Adjusting Caloric Intake-

[Guest guest]

, I know you either posted on your site or the board here awhile

ago regarding eating too few calories to be succesful long term. I

thought I recalled you had included a strategy for increasing your

daily caloric intake without adversely affecting your progress for

people stuck in the 1000 calorie a day grind. I would like to

start " tinkering " with bringing my daily caloric intake up and getting

my metabolism adjusted to it without gaining pounds. Do you remember

what post I am talking about? It has been awhile...probably 8-12

months. Can you point me back to it? Thanks! Kathleen

[Guest guest]

Here are a few things I've posted about metabolism recovery and bringing

your calories up:

~~

The idea is to bring your calories up gradually, adding 50-100 calories to

your daily intake each week while following a metabolism-boosting program

(protein, weights, interval training, frequent meals). It's normal for your

weight to creep up a few pounds initially, but the idea is to minimize or

eliminate that gain by continuing to eat well and train hard. You'll know

you've " arrived " when your weight stabilizes at the new higher calorie

intake. Then you can start dropping them again. So maybe somebody weighs 130

pounds but has a high percentage of body fat and is struggling to

maintain on only 1200 calories a day. After a 4-6 weeks of slowly increasing

calories, maybe they gain 5 pounds (some of it muscle) but their weight is

now totally stable at 1800 calories a day. And if they drop the calories

back to 1500-1600 they'll start losing again. So now they're losing in a

higher calorie range than what they used to have to eat to maintain.

~~~

In order to fix things you need to start gaining lean mass, and the

only way to do it is with challenging weights and enough calories. You

won't gain much fat if you bring your calories up gradually on a zig

zag. So, if someone were eating 900 now and trying to take the first

baby step to 1200, the week might go - 900, 1400, 1250, 1000, 1450,

900, 1500. You have some higher days that wake up your metabolism and

some lower ones that minimize fat gain but at the end of the week

you've averaged 1200 cals a day. Every week you keep zig-zagging your

calorie average up by about 50-100 until you're where you want to be.

Whatever your calorie level now, it's really important not to eat the

same number of calories day in, day out, because eventually, that's

all your body will burn. Whether it's 800 or 1500 or 1850, if that's

exactly what you eat every day, that's where your metabolism will

decide to park itself. If your calories are all over the place, your

body doesn't know what's going on, doesn't settle into a rut, and

doesn't have any reservations about burning stored body fat for fuel.

If you feel like you're gaining fat too quickly, you can throw in some

more low days interspersed with the higher ones. If you hold steady

for awhile and start feeling hungry, you can add some higher days.

Everything you do should be based on your own results and not what

looks good on paper. Judge your results by your clothes, the mirror,

and the calipers, not necessarily the scale.

~~~

I should add that there's a natural zig-zag built into Body for Life

if you're using palm/fist portions and eating a variety of different

foods. You don't have to go crazy counting everything. You can just

make an effort to eat an extra meal or more calorie-dense food choices

on weight days (feed muscle), and one less meal or less calorie-dense

foods on cardio days (starve fat).

Adjust your portions based on your results and how you're feeling.

Don't put too much emphasis on scale weight because if you're

undereating, you will gain weight at first. A lot of it will be water

and glycogen (the stored carbohydrate in your muscles) and NOT fat. So

don't completely freak out if you bring your calories up by only 50 a

day and suddenly gain 5 pounds. Your weight will eventually stabilize

itself. You'll start to see the changes you want in terms of more lean

muscle and less fat even if the scale is doing some crazy stuff at

first.

>

> , I know you either posted on your site or the board here awhile

> ago regarding eating too few calories to be succesful long term. I

> thought I recalled you had included a strategy for increasing your

> daily caloric intake without adversely affecting your progress for

> people stuck in the 1000 calorie a day grind. I would like to

> start " tinkering " with bringing my daily caloric intake up and getting

> my metabolism adjusted to it without gaining pounds. Do you remember

> what post I am talking about? It has been awhile...probably 8-12

> months. Can you point me back to it? Thanks! Kathleen

>

[Guest guest]

Thanks a ton, . I want to try bumping up my average by 50- 100

calories a week and doing the zig/zag. I've been hovering around

1200 a day in order to lose. I don't go hungry on this, but it would

be nice to be able to lose on a zig/zag 1500. In my own BFL

experience, in order to lose, I have to watch my calorie intake or I

overeat/don't lose. I must have overly large palms and fists for my

size/metabolism . It would be great if I could get to a point

where I could rely on my hand/fist instead of calorie counting!

I'll give an update in a month and let you know how it's working for

me.

Kathleen

> >

> > , I know you either posted on your site or the board here

awhile

> > ago regarding eating too few calories to be succesful long term.

I

> > thought I recalled you had included a strategy for increasing

your

> > daily caloric intake without adversely affecting your progress

for

> > people stuck in the 1000 calorie a day grind. I would like to

> > start " tinkering " with bringing my daily caloric intake up and

getting

> > my metabolism adjusted to it without gaining pounds. Do you

remember

> > what post I am talking about? It has been awhile...probably 8-12

> > months. Can you point me back to it? Thanks! Kathleen

> >

>

>

>