Banking calories
r1pp3dguy
Posts: 3 Member
Hey all,
To start with, despite the name I'm not ripped yet!
If I ate 2500 calories per day for a 7-day weekly total of 17500 and lost weight.
Would it still work if I ate 2300 calories per day for 6 days and then 3700 calories on the 7th day for the same 17500 weekly total?
I only ask because my first day yesterday I under ate by a few hundred and it would be nice to "bank" those calories for a day I am more hungry.
To start with, despite the name I'm not ripped yet!
If I ate 2500 calories per day for a 7-day weekly total of 17500 and lost weight.
Would it still work if I ate 2300 calories per day for 6 days and then 3700 calories on the 7th day for the same 17500 weekly total?
I only ask because my first day yesterday I under ate by a few hundred and it would be nice to "bank" those calories for a day I am more hungry.
1
Replies
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Yes. Many people (myself included) do this regularly.4
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Yep, I've experienced the same, you seem to be able to do this for about 12 days or so, but that's just by my experience.1
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Hey all,
To start with, despite the name I'm not ripped yet!
If I ate 2500 calories per day for a 7-day weekly total of 17500 and lost weight.
Would it still work if I ate 2300 calories per day for 6 days and then 3700 calories on the 7th day for the same 17500 weekly total?
I only ask because my first day yesterday I under ate by a few hundred and it would be nice to "bank" those calories for a day I am more hungry.
Yep. I save calories to eat more at the weekend2 -
For the most part, yes. The idea of a "cheat day" is as old as the idea of dieting itself. I'd just caution to be careful from overdoing the banking idea, because if you save up to much to go crazy on one day, you could store more calories as fat than normal because your metabolism can only handle so much at once. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the "7th" day if you plan to weigh yourself the next day. I'd rather do it during in the middle of my weigh in week, so that it has time to fully process through my body.20
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For the most part, yes. The idea of a "cheat day" is as old as the idea of dieting itself. I'd just caution to be careful from overdoing the banking idea, because if you save up to much to go crazy on one day, you could store more calories as fat than normal because your metabolism can only handle so much at once. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the "7th" day if you plan to weigh yourself the next day. I'd rather do it during in the middle of my weigh in week, so that it has time to fully process through my body.
Banking calories is not a cheat day as you stick to your weekly calorie and macro goals.12 -
Banking is fine. Many do that or follow a weekly calorie goal so some days are over some under but they balance out.2
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For the most part, yes. The idea of a "cheat day" is as old as the idea of dieting itself. I'd just caution to be careful from overdoing the banking idea, because if you save up to much to go crazy on one day, you could store more calories as fat than normal because your metabolism can only handle so much at once. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the "7th" day if you plan to weigh yourself the next day. I'd rather do it during in the middle of my weigh in week, so that it has time to fully process through my body.
What’s “cheating” about having a higher intake day that is planned for?
Also-I did this all through marathon training to allow for very high intake days to match my massive hunger on long run days. Very high as in 6-8k calories in a day.
I have also done this the entire rest of the almost 7 years I’ve been here (although not quite so much runger the rest of the time).
My weight has always gone down/up/maintained based on CI/CO (over time).
You will likely see a jump on the scale due to water weight the day after a higher intake day. Particularly if that day includes foods (or more of foods) that are higher in carbs/sodium.
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TavistockToad wrote: »For the most part, yes. The idea of a "cheat day" is as old as the idea of dieting itself. I'd just caution to be careful from overdoing the banking idea, because if you save up to much to go crazy on one day, you could store more calories as fat than normal because your metabolism can only handle so much at once. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the "7th" day if you plan to weigh yourself the next day. I'd rather do it during in the middle of my weigh in week, so that it has time to fully process through my body.
Banking calories is not a cheat day as you stick to your weekly calorie and macro goals.
It is the same concept, just more refined. I can see people are getting testy about the word "cheat", but the original concept of the cheat day was not a negative one. It was that if you were good with your diet for the whole week, you could reward yourself by eating the foods you liked that you had given up on your diet.
Banking is a more refined version of the cheat day. The problem with the original idea of the cheat day was that it lead to overeating that wiped out the week's gains. But with banking you have a better idea of how much you can eat without setting yourself off course. It is the same concept, just a better execution of it.7 -
TavistockToad wrote: »For the most part, yes. The idea of a "cheat day" is as old as the idea of dieting itself. I'd just caution to be careful from overdoing the banking idea, because if you save up to much to go crazy on one day, you could store more calories as fat than normal because your metabolism can only handle so much at once. Also, I wouldn't recommend doing it on the "7th" day if you plan to weigh yourself the next day. I'd rather do it during in the middle of my weigh in week, so that it has time to fully process through my body.
Banking calories is not a cheat day as you stick to your weekly calorie and macro goals.
It is the same concept, just more refined. I can see people are getting testy about the word "cheat", but the original concept of the cheat day was not a negative one. It was that if you were good with your diet for the whole week, you could reward yourself by eating the foods you liked that you had given up on your diet.
Banking is a more refined version of the cheat day. The problem with the original idea of the cheat day was that it lead to overeating that wiped out the week's gains. But with banking you have a better idea of how much you can eat without setting yourself off course. It is the same concept, just a better execution of it.
The problem with a “cheat” day is that it assigns a moral value to food amd diet adherence. “Good” food, “good” on your diet, you “earn” a “reward” of “being bad” on your diet with “bad” food.
Food is food. There’s nothing morally good or bad about it. There’s nothing morally good about eating salads vs bacon cheeseburgers.
So “cheat” is indeed a loaded term as it implies negative behavior.
Banking calories is simple math. There’s no moral value attached to columns of a balance sheet.
That’s the difference.
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I bank calories all the time and lose on schedule. I want to save calories for sitting in the pub on the weekend.5
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Yes a weekly view is perfectly fine and if it makes adherence easier and more enjoyable then go for it.
It's not cheating in the slightest, just a sensible strategy if the thought of balancing the books on a daily basis feels restrictive for no good reason.5 -
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Thanks for the information everyone! It was good to read and learn. The app is great, it's so easy to use. I am excited to get in shape. It's my second day on MFP 5
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I do this as well. In my case, I am much more active on the weekends than I am during the week and Mondays in particular tend to be spent trapped at my desk, so I try to have an extra 200 or so calories left over on Sunday so I can eat them the next day without going off plan.2
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Sometimes I hit the bank the bank up for a loan also. That's a little dicier, but if you're disciplined the math will work within a couple of days. When I borrow, I do it like my diary is right now; full up for today with a couple of snacks moved to tomorrow. I will work out at the gym in the AM and should be able to work them in okay. Anyway, that keeps me from having to mess with math across days.2
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CarvedTones wrote: »Sometimes I hit the bank the bank up for a loan also. That's a little dicier, but if you're disciplined the math will work within a couple of days. When I borrow, I do it like my diary is right now; full up for today with a couple of snacks moved to tomorrow. I will work out at the gym in the AM and should be able to work them in okay. Anyway, that keeps me from having to mess with math across days.
I have a "carry over" category for this type of thing. I don't use it a lot and never for a lot but it makes spacing out calories easier for me.0 -
If I don't have 1-2 days of more food when I'm dieting it leads to bingeing. So I go a bit lower 5 days and a bit higher 2 days. By the time I hit Friday afternoon I am hankering for my extra calories!!!3
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I don't do weekly, but sometimes I have a bit of an excess at the end of the day so I eat those calories the very next day.
For example today for breakfast I had 400 calories of protein pancakes and 60 calories of sugar free syrup. When I got to the end of the day yesterday I had 467 calories excess and I was really too late to eat anything else before bed. So I logged my big breakfast as a snack when I went to bed and enjoyed it in the morning. Started the day with a big breakfast and zero calories so far.
I have not done it beyond eating the calories the very next day and just a couple of times so far. I have not tried it in reverse yet where I went over one day so I cut it shorter the next day. I am confident though I can pull it off now that I am in maintenance.
Finding maintenance to be pretty easy so far, about a two months in.0 -
CarvedTones wrote: »Sometimes I hit the bank the bank up for a loan also. That's a little dicier, but if you're disciplined the math will work within a couple of days. When I borrow, I do it like my diary is right now; full up for today with a couple of snacks moved to tomorrow. I will work out at the gym in the AM and should be able to work them in okay. Anyway, that keeps me from having to mess with math across days.
I have a "carry over" category for this type of thing. I don't use it a lot and never for a lot but it makes spacing out calories easier for me.
I did carry over where i added and/or subtracted calories but kept all the food logged on the day eaten for a while so the history would be more accurate if I looked back over it, but the main reason I roll forward instead of averaging is because I really don't look back for analytical purposes. So it doesn't make any difference if I log food on the wrong day or move calories, except that I usually end up not exactly at goal because I might have 20 left and then log a 200 calorie item on the next day, still leaving 20.0 -
Yep. I do this as I eat out at least once a week and like to fully enjoy the experience 0
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Your body doesn't do some kind of reset at midnight...energy balance happens on a continuum.0
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