Does saving calories on weekdays for weekends work?

This can lead to binging for some. What matters is your overall weekly intake. That being said, it's counterproductive to have massive caloric swings from day to day. For example 1500 and then 3000, 1500, repeat.

If you are ultimately in a net deficit position, why would it matter? Purely from an energy standpoint, it doesn't. My biggest issue with this is people who do heavy exercise and then save up those calories rather than providing the body the nutrients it needs to recover and repair. The harder you're training, the more you are breaking down your body thus requiring more energy and nutrients for recovery and repair.

Try it for four weeks and see how it goes for you. Technically it will work but it's a mental thing for most people and if your brain is telling you it's not working, well, then it won't work.

Personally I count calories based on a weekly total (Fri-Thu). When not training for a race, I typically don't work out on weekends and do save calories from weekdays (though weighing on Fridays it's more like catching up during the weekdays) but I still set a daily limit for Sat/Sun. When training though my long run day is Sunday and I pretty much stick to daily counting with Friday being more of my binge day for the week. Never had a problem either way.

I also eat at a deficit during the week. I have MFP set to 1/2 loss, that allows me to go over 1750 during the week (80% of which happens during the weeknd). This allows me to not be so rigid. I know if I ate to the total 1570 that it gives me each day come the weekend, I would need to stay at that also and with the meals we eat going out after church, that wouldn't work.

I do this to an extent but I have to be careful with how much of a deficit I create during the week. If I don't keep to at least close to 2000/day during the week then I start to get really hungry and the weekend ends up worse. So it's a minor deficit during the week to allow for what I know will be over on the weekend. That being said, I will often end up decently over on the weekend especially if both days involve social situations. That usually ends up to averaging a bit over what I think is maintenance but then that balances out with the weeks with fewer social obligations so it's more like a monthly balance. I just feel too restricted on the weekends if I try to keep to a constant calorie limit and that doesn't work for me.

For me --- I try to stay within my calorie goal every day. We usually make dinner at home on the weekdays and eat out a bunch on the weekends. If I'm planning to eat more -- I'll just make sure I get in some exercise to cover for the overage. It works for me. :bigsmile:

It worked a treat for me during weight loss and occassionally I'll use it as an emergency measure in maintenance if I have a big event coming up, but normally with a big workout I'm able to create a big enough calorie bank within the day.

So long as you don't exceed your weekly calorie allowwance you should be fine.

Works for me.

This is what I did (without really thinking about it) when I successfully maintained years ago. Now I'm with a trainer for heavy lifting, and he prefers that I be consistent across days and also within a day, meaning he'd prefer that I spread my calories out over a day rather than eat any one large meal. He said that it's not the end of the world to bank calories for a big dinner--that the body will get what it needs when it needs it--but everything will be more efficient with consistency.