Weekly caloric distribution?

[Subsistence]

Jordan,

I'm currently reversing out of a diet and having rather severe hunger issues. Current calories are 3100kcal on heavy days (2x/week) and 2600kcal on the other days. I have been fighting a constant urge to binge, and gave into it once. I was wondering would it be detrimental to opposed to adding 100kcal to my daily intake next week to instead add all 700 to my "volume" day to try to foster one day that I could eat more aggressively? Does it matter strongly in terms of nutrient partitioning if my calories are concentrated on one day if my weekly average is still on point? I'm just trying to find a way to psychologically handle these hunger issues.

[Jordan Feigenbaum]

This is a tough question to answer with any authority, unfortunately. We have somewhat decent evidence that weekly calorie restriction is likely more important than daily calorie restriction- though perhaps more accurately it's a 72hr calorie restriction instead of a week. Currently, there's not a lot of data that supports any benefit OR detriment to a caloric excess average that is either evenly spread out over 72hrs, 7 days, etc. as compared to another protocol. Theoretically, it's plausible that since there's a relative upper limit on MPS rates and that an acute excess is not likely to stimulate more growth- that this would lead to a less optimal body composition over time than if the excess was spread out over time. Conversely, I could also make the argument that acute overfeeding may, in fact, increase BMR by stimulating transient increases in thyroid hormone release, leptin, etc. At the end of the day, I don't really know and I suspect that it really doesn't matter.