Over eat then under eat?

I'm going to make one more attempt at this.

Lets say that you have an energy requirement of 2000 calories per day to maintain bodyweight. Lets suppose that this maintenance requirement is the same on a daily basis (incorrect in real life but for purposes of example):

This person eats as follows:

Monday: 1500 calories (-500 or 500 under energy requirement)
Tuesday: 2500 calories (+500)
Wednesday: 1500 calories (-500)
Thursday: 1500 calories (-500)
Friday: 1200 calories (-800)
Saturday : 2200 calories (+200)
Sunday 1850 calories (-150)

Sum: -1750.

Now lets suppose they eat at -250 per day the following week.

M 1750 (-250)
T 1750 (-250)
W 1750 (-250)
Th 1750 (-250)
F 1750 (-250)
Sa 1750 (-250)
Su 1750 (-250)

In both cases we have a total energy deficit of 1750 cals at the end of the week.

Both of these methods will produce weight loss and I would claim that they would be roughly equivalent given this example. You could build a case for one method being superior for adherence reasons or some type of cyclical method being potentially beneficial in lean athletes for partitioning effects depending on when training occurs but now we're splitting hairs and discussing things that aren't relevant for the majority of the population of this site.

^^^^^ This . . . . its called zig zagging or calorie cycling- either way the premise is eat more on some days and less on others for an "overall" deficit in the long term- keeps your metabolism from slowing down becuase it never knows what to expect (if a person eats 1300 calories every day over a long period of tinme the body will adjust to that 1300 calories- hence a plateau).

Your body is on a 24 hour clock. Sorry. You can't make stuff up. You can of course log a bad day and do better tomorrow and the next day.

I hope you're being sarcastic?

Your body is NOT on a 24 hour clock, at least not when it comes to weight loss. What matters is your overall calorie intake over time. If you're generally eating less than you burn, you'll lose weight.

What a lot of people (inlcuidng myself) do is look at our WEEKLY goals instead of daily. I net about 1400 calories a day, which is 9800 per week. As long as at the end of the week I'm at or below 9800 calories, I'm going to lose weight right on track... even if I went over a couple days.

So the short answer is yes, you can go over and make up for it the next day. I do it all the time and have had great success.

THANK YOU for pointing that out. Your body doesn't strictly know when it should or shouldn't turn into a pumpkin that specifically!

All science and MBAs aside...

Some days I'm hungrier than others. I'm not shoving food in to my not hungry body and I'm not depriving myself when I'm hungry and have eaten reasonably but am already at or near my "max."

If they eat over maintenance on one day they will gain fat acutely. If they then create a deficit the next day or two, totaling 3500 calories, they will lose the fat they gained on that day they over-ate. Over time the summation of all these days of fat gain vs fat loss will determine how much NET FAT they gain or lose.

The point is that it's the effect over time (continually) of fat oxidation vs fat storage. How you partition your calories from a day to day basis is far less important than the average intake over the course of weeks/months.

^^^^Listen to this guy. He knows his stuff.

Truth. When I wonder about someone's credibility on the forums, I often look to their profile picture or weight loss ticker for guidance. Based on this guy's picture, I'm pretty sure he knows a thing or two about weight loss and body composition.

I've actually never been overweight.

It's interesting you are trying to argue this with Weight Watchers as an example. You do know that it's built into their system that you can eat an extra amount of points per week? You can eat those extra points on top of your daily points all in one day or you can divide them out over the week. So your argument using WW actually goes against what you are saying. The thing that matters is that you don't go over your total calories for the week. I do it and know many others who do as well.

Your body is on a 24 hour clock. Sorry. You can't make stuff up. You can of course log a bad day and do better tomorrow and the next day.

I hope you're being sarcastic?

Your body is NOT on a 24 hour clock, at least not when it comes to weight loss. What matters is your overall calorie intake over time. If you're generally eating less than you burn, you'll lose weight.

What a lot of people (inlcuidng myself) do is look at our WEEKLY goals instead of daily. I net about 1400 calories a day, which is 9800 per week. As long as at the end of the week I'm at or below 9800 calories, I'm going to lose weight right on track... even if I went over a couple days.

So the short answer is yes, you can go over and make up for it the next day. I do it all the time and have had great success.

Your body is on a 24 hour clock per my doctor. I'm going with what he says. That's why we have our sleep cycles and all of our other body's rhythms and cycles. 24 hours. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm being realistic. If I eat 3,000 calories one day and only 1,500 the next it does not "undo" the day before. I have to be under by 500 calories per day not per week. See what I mean?

If this is so and you can't "undo" what you've done before, then we could argue that attempting to lose weight is an exercise in futility, because that's EXACTLY what the MFP weight-loss protocol involves. Individuals eat at a deficit this day / week / month / year because they ate at a surplus on previous days / weeks / months / years and their body stored the extra calories as fat. They are eating at a deficit now to "undo" the surplus they consumed before.

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For the OP: You can do it, but I would tell you to be very careful.

The reason I say this is that you need to make sure you don't get into a "I can make it up later" trap like this:
1) You overeat Monday, but say "I can make up for it on Tuesday".
2) You overeat / Fail to compensate on tuesday but say "I can make up for it on Wednesday".
3) Wednesday comes around and you STILL overeat or fail to compensate. Once again, you're okay with this because you have the thought that you can make up for it at a later time.
4) Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Next thing you know, you've ended up with consuming a surplus in the current timeframe because you haven't gotten around to making up for it.

Because this is a spontaneous, unplanned day where you will go over, it might be an idea to take today as an "over" day and re-focus back on your goal tomorrow. That way, you maintain your focus on that same number.

If you're willing to put in the work that is necessary to control calorie cycling, go for it. But remember that it's going to involve more math on your part.

If I eat cake now but dont log it until tomorrow, is that also confusing to anything?

I've done that in the mistaken believe that my undereat day will cancel out my overeat day but it doesn't work that way. I just end up getting too hungry or tired and then I overeat again. Just get back on track and continue to eat right. If you're asking because you want to plan an overeat or cheat day, you're better off just working out more. It's never a good idea to find ways to cheat.

I don't carry forward my deficits (or "bank" my calories), but I do try to make up for an overage within a reasonable amount of time. I used to keep track of it in my notes, but I'm not as worried about it now-a-days.

Hope the MBA is not in nutrition.

Just for those that don't know... an MBA is Masters of Business Arts... not science.

Actually, here in the states it is a Master's of Business Administration and is a masters of science degree, not a master's of arts. It's typically 18 classes and takes around 4 years to complete if you do the program part time by working full-time. It's pretty standard at all schools and yes, it's science not art. At least here in the states.

Uuuummmm ... You have claimed many, many times that you live in Germany.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

I sometimes go over. Instead of reducing my calories the next day I might add a little extra exercise. I get crabby if I dont have a certain amount of cals and can easily go into a binge if I deprive for too long. So play it out, feel it out, your body will definitely let you know. As one person said its a bad habit to get into..but like another said weekly goals are good too. I do both daily and weekly goals, if im over on a day but still under on my week, however I got there...Im a happy girl!

Your body is on a 24 hour clock. Sorry. You can't make stuff up. You can of course log a bad day and do better tomorrow and the next day.

No, it's not!!!

OP, of course you can do that! It's what I do and it works very well for me.

I do this pretty often. I will have 2000 calorie days and then 1300 calorie days. So far it hasn't hindered my progress. Mostly it happens on days I've worked really late, don't eat much at work to begin with and then have a lot of food to cook/consume when I get home. Sometimes I'm just tired, so I'll try to pack in as much calorie and usually protein dense food as I can and then don't sweat it. I know it will balance out in the long run and it has.

Right, see you said "1300" there's people in this topic talking about going under a bunch of days...so under 1,200. When you're going under you're at say...1300. I don't think there's anything healthy about say: 3,000 (Monday), 2,000 (Tuesday), 800 (Wed-Thurs since you're banking a bunch of calories), 1100 (Friday--gotta BANK UP for the weekend) and 2,500 both Sat-Sun. WTF is that. Your body is not a bank and you can't bank up anything.

You asked "WTF is that"? It's called Life! What do you think people who don't count calories do? According to you, they all have an eating disorder?!

I've done that in the mistaken believe that my undereat day will cancel out my overeat day but it doesn't work that way. I just end up getting too hungry or tired and then I overeat again. Just get back on track and continue to eat right. If you're asking because you want to plan an overeat or cheat day, you're better off just working out more. It's never a good idea to find ways to cheat.

First,
I'd argue that it's more important to learn self control. The problem you experienced wasn't some unique situation where calories didn't balance out day to day... the problem was that you couldn't control yourself to make up for day you ate over your goal.

Second,
For anyone living in the real world, living a real life, there are going to be days you go over. Sometimes that will be intentional, sometimes not. Either way, you have to be able to either, a) put it behind you and move on (like you suggested), or b) control yourself the next day or 2 to make up for it.

Third,
The better habits you develop regarding eating and calories, the better. The idea that someone has to do "pennance exercise" to make up for extra calories is a terrible mindset to have (IMO). Control your diet (see my first point) to control your weight. Exercise to be stronger, faster, look better, and be healthier.

QFT

I generally think of it in a weekly timeframe as well. Life is way too short to worry about going 300 calories over on chocolate cake at a friend's birthday party on Friday when you ate well all week.

Im hoping to get some guidance from you. Is your calorie goal a set number of calories? My goal is 1200.... But if I add my exercise then my fitness pal ups my calorie goal... seems so counter intuitive... Im not an idiot but what i am doing is not working .....