Calorie Differential and Cycling

I know I have talked about calories before...but I found a new thing with them and felt i was worth sharing since I have been doing it for a month and I have lost 11 lbs and 9 inches in that month. Well two things calorie related really....calorie differential and calorie cycling.  These two things plus all of the motivation from  my on line support group on Spark People, my family, and my friends, plus the feel of a really good workout.  

First I am gonna touch on calorie differential.  I went to a nurtionist last month for the first time and was confused by it so I asked, she looked at me and said I have no idea.  Well one I thought that was odd and second I decided it was time to really figure it out.  I bought a new scale that day...(refer to ARRRGGHHH!! for that story) and on the back of the box was a simple explanation about it and I had a well DUH moment.  Talk about feeling blonde, I almost went back in to store for box of red hair dye because apparently my artificial intelligence was wearing off.  So in a nutshell here is differential....we all have a specific calorie intake to MAINTAIN our current weight.  By eating a higher amount then that you will gain weight but by eating a lower amount you will lose weight.  There are three things that go into deciding your calorie needs for day....1.Current Weight, 2.Current Activity Level, 3.Your Height.  My new scale does it for me, but for those who have scales that they have a really good relationship with and are not in need of replacing that do not do this...you can use an on line BMR (Body Metabolic Rate) Calculator.  For explaining purposes we are gonna use my figures....them just plug own figures in to figure your calorie differential out.

I currently weigh 270, very active between workouts and chasing and lugging my 6 month old, and housework....(it is true what they say a woman's work is never done.), and I am 5'4".  According to my scale I need to eat 3400 calories a DAY to MAINTAIN my weight.  Well I don't want to maintain so I reduce my calorie intake.  Now before we think drastic and start chopping calories like the guys on Ax Wars take down trees, please also refer back to the blog Calories and the secrets that they don't tell you. I cut my calories down to between 1500-2800 a day...(I will explain the gap in the next section.)  So by doing this I have created a differential of 600-1900.  I can still function I am still active I am not starving and I am  feeling lighter.  With the differential I have also lost between 1-2 lbs a week.  You may want to lose faster then that, but I am choosing not to because I have been heavy for 15+ years and I am trying to lose slowly so the skin can shrink back with me.  Whatever you choose, do not cut too drastically too quickly, you can and will most likely make yourself sick.

Now for the calorie cycling....this is my favorite part of my diet.  This is it in a nut shell...I never eat the same amount of calories in a day.  Now for a little deeper explanation.  When the dieting craze from the Atkins to the South Beach, to the Cookie diet...one thing was kinda common stick to a certain amount of calories.  Your metabolism speeds up with the help of eating fewer calories and exercising more, but then guess what??? The body plateaus. Your metabolism gets used to the calorie intake and the exercise level.  Now it burns what it used to and no more.  So you know have to eat less...and remember most of those diets restrict you to 1500 calories a day so how much less can you eat? You have to exercise more....who has time in a day to add one more thing to the to do list?  Enter Calorie Cycling....on rest days or days I am not gonna get as much exercise as I would by adding my hour at gym, I eat towards the lower end....1500ish (creating the 1900 differential) and on days I am working out at home, hitting the gym, and done a lot of housework, I eat up around the 2800 calories (creating the 600 differential). I never go over the 2800 calories so I always have the deferential but my metabolism never has a chance to stabilize.    By my metabolism never stabilizing I never give my body a chance to plateau.  Which the proof is in the 11 lb and 9 inch loss in a month.  Calorie Cycling is easy and I have also seen I am kinda following a low carb thing without even trying.

 I challenge everyone who is reading to try it for a month even if you don't work out or change your activity level.  Just find a comfortable differential, cycle your calories from day to day, and make sure you are getting your water and be blown away by the results....leave comments of how well it worked or didn't work for you.

Happy Dieting!