Daily Weight Loss Tip - Cycle Under Eating with Over Eating
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It’s well known that bouncing from one fad diet to another is very bad for both losing weight and keeping it off long term. Not to mention bad for your health. Most people who lose a stack of weight quickly on one extreme diet or another have no hope in hell of keeping it off long-term. That’s because an extreme diet can’t be maintained and when the inevitable failure happens the weight comes right back on, and then some.
It’s also commonly known that if you starve yourself through excessive calorie reduction your body will think famine is coming. This causes it to do its best to keep and even build its reserves of fat. The body does this by slowing its metabolism.
That means in the end it becomes very hard to lose any extra fat unless you really starve yourself. Which is not a viable long-term solution. When you start eating normal amounts again, and at some point you will or you’ll die, your metabolism will be too slow and your weight will go up. In fact, if I remember correctly, our metabolisms begin to slow after just 3 to 4 hours without food.
So today’s weight loss tip is to experiment with under eating during the day and having a larger then normal main meal early in the evening. Start the day with a small breakfast including some good quality protein such as one or two eggs or almonds and a little low GI fruit or vegetables. I like to have a green apple but I also will eat anything from carrot to English spinach or broccoli (all raw) as part of my breakfast.
I can’t stress selecting low GI foods enough while you’re under-eating during the day. If you eat something like bread or you have some chocolate or sugar in your coffee you will force your blood sugar levels up. This will be followed by a subsequent crash and you will then feel terrible and probably end up eating more food to restore you blood sugar levels.
So not to crash, eat only low GI foods during the day and eat small amounts regularly. I’m talking every three hours. This regular intake of food will keep your metabolic fires burning and your blood sugar levels steady. You can even consume foods that increase your metabolism. Then at the end of the day when you are going to be able to relax consume the majority of your calorie intake for the day.
Start the meal with leafy greens, raw vegetables and some fruit such as pineapple. These foods are packed with enzymes that aid digestion. Then eat your protein and finally your starchy carbohydrates such as rice. By eating them last you won’t eat as much as you otherwise might. If you’re wondering why I leave carbohydrates such as rice to last you might like to check out this article, which deals with health issues surrounding grains.
Check back tomorrow for a more extensive explanation of why cycling your calorie intake for weight loss works. I will also take a closer look at the other health benefits such as higher energy levels, better mental clarity, enzyme loading, improved acidic/alkaline balance, better digestion and absorption, and so forth. There are plenty of benefits to be had from calorie intake cycling beyond weight loss.
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November 3rd, 2008 at 8:50 am
This post was featured in The 28th edition of the Weight Management & Fitness Forum blog carnival.
November 6th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Hey - Do you continue to cycle over and under-eating if you want to gain weight? I’d be interested in gaining strength and mass, and I’m not sure whether to cycle over and under-eating or not. I mean - I’ll be getting less total calories, but undereating will make my metabolism more efficient, and then when I eat more food, the efficient metabolism will transmute more protein into muscle.
What’s your take?
November 7th, 2008 at 3:00 am
Hey Fullcrum,
Always good to hear from you.
I’m assuming from what you’ve said that by gaining weight you mean you want to add muscle mass. Cycling over and under-eating is probably more for getting lean without losing muscle. You can certainly get strong while doing it. However everyone tends to be a little different. It’s not like you will actually be restricting calories over all so you shouldn’t have a problem getting bigger.
In fact if you want to look more defined as opposed to being an undefined chunk that many people who workout are then cycling might work well for you. Give it a try and listen to what your body says about it. Cycling feels natural to me.
Stay tuned because probably starting next month I will be blogging about a program of weightlifting and diet I plan to undertake. I’ll be talking about exactly what I’m eating, when and how much as well as what lifting I’m doing and I’ll be detailing the results with photos and such.
Stephen