"Banking" exercise calories

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Tara4boys
Tara4boys Posts: 515 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
First, I believe in eating back exercise calories.

My question... say I exercise and burn 600 calories today. I eat good clean food but stay at my baseline calorie intake (~1300) TODAY. But tomorrow I cant' workout but have a dinner party tomorrow night. Could I eat my extra 600 calories tomorrow (so 1300 base + 600 exercise calories from the previous day)?

I mean by body doesn't know that the stroke of midnight my calories start over for the day.

Am I thinking this through correctly?
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Replies

  • emilyrosedye
    emilyrosedye Posts: 66
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    I'd love to know the answer to this since I had a massive debate with my mum about it the other day! She wanted to know if you can working out an extra bit on the friday to allow yourself the option of over indulging on the weekend. For example - Burning 500 calories at the gym on friday night so that she could have a mega big lunch on saturday. I was certain it doesnt work like this and your much more likely to be successful burning off the calories you've already consumed (i.e over indulging on the friday and then hitting the gym on saturday to work it off)
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    yes and no, it really depends on how your body stores and burns fat. That being said a lot of people look at weekly, not daily net calories and they seem to do okay, while others I know will eat today's burned calories the following day as they are always hungry the day after a tough workout.

    All you can do is try it out and see how it works for you. Where you are eating them the next day, I think it would be fine, if you were saving Monday's burned calories to use the following Saturday, I'm not to sure about that one.
  • adjoa84
    adjoa84 Posts: 261 Member
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    I guess this would be similiar to having a spike day or zig zagging your calories over the week...in theory i reckon it would be fine if you stayed within your weekly targets but wondering if this might cause a slight 'lag' on a weekly weigh in? if that makes sense ie if your weigh in day was hypothetically speaking the day after your dinner party your results for the week might not show immediately but maybe a few days later on the scales even though you've 'balanced out' over the week?

    Not sure, thouse are just my thoughts
  • lambertj
    lambertj Posts: 675 Member
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    That's my plan, to bank all my weekly exercise calories for dinner out on Saturday. I'm going to try it for a month and see how it goes.
  • BerryH
    BerryH Posts: 4,698 Member
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    Personally, I use banked calories as a pre-load for when I have a long or hard exercise session.

    For example, I've been a bit under all week. Today is a rest day, and as it's a Friday I'll also be having some nice food and a drink which will take me over, probably by the amount I've "banked" through the week if not more. BUT tomorrow I'll be running for over an hour so I'll be using that as stored fuel, as it were.
  • pupcamper
    pupcamper Posts: 415 Member
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    There is no doubt that it works for some people but it doesn't work for me :cry: ! The only way you will really know it to try it a couple of times!
  • docHelen
    docHelen Posts: 198
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    I guess this would be similiar to having a spike day or zig zagging your calories over the week...in theory i reckon it would be fine if you stayed within your weekly targets but wondering if this might cause a slight 'lag' on a weekly weigh in? if that makes sense ie if your weigh in day was hypothetically speaking the day after your dinner party your results for the week might not show immediately but maybe a few days later on the scales even though you've 'balanced out' over the week?

    Not sure, thouse are just my thoughts
    I stuck to daily totals to start with but now I'm maintaining I experiment more and it seems fine to zig zag all over the place so long as the average works out close to what I should be eating
  • indrani1947
    indrani1947 Posts: 178 Member
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    I zig zag my calories to keep from plateauing as long as my weekly calories tie in with the amount of exercise calories I've earned and it seems to work for me. I have been known to be up on a weigh in day so I look at it over the week and only log when I've made a loss. Hope this makes sense
  • Matt_Wild
    Matt_Wild Posts: 2,673 Member
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    Banking calories is a bag of nonsense IMO. The odd treat as you diet is fine. Using exercise to counter act this is crazy - 600 calories supposedly burnt doing cardio isn't the same as 600 calories ingested. Just diet normally without using weight watchers style faddy diets which don't teach how to adjust your diet and thus lifestyle and simply allow one cheat meal a week of whatever you want.
  • Mixmode
    Mixmode Posts: 332
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    The best thing (and least worrisome) thing to do is count calories weekly rather than days. If you go over a little bit one day, fine. You will make it up the next. Not a big deal really as long as you regulate it.
  • kyle4jem
    kyle4jem Posts: 1,400 Member
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    First of all everybody is different.... which is why every question on MFP solicits 101 different answers :laugh:

    Secondly, I'm not a nutritional expert, a bro-scientist or a diet guru... I'm just a bloke who's lost almost 50lbs over the past 5-6 months.

    I don't think you can bank exercise calories, but you can certainly use them as a buffer zone. My net intake varies every day. I use by baseline and keep to it with 200kc most days, but I certainly don't panic or fret if I eat light one day or go wild the next. That's life and if we're going to get the hang of this lifestyle change and manage it, we also have to be ready to handle the curve-balls life throws at you! :smokin:

    Sure I know I do more exercise at the weekends (because I have the luxury of time) and I also know that as sure as eggs are eggs (yokes and all :laugh: :tongue: ) I'll be in the pub come 2.30 enjoying a few strong Suffolk cyders.

    It's mostly a game of balance... I'd say it's possibly better to payback the odd excess with extra exercise, rather than working your butt off two to three days in advance, but ultimately, it's all swings and roundabouts in this weightloss game :bigsmile:
  • KavemanKarg
    KavemanKarg Posts: 266
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    When you learn the level of insulin in your blood determines how much your fat cells drink, not calories, you will eat more strategically in these situations.

    Two approaches have worked for entire populations

    Low fat + high NATURAL UNREFINED carbs = no real fat gain

    High fat + medium protein + low carb = no real fat gain

    Combining high fat with high starch, like we do every day in North America, is a real issue.

    Fat must combine with glucose to become trigylcerides within your fat cells in order to stay in your fat cells. Insulin must be present in the process.

    Body builders know this and thus they do carb cycling as part of the cut and gain routines, but this does not work for insulin resistant people and often backfires.

    I would worry less about banking your calories and simply eat and enjoy in a way that does not spike your insulin that day.
  • Elle_Jamaicangirl81
    Elle_Jamaicangirl81 Posts: 418 Member
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    meh.. you go over your cals for the day, you go over for the day.... make a note of it and move on.

    if you've been logging.. and starting over each day, then banking wouldnt make sense.

    They say the deficit for the week is what matter
  • shivaslives
    shivaslives Posts: 279 Member
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    The best thing (and least worrisome) thing to do is count calories weekly rather than days. If you go over a little bit one day, fine. You will make it up the next. Not a big deal really as long as you regulate it.

    I'm trying something similar to this for a few weeks to see how it goes but mostly to get a more consistent intake per day.
    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/shivaslives/view/a-different-approach-to-calorie-deficit-201183

    9114468.png

    Advice is worth exactly what you pay for it!
  • SassyCalyGirl
    SassyCalyGirl Posts: 1,932 Member
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    I find it so amusing how many different ways people will try to find to eat more. Isn't that what got us all here in the first place?
  • XXXMinnieXXX
    XXXMinnieXXX Posts: 3,459 Member
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    Clear as mud then? Yep lol. Mind boggles xxx
  • ahealthy4u
    ahealthy4u Posts: 442 Member
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    Everyone is different play with your food and diet and adjust as you go if you find it works for you stick with it. If not adjust it. I know on the days I have HIT I am starving and can’t get enough to eat so those extra calories burn come in handy. I rarely go over but there are times that I do. Just play with your food and adjust as you go.
    I know I have to keep adjusting what I do every time I lose or gain weight. Good Luck
  • Cranapple
    Cranapple Posts: 6
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    "Banking" exercise calories worked extremely well for me. I lost 90 pounds (on Weight Watchers, since WW allows banking within a week long period) by being very strict with eating and exercise on weekdays, and then eating those extra calories on the weekend (at parties, or restaurants, etc.) If I hadn't "banked" those calories, I think it would have been a lot harder to feel that I was staying "in control."

    I don't know how well that would work for everyone, but I found that it allowed me to reasonably regulate my eating while having a lifestyle that I was capable of maintaining for the long term.
  • loseit4ever
    loseit4ever Posts: 187 Member
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    I used to go to Weight Watchers and they actually had this type of thing as part of their plan. You had a certain number of calories that were kind of a "bonus" and you could decide if you wanted to spread them over the week and use them each day, or save them for one day. Even though we use a daily system, a lot of people do a weekly count, so they know that as long as they stay within their weekly allowance, they will still lose.
  • kimmid70
    kimmid70 Posts: 37 Member
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    I just actually read the book from Jillian Michaels and she encourages eating calories by the week. For instance if you are supposed to have 1600/day, you can actually look at it as 11,200/wk. She said that you can eat more one day (not by alot.........maybe 100-200) and less the next. It keeps your body from getting used to the same caloric intake and avoiding a "plateau". That being said, I usually try to stay within my caloric intake for the day, but I just started 1 week ago, and I'm sure I'll run into the same instance as you are. And I will keep that in mind. Hope this helps.

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