Tricking your body when it's on a plateau
 

From my readings, it appears pretty much agreed that when your body is on a plateau from losing weight that two effective means can be used to break stalled weight loss:

1) Switching up the type of exercise that you've normally been doing (because your body gets conditioned and works more efficiently, therefore burning less calories than previously);

2) Eating a different variety of foods rather than the same foods your body is accustomed to (a friend of mine on Weight Watchers told me that this is what she learned from them).


That said, a long time ago on a television show (can't remember which) I heard that switching up your percentages of carbs and fats will also trick your body and will also help. It was something like eating a higher percentage of fats for 2-3 days, then switching to a higher percentage of carbs for 2-3 days, and so on, all the while keeping the protein intake fairly high. This supposedly would not allow the body to store any fat, and if one is at a caloric deficit, it would help to lose weight.

Now I can't seem to find any information on this however.

Has anyone heard of this? It seems logical, like it should work. Anyway, it's what I've been trying to do, all the time, not just at a plateau. I figure it couldn't hurt so long as the caloric goal is achieved.

Absolutely. When I hit a plateau, that's exactly what I did. Different exercises and I changed the macros in my pie chart. I also did calorie cycling. Those things, and patience, really did help.

I saw your post in another thread about calorie cycling. Very interesting. Do you believe it's really necessary to use the website your cited? Or do you think that calorie cycling is so random, that just by alternating the daily calorie intake up and down (without using the cite to hit target goals for the week) that the same results can be achieved achieved (versus the numbers they give you on the website)?

What has been your experience?

Vito, that is carb cycling. There is a lot of good info on it. I have a carb cycling calculator with a meal plan I can pm you if you'd like. The meal plan is very strict and very boring, nonetheless it some good info on it.

But yes, both will work. Any good exercise program will switch things up on a regular basis.

I've had great success when I change up my diet. I did a good "write up" a couple months ago (I'm the womans 7 day motivational thread) when I decided to try low carb, high fat & high protein.

It's calorie cycling. You can do it with carbs, but I did the calorie cycling and that's all I have experience with.

Of course it's not absolutely necessary to use any website; I used it and I posted it to give an example, but your mileage may vary. Do what works for you. I sort of like something to tell me what to do at the beginning, then I take it and tweak it. Yes, I used the numbers in the site, but the calorie cycle police won't ticket you if you make your own up. The key is to make the average of all the ups and downs your goal of caloric burn for the day as you have calculated it. I usually ate higher cals on a day I had harder workouts and lower ones on the days I didn't.

Pull over ma'am, you've been using the wrong calories, I'm going to have to ticket you.

..and I'm sure my insurance agent will tell my me my premiums will go up :mad:.

Actually, rereading this, I'm not sure I buy into the "not allow your body to store fat" hype, but I think it is still a valid thing to do because your body does get used to things and does them more efficiently over time. If you can make it work harder in any way, shape, or form, so much the better.

Thanks to both of you for your great replies.

I think I have a better handle on what I'm doing now. I like the flexibility of what I'm doing now: eating a bit more on days my body is tired and telling me it's hungry, and eating less on days that I feel like I can go without. That's how I've been calorie cycling.

I've also been carb cycling. Eating a bit more carbs the day before a long bike ride, then switching over to more fat after the workout (basically by eating a massive turkey burger which has fat and an abundance of protein). If I'm riding consecutive days I'm trying to balance the carbs and fats more, but lean towards a bit more carbs.

I don't know... whatever I'm doing it's been working and so far, the two plateaus that I've hit have been broken within a week. So I can't really complain. I'm just trying to get more ideas.



http://rebeccascritchfield.files.wor...nail.jpg?w=468

Good, keep doing what's working for you. As they say... if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

My understanding of carb cycling is this: When you eat carbs (and a slightly higher number of overall calories) your metabolism is nudged higher. Several days a week you cut the carbs and eat lower carb meals (and a slightly lower number of overall calories). Since your metabolism is still running "hot" from your high carb day the day before, your body is fooled into using more of your fat stores on your low carb days than you otherwise would. You end up getting most of the benefits of a 100% low carb diet, without the drawbacks (difficult to stick to long-term for many people).