Hi everyone,

I had a question. When I was on Weight Watchers, you had so many points to use in a day. For example, when I first started with what I was weighing, I was alloted 28-32 points a day. If you did not use all those points within a day, you could save or what they referred to as "bank" points for later use. So that way if you knew something in the week was coming up where you felt you would need a lot of points, you could use those "banked" points for that particular occassion. Sometimes, I could bank up to 12 points which I used for later in the week.

Well here is my question, do you think that you could bank carbs? For example, depending on how many carbs you allow yourself everyday, if you did not use all those carbs, could you bank those for later. If I alloted myself 20g a day, and I only use 10g, could I use the other 10g for a later date. In doing the math, by the end of the week your total count for carbs would still be the same.

Just wanted everyone's input on if you think this could possibly work.

Thanks

I 've wondered this too. Why should we count by the day instead of hour or week? Dr A says you can do LC all day if you know you are going to have that ultra special HC thing later. (not that they want you to do that more than about 5 x a year).
I was wondering this in regard to my own weight loss patterns which is more like a whoosh about twice a month rather than a steady loss. So I thought, maybe my carbs should go like that too.

The only drawback I can see is that if you carb load at a certain time by emptying your carb bank later in teh week, it may set off cravings and/or insulin spikes/crashes. That may be a reason to keep it even.

In OWL you do end up with more carbs daily but approx 20 daily should be your minimum.

This allows you to eat healthy and lose effectively.

In my opinion, two thngs can happen....carb "overloading" (depending on how many carbs you have "banked")...can throw you out of ketosis and stop the weight loss, so you do have to be careful.

Secondly, I think this type of eating would create those insulin spikes and uneven blood sugars that we are so trying to avoid. For many this leads to further cravings and lots of hard work to get things under control.

That being said, I suppose you can try it...but I think one of the goals of the program is to maintain a steady blook sugar level throughout the day (not the week) in order to avoid cravings, maintain ketosis and continue with the weight loss.

Good luck!

Froufie

Banking doesn't work.

All low carb diets work by regulating the levels of insulin and glucagon in your body through ketosis/lipolysis.

Eating too many carbs at once will cause an insulin reaction and could throw you out of ketosis.

That's not to say that you can't indulge once in a while -- but you certainly can't skip 5g of carbs every day to have a 30g potato on Sunday.

If you want to indulge? Go for it. It's your life. But don't be surprised if it acts as a speed bump to your weight loss.

Here's what the Drs. Eades have to say, from the Protein Power FAQ's:

I really don't think this would work at all, no matter what I do I have to stay under 20. If I don't use them up by the end of the day they are gone. I don't want to put my body on a rollercoaster either, low carb...high carb...no. I like being stable and consistent each day.

Atkins states you can do this once you reach maintanance. Basicaly you can have some adys that are a little under your CCL and some days that are over as long as they balance out overall, or you can save for a treat some days.

On induction and OWL this is a no-no. The reason to spread carbs out through the day is so there isn't a sudden insulin spike from a load of carbs. Instead you eat carbs through out the day at a somewhat constant level, keeping your blood sugar at somewhat a constant level. This prevents spikes that can cause cravings, or add weight on.

If you do this you will spike up your insulin. There is a reason for everything Dr. A prescribes. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. It works for a reason. When we start trying to add our own ideas to it that is when we get ourselves in a lot of trouble....

Just my 2 cents!

Thanx everyone for your input. I will defintely not bank my carbs then. Once you mention it, the insulin spike does make a lot of sense.

Thanks