Have you ever “saved up” calories? It’s a common practice for individuals trying to lose weight: They have a small breakfast and lunch and then eat a large dinner with a majority of their daily caloric intake. Does this approach really work though?

For today’s blog post, let’s dig into the truth about “saving up” calories.

To start, let’s look at a patient at The Kahm Clinic whose metabolic testing results show how this disordered eating pattern impacts the body. She was trying to stick to 1,800 calories per day but was finding it challenging because she was “saving up” calories. 

For breakfast, she’d have a cup of yogurt with granola or two hard-boiled eggs and a piece of fruit. For lunch, she’d have a big salad that was mostly leafy greens and vegetables with three to four ounces of protein and some dressing. It’s not surprising that, as the day wore on, she got hungrier and hungrier. Around 3 or 4 p.m. each day, she’d start to snack. She’d begin with a reasonable snack, like nuts, but continued reaching for more food as she finished her work day and headed home to cook dinner. 

Then, she’d eat a very big dinner. It was a healthy, home-cooked meal that included meat, starch, and vegetables but in large portion sizes. She’d sometimes grab a second helping and have dessert or an after-dinner snack. Between her afternoon snack and end-of-day eating, she was consuming around 1,800 calories. 

Well, it makes sense that she was so hungry! Unfortunately, these intense hunger cues made it hard to listen to her body during her evening meal. Research shows that, if you don’t take in enough calories and protein in the early part of the day, you’re more likely to crave carbohydrates and sweets in the afternoon and evening.

For her initial metabolic test, her resting metabolic rate was 2,076 calories per day — significantly higher than the expected number of 1,688 calories per day. 

Ultimately, she was eating enough calories (just not at an ideal time of day), which kept her metabolism up. Her protein metabolism was also normal. However, her fat metabolism was 24 percent below normal, and her carbohydrate metabolism was 20 percent above normal. Note that carbohydrate metabolism isn’t just carbs; it’s all food in general. 

For the resting metabolic rate test, individuals are fasted for a minimum of four to five hours. This individual had actually fasted overnight because she came in for a morning visit. These results show us that her body was still breaking down 20 percent of what she ate the night before. As we prepare to go to bed, our metabolism naturally slows down. In other words, her metabolism, which naturally slows down at night, couldn’t keep up with her high intake at the end of the day! As a result, it’s not as effectively burning fat, which is why this number was below normal. 

Given these results, we recommended that she aim for 2,400 calories per day and try to front load her calories rather than “saving up” for the end of the day. 

If we look at a full day of food, breakfast and lunch should be the biggest meals of the day and dinner should be the smallest. Ultimately, food is fuel, and you need that fuel to get through your day. You can eat after 7 p.m. and partake in a multi-course dinner from time to time, but there’s no reason to “save up” calories in order to do so. 

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