Carry over "earned" calories

gbel1975
gbel1975 Posts: 86 Member
edited November 10 in Getting Started
I sometimes work out late in the evening and end up with a lot of calories remaining at the end of the day. An example might be I go on a run at 9:00 PM, get home, shower, and go to bed with 700 calories remaining for the day. I often try to eat some extra through the day when I know I'll be working out, but I'm hesitant to eat too much in case the workout gets cancelled for whatever reason.

Knowing that I'll be overly hungry the next day from the late workout I usually don't beat myself up for going over my pre-set deficit (980 calories a day for 2 lb. loss/week) for the following day.

My questions is this: Is there a setting or other way to automatically carry those "earned" calories over to the next day? Or do I just need to keep the number in mind and mentally work it in on the following day?

Thanks in advance.

Replies

  • Cortneyrenee04
    Cortneyrenee04 Posts: 1,117 Member
    If it happens a lot, I would consider looking at your weekly calories rather than daily. It all evens out in the end.
  • Nebrie
    Nebrie Posts: 56 Member
    I consider my weekly calorie allotment of 10,500 and work from there. One day will be high, one day will be low. Generally it works out.
  • prattiger65
    prattiger65 Posts: 1,657 Member
    Weight loss isn't linear. The is no magical reset at midnight. You can absolutely carry over calories if you want to. Just eat fewer than you burn OVER TIME and you will lose weight.
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    If you're entering your exercise into MFP for the calorie adjustments, why not enter it for the *next* day?
  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    gbel1975 wrote: »
    Is there a setting or other way to automatically carry those "earned" calories over to the next day? Or do I just need to keep the number in mind and mentally work it in on the following day?

    There's not a way to automatically carry a balance over, so you can do it manually. It's called "banking" - (ie: like a bank balance) and there are some posts about it you might wanna check out.
  • roxilegend
    roxilegend Posts: 55 Member
    I was actually just thinking about this concept this morning! I wish MFP would add it as a setting. I'd definitely use it. Some days I eat more than others (like most people) So it would be nice if I didn't have to see that huge negative sign every time I do. Glad I'm not the only one who's thought about it!
  • lauradgaitan
    lauradgaitan Posts: 3
    No one should ever eat below 1200 calories a day. Our bodies need something to sustain life.
  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
    gbel1975 wrote: »
    I sometimes work out late in the evening and end up with a lot of calories remaining at the end of the day. An example might be I go on a run at 9:00 PM, get home, shower, and go to bed with 700 calories remaining for the day. I often try to eat some extra through the day when I know I'll be working out, but I'm hesitant to eat too much in case the workout gets cancelled for whatever reason.

    Knowing that I'll be overly hungry the next day from the late workout I usually don't beat myself up for going over my pre-set deficit (980 calories a day for 2 lb. loss/week) for the following day.

    My questions is this: Is there a setting or other way to automatically carry those "earned" calories over to the next day? Or do I just need to keep the number in mind and mentally work it in on the following day?

    Thanks in advance.

    Well, that's very charitable to yourself. Eat more. MFP gave you a target to shoot for.
  • gbel1975
    gbel1975 Posts: 86 Member
    cheshirecatastrophe wrote: »
    If you're entering your exercise into MFP for the calorie adjustments, why not enter it for the *next* day?

    I have a Fitbit so the adjustment is automatic through the sync function. I don't log exercises specifically into MFP.

    Your suggestion is great, though. If I go back to entering exercise in, I will break up "long" runs over two days in the diary. Long runs are what usually get me into this big deficit situation with high hunger the following day.
  • runandbikeNick
    runandbikeNick Posts: 13 Member
    edited February 2015
    You could possibly enter the calories into the next days Food Diary as a negative calorie amount also.

    So if you have 500calorie to eat yet on Tuesday...enter at least some (maybe half?) of that into the next day as a negative calorie amount.

    Looking big picture (weekly) will definitely help. But hard to zoom out of the 'now'....
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,590 MFP Moderator
    If you go to the nutrition tab on the phone app, there is a weekly bar graph of how you are meeting your goal for the week. Alot of people like to use that if they want to save up for a big meal for a special occasion or something.

    In general its not such a bad thing for weight loss, but keep in mind if fitness is an important goal to you then running extra large deficits can decrease your performance.

    Sidenote: Chocolate milk is an awesome way to get in some cals after a run, yummy, easy, and has lots of carbs and protein for hungry muscles.
  • runandbikeNick
    runandbikeNick Posts: 13 Member
    thanks for the heads up on the weekly nutrition summary!

    Weird that the website doesn't have a similar Average bar on the 'Reports'
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