Banking
Calories - Eat Less Now To Pig Out Later?
By Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Suppose youre
on a diet and you have a banquet or a holiday party coming
up. Youre expecting a big meal to be served for
dinner, and there will be open bar with lots and lots
of party snacks. Youre not sure if there
will be any healthy food there, but you are sure that
youre going to be in a festive, partying mood! What
should you do? Should you cut back on your food earlier
in the day to make room for the big feast?
What Ive
just described is commonly known as "banking calories,"
which is analogous to saving calories like money because
you're going to consume more later, and its a very
common practice among dieters. If youre really serious
about your diet and fitness goals however, then the answer
is no, you should NOT bank calories! Here's why
and here's what you should do instead:
First of all,
if you're being really honest with yourself, you have
to agree that there's almost always something healthy
to eat at any gathering. You know those tables you see
at holiday parties that are covered with yards of chips,
dips, pretzels, cookies, salami, candies, cheese, punch,
liquor, and a seemingly endless assortment of other goodies?
Well, did you also notice that there's usually a tray
full of carrot sticks, cauliflower, celery, fruit, turkey
breast and other healthy snacks too?
No matter
where you are, you always have options, so make the best
choice you can based on whatever your options are. If
nothing else, you can choose to eat a small portion of
"party foods" rather than a huge portion, thereby
obeying the law of calorie balance.
If you skip
meals or eat less earlier in the day to bank calories
for a big feast at night, you are thinking only in terms
of calories, but youre depriving yourself of the
valuable nutrition you need all day long in terms of protein
(amino acids), carbohydrates, essential fats, vitamins,
minerals and other nutrients that come from healthy food,
as well as the small frequent meals required to stoke
the furnace of your metabolism.
Not only that,
but eating less early in the day in anticipation for overeating
later is more likely to increase your appetite, causing
you to binge or eat much more than you thought you would
at night when the banquet does arrive.
Eating healthy
food earlier in the day is likely to fill you up and you'll
be less likely to overeat in the evening. High fiber foods,
healthy fats and especially lean protein, tend to suppress
your appetite the most.
I dont
like the concept of "banking calories." Your
body just doesn't work that way - it tends to seek equilibrium
by adjusting your appetite to the point where you consume
the same total amount of calories in the end anyway.
Even if it
worked the way you wanted it to, why would you eat less
(starve) in an attempt to burn more fat, then overeat
(binge) and put the fat right back on? Why allow yourself
to put on fat in the first place?
A starving
and bingeing pattern will almost certainly cause more
damage than an occasional oversize meal. Some dieticians
might even say that this kind of behavior borders on disordered
eating.
A better approach
is to stay on your regular menu of healthy foods and small
meals through the entire day - business as usual - and
then go ahead and treat yourself to a "cheat meal,"
but sure to keep your portions small.
It should be
a big relief to know that on special occasions, whether
it's a party, restaurant meal, banquet or holiday dinner,
you can eat whatever you want with little or no ill effect
on body composition, as long as you respect the law of
calorie balance. However, you CANNOT starve and binge
and expect not to reap negative consequences.
To burn fat
and be healthy, you don't have to be a "party pooper"
or completely deny yourself of foods you enjoy, but you
do need to have the discipline to stick with your regular
meal plan most of the time and control your portion sizes
all of the time.
About
the Author:
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Tom Venuto is a lifetime
natural bodybuilder, an NSCA-certified personal
trainer (CPT), certified strength & conditioning
specialist (CSCS), and author of the #1 best-selling
e-book, "Burn
the Fat, Feed The Muscle. Tom has
written hundreds of articles and has been featured
in print magazines such as IRONMAN, Australian IRONMAN,
Natural Bodybuilding, Muscular Development, Exercise
for Men and Mens Exercise, as well as on hundreds
of websites worldwide.
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