Can you ‘bank’ calories?

minnelizzy · January 2020

I often have calories left over each day. Are they just gone or can you say ‘bank’ them and use them for a special occasion or something else?

MikePTY · January 2020

Yes. People follow their own rules on it, but some do a weekly calorie goal instead of a daily. I personally do daily, and try to get close to my goal every day, but sometimes if I know I'm gonna have a big day, I'll go a couple of hundred under for a few days to help save up some calories.

AnnPT77 · January 2020

Absolutely, I bank calories routinely.

I did it less often when losing, because it's not great to be much under very often if already losing weight at a decent rate, but would - as Mike said - do it as a lead-up to a special event sometimes.

In maintenance, it's an important tool to me, though not everyone prefers to handle it that way.

NovusDies · January 2020

My system is to eat at a calorie deficit for 6 days and bank enough each day to eat my maintenance calories each Sunday. I have done it for 2 years and it has made zero difference in how I have lost weight and I have lost a lot of weight.

PAV8888 · January 2020

I would bank... carefully.

There is a distinction between banking some calories for a special occasion and ending up in a restrict-binge scenario.

So, the answer partially depends on the size of your transactions as compared to your total energy budget and on the size of your current deficit!

Banking 5% of your total on top of a small deficit is probably not a big deal. Banking 25% of your total calories on top of a large deficit probably WOULD be!

apullum · January 2020

Yes, as long as you're eating enough each day to feel satiated. If you're banking so many calories that you're constantly hungry, then you risk binging eventually. So while you can bank calories, do it in moderation.

COGypsy · January 2020

Yep, it’s part of my routine. Partly because of my schedule, but partly because it makes my calorie budget easier to manage. I’m a singer and have rehearsals on Tuesday’s. I don’t like to feel full when I sing (I need the space for air, not food!) so I rarely have more than a snack Tuesday’s nights. I also have a supper club every Thursday it just made sense to let those things balance each other out. It worked well enough that I do the same thing at other times based on my plans for a week. It hasn’t affected my loss or my maintenance at all, as long as my weekly calories are on track.

I think of it as an expanded version of “meal timing doesn’t matter”.

fdlewenstein · January 2020

I keep track of macros and try my best to meet my daily goal. I look at my overall average for the week, so if I don't meet my macro goal for the day I do try to make it up the next day (or later). Again, its the average I really care about.

I would say "yes" you can bank your calories depending on your long term goal. I would be very careful. Also, when I have a special occasion coming up I usually fast for 24 hours. Then I'm not afraid of going over my macros. However, I do still plan what I'm going to eat (if this is possible).

cwolfman13 · January 2020

minnelizzy wrote: »

I often have calories left over each day. Are they just gone or can you say ‘bank’ them and use them for a special occasion or something else?

Time is a human construct. You don't just reset at midnight. Energy balance happens on a continuum.

hipari · January 2020

I don’t bank calories on purpose, but I follow my weekly average intake. This allows variety to my days: one day I might have the time and effort to make every meal at home and make them really healthy ones, another day might be a take-out sushi box for lunch and a big dinner event at a restaurant. I try to balance things out on a weekly level if there are events or other none-everyday stuff there. I still wouldn’t restrict by skipping meals or making them unusually light in order to bank calories for something else, as that always leads me to bad things.

I have a Fitbit synced up, and the Fitbit app shows the weekly average intake really nicely even though I use MFP to log food.

AnnPT77 · January 2020

I want to comment about personal experience with one aspect some others have brought up:

Speaking only for myself, I found while losing weight that I could cut a hundred or two calories for a couple of days ahead of some special planned event, eat lightly otherwise that same day, and maybe add a manageable amount of extra exercise (not too fatiguing) in the day or three beforehand. After that 2-3 day period of extra restriction, the special event would come, I'd happily indulge a bit: "Balancing the books", so to speak, at that point. It was pretty easy for me to just go back to my usual moderate calorie deficit and routine exercise afterward, and stick with it.

However, if I tried to "make up for" an unplanned special event that involved extra calories, by cutting back afterward, that was pretty much usually a recipe for triggering over-eating sometime in the next few days. In those cases, I was better off just to enjoy the extra unplanned food, and get back on my normal routine the next day, not try to "make up".

There was a certain level of moderate restriction I was used to, but going beyond it seemed to trigger payback. If the extra restriction was in advance, the special event was that payback.
Metaphorically, my personal "calorie bank" works OK with saving deficit calories, then spending them; but doesn't do very well with spending from a "calorie credit line" then paying it back.

Others will differ, but I mention it for others to consider whether it might be relevant to their success also. :drinker:

Can you ‘bank’ calories?

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