Calorie Banking and How to Enjoy Events While Still Crushing Your Goals

One of the most common struggles I see with my clients and gym goers/fitness enthusiasts is dealing with social events and the food/drinks that come with them. Today I'm going to explain one of the key strategies I employ and teach to my clients in order to let them have their cake and eat it too, so to speak. This means we're going to take a look at how to achieve and stay on track for your goals, while still enjoying the food/drinks at an upcoming event. Whether it be a wedding, a birthday party, or one of the many upcoming summer events that you may partake in. So let's dive into the details, what is Calorie Banking and how can you use it to your advantage

This burger is probably around 700 calories, FYI.

What is Calorie Banking? Well the short and sweet of it is essentially slightly under eating in the 1-3 days before/after an event. Should you Calorie Bank? That depends, I would only use this strategy a few times a year. Big events that only happen once, weddings or a best friends birthday bash for a milestone birthday for example. Christmas and Holidays are another great time to consider using this strategy. Are there any negative side effects of Calorie Banking? Yes and No. You might feel slight fatigue the day of or around the event. But as far as body composition, nothing measurable or worth losing sleep over.

Ok, let's go into the nitty gritty of how we make this work. Calorie Banking is work. It does require intelligent application as things can easily go wrong, so your precision here is key. If you're already not tracking your food intake, Calorie Banking will not work as well for you.

Little bit of math incoming.

Let's say you're dieting down on 2000 Calories per day and your Basic Metabolic Rate (How many calories your body needs to run and stay the same) is 2500 calories. How I would proceed to Calorie Bank is as follows:

Let's say I've got a wedding to go to Saturday. On Thursday I'm going to eat 1750 Calories (keeping protein the same!). On Friday I'm going to eat again 1750 Calories. I would do the same for 2 following days Sunday and Monday at 1750 Calories.

On the day of the Wedding or Event, I would allow myself to go back up to the Basic Metabolic Rate of 2500 (This this ensure I don't do any damage to my goal). But remember, we're also banking 1000 Calories from the 4 days around the event. Suddenly now for the event I've got 3500 calories to play with! But there is one more thing you can do to bank even more Calories

On the morning of, I would have a light breakfast, say 250 Calories. Light Lunch and snack before leaving for the event (maybe 250 Calories each). I highly recommend eating something right before going as it might be awhile before food is served and you don't want to be hangry! So let's dive into some quick math and figure out how many Calories we've banked for this event using this strategy and what that means. Stick with me here.

Because we've banked 1000 Calories around the event, only had 750 Calories leading up the event and our Basic Metabolic Rate is 2500 Calories, this means we would have in total for the event:

2500 + 1000 = 3500

3500 - 750 = 2750 Calories for the event!

That's roughly the equivalent of 5 Big Macs from McDonalds! Or about 18 Glasses of wine!

You can see how this strategy can allow you a ton of wiggle room so you can really enjoy the event. Order the steak, have the cake, have the late night option, have some drinks and enjoy yourself.

But, what can go wrong?

This man went over his Calories and is in total shock. Probably. I dunno I got this image from Wix's image bank

As I mentioned above, this strategy does require a fairly precise few days leading up to and around the event. Failure to do so will result in a poor outcome and possibly setting your goals back. Often times the day after, the hangover or whatever you must be careful to adhere to your Calorie Banking strategy. Too many times I see people not planning ahead, not planning after, or going too overboard the day of. Remember, you still have to stick within the calorie budget. All you've done is shift the energy intake around, go over that energy intake and you will gain potentially unwanted weight. But with careful planning this can be excellent strategy to enjoy an upcoming event and not feel guilty about the food and drinks your having while still crushing your goals.

As always, with FlexEd Personal Training I handle your nutrition coaching as well as your training routine. If your coach doesn't do that, probably time for a new one. Try a free personal training session to get started.