calories in < calories out

I am a weight watchers lifetime member. According to them, the calories burned apply only to that day. Now I twist it a bit for races because I want a good meal the night before because I don't eat big calories before a race. But for long training sessions, I just make sure to eat DURING the session. If I go on a 3 hour bike ride, I eat every half hour and drink every 15 minutes (10 minutes in hot weather). I lose track of all those calories but I don't count it toward my total. I used to eat every 45 minutes on the bike, but I would bonk at the end of long rides so my coach had me up the frequency. This has worked beautifully. My weight stayed steady throughout my race season, only fluctuating by about 2 pounds. My coach was also adamant about eating protein and hydrating 30 minutes after a long (2.5 hour + effort) to aid in recovery.

Now if I could only figure out the amount of food I need when I'm NOT working out Sorry this is long, and you know my struggles, but it did work for me performance-wise during race season.

Pam

Pam, when you're not working out do you use your daily points only with some weekly points thrown in every now and then?

MrsUSMC,

I'm using way to many of my WP's right now because I am gaining. I need to stick with my daily points and perhaps half of any APs I earn to get the scale moving in the right direction. My appetite is still in race-season mode. Some days I am doing good and only eat my daily points. The days when I'm not so good it's more like 10 points over.

Pam

From everything I've read, its cumulative. Not day by day. Day by day, doesn't really make sense does it? Its not like at midnight, all the sudden the body knows its a new day and it now its counting all over. Calories don't have clocks.

In the time periods that cals in > cals out, the body is going to store those calories as fat. In the time periods that cals in < cals out, the body is going to use that fat for energy.

Don't sweat it if you go over a day or even a few days in a row. Just make sure you have negative days to balance. In fact, from what I've read, bouncing up and down, going over and then under your target calorie count, is a good idea.

Hi Kristen,

A caloried burned is a caloried burned. (And a calorie eaten is a calorie eaten.)

It doesn't matter what day you ate it, or what day you burned it.

Perhaps the reason that Weight Watchers says "day to day" is because they want people to stick to a sensible diet EVERY day. (And not binge some days, and then starve to make up for it the next.) This is speculation on my part.

The effects are cumulative over time. If someone eats an extra 3500 cal more than their body requires, they will gain one pound - whether these extra cal are consumed in a single day or spread out over a year.

( I am speaking from a science-based perspective, and am basing this upon the meaning of a "calorie" in terms of energy and fat storage.)

Dee


Edited by D001 2007-10-27 11:46 AM

I do try and eat according to the activity of the day ; what i am about to do or just done so eg if I do a 2-3 hour run I will eat more than a day when i do an hour on the bike... not just during the run but afterwards to restore muscle glycogen

I feel like we're hijacking this thread but I hear you on the WPs. If I'm accumulating APs, I stay away from the WPs (except to cover my M-F latte before work).

I'm a weight watcher online member which has really helped me track how much I am eating vs how much I am working

Typically when I do small amounts of activity (under and hour for riding, 1/2 for running) whatever I ate in anticipation of the activity is consumed during the activity.

It also works for longer rides/runs, what I eat before, during and after consumes the activity points. I still need to eat sensibly for my regular meals to not consume too much.

I guess what I am saying is if you are eating a healthy diet, and eating in accordance with your workouts there probably isn't much deficit to consume on other days.


Edited by graceful_dave 2007-10-29 3:35 PM