummy at home that requires calorie heavy ingredients and some desert. I typically save only my workout calories though so that the rest of the days I don't feel hungry

    I do this!!!!
  • Cait_Sidhe
    Cait_Sidhe Posts: 3,150 Member
    Yes you can. Nothing is absolute. It's all in the averages.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    I have no choice but to do this since I tend to do two or three workouts of over 1,000 calories during the week. It is definitely not comfortable eating 1500 calories one day and 2500 the next. :)
  • Saiklor
    Saiklor Posts: 183
    Thank you to (almost) everyone who posted! Good to know!

    I don't typically eat back my exercise calories, I maybe eat half of them, but with Canada day and a big family weekend at the cottage coming up I'll be lovely to indulge a bit and not have to jump in a canoe/kayak/on the hiking trail for hours to justify it!
  • littlelol
    littlelol Posts: 539
    ohh glad i read this, means i can save for say a meal out at the weekend?
  • littlelol
    littlelol Posts: 539
    save calories i mean from day before ,for a meal out say at the end of the week?
  • littlebutcurvy
    littlebutcurvy Posts: 35
    im going try
  • LuckyLeprechaun
    LuckyLeprechaun Posts: 6,296 Member
    Yes, you sure can!

    I'll be banking calories all week in anticipation of the Super Bowl feast I am enjoying on Sunday!

    GO NINERS
  • mauswood
    mauswood Posts: 137 Member
    absolutely! Calories burned is calories burned - they don't expire. Some people just figure out how many net calories they want to consume for the whole week and then have days where they eat fewer than 1200 and days where they eat more....whatever works for you.
  • raeleek
    raeleek Posts: 414 Member
    I have stopped looking at my weight loss from a daily thing and now more as a weekly thing. I use MFP to track food but I keep a journal and tally my exercise and cals I've eaten day to day so that I see my overall deficit for the week. (If there is a way to do that on here I don't know).

    Some days I'm more hungry, some days not. I try to go at a 1-1.5 loss a week so I just work my calories accordingly. I have had a few get togethers where I knew there would be rich food and I just cut my cals 100 or so earlier in the week so I didn't miss the mark on the day of the party. Find what works for you. In the end it simply boils down to cals in - cals out.

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