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Calorie cycling: The absolute best way to prevent homeostasis from stopping your weight loss is by cycling calories. This simply involves changing the amount of calories you eat from day to day. Some days you are eating 100% of the calories your body needs to maintain its weight. Other days you dip your calories down where your body will allow fat loss to happen. How can this work? Remember, homeostasis related to weight loss is your body’s response to prevent the effects of starvation. In the face of a short term calorie dip, the body will not react to conserve energy. Instead it will use stored fat for energy. That being said, short term dips in calories followed by normal or near normal food intake will prevent a homeostatic response. Before we move on, there are two important concepts you need to keep in mind: FIRST: On a continued daily basis it is recommended that if you are a woman, do not drop your food intake calories below 1200. If you are a man, do not go below 1800. Continued dieting below these levels generally makes you lose a lot of water and muscle, but the body tends to hold onto the fat (homeostasis). However, this does not mean you can’t reduce calories below these levels for a day or two-especially if you are eating an exceptionally well balanced diet. You need to eat wisely by increasing lean protein and using only complex carbohydrates found in vegetables, whole grains (going moderate on any starchy carbs). And on these days you need to pay special attention not to allow processed refined carbs and saturated fat into your diet. Keep the calories for the foods packed with nutrients your body needs. And don’t forget to keep up on your fish oil & vitamins. This is especially important if you are doing any type of weight training since your body must have sufficient protein in the form of essential amino acids to rebuild the damaged muscle cells that naturally occur during weight lifting. Weight lifting without proper nutrition is a recipe for extreme muscle loss. It is also recommended that you also take BCAAs (branch chain amino acids). Several brands have no added calories. Second: Keep in mind, to make a calorie deficit, you do NOT have to restrict only calories from food. Exercise can also reduce calories. So, eating 250 fewer calories of food and burning 750 calories through exercise will together produce a nice 1000 calorie deficit for that day. This means you can eat a little more food, feel better with more energy, and still lose weight. Mix this with calorie cycling and you can have fantastic results. To top that off, there is another fantastic benefit. The increased level of exercise, especially with weight training, will definitely result in more muscle growth and body fat reduction than dieting alone. You can also eat extra food if you work it off in the gym. If you work off 1000 calories in the gym, you can eat 1000 extra calories than your BMR, you will not gain an ounce. This works great for those high calorie special events. You can even burn the calories one day and eat them the next with no net gain. How do I do this? Any cycle that has low calories for a few days followed by base line calories (BMR calories) will work. If you want to lose 1 pound per week, just keep track of your calories each day to total 3500 for the week. Remember, at diet for living we do not recommend severe calorie reduction more than a day or two per week. Better to reduce calories in moderation and increase calorie burn through exercise. This is in order to retain muscle, prevent homeostatic weight retention, give you fuel for better workouts and allow you to live a normal lifestyle while losing weight. The days you dip your calories is up to you. Consider the following examples: Simple 500 Deficit: Monday - (-500) Tuesday - (-500) Wednesday - (-500) Thursday - (-500) Friday - (-500) Saturday - (-500) Sunday - (-500) Total = 3500 calories Notes: easy to do but allows for the body to adapt to the constant deficit. Calorie Cycling - Weekday emphasis: Monday - (-750) Tuesday - (-750) Wednesday - (-750) Thursday - (-750) Friday - (-500) Saturday - (-0) Sunday - (-0) Total = 3500 calories Great for work days and eases up on Friday. Calorie Cycling - 3 day dip Monday - (-1166) Tuesday - (0) Wednesday - (-1167) Thursday - (-1167) Friday - (-0) Saturday - (-0) Sunday - (-0) Total = 3500 calories Great for someone who likes to hit it hard on certain days and have Friday - Sunday to live a normal life. It also gives a day (Tuesday) to recover after the first hard day. Any pattern will work. The days you dip your calories is up to you. Just keep track of your calories each day to total 3500 for the week. Another factor to add to this is to do more cardio on the low calorie days for a greater burn and do full body weight training on the high calorie day when the extra energy is available. See your Doctor: IF: 1. You are accurately counting calories 2. You are accurately tracking the calories you have burned 3. You have bee cycling your calories 4. You have not been under-eating 5. You have gone 2 weeks with no weight loss Then: See your doctor. You may very well have a hormonal problem that needs to be addressed. It is clinically proven that people will lose weight if they accurately follow the diet principals of the Diet4Living site. But there are times when your hormones may be causing you problems that need to be addressed by a doctor. Still Need Help? - read this excellent article by Cheryl Forberg. This is the best plateau buster I have ever found and it works great. The SOS Plan: Vault Past Your Weight-Loss Plateau |
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Remember, homeostasis related to weight loss is your body’s response to prevent the effects of starvation. In the face of a short term calorie dip, the body will not react to conserve energy. Instead it will use stored fat for energy.
Remember, homeostasis related to weight loss is your body’s response to prevent the effects of starvation. In the face of a short term calorie dip, the body will not react to conserve energy. Instead it will use stored fat for energy.
