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Calorie Shifting
artzymummy
Posts: 46 Member
in Debate Club
I've searched around a bit on MFP and online and am confused. Is calorie shifting a "fad diet" thing or is there something to it.
I have been working to help my mum get a handle on her weight, though at this point she just doesn't seem to be ready. She has done the yoyo thing since I was in my teens, she didn't have a weight issue until she quit smoking. Always using some group or another, shakes and bars, etc. She had reached her goal weight and was doing well maintaining about eight years ago, but then my niece died suddenly and she again turned to food for comfort (I'm not faulting her, so did I).
I have looked at calorie shifting to help her figure this all out with only me as her coach. Her biggest obstacle, other then herself, is business meetings. Obviously there is little control over what she's eating at these sorts of things and while portion control is important, there is only so much she can do.
So, is there something to calorie shifting or is it just extra work? Thoughts?
I have been working to help my mum get a handle on her weight, though at this point she just doesn't seem to be ready. She has done the yoyo thing since I was in my teens, she didn't have a weight issue until she quit smoking. Always using some group or another, shakes and bars, etc. She had reached her goal weight and was doing well maintaining about eight years ago, but then my niece died suddenly and she again turned to food for comfort (I'm not faulting her, so did I).
I have looked at calorie shifting to help her figure this all out with only me as her coach. Her biggest obstacle, other then herself, is business meetings. Obviously there is little control over what she's eating at these sorts of things and while portion control is important, there is only so much she can do.
So, is there something to calorie shifting or is it just extra work? Thoughts?
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Replies
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Calorie deficit is how weight is lost. Calorie shifting is higher some days, lower on other days?0
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queenliz99 wrote: »Calorie deficit is how weight is lost. Calorie shifting is higher some days, lower on other days?
That is my understanding of it, though some site show going from 1200 cal's a day to maintenance, so I could see that working towards weight loss slowly.
Other sites show dropping really low (500-800) some days and then high on other days but making it so that your week total would be like you had eaten 1200 a day. This too could work I guess, though it would probably be hard to do.
I'm just confused by the info out there I guess.0 -
Calorie shifting is about eating different amounts of calories through the week? Lots of people save up through the week to be able to splurge on weekends, but I'm afraid you can't trick your body to not recognize calories. I would think identifing the actual problem areas and find solutions to them must be better. Your mum has control over what she eats unless someone is force feeding her. Is the food at meetings provided by others? Would it be improper to not eat or bring your own food? Is the problem that the food offered is too tempting? Or is it hard to figure out calorie content? She'd have to investigate exactly what the hurdles are before choosing an approach.0
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Sounds like it's the 5:2 or every other day version of intermittent fasting. All sorts of claims are made about it, but it basically just works as an alternative way to create a deficit that some like, since they can eat more on the non fasting days (and for many don't have to count calories on those days, apparently, although I am sure for others they do). When I first started and was exercising less I'd do a less formal way of calorie shifting by saving calories for Fridays or Saturdays so I could have a meal out without worrying about exceeding my then low daily calories.
So if the issue is that your mom can't maintain a deficit on business meeting days, it might be a way to plan ahead. For many it would not work, though, as they'd find the lower days difficult.
I think figuring out a strategy for business meetings might be a better approach, but your mom would have to be motivated (but same for any approach).0 -
I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.0
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Thanks for the input and help everyone.
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I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good plan. If you're anything like me ... Which I don't know you from Sam but if you are you are, losing a bit of pounds is your goal and the diet has been proven to do just that. Not just for my fiancé and me but many people globally.
You may call it pseudoscience but it's scientifically proven to work for hundreds to combat diabetes and help with weight loss. It is considered extreme but if you want to lose and start burning off fat it's the way to go, among others. It's as simple as keeping your carb intake under 20g.
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artzymummy wrote: »I've searched around a bit on MFP and online and am confused. Is calorie shifting a "fad diet" thing or is there something to it.
I have been working to help my mum get a handle on her weight, though at this point she just doesn't seem to be ready. She has done the yoyo thing since I was in my teens, she didn't have a weight issue until she quit smoking. Always using some group or another, shakes and bars, etc. She had reached her goal weight and was doing well maintaining about eight years ago, but then my niece died suddenly and she again turned to food for comfort (I'm not faulting her, so did I).
I have looked at calorie shifting to help her figure this all out with only me as her coach. Her biggest obstacle, other then herself, is business meetings. Obviously there is little control over what she's eating at these sorts of things and while portion control is important, there is only so much she can do.
So, is there something to calorie shifting or is it just extra work? Thoughts?
In my humble opinion no. Calorie shift (keto) is not necessary a fad but a revolution. It's very simple. Some over complicate it. Doesn't necessarily require fasting either. Between my fiancé and I we have lost. Our pants we love fit and I feel a heightened state of euphoria and energy. All it does if you stick to it is help reprogram your body and mind to burn fat instead of carbs (glucose) - very very good diet for weight loss.0 -
rachaelanne0607 wrote: »I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good plan. If you're anything like me ... Which I don't know you from Sam but if you are you are, losing a bit of pounds is your goal and the diet has been proven to do just that. Not just for my fiancé and me but many people globally.
You may call it pseudoscience but it's scientifically proven to work for hundreds to combat diabetes and help with weight loss. It is considered extreme but if you want to lose and start burning off fat it's the way to go, among others. It's as simple as keeping your carb intake under 20g.
Almost all other primates are frugivores but we're designed to burn fat as fuel instead of sugar? Heck, just using the term designed over adapted or evolved to... That's exactly why you'll get called pseudoscience.
For design and arguments sake, can you name a culture that has a ketogenic diet? I'll give you a hint that no.the Inuit were not.0 -
rachaelanne0607 wrote: »I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good plan. If you're anything like me ... Which I don't know you from Sam but if you are you are, losing a bit of pounds is your goal and the diet has been proven to do just that. Not just for my fiancé and me but many people globally.
You may call it pseudoscience but it's scientifically proven to work for hundreds to combat diabetes and help with weight loss. It is considered extreme but if you want to lose and start burning off fat it's the way to go, among others. It's as simple as keeping your carb intake under 20g.
Any diet involving a caloric deficit has been proven to create weight loss. Keto has no metabolic advantage over any other diet in terms of creating more/faster weight loss, this has been scientifically proven. There is a greater initial water weight loss due to the reduction in carbs, because you lose water weight associated with carbohydrates, but in terms of actual fat loss there is no advantage over any other isocaloric diet.0 -
rachaelanne0607 wrote: »I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place. I don't know about you but that sounds like a pretty good plan. If you're anything like me ... Which I don't know you from Sam but if you are you are, losing a bit of pounds is your goal and the diet has been proven to do just that. Not just for my fiancé and me but many people globally.
You may call it pseudoscience but it's scientifically proven to work for hundreds to combat diabetes and help with weight loss. It is considered extreme but if you want to lose and start burning off fat it's the way to go, among others. It's as simple as keeping your carb intake under 20g.
Our bodies have evolved along with (the changes in) our environment. If your reasoning had any merit, we'd still be living in treetops.
The body burns calories 24/7, and it will burn what is available, for the most part both fat and sugar. Whether burning fat is better than burning sugar, would be equivalent to whether grey socks are better than blue socks, or maybe whether it's best to put on the left sock before the right sock, or the other way around.
Diabetes treatment is best left to doctors and dieticians. If you want to lose weight/fat, all you need is a calorie deficit. How can it be simpler to count carbs (practically avoiding it) than counting calories and eating your normal food in just a smaller amount? Okay, maybe it's simpler, but it isn't easier.rachaelanne0607 wrote: »artzymummy wrote: »I've searched around a bit on MFP and online and am confused. Is calorie shifting a "fad diet" thing or is there something to it.
I have been working to help my mum get a handle on her weight, though at this point she just doesn't seem to be ready. She has done the yoyo thing since I was in my teens, she didn't have a weight issue until she quit smoking. Always using some group or another, shakes and bars, etc. She had reached her goal weight and was doing well maintaining about eight years ago, but then my niece died suddenly and she again turned to food for comfort (I'm not faulting her, so did I).
I have looked at calorie shifting to help her figure this all out with only me as her coach. Her biggest obstacle, other then herself, is business meetings. Obviously there is little control over what she's eating at these sorts of things and while portion control is important, there is only so much she can do.
So, is there something to calorie shifting or is it just extra work? Thoughts?
In my humble opinion no. Calorie shift (keto) is not necessary a fad but a revolution. It's very simple. Some over complicate it. Doesn't necessarily require fasting either. Between my fiancé and I we have lost. Our pants we love fit and I feel a heightened state of euphoria and energy. All it does if you stick to it is help reprogram your body and mind to burn fat instead of carbs (glucose) - very very good diet for weight loss.
Even if calorie shift really is keto, keto is still overcomplicating a simple process - CICO.0 -
Here's a link that will figure out the calories on a 7 day basis for zig zagging (calorie shifting) and the 5:2 diet
http://www.weightloss-calculator.net/ultimate-weight-loss-calculator-metric/0 -
rachaelanne0607 wrote: »I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place.
This doesn't make sense (even apart from the "design" fallacy.)
(1) Our bodies strongly prefer burning glucose. We can do ketones, on a normal basis we (all of us, not just keto types) burn both fat and glucose, but we are designed to burn glucose as part of that.
(2) NO traditional human diets are primarily ketogenic. Strong evidence to me that that's likely not the best state for us, and that not being in ketosis is in no way bad for us.
More significantly, burning fat (if that's what you mainly eat) vs. burning glucose is irrelevant to weight loss.
Making it easier to burn fat might be helpful for some endurance athletics, but not outweighing the benefits of carbs to training -- luckily you can accomplish both.
Yes, keto can be a way to achieve a calorie deficit and deal with some issues with hunger (although I doubt high carb traditional diets led to hunger, so suspect that's more about food choice or psychology in our world where food is always around). There are many other equally good options for achieving a calorie deficit. (I'm not against keto if it's done healthfully, but it's also not on topic for this thread and the evangelists are annoying.)0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »rachaelanne0607 wrote: »I don't know what "calorie shifting" is, but it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are at a caloric deficit. If you ate at a 3,500-calorie deficit in a given week, you lost a pound that week, no matter what you ate, or when you ate it. Tricks like intermittent fasting and keto and "calorie shifting," etc., are just pseudoscience. It's all about caloric deficit, that's it. People are making it more complicated than it is all the time.
Keto is simple and not overly complicated. That is what may deter people. You CAN switch your body from burning glucose to burning fat. Which is what our bodies were designed to do in the first place.
This doesn't make sense (even apart from the "design" fallacy.)
(1) Our bodies strongly prefer burning glucose. We can do ketones, on a normal basis we (all of us, not just keto types) burn both fat and glucose, but we are designed to burn glucose as part of that.
(2) NO traditional human diets are primarily ketogenic. Strong evidence to me that that's likely not the best state for us, and that not being in ketosis is in no way bad for us.
More significantly, burning fat (if that's what you mainly eat) vs. burning glucose is irrelevant to weight loss.
Making it easier to burn fat might be helpful for some endurance athletics, but not outweighing the benefits of carbs to training -- luckily you can accomplish both.
Yes, keto can be a way to achieve a calorie deficit and deal with some issues with hunger (although I doubt high carb traditional diets led to hunger, so suspect that's more about food choice or psychology in our world where food is always around). There are many other equally good options for achieving a calorie deficit. (I'm not against keto if it's done healthfully, but it's also not on topic for this thread and the evangelists are annoying.)
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