"saving up" calories

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  • mitch16
    mitch16 Posts: 2,113 Member
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    I hate to break it to you, but you probably aren't in as big of deficit as you think you are--your calories burned from exercise seem quite high.
  • Bshmerlie
    Bshmerlie Posts: 1,026 Member
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    UncaToddly wrote: »
    Emily3907 wrote: »
    bwogilvie wrote: »
    I'll join the bandwagon: no problem at all. In the long run, you're more likely to succeed if you save up calories first and then eat them; some people go over and promise themselves that they'll make it up later, but that promise is too often broken!

    I could not agree more with this statement!

    I have a hard time with believing in this concept. I mean, if you are on 1200 calories, I can't believe it is truly healthy to eat, say, 500 per day Mon-Sat just so that you can go crazy and do 5400 on Sunday and it all comes out to a wash when you even it out. It isn't like when you go to bed on Sunday night that your body says, "Wow, I took in a lot of fuel today but since I didn't get much during the week it is OK."

    For me, it is a matter of perspective. People aren't going to be perfect all the time. Some days you will be right at goal but for most people you are gonna have days when you were a little under, maybe a lot under and other days you are going to go the opposite way.

    On the days you are under goal, pat yourself on the back. On the days you go over, don't beat yourself up with the same hand you patted with simply because it is over instead of under. Just accept that we don't have to be perfect all of the time. If you are set at 1800 and most of the week are in the 1500-1800 range.... GREAT. If you have an event (or things like the upcoming holidays that are so food based) and eat 3600... deal with it as one day and move on and get back on track.

    Just my opinion.

    I don't think anyone is suggesting that someone eat 500 calories a day for the week just to slurge on one day. I eat at 1200 five days a week and have 2 days at 2000. That gives me a lot of flexability and I don't have to feel guilty about anything. If you average out my days it would be 1500 per day. Its just another way to stay on track and still be able to keep up your desired rate of loss. People need to play around with different ways in order to find the plan that is easiest for them to stick to for the long haul.
  • Emily3907
    Emily3907 Posts: 1,461 Member
    edited October 2015
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    UncaToddly wrote: »
    Emily3907 wrote: »
    bwogilvie wrote: »
    I'll join the bandwagon: no problem at all. In the long run, you're more likely to succeed if you save up calories first and then eat them; some people go over and promise themselves that they'll make it up later, but that promise is too often broken!

    I could not agree more with this statement!

    I have a hard time with believing in this concept. I mean, if you are on 1200 calories, I can't believe it is truly healthy to eat, say, 500 per day Mon-Sat just so that you can go crazy and do 5400 on Sunday and it all comes out to a wash when you even it out. It isn't like when you go to bed on Sunday night that your body says, "Wow, I took in a lot of fuel today but since I didn't get much during the week it is OK."

    For me, it is a matter of perspective. People aren't going to be perfect all the time. Some days you will be right at goal but for most people you are gonna have days when you were a little under, maybe a lot under and other days you are going to go the opposite way.

    On the days you are under goal, pat yourself on the back. On the days you go over, don't beat yourself up with the same hand you patted with simply because it is over instead of under. Just accept that we don't have to be perfect all of the time. If you are set at 1800 and most of the week are in the 1500-1800 range.... GREAT. If you have an event (or things like the upcoming holidays that are so food based) and eat 3600... deal with it as one day and move on and get back on track.

    Just my opinion.

    Well....I was agreeing with the thought that it is easier to bank them ahead and then eat as opposed to over eating and then trying to "earn" the calories back. Also, I would never recommend anyone go under 1100-1200 in a day for any reason. I also don't think your body has a set clock that resets each week. But for me personally, banking calories is the only thing that keeps me going. I know on the weekends that I eat more than through the week and it has been the thing to slip me up in the past and ruin my deficit for the week. So, banking works for me. I know what my goal is for the week and I plan my days accordingly so that I have more calories to eat on the weekends. Obviously, no one is perfect and we will have days where we just completely blow it. But for those of us that know the weekends are the tougher time to keep it together, it works for us to know the calories are there waiting.
  • yoplait311
    yoplait311 Posts: 56 Member
    edited October 2015
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    mitch16 wrote: »
    I hate to break it to you, but you probably aren't in as big of deficit as you think you are--your calories burned from exercise seem quite high.

    I wear a garmin HR monitor and am a competitive athlete.
    I train around 10-15 hrs a week, 2hrs a day is very normal for me. So I think it's more accurate than not.
    For example, I am currently running around 35-40 miles a week (around 7:30-8:00 pace) plus swimming and biking.

    Some days I get too busy to eat all of my calories, and other times I'm just not that hungry.
    I want to make sure I'm fueling my body for my training, while not over eating to lose some extra fat I have.
  • yoplait311
    yoplait311 Posts: 56 Member
    edited October 2015
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    UncaToddly wrote: »
    Emily3907 wrote: »
    bwogilvie wrote: »
    I'll join the bandwagon: no problem at all. In the long run, you're more likely to succeed if you save up calories first and then eat them; some people go over and promise themselves that they'll make it up later, but that promise is too often broken!

    I could not agree more with this statement!

    I have a hard time with believing in this concept. I mean, if you are on 1200 calories, I can't believe it is truly healthy to eat, say, 500 per day Mon-Sat just so that you can go crazy and do 5400 on Sunday and it all comes out to a wash when you even it out. It isn't like when you go to bed on Sunday night that your body says, "Wow, I took in a lot of fuel today but since I didn't get much during the week it is OK."

    For me, it is a matter of perspective. People aren't going to be perfect all the time. Some days you will be right at goal but for most people you are gonna have days when you were a little under, maybe a lot under and other days you are going to go the opposite way.

    On the days you are under goal, pat yourself on the back. On the days you go over, don't beat yourself up with the same hand you patted with simply because it is over instead of under. Just accept that we don't have to be perfect all of the time. If you are set at 1800 and most of the week are in the 1500-1800 range.... GREAT. If you have an event (or things like the upcoming holidays that are so food based) and eat 3600... deal with it as one day and move on and get back on track.

    Just my opinion.

    It's not that I'm eating 500 cals a day - that would NEVER happen. :smile:
    However, after a day of eating, say 1600 calories, but burning 1100 calories from exercise (like a 2500y swim in the am for 300 calories and an 8 mile run in the afternoon for 800 calories) my net is only 500.

    I should mention that my goal is not to eat a net of 500 calories a day. I know how stupid that is. Has it happened- yes. Which is why I almost "set myself up" for a day when I eat closer to 2,500-3,000. Again, I notice the pattern, and I do aim to have my day's be more consistent than erratic, but was curious if this "saving" approach/practice could still help get me to my goal (even though I don't intend to use it regularly).
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    yoplait311 wrote: »
    I should mention that my goal is not to eat a net of 500 calories a day. I know how stupid that is. Has it happened- yes.

    Sometimes it's unavoidable, if you do a really long endurance event. When I'm cycling, I can digest 200-250 calories an hour. I'm burning 450-700 calories an hour depending on terrain and how hard I'm pushing. After eight hours of that I've built up a deficit of 2000-3000 calories from exercise, even while eating. It's hard for me to eat all that back in one day when I'm tired and want to relax and then go to bed. I've had days when my net calories were in the mid 3 figures, and some negative net days. That's why I carb load before events and eat generously for a day or two after them.
  • dianaiku
    dianaiku Posts: 96 Member
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    I do this, but I really despise doing so as I want to become healthier, instead of some closet junk food eating freakoid. However, cravings are cravings no matter how you slice it, so every week I try to indulge in something sweet once a week.
  • KBmoments
    KBmoments Posts: 193 Member
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    bwogilvie wrote: »
    I'll join the bandwagon: no problem at all. In the long run, you're more likely to succeed if you save up calories first and then eat them; some people go over and promise themselves that they'll make it up later, but that promise is too often broken!

    I lost over 65 pounds in two years (most of it the first year) by aiming to meet my weekly total. Some days I was over maintenance, but I averaged a 450-calorie daily deficit the first year. There was even one day when my net calories were about -1000! I ate about 3000 calories that day, but I estimated that I burned about 4000 in a day-long bike ride, and there's a limit to how much you can eat on the bike. But I had prepared by eating more in the few days leading up to the event, and I made up the rest in the following days.

    SOMETIMES the promise can be broken, but OP, you can also make up for it as well (and not feel guilty for it). I do this. I can't always plan out each days meal or plan for a splurge on the weekend ..sometimes the splurge happens on a weekday!! ...so if I happen to go out to dinner one night (not planned) and eat over maintenance, then I will just even it out the next day or over a few days. Still the same concept. Works for me just fine! I've lost 13 pounds thus far.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
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    dianaiku wrote: »
    I do this, but I really despise doing so as I want to become healthier, instead of some closet junk food eating freakoid. However, cravings are cravings no matter how you slice it, so every week I try to indulge in something sweet once a week.

    You're being awfully hard on yourself! Dr. Yoni Freedhoff has wisely said that if you feel deprived, you won't stick to your new lifestyle. He even gives his patients "prescriptions" for chocolates. But he also advises them (and readers of his book The Diet Fix) that when it comes to treats, you should eat as little as necessary to feel satisfied, and not feel guilty about it.

    What you need to watch out for is when you eat more than you need to feel satisfied, because you're not being mindful about it.
  • scolaris
    scolaris Posts: 2,145 Member
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    This is brilliant! I do this exactly with my 100k steps a week. I get a minimum of 10k steps a day but I never try for a cookie cutter 14285.7 each day... That would make me CRAZY. I really should do this with calories too.

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