I found the following information about Calorie Cycling on Moms Who Think. Has anybody tried this diet technique and if so, did it work for you? Please let me know in the comment section.
"Dieting sometimes consists of eating a set amount of calories per day and even sometimes has a set amount per meal. When we have set calorie amounts our bodies get used to the amount of calories we take in on a daily basis. You will start out losing weight but eventually you will hit a plateau and begin to stay at the same weight.
When we take in the same amount of calories every day the body realizes this and our metabolism starts to slow down and we burn less. Your body thinks you’re starving so it will stop burning as many calories and will start storing calories. When you change your calories from a high amount to a low amount on a regular basis, your body does not know what to expect and therefore you are constantly burning calories. This method of weight loss is called calorie cycling.
The basic premise to calorie cycling is that you cycle your calories; tricking your metabolism into thinking you are not dieting. This method can keep your metabolism from slowing down and can help you continue to lose weight at a steady pace.
In order to calorie cycle, you’ll want to change the amount of calories you take in on a daily basis. One day you might take in 2,000 calories, then the next day 1,000, and then 1,500 the third day.
Some people who swear by calorie cycling take it to the next level by changing calorie intake from meal to meal, or calorie shifting. Shifting your calories or cycling them is supposed to cause your metabolic rate to stay high and constantly work; giving you continuous weight loss.
In order to do calorie cycling you need to eat at least four meals a day. You should not snack and every meal needs to have a different calorie count. It is suggested that if you are going to use this method of dieting, you should start out by changing your calories from day to day then eventually change your calories from meal to meal."
2 comments:
I have never heard it called calorie cycling, but I know people who do Weight Watchers will sometimes hit weight plateaus if they consistently eat a certain amount of their points, not within their point range, but always say stick with 20 points when they can eat between 20-25 points. I'm familiar with the Wendy Plan with WW where you mixed up your points, not always eating the same amount, some high days, some low days, even a day or so over your points (but not significantly of course) for this same reason you mentioned, to confuse your body and not get it used to a certain amount of food. They say to do the same thing with exercise, use different machines at the gym, vary routines, whatever but do it to confuse the body. I think there is a lot of sense in it!
betty
@ That corgi :) Thanks for the input. I think there's sense in it too and I am contemplating giving it a try.
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