I'm developing an unhealthy habit where I don't eat all day to save calories for later.
Geocitiesuser
Posts: 1,429 Member
I need to start eating celery and other raw vegetables to hold myself over. I don't know why, but I didn't see how easy the solution was until I started posting this thread. .... So asking, brought me to my own answer! Celery, cucumbers, zucchini, etc, it is! Fiberous, refreshing, and delicious! Just realizing I had a jar of kimchi I could have brought to work too.
Does anyone else find themselves playing games with what they eat so they can eat what they "really want" later ?
Does anyone else find themselves playing games with what they eat so they can eat what they "really want" later ?
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I m doing it right now so I can drink vodka later13
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I eat lighter through the day so I can have a more caloric dinner and some dessert each night. Keeps me happy.
ETA: I don't see anything unhealthy about it. I hit my macros pretty closely by the end of the day.6 -
I eat fewer calories Sunday to Thursday so that I can splurge Friday and Saturday. I don't see anything unhealthy about it; I still meet all the nutrients that are important to me.4
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Is that unhealthy? I do that all the time. It gives me that treat to look forward to at the end of a hard day and I have lost 60 lbs. so far and feel this is absolutely sustainable, as proven by the fact that I've been successful with it for 500+ days so far.
BTW, you look great!5 -
Meh. Intermittent fasting is a way of eating a lot of people employ to do just what you do, eat a large meal in the evening. I do it on non exercise days, there's nothing wrong with it.1
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It's not really unhealthy unless you're suffering through it (relative to the cost/benefit factor) or not meeting nutritional goals.2
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Assuming that was aimed at me, thank you! You just made my day!
If I didn't bank my calories to eat what I wanted, it wouldn't be sustainable. There is no force on the planet that's going to prevent me from eating my fajitas this cinco de mayo.11 -
I used to do this. I would skimp on meals throughout the day, afraid that I would "run out" of calories later. I do eat veggies throughout the day now--yummy and low calorie--but I also eat a bigger lunch meal and breakfast. I have to have confidence in myself that, no, I won't make choices later in the day that make me 'run out' of calories.
I guess what I'm saying is there's nothing wrong with dinner being a big ol' calorie ladened meal, but it doesn't hurt to look at your habits and ask yourself the mindset behind them. "I naturally don't crave breakfast"--that's fine. "I am able to keep full on veggies"--that's fine. "I am slightly lightheaded because it's lunchtime and I've only had 100 calories so far today but I'm refraining from eating more because WHAT IF I SCREW UP"--probably a mental hurdle to work on. (The latter being one of the reasons I was restricting 'early' calories so much.)
For anyone worried about screwing up, I've found that preplanning / pre-logging meals helped a lot because I could see how I'd be eating enough later to be satisfied, while still having enough calories available to eat something in the present moment.6 -
Geocitiesuser wrote: »Assuming that was aimed at me, thank you! You just made my day!
If I didn't bank my calories to eat what I wanted, it wouldn't be sustainable. There is no force on the planet that's going to prevent me from eating my fajitas this cinco de mayo.
Yes, that was aimed at you. Eat your fajitas! Enjoy!
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"I am slightly lightheaded because it's lunchtime and I've only had 100 so far calories today but I'm refraining from eating more because
Because what I want to eat tonight is like 1200 calories
It's not that I'm worried I'm going to 'mess up', it's that even prelogging, the meal I want is "big" for my calorie range. But I think eating veggies during the day will fix it for me. I have no idea why I didn't think of that before. A pound of veggies is like 100 calories. 0 -
I thought you only drank your soylent meals?3
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Protein powder could help with cravings too. I prefer to spread high cal foods in a weekly deficit.
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Geocitiesuser wrote: »Assuming that was aimed at me, thank you! You just made my day!
If I didn't bank my calories to eat what I wanted, it wouldn't be sustainable. There is no force on the planet that's going to prevent me from eating my fajitas this cinco de mayo.
While agreeing that what you're doing is fine, as long as you hit reasonable macros overall and feel good, I'd add this: If it's just cinco de mayo fajitas, not todos los dias fajitas, you'd probably be fine just eating them in addition to a normal/light day, then getting back on track.
The occasional over-goal day is likely to happen in successful maintenance; IMO, weight loss is for practicing one's maintenance strategies, as well as for losing weight.
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Chef_Barbell wrote: »I thought you only drank your soylent meals?
M-Fri at work because I don't have time to meal prep. I cook my kitten off on the weekends and usually friday evening. Lately I've been forgoing my normal shakes to fatten up my prebed snack, but getting through the gym and taekwondo becomes a challenge without the calories.
The other day I forwent my shakes because I knew I had lenny and larry's muscle brownies and buffbake snicker doodle nut butter at home.... <_<1 -
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lots of water with your veggies. For me, I can't do it super low or my blood sugar goes wacky and I get headaches. And I am super cranky. My husband mostly goes all day with a banana and a protein bar.1
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This sounds like an addiction to calorie banking to me. You gotta deal with it0
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Ironandwine69 wrote: »This sounds like an addiction to calorie banking to me. You gotta deal with it
That's the unhealthy part. I banked an extra 1000 calories the other day so I could eat the junk food I knew I had waiting for me at my house at the end of the day. I was able to fit it all in my calories (AND macros!) but .... I don't think it was necessarily healthy behavior.
I gotta watch myself.
But with the revelation that I could be pounding veggies, I think it's a bit better. On days I know I'm banking calories I might knock back a few pounds of veggies during the day just to not feel like I'm starving.0 -
Ironandwine69 wrote: »This sounds like an addiction to calorie banking to me. You gotta deal with it
it sounds like intermittent fasting to me.5 -
Geocitiesuser wrote: »I need to start eating celery and other raw vegetables to hold myself over. I don't know why, but I didn't see how easy the solution was until I started posting this thread. .... So asking, brought me to my own answer! Celery, cucumbers, zucchini, etc, it is! Fiberous, refreshing, and delicious! Just realizing I had a jar of kimchi I could have brought to work too.
Does anyone else find themselves playing games with what they eat so they can eat what they "really want" later ?
Doesn't everyone do that?? I don't see it as a game, it's imply managing your calories.2 -
It's good that you are noticing this pattern and keeping an eye on it.
As others are saying, it's probably not a big deal as long as you aren't making yourself feel like *kitten* and you aren't binging on complete junk. That said, for me, that was how severe undereating started.
I would save cals for the evening so I could eat junk food w/friends or drink, and then sometimes my plans would change or I just wouldn't end up eating that much for whatever reason, but I wouldn't account for the deficit post-social gathering. In college, banking calories became a daily thing instead of a now-and-then, thing, and things really got out of hand for me.
So, obviously I avoid banking cause I know for me, it's not ideal. But if it works for you and you can keep it in check, I'd say it's probably fine.0 -
I do this all the time and it seems like the norm.3
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jessiferrrb wrote: »Ironandwine69 wrote: »This sounds like an addiction to calorie banking to me. You gotta deal with it
it sounds like intermittent fasting to me.
You know, it does sound like IF.
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So long as you're eating the same Calories/macros within the 24-hour period, it doesn't *really* matter when you eat them. But I don't know that I'd eat them all at once haha; maybe over the course of several hours. But that's the basis for Intermittent Fasting (IF). But if you choose to save most of your Calories for later so you can truly enjoy what you're going to eat, I don't see an issue with it. If you're losing or gaining weight (whatever your goal is) at a healthy rate and nothing else is suffering for your new habits, I'd say keep going.1
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I do that almost every day, what's unhealthy about budgeting calories for your preferred eating time?4
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Sounds a lot like IF which I've tried and did horrible with.
If I know I'm going to have something going on...party, bbq, celebration, etc I typically won't go the route of just eating veggies all day, but I usually will have a lighter day food wise and may skip breakfast and go with a lite lunch...stuff like that.1 -
You're just doing intermittent fasting, there's nothing unhealthy about it! It's actually great for your body to go through periods of not eating to increase autophagy - basically dead cells get cleaned up and dumped out of your body, decreasing the chance of free radicals.
Eating once a day has a few names, one of them is "Warrior Diet". If you google that you'll see many people do it with great success.
I personally following a 16:8 schedule - meaning I fast for 16 hours and eat within a 8 hour window. This is a fancy way of saying I skip breakfast. I eat lunch at noon then dinner around 6pm, then don't eat again till the next day.
Works great for me, and I love having a big filling dinner every night.2 -
I can't do the intermittent fasting thing because of my hypoglycemia (I get shaky, headaches and nauseated if I don't eat for several hours) but good on you if you can! I bank my calories all week so I have more wiggle room on weekends though!1
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I totally get what you mean. Some days I religiously watch my intake so closely that by the time I get home from work at 8pm I'm hit with a truckload of calories I need to eat so I don't lose any potential gains that day. But when I get the rationing just right I can enjoy a healthy amount of evening snacks and desserts. Love it. A successful diet/maintence is all about satiety to me. I ate 1000 calories by lunch yesterday (treated myself to mac and cheese) and I was starving all afternoon. Today I had 2 cod cakes and a large helping of steamed broccoli and cauliflower and I'm not hungry at all even though the calories are wayyyy less!0
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indigoblue9572 wrote: »I can't do the intermittent fasting thing because of my hypoglycemia (I get shaky, headaches and nauseated if I don't eat for several hours) but good on you if you can! I bank my calories all week so I have more wiggle room on weekends though!
I do this sometimes too, like, eat a little less friday and saturday to eat more on sunday. Or in reality, eat too much on friday then eat less saturday and sunday
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