banking calories?

polyesterchesters

I have read here a couple of times about banking calories. You know, saving up some during the week so you are not worrying about a binge later? This cannot be correct is it? If so..... I have a heck of a binge coming my way! If I left 200 calories uneaten every day this week, that does not mean I can eat 1000 extra today. Right?

tlapdx72

I would love to hear about this.

SHBoss1673

It's really not how the body works.

It's a very slippery slope, and while yes, calories in vs calories out is the basic premise, IMHO banking calories is an abuse of that concept. can you be short one day by a couple hundred and make it up the next day? Yeah, that's probably ok, but saving up calories all week and eating them all in one day is NOT a good strategy as far as I'm concerned.

If you want my advice, it would be, do a little reading up on how the human carbohydrate metabolism works. By that I mean, the body doesn't store food undigested, it always processes food, so any food that can't be used as energy or as building blocks, is always, always turned into fat, this is a simple fact of life.

There's no way your body can take in an extra 1000 calories and not store it as fat. Will your body burn some of that fat off during the week? Maybe some, but fat is a more "expensive" fuel source than consumed calories (it's harder to convert body fat back into glucose than it is to convert food to glucose), so the body would rather used the food you eat than fat, only when fat is so abundant that is actually becomes extremely easy to burn does this concept change (I.E. when someone is obese, it's why people on the Biggest Loser can lose 5, 10, 15, and even 20 lbs in a week).

loisbee

There's a lot to be said for banking calories, but I do agree in part whit SHBoss. The "banking" or cutting short your calorie intake for a period of time is neither practical nor sensible. You should never feel that in order to have a blowout, you should be depriving yourself for a period of time before hand in order to allow yourself to do it.
In my experience (even though I'm new to myfitnesspal, goes back several years) depriving yourself before a big day of eating and drinking, just makes you binge even more on the one day you wanted to splure!
The weight loss battle is a long one, you dont have to be so rigid with yourself on that one day, be realistic.
Stick to your calorie intake that you should be having daily, don't cut back. Your body requires a minimum of calories daily in order to function correctly, cutting back on the minimum wont cause weight loss, it will simply affect your sleep patterns, concentration levels and your cravings for the things you shouldn't have, will be ten times worse than normal.
Enjoy your blow out day, eat and drink all of the things you want, just don't go crazy and have sensible portions of ice cream, chocolate cake or alcohol, most of all have fun!
The day after, get up, have your normal days calorie intake & get back with the programme! Just dont let one blowout day turn into a blow out week and you'll be fine. Be confident in your decision to have a break in your diet & only do it once.

Even the thinnest, healthyiest people have a day of cake and chips, the key is they only do it very rarely, just like you!

My blowout day was yesterday, out for dinner with BF, wine, burgers, beer and chocolate brownies! I'd have had to cut back for two weeks before to afford this calorie wise.

I got on the scales this morning, Id put on half a pound! Back on the programmme today, a run tomorrow and I'll be back to normal by Wednesday.

There will always be blowout days polyester, you cant avoid all of them for the rest of your life! It's how you deal with them that counts.....:bigsmile:

SugarHi

For me, every day is new. I start each day with 1230 calories to consume. Exercise for that day will add more. But for me once the day is done, that is it. Used or not those calories have been exhausted.


Just like flex spending accounts at the end of the year. If you use them all great, if not... they don't roll over! *great analogy* (haha)

Everyone's bodies are different. What works for one person, may not work for another. I don't believe in miracle pills, or drinks and I certainly would not hold any weight towards banking calories. :flowerforyou:

AlynnP1005

For me, if I know that I want to kind of go crazy with food or drink, I only really worry about that days calorie intake, not the days prior....I will eat lower cal foods that day, until the event, or I will make sure I get a good workout in to give me some extra calories to play with.