Calorie counting, by itself, is rarely the answer for long term fat loss and fitness success. While it can be effective – it is much more useful when combined with other nutrition and fitness strategies that multiply the effectiveness of each other.
The ongoing challenge of eating a nutrient dense, low calorie diet that promotes healthy weight and optimal fitness – while at the same time trying to keep daily caloric intake at appropriate levels for one’s goals (usually fat/weight loss) can be one the most difficult juggling acts to master. In working with many clients with various daily habits and patterns – I’ve realized that a good number of people can benefit from “shifting their calories” instead of just counting calories to accomplish healthy nutrition and weight control.
Depending on the time you wake up in the morning – starting your day with breakfast may not be the ideal way to kick off the fulfillment of your daily nutritional needs. Now, I know this goes against traditional advice, but read on to fully understand this approach as it applies to counting calories.
I’ve worked with clients in the past who have tried to eat breakfast (in many forms and variations) first thing in the morning, and they would find that doing this made them hungrier the rest of the day and it usually led to increased daily caloric intake – enough to cause long term weight gain.
There are some people who wake up relatively early and start the day with breakfast and continue to eat relatively well throughout the day. Often, these types of people, although eating healthy foods, are taking in too many calories in the span of a whole day and either have trouble losing weight or continue to gain weight.
Now, for the caloric shifting part. We will talk about meal shifting (instead of calorie shifting) to keep matters simple – but understand, a meal is made up of calories.
A simple strategy for those who find that keeping a lid on daily caloric intake is a challenge – is to push back the time that the first meal is eaten. Lets call this meal breakfast, even though some people may find it strange to call a meal eaten at 10:30 or 11 am, breakfast.
So, instead of eating your normal breakfast at 6:30 or 8 am, you don’t skip it, you just push it back a few hours – toward your normal lunch time. In effect, you are moving, most likely, 300 – 500 (maybe more) calories and taking them in at a later time, maybe 3 or 4 hours later than normal.
Here is what happens to most people who I coach with this method. They find they are not starving for a big lunch (which also gets pushed back a few hours – to about 2pm (give or take 30 minutes). Additionally, they are not ravenous by dinner time, when most people self destruct and do so until bedtime, by snacking after dinner just because they can – not actually because they need the extra calories.
A result of this meal shifting is a reduction in ‘overactive appetite’ – not a bad reduction, but a healthy reduction – one that is very helpful in preventing one from over-stuffing the stomach and going beyond their daily caloric needs in any 24 hour period.
If dinner time food raids are a challenge, then this meal shifting can help you reduce that eating urge after work and put you in a better position to control the volume of food you put on your plate and the number of calories you put in your body – increasing the chance of you creating the caloric deficit needed for fat loss.
So, ‘the calorie shift’ is also helpful for people who snack every few hours once they do start eating. By delaying when you start eating in the morning – you also delay the snack intervals you enjoy – and in effect you may reduce your total daily snacks to 2 or 3 instead of 5 or 6 (including your after dinner snack). When all is said and done, by days end you will have taken in less calories than you would have, had you started with an early breakfast.
Common ‘side effects’ of this strategy are increased energy, less bloating and stomach discomfort, better sleep patterns and a few others. Hmmm – I wonder why?
There are several factors inside of this calorie based fat-loss strategy to be aware of. The types of foods you choose, the volume of foods you choose and the realization that you need less calories than you think you do to function optimally on a day to day basis.
I also realize that this may go against the “You’ll shut down your metabolism, by starving yourself!” crowd. But believe me, this is far from starving yourself, very far. I tell you this firsthand, because it’s how I’ve helped many people take control of their, nutrition, body weight and fitness – and it’s how I manage my own daily nutrition and my metabolism keeps burning right along.
Calorie shifting for fat loss is one of my proven secret weapons in helping to coach people toward life long fitness. But it is also important to note that calorie shifting can also be used by people who want to gain healthy body weight to build up a skinny or scrawny frame. We will explore that in a future article.
‘The Ladies’ Trainer’ – Joey Atlas, Exercise Physiologist, is the mastermind behind the Top Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Home Exercise Program for Women. – LowerBodyMakeover.com
He is also the author of Amazon.com Bestseller, ‘Fatness to Fitness’, http://www.YourFitnessBook.com – visit both sites for more helpful tips and articles from Joey.
Author: Joey Atlas
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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