Spike in Calories?

iheartjillian
iheartjillian Posts: 18
edited September 20 in Food and Nutrition
So I have heard that if you have a decent spike in your calorie intake one day of the week it can actually boost your metabolism. Does anyone know if this is correct? I've been dieting and exercising for about 3 months now and I'm still just at 1 pound a week...sometimes 2. I've also hit a lot of plateaus. I take in 1200-1300 calories a day with 4-5 days of exercise. Any truth to this idea?

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Replies

  • mvl1014
    mvl1014 Posts: 531
    Any shock to your system tends to spike metabolism and/or affect water retention, which is why most diets are aimed at losing lbs fast instead of keeping the lbs off long term.

    If you're consistently losing .5/lb a week or more I wouldn't mess with it, but yes a big meal every once in a while isn't necessarily a bad thing.
  • taryn_perry
    taryn_perry Posts: 193 Member
    How many times a day are you finding you eat? To me, it seems like you aren't taking in enough calories, for the amount of times a week you workout. Do you know approximately how many calories you expend with each workout? What are your workouts? Coupling some strength training (lift HEAVY) and eating 5-6 small meals a day, will do wonders for your metabolism.

    Lifting weights will build muscle, and muscle BURNS FAT quicker. It also fires up the metabolism, so you'll be a fat burning machine while you refuel your body with healthy food throughout the day.
  • MacMadame
    MacMadame Posts: 1,893 Member
    I think calorie cycling (which is what it's proponents call it) can help break an impasse. But it's not going to give you any permanent boost to your metabolism.

    Your metabolism revs up when your body has work to do. So every time you eat, your metabolism has a little spike as you work to digest your food. But obviously, it's not much of one or we'd all eat our way into model-thin bodies. :laugh: Exercise also causes a spike in the metabolism, but it's a lot more effective one because you are burn tons of calories and your metabolism tends to stay rev'ed up after the exercise is over for much longer than something like eating does.
  • iheartjillian
    iheartjillian Posts: 18
    How many times a day are you finding you eat? To me, it seems like you aren't taking in enough calories, for the amount of times a week you workout. Do you know approximately how many calories you expend with each workout? What are your workouts? Coupling some strength training (lift HEAVY) and eating 5-6 small meals a day, will do wonders for your metabolism.

    Lifting weights will build muscle, and muscle BURNS FAT quicker. It also fires up the metabolism, so you'll be a fat burning machine while you refuel your body with healthy food throughout the day.

    I eat about 4 times a day. Breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. I expend between 250 and 500 depending on my workout. I do not currently do any heavy lifting. I do cardio as well as strength training and toning. I do not have access to any heavy lifting at the moment as I am a single mother of two so I do my workouts at home. :smile: However, with your advice it sounds like I would benefit greatly from the heavy lifting. What all would you recommend if you don't mind my asking? Thank you for your response!
  • astridfeline
    astridfeline Posts: 1,200 Member
    Are you eating your exercise calories?
  • iheartjillian
    iheartjillian Posts: 18
    I do eat my exercise calories yes. :smile:
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