Can I "save" exercise calories for another day?

Why can't you save your calories for another day?

No, you shouldn't store them up for weeks on end, but within a week or so is fine. What is the difference if you save 500 from today to use tomorrow or double up on your workout the day after eating a bit too much... there is none in the end.

WW is specifically designed to help people keep track of their activity points on a weekly basis. Not that they are the gold standard -- but think about it, it helps promote a healthy lifestyle by encouraging people to plan ahead so they don't "fall off the wagon" so to speak.

So yeah, anyway -- I lost 30 pound on WW, 14 with MFP -- I "saved" calories. So it works and won't ruin your progress.

In addition, lots of people say that spiking their calories ( planning to eating 1,300 one day, then 2,000 the next, then 1,500 and so on) helps them lose weight faster -- my husband is one of them. He's also lost about 30 pounds.

Seriously?
No unfortunately you can't just save calories for another day. Everything resets at midnight, Cinderella.

Is everything ok at home dear or did you just not ate today and wanna be mean to strangers online? Everything will be OK love.

@OP. Its perfectly OK to save them, You're fine to eat them back after a few days, your "clock" doesn't reset at any particular time. Want proof, try weighing yourself before and after you goto bed, there will be a weight difference which shows your metabolism is still working which means nothing stopped working when you were sleeping.

Also, yes you should eat back the workout calories or any of the saved calories but donot "force" yourself to but at the same time don't make it a habit to undereat alot whether you're hungry or not. I suggest eating back atleast half your calories. If you burn big amounts of calories like I do something (2000+ calories) then eat whatever you can back and save the rest of the calories for a day when you're not gonna workout or wanna eat outside or have a desert, dangit you earned that desert!

You can, and still lose weight. BUT it is recommended you eat the calories you need on the day you do the harder work out. My dietician said it is like a calorie bank for the week, not just day to day. I really only use that if I have had a bad day or two, and then limit my calories for the next few days to make up for it. I typically don't do it the other way around, but- you CAN save calories, sure.

If you were to somehow have a 3,500 calorie deficit in one day, you would not lose a pound of fat overnight. You might lose due to water fluctuation, but not true fat loss. The calorie deficit you have over time is what causes true fat loss. If you want to average your calories over, say, 1 week, and make sure that what you averaged came out to your calorie goal, you would do fine,

In fact, there's a whole school of people who deliberately do that just to keep the body guessing.

Can I "save" exercise calories for another day?

I do. I average out my calories over the week (monday - sunday). On sunday I typically eat out or make something extra yummy at home that requires calorie heavy ingredients and some desert. I typically save only my workout calories though so that the rest of the days I don't feel hungry

I do this!!!!

I have no choice but to do this since I tend to do two or three workouts of over 1,000 calories during the week. It is definitely not comfortable eating 1500 calories one day and 2500 the next.

ohh glad i read this, means i can save for say a meal out at the weekend?

im going try

absolutely! Calories burned is calories burned - they don't expire. Some people just figure out how many net calories they want to consume for the whole week and then have days where they eat fewer than 1200 and days where they eat more....whatever works for you.