Logging food today to eat tomorrow

angelsja
angelsja Posts: 859 Member
edited November 27 in Health and Weight Loss
So I've got about 800 calories left after exercise but I don't like eating after a certain time can I log food on today's date and eat it tomorrow? Do people do that?
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Replies

  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    Why don't you like eating after a certain time? Does it make you feel physically uncomfortable, or is it a belief that you shouldn't eat after that time? If it's the latter, don't worry--there's no truth to the idea that you shouldn't eat at night.

    You can save calories for the next day, and many people do this, but 800 is a lot to have left over. I wouldn't recommend leaving that many calories at the end of the day very often. I would personally not feel very good if I under-ate by that amount.
  • BusyRaeNOTBusty
    BusyRaeNOTBusty Posts: 7,166 Member
    I don't do that. But I do look at my weekly average over my daily. So you'd be 800 short today, and 800 over tomorrow but your weekly average will be good.
  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    VUA21 wrote: »
    I only do that when I know I will be going way over the following day. I basically average two days into one. So if I'm planning on going out to my favorite restaurant with friends on a Saturday, knowing I will be ordering the brisket-bacon burger. I'll eat less on Friday and log half the burger I'll be having on Saturday. Then Saturday, I'll eat the burger but log the other half. This keeps MFP from telling me that I'm eating too little on Friday & too much on Saturday, and I know that for the week I am still in an overall deficit.

    Depending on how many calories you normally consume should dictate the answer. If your daily goal including exercise is 1600 than leaving 800 is definitely not okay. Eat a pack of poptarts or some pb or cookies or cheese or avocado or chocolate or steak... steak is great, anything to bump up the number. Unless you are sick or this is happening once or twice a year then it might not matter so much.

    If you are eating 2400-3200 calories then leaving 800 to spare is alot but only 1/3-1/4 of your daily amount so on rare occurances where you aren't hungry or like VUA21 said where you bank some calories for a special occasion.

    If this is happening frequently you should reexamine how you are measuring to make sure you aren't overeating, how you are measuring your exercise to see if you aren't overestimating calories burned and/or see a dr if you regularly struggling to eat back 800 calories.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    That's a lot of calories to leave on the table. Be sure you're getting adequate nutrition for your exercise and activity level.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    So I've got about 800 calories left after exercise but I don't like eating after a certain time can I log food on today's date and eat it tomorrow? Do people do that?

    Sure, I've done that. Not for 800 calories worth, but yes I have redistributed food. I prefer to redistribute exercise though. You could put some of your exercise calories on tomorrow.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    kballsocc wrote: »
    Depending on how many calories you normally consume should dictate the answer. If your daily goal including exercise is 1600 than leaving 800 is definitely not okay. Eat a pack of poptarts or some pb or cookies or cheese or avocado or chocolate or steak... steak is great, anything to bump up the number. Unless you are sick or this is happening once or twice a year then it might not matter so much.

    If you are eating 2400-3200 calories then leaving 800 to spare is alot but only 1/3-1/4 of your daily amount so on rare occurances where you aren't hungry or like VUA21 said where you bank some calories for a special occasion.

    If this is happening frequently you should reexamine how you are measuring to make sure you aren't overeating, how you are measuring your exercise to see if you aren't overestimating calories burned and/or see a dr if you regularly struggling to eat back 800 calories.

    That is way over cautious thinking IMO. Assuming the OP doesn't feel weak/low or have the urge to overeat the next day leaving half her calories for the next day shouldn't be a problem. People following that 5:2 business eat 500-600 twice a week.

    I have 2 to 3 low calorie/appetite days a month. This is normal for me and has been for years. I do set a calorie minimum for myself because I don't eat breakfast and the additional delay makes me feel low the next day if I don't eat enough.

  • RadishEater
    RadishEater Posts: 470 Member
    NovusDies wrote: »
    kballsocc wrote: »
    Depending on how many calories you normally consume should dictate the answer. If your daily goal including exercise is 1600 than leaving 800 is definitely not okay. Eat a pack of poptarts or some pb or cookies or cheese or avocado or chocolate or steak... steak is great, anything to bump up the number. Unless you are sick or this is happening once or twice a year then it might not matter so much.

    If you are eating 2400-3200 calories then leaving 800 to spare is alot but only 1/3-1/4 of your daily amount so on rare occurances where you aren't hungry or like VUA21 said where you bank some calories for a special occasion.

    If this is happening frequently you should reexamine how you are measuring to make sure you aren't overeating, how you are measuring your exercise to see if you aren't overestimating calories burned and/or see a dr if you regularly struggling to eat back 800 calories.

    That is way over cautious thinking IMO. Assuming the OP doesn't feel weak/low or have the urge to overeat the next day leaving half her calories for the next day shouldn't be a problem. People following that 5:2 business eat 500-600 twice a week.

    I have 2 to 3 low calorie/appetite days a month. This is normal for me and has been for years. I do set a calorie minimum for myself because I don't eat breakfast and the additional delay makes me feel low the next day if I don't eat enough.

    Yes I realize people do IF but they eat enough calories in a week to balance out. If the OP is regularly under eating, they might not be hitting enough calories for the week.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    kballsocc wrote: »
    Yes I realize people do IF but they eat enough calories in a week to balance out. If the OP is regularly under eating, they might not be hitting enough calories for the week.

    The OP specifically mentioned eating the calories the next day and never mentioned this was a habit. The only "odd" thing was not wanting to eat after a certain time but I am the same way. Between acid reflux and having trouble sleeping if I eat too close to bedtime I have a cut off time too.

    I am opposed to telling someone else what the rules are if there is no reason to suspect ongoing harm. The reason why flexible eating appeals to many of us is in the name and it is not just about what kind of food we can eat.
  • CarvedTones
    CarvedTones Posts: 2,340 Member
    Having a very large deficit and eating below the healthy minimum frequently is bad; occasionally have a very low day, even if you don't make up for it, is okay.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
    I tend to not have an appetite on days I workout hard especially in the evening but I'll be hungry the next day.

    I regularly roll several hundred calories to the next day when this happens. Never had any adverse effects. Your body doesn't work on a 24 hour clock and doesn't reset at midnight.
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    OP I think you are focusing way too much on they day the calories are burned. I get it, you don't want to see it on the screen saying that you went over for the day when you banked calories from the day before, but as long as you know you have the extra calories, and you are in the deficit you want to be in for the week it doesn't matter what day you log the food or exercise on, it all evens out.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    My activity level is set to sedentary since outside of intentional exercise iam sedentary I never said the 800 calories was purely from my kickboxing class. But it doesn't matter now I didn't log what I was going to eat and didn't have it today either and now Fitbit is being a dick again not syncing

    So you've just not eaten any of your exercise cals?
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 859 Member
    I had something after my fitness class at 6pm I think my diary shows well enough that I do eat some of my "earned" calories back
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    I had something after my fitness class at 6pm I think my diary shows well enough that I do eat some of my "earned" calories back

    I haven't looked in your diary, just going by you saying you don't like to eat more than your calorie goal, so I presumed when you said you didn't log it yesterday or eat it today that you hadn't eaten the exercise calories back?
  • angelsja
    angelsja Posts: 859 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    I had something after my fitness class at 6pm I think my diary shows well enough that I do eat some of my "earned" calories back

    I haven't looked in your diary, just going by you saying you don't like to eat more than your calorie goal, so I presumed when you said you didn't log it yesterday or eat it today that you hadn't eaten the exercise calories back?

    Never said I don't like to eat more than my calorie goal :/ I said I didn't like eating after a certain time so yes I had 800 left over when I went to bed wasn't hungry not going to eat for the sake of it
  • accidentalpancake
    accidentalpancake Posts: 484 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    So I've got about 800 calories left after exercise but I don't like eating after a certain time can I log food on today's date and eat it tomorrow? Do people do that?

    No need to manipulate it that way. Your energy intake/expenditure doesn't have some weird clock that resets on a daily basis. Some days you'll eat more, some days less. If you're logging it, be accurate with the when and what.
  • bkstein40
    bkstein40 Posts: 41 Member
    I tend to look not only at my daily net calories, but also weekly net calories. There are some days where I will eat over my net goal for the day and other I will be stay under. Especially on my long run days I can sometimes net below 1000, but I usually make up for that on my walk/rest/recovery days and my net will be closer to my goal for the day. In the end my weekly average is around 1200-1100 for the week. I wouldn't stress about it to much, I to don't like to eat past 8/8:30 pm for the simple reason it may keep me up at night.
  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    amyepdx wrote: »
    The OP does have a history of doing the opposite - overeating and then trying to restrict the following days to make up for it - so that’s why people are questioning her methodology.
    Her exercise burns do seem inflated as well.

    Whether you bank your calories in advance or pay them off after a big meal or day is just a preference. I prefer to bank myself but that is what is right for me.

    I haven't looked at her diary because she didn't ask me to offer an opinion so I don't know anything about her exercise burns/calories. If anything she would be overeating not undereating so there is no health risk there.

    She asked a fairly simple question. I really don't understand why anyone is getting up in her business if there is no danger of a health risk. It is certainly none of my business.
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    So I've got about 800 calories left after exercise but I don't like eating after a certain time can I log food on today's date and eat it tomorrow? Do people do that?

    I do this a lot. But mine is more so in terms of eating too much one day and logging it onto the next so that I make sure I eat a lot stricter to follow it up. Same end result.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    angelsja wrote: »
    I had something after my fitness class at 6pm I think my diary shows well enough that I do eat some of my "earned" calories back

    I haven't looked in your diary, just going by you saying you don't like to eat more than your calorie goal, so I presumed when you said you didn't log it yesterday or eat it today that you hadn't eaten the exercise calories back?

    Never said I don't like to eat more than my calorie goal :/ I said I didn't like eating after a certain time so yes I had 800 left over when I went to bed wasn't hungry not going to eat for the sake of it

    You said you don't like seeing the numbers go red
  • bagge72
    bagge72 Posts: 1,377 Member
    angelsja wrote: »
    My activity level is set to sedentary since outside of intentional exercise iam sedentary I never said the 800 calories was purely from my kickboxing class. But it doesn't matter now I didn't log what I was going to eat and didn't have it today either and now Fitbit is being a dick again not syncing

    So you just didn't eat, because of what the color of the number on your phone or computer screen would be?

  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    OP if I recall you have a history of obsessing about the minutiae and binge/restrict cycles - because of that I would be cautious about leaving so many calories on the table and just not eating them at any point - the day you did the exercise or later in the week so that the weekly average is at your net goal.

    The FitBit sync issues have been frustrating for sure but you’ve been using the device for a while, you should have a good idea of what your average burn is and what the typical adjustment is with MFP for that level of activity - you can just eat a reasonable amount of those calories and not worry about the red numbers - when the two systems start working again they will adjust and your numbers will be back on track.
  • LW3380
    LW3380 Posts: 118 Member
    edited June 2018
    Looking at your diary, if I was in your position I'd change my activity levels. You are clearly not "sedentary" from the amount of extra calories you seem to be gaining from exercise, even if as you say you don't trust your Fitbit readings it's still a hefty adjustment. I was in the same boat but after @WinoGelato suggested a few changes for my setting, my readings were much more realistic.

    This is why you believe you are earning 800plus calories from the exercise you do.
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