Varying calories

rocknrolla2009

Been on MFP since May 1, and down 11 lbs. And I've been eating my exercise calories. Some days I eat all, some days not quite, but I also don't believe in not eating if you're not hungry, as long as the minimum amounts have been met.

I've been advised by a few that once I begin to plateau, it would be a good move to vary my calories from day to day instead of strictly eating the same amount. To shock my body out of the same old..Any thoughts?

BrenNew

Been on MFP since May 1, and down 11 lbs. And I've been eating my exercise calories. Some days I eat all, some days not quite, but I also don't believe in not eating if you're not hungry, as long as the minimum amounts have been met.

I've been advised by a few that once I begin to plateau, it would be a good move to vary my calories from day to day instead of strictly eating the same amount. To shock my body out of the same old..Any thoughts?

Everyone is different, what works for one doesn't always work for another. In my own case, after plateauing for like 5 weeks straight, I tried upping my calories to shock my body, only to get shocked when I gained a couple of pounds on my next weigh in day! :laugh:
Maybe you'll have better luck though, like some of the others.

mommyto2cuties

Sounds like you have done amazing so far! Good for you! I have heard from several friends that varying calories worked for them. Not so much for me in my experience, I have tended to gain when I have tried it.

GIBride01

Varying calories has worked for me. I did that through my entire weight loss. I never did eat all the exercise calories, I would stop losing weight if I did. Heavy exercise days I would eat more (ie more than 800 calories burned at the gym), and on the light exercise days (yoga, walking) , less. I always averaged out about 1700 calories per day over the couse of the week and managed to drop weight at a fairly steady clip. Helped me feel less rigid too, to know I didn't HAVE to have only x number of calories per day. Hope that helps!

dclarsh

The theory behind varying calories is that after a while of eating the same number of net calories every day, our bodies become more efficient at running on exactly that number of calories, and our weight loss slows down. So, in theory, if we eat a different number of calories every day, then our bodies will never be able to reach that point of homeostasis.

You can do this one of two ways. The first is the easiest to manage, and it may add a little boost when you need it. For two to three days every couple of weeks, eat 200-300 more calories than you normally would. You could go as high as your maintenance calories. Once the short period is over, go back to your regular diet plan.

The second way is a long term method and can get a little complicated and difficult if you don't plan properly. You basically choose an average number of calories you would like to be eating daily, and then vary your daily calories so that at the end of the week, you've consumed your average daily. For example, if you decide that your average will be 1500 calories, you might eat 1300 one day, 1700 the next, then 1400 then 1600, then 1200, 1500 and 1800 to round out the week. Just make sure you don't go below 1200 calories very often. Once every couple of weeks would probably be OK, but it's best to stay above it.

If your regular diet plan is between 1200-1400 calories, I would try going with the first option. If it's higher than that, you could choose either one.

Again, this is only in theory, and it may or may not work for you. If you are already at a plateau, you may notice a little bit of weight gain at first. That's because your body has become used to that flat number of calories, and will store the rest as fat because it thinks it doesn't need it right now. But, those couple of pounds should come back off again fairly easy once things start going again.