Curious about switching up cals

prettymomma16

Someone just told me that if you switch up your calories a few times a week that you will lose more weight? Is this true?
For example my friend told me she eats 1250 cals a day, and then two days a week she bumps it up to 1500-1600... is there any logic behind this? curious.. love learning anything and everything about weight loss and how our bodies work.

dav1djsm1th

It can work if done correctly and it helps prevent the body from getting too used to the calories it is receiving. As long as there is a weekly calorie deficit it doesn't matter so much how it is achieved. It is also good from a psychological point of view. Eating dry crackers everyday is going to stretch anyone's motivation, but being good all week and then having a treat day at the weekend (without guilt !) can help change things about and re-motivate you to get back to the stricter diet on Monday. It might also trick your body in to thinking it is getting plenty of calories, raise your metabolic rate and lead to better results overall.

As a word of caution, don't go mad with this approach with binging and starving, that won't do you any good. Also keep the treats sensible and try to avoid excessively sweet or fatty items. Hope this helps.

metacognition

It helped me to prevent a plateau. It seemed like all of those extra calories went to fuel my workouts, and the weight dropped even faster than at 1200 a day. I still keep it low but I will add in a higher calorie day every few days, close to maintenance.