Calories----Shake it up

Do I need to shake up my calories every 5 days or so to keep my body guessing or getting too used to it.

Mon. Mar 3, 1:19pm

No.

Monday, March 3, 2008, 3:57 PM

I argue yes. Your metabolism adapts to your food intake and exercise output. I don't know how quickly, but I would say probably in about a month. If you eat less, your metabolism slows down a bit so you don't starve to death (slight exaggeration). So, if you eat 1300 calories regularly and then one day eat 1800, you prevent your metabolism from slowing down.

On a similar note, your body also adapts to exercise. If you run 3 miles every day, your body works very hard to become efficient and burn less calories doing the same amount of work. As your heart and legs get stronger, the work feels easier because your body is actually doing less to run the same distance. If you wear a heart rate monitor, you would notice that within 2 weeks of doing the same 3-mile run every day, you might burn 50 less calories and your average heart rate would be about 10 beats lower. It's a great argument for mixing up your workouts as well.

Monday, March 3, 2008, 4:48 PM

I agree with pp.

Monday, March 3, 2008, 5:51 PM

My best experience with weight loss came when I was religiously "cycling" my calories. I would aim for an average of 1400 cals/day over a week, but somedays eat as few as 700 and as much as 2200. I would eat extremely healthy, but eat plenty on my heaviest workout days and light on resting days or my pilates only days. I lost over 30 pounds in about 6 months, and never felt deprived. Good luck!!

Monday, March 3, 2008, 9:51 PM

calories---shake it up

How do you shake it up? Reduce the overall intake or drop some calories?

Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 2:47 PM

I had a lot of success losing weight and getting to my goal, and then maintaniing, by keeping my calories consistent. I don't think I'd do well with cycling. I think every day I'd say, well, this could be my high-cal day. Consistency was key for me.

Maybe others could handle this, but, I don't think it'd work for me. And I don't think keeping my calories steady hampered my weight loss in any way.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 3:17 PM

I've had the most luck with keeping my metabolism up by grazing throughout the day. Always small amounts, always within my points allowances (ww). I speculate that it keeps my stomach always working and knowing more is coming.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008, 10:05 PM

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