Banking calories

Going by a weekly goal rather than a daily goal is very common. It's basically the premise behind intermittent fasting.

I don't because I don't want to get into the habit of overeating one day and undereating the next just to make up for it. If I go over or under the day before, I let it go and move on the next day.

During the week I cycle from home and back to the train station and walk to the office from the other side. I rest on the weekend but carry on eating as much which balances things out overall. Have lost 12lbs since Feb and down a good few inches on the belly!

For the most part, I do this almost every week. Though not "officially". Basically, I eat 1300 cals a day and add in maybe an extra 100-150 depending on how much I moved that day. This usually leaves me with about 200 unused exercise calories each day. Then on the weekends I bump up my daily calories to about 1600. I get a lot more activity in on the weekends and usually weekends are the hardest for me because of family gatherings, eating out, etc. So, I need those extra calories.

A little over a year ago, I started consciously banking my calories for the weekend. I net 300-500 calories under my daily goal Monday - Thursday. This gives me 1200-2000 calories "extra" for the weekend. ("Beer AND a slice of cheesecake? Don't mind if I do!") This strategy has worked very well for me. (I'm essentially in maintenance mode.)

Note: This kind of calorie management will result in *much* larger than usual daily weight fluctuations. (I weigh daily, and watch my 7-day, 15-day, and 31-day rolling averages.) *IF* you only weigh yourself weekly, switching to a weekly banking strategy could result in quite a shock to your trend, depending on what day of the week you weigh-in.

Ok! I'm going to be the outsider here. I think it's awesome that this works successfully for so many.

I've tried banking calories and for me, it backfires. When I've tried to bank, I end up hungrier when I go back to my daily goal. Also, I lift and banking makes it harder for me to hit my protein goals. So when I go out, I just try to keep my day pretty nutrient dense (i.e. eating things like grilled fish/chicken and veggies before going out) and try not to eat massively over my goal. That's actually worked much better for me. I end up with a healthier mindset with food than I do when I've tried banking or intermittent fasting.

Just something to think about. IF and banking doesn't work for everyone and you have to find what works for you!

Way to throw a wrench in the whole way I think about this haha!! I had no idea you could bank calories...that doesn't even make sense to me. (that doesn't mean it's wrong) At what point does our body know when to gain weight from too many calories? One day doesn't matter then if we eat under enough days in a row to make up for it? I have been wondering about how does our body know when we ate under or over our calories and when does that register or kick in?

Kimberly_Harper wrote: »

Way to throw a wrench in the whole way I think about this haha!! I had no idea you could bank calories...that doesn't even make sense to me. (that doesn't mean it's wrong) At what point does our body know when to gain weight from too many calories? One day doesn't matter then if we eat under enough days in a row to make up for it? I have been wondering about how does our body know when we ate under or over our calories and when does that register or kick in?

Our bodies are constantly burning calories. There's nothing magical about accounting for calories on a daily basis v. a weekly basis. Weight gain and loss is a continuous process. Most people burn 1800-2200 calories per day just being alive and going about our day. Exercise burns even more calories. Because we need energy from food (calories) to live, our bodies are remarkably good at storing excess food calories as fuel. When you eat more calories than your body can use right away, your body will store that excess fuel--typically as some combination of glycogen, fat, and muscle. When you eat fewer calories than you burn over a period of time, your body will tap into it's storage tank of glycogen and fat (and muscle if need be).

So, if you do decide to account for your calorie burn and consumption on a weekly basis (weekday excess deficit and weekend surplus) you *will* lose body mass during the week, and gain (some of) it back on the weekend. How much you gain and lose depends on how much energy debt you incur and replenish, just like when you account for your calories on a daily basis. It may be hard to measure, though, because of other, non-calorie-induced weight fluctuations (like water retention/dehydration).

Kimberly_Harper wrote: »

Way to throw a wrench in the whole way I think about this haha!! I had no idea you could bank calories...that doesn't even make sense to me. (that doesn't mean it's wrong) At what point does our body know when to gain weight from too many calories? One day doesn't matter then if we eat under enough days in a row to make up for it? I have been wondering about how does our body know when we ate under or over our calories and when does that register or kick in?

It's not so much that your body 'knows' when you've eaten under... if it hasn't got enough food to run off of, it'll just use another energy source instead. It's like fuel in a car. Say the tank is half full (representing the existing fat in our bodies), and you put in enough fuel for the journeys you make (representing the food we eat). If over a few days you drive more than the amount of fuel you put in, you'll end up with less than half a tank. Doesn't matter if all that driving was in one day or split over the days, and doesn't matter if you put lots of fuel in on the first day that took you over half a tank, then did more diving the next few days to take you under.