banking left over calories

antorielee
antorielee Posts: 2
edited January 29 in Health and Weight Loss
Does fitness pal work like ww in the fact that you can bank points for ww which would be calories for fitness pal during the week for a day you know that you will be going over your allow points/calories?

Replies

  • Achrya
    Achrya Posts: 16,913 Member
    If you are aware of your weekly goal (I use the MFP phone app to keep track of mine) then sure you can do things on a weekly basis.

    I was 750 calories over a few nights ago. With that in mind I've been reasonable the past few days and I'm basically on track to be like, 100 over my weekly goal (if at all)
  • ladynocturne
    ladynocturne Posts: 865 Member
    The number MFP gives you to eat up to already contains a caloric deficit. So if you do exercise, you'll need to log them and eat them back so that your NET is the goal number that was originally given to you. Most people choose to eat them all the same day, every once in awhile I have an extra 200 I didn't eat and will eat them the next day on top of my calorie goal, thus insuring I maintain the same safe caloric deficit weekly.

    My calorie goal is 1450 a day. If I burn off 300 exercising, I will need to eat 1450+300= 1750 calories.

    Because... 1750-300=1450 NET calories, same deficit as if I didn't exercise and only ate 1450 calories.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
    Not in a literal sense. MFP tracks everything on a daily basis. But if you have something coming up where you know you'll want to indulge, you can decrease your daily intake ahead of time in preparation or afterwards, in sin. :embarassed:
  • Mia_RagazzaTosta
    Mia_RagazzaTosta Posts: 4,885 Member
    The number MFP gives you to eat up to already contains a caloric deficit. So if you do exercise, you'll need to log them and eat them back so that your NET is the goal number that was originally given to you. Most people choose to eat them all the same day, every once in awhile I have an extra 200 I didn't eat and will eat them the next day on top of my calorie goal, thus insuring I maintain the same safe caloric deficit weekly.

    My calorie goal is 1450 a day. If I burn off 300 exercising, I will need to eat 1450+300= 1750 calories.

    Because... 1750-300=1450 NET calories, same deficit as if I didn't exercise and only ate 1450 calories.

    That wasn't the question.

    OP, I go by a weekly average. I wouldn't "bank" calories from today for the wedding I'm going to next month, but I would bank them for tomorrow.
  • boophil
    boophil Posts: 99 Member
    I've been doing WW and MFP side-by-side for a while now. Keep in mind - there are days when my calories will be just under my goal (by say, 25), yet my WW points are maybe 3-4 over my target. They are not identical! But I do find that I lose more weight and feel more satisfied if I worry more about my calorie goal than my points target. Everyone is different! Good luck to you!
  • losindood
    losindood Posts: 36 Member
    This is similar to a question I've had for some time now. Can you still lose if you're over a day or two here or there as long as you're under for the week?

    My thought is yes. I've committed to never being over on a given day - but as I near my goal and my daily calorie limit shrinks I wonder if periodically I can continue to lose at the same rate if I'm over a day here or there but under for the week. I do long bike rides almost every weekend. I'll burn 3 or 4,000 calories a day.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,458 Member
    That is how thin people do it naturally.

    It's a good way to stay on track, but don't start starving for two days so you can have Super Sized Mickey Ds or double Mud Pie all by your lonesome.
  • chasetwins
    chasetwins Posts: 702 Member
    This is similar to a question I've had for some time now. Can you still lose if you're over a day or two here or there as long as you're under for the week?

    My thought is yes. I've committed to never being over on a given day - but as I near my goal and my daily calorie limit shrinks I wonder if periodically I can continue to lose at the same rate if I'm over a day here or there but under for the week. I do long bike rides almost every weekend. I'll burn 3 or 4,000 calories a day.

    Your thought is correct :)

    I zig zag my calories ALL the time - mostly not on purpose. However...you do not want your high calorie day(s) within 24 hours of your weigh in. I do not go over my calories eating say a whopper or anything..but sometimes a girl needs a few alcoholic beverages ;) or I may of been hungrier today than yesterday kind of thing.
  • laurenmanderson1
    laurenmanderson1 Posts: 113 Member
    I'm in maintenance right now, and I will eat less than I'm supposed to during the week so that I don't have to be as careful on the weekends and am able to enjoy myself. I haven't gained anything back in at least 4 months so I'm going to say that it works, but I don't have any science to back that up. Try it out and see how it affects your body. If you stop losing/gain weight then I'd say stop "banking your calories". If you're still meeting your goals then I'd say it is fair game!
  • michaelmadonna
    michaelmadonna Posts: 105 Member
    This is an argument I had with a nutritionist I was seeing years ago when I was on a calorie counting diet. My question is (and was for her) for how long can you "bank" caloires or calorie deficits. To me, and no science to back this up, it seems that there's only a certain period of time that your body has to "use" those caloriies or use something else if they're missing, is it a day, a few days, a week a month, she had no reall answer for me. Taking this to an extreme if my calories for a year should be "X" and I ate them all in the month of July but ate nothing in any of the other 12 months would it all equal out ... I don't think so it doesn't make logical sense to me .. maybe over the course of a few days a week tops but with her "the nutritionist" it didn't seem to matter week to week even.
  • Juliane_
    Juliane_ Posts: 373 Member
    I would LOVE if MFP had an optional "calorie banking" feature for those interested in zig zagging their calories in a week. It makes more sense than this Net calorie stuff.
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