Is there a temporal limit to caloric intake?

Yep. Remember that your body doesn't reset at midnight and people actually cycle calories like this often. Or eat a bit less each day to save for a treat on one day - it's called calorie banking.

The average is the same and that's what matters.

serindipte wrote: »

In theory, you could.. but ick.

You may show some "gain" after that single day because your body can't void that much food in a day, plus you'd be holding water weight, but your weight is a continuum. You don't gain or lose the instant you hit over or under that magical 3500c. (3500 over TDEE for gain, under for loss)

Agreed... I wouldn't want to do that... I would be a hangry mess....

I do that all the time. I pay more attention to my weekly budget than I do to my daily budget. I know in general I tend to eat more on weekends, and less on Tuesdays and Wednesdays (why those days, I don't know!)

Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »

The human body has a calorie amount it uses to fuel itself and its burned over 24 hours however the body doesnt know what time it is. Outside of that you are ultimately responsible for feeding it the nutrients to keep going and while you COULD fast for 6 days and eat your entire calorie goal on day 7, why would you want to? you are going to feel sick and miserable half way through because the body isnt getting any source of energy other then your body fat and possibly some protein from it eating your lean muscle if it happens to need them. Just because the math can be done in multiple ways doesn't mean you can use all the solutions without consequences

But OP's example was eating 1,200 one day and 1,800 the next (which is perfectly reasonable and sustainable). I don't know how you get from that to eating 0 for six days in a row and then 10,500 on the 7th day.

janejellyroll wrote: »

Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »

The human body has a calorie amount it uses to fuel itself and its burned over 24 hours however the body doesnt know what time it is. Outside of that you are ultimately responsible for feeding it the nutrients to keep going and while you COULD fast for 6 days and eat your entire calorie goal on day 7, why would you want to? you are going to feel sick and miserable half way through because the body isnt getting any source of energy other then your body fat and possibly some protein from it eating your lean muscle if it happens to need them. Just because the math can be done in multiple ways doesn't mean you can use all the solutions without consequences

But OP's example was eating 1,200 one day and 1,800 the next (which is perfectly reasonable and sustainable). I don't know how you get from that to eating 0 for six days in a row and then 10,500 on the 7th day.

I think that was in response to the LP STD post

Right now I aim for an average of 1800 over the course of the week. But I more or less average it in every three day rolling period. I tend to eat around 1400/1800/2200 during each three day period. I use a lower limit so that I don't go too super low on any one day and I err on the side of averaging a bit over 1800 rather than under it.

The biggest "limit" is that realistically speaking, if you were to eat 4500 calories one day and nothing the next two, you'd still be within your goal but you'd probably be hungry, unhappy, and feeling unwell--let alone doing that over a week. It would be hard to resist overeating at that point. A thought exercise is one thing, but in the real world...I recommend not trying it.

However, going a bit under your goal one day and a bit over the next is not a problem if it averages out. People try to average it out over no more than a week because beyond that, it's going to be tough to keep up with the math of how big your deficit is or isn't at any given time.

sammyliftsandeats wrote: »

serindipte wrote: »

janejellyroll wrote: »

Look_Its_Kriss wrote: »

The human body has a calorie amount it uses to fuel itself and its burned over 24 hours however the body doesnt know what time it is. Outside of that you are ultimately responsible for feeding it the nutrients to keep going and while you COULD fast for 6 days and eat your entire calorie goal on day 7, why would you want to? you are going to feel sick and miserable half way through because the body isnt getting any source of energy other then your body fat and possibly some protein from it eating your lean muscle if it happens to need them. Just because the math can be done in multiple ways doesn't mean you can use all the solutions without consequences

But OP's example was eating 1,200 one day and 1,800 the next (which is perfectly reasonable and sustainable). I don't know how you get from that to eating 0 for six days in a row and then 10,500 on the 7th day.

I think that was in response to the LP STD post

LP STD is the OP.

QRSTUV...:P

As others have stated, our metabolisms work 24/7 and the body doesn't know what time it is. The calorie deficit required to lose weight works on a continuum and is not dictated by the 24 hours it takes for the Earth to complete a rotation on its axis.