Calorie Cycling

Today I will hit my 2,400 calorie burn goal and I'm totally excited about it. So there. Even though the frozen Indian dinner I ate had white rice in it which is all the way down in the Swiss tier, I'm calling this day a success.

I was going to write something witty and relevant...and I can't remember what it was...I probably have calorie deprivation brain fog. Just kidding. I think.

Anyway, even though I'm hitting the workouts twice a day to really ramp up my calorie deficit for awhile, you can't do that indefinitely. Have I written about calorie cycling before? Yes? No? Don't remember? Me either.

Calorie cycling is eating a different amount of calories every day, but staying in range for the week or month. Calorie cycling is a theory and method that helps to lose, maintain, or gain weight by eating a different amount of calories each day. The theory is that it keeps your metabolism guessing.

There are a bazillion different theories on whether you should eat the same amount of calories every day or change the total up, keeping in an overall total for the week. I tend to be in the latter category. Even though I generally shoot for 1700 calories (trying to dial that back a bit for the weight loss challenge--unsuccessful so far. Going to have to omit chocolate--wah!), there are days I go a little over and days I try to go under because it's a rest day.

A few things you definitely need to do: You really shouldn't go under 1200 calories a day. Your body needs a certain amount just to function and from what I read, you'll send your metabolism into a nosedive if you "starve" it with too few calories. Your body is no fool. Cut back drastically on your calories and your body is going to conserve.

Remember the low/no fat craze of the 90s? I talked momentarily about it yesterday when I mentioned Snackwells and how everyone loved fat free cookies and binged on them. Well, some people did. Ahem.

Anyway, think about percentages (most calorie counting sites tell you what your carb/protein/fat percentage is--so easy) and keep your fat intake realistic. My BodyBugg calculations have me at about a 55% carb/20% protein/25% fat. I never get those percentages dead on, but mostly I come pretty close.

My point is figure out what you should eat for the week and shoot for that overall total. You might be a little high one day, a little low another, but it all comes out in the wash.

Today's workouts:
Workout 1: Fire 45, Stretch 10; Workout 2: 50 min. walk

Breakfast: Chocolate Shakeology, almond milk
Snack: apple, Brazil nuts
Lunch: Salad w/Romaine, tuna, radishes, celery, tomato, olives, olive oil; one square dark chocolate
Snack: Greek yogurt, banana
Dinner: Amy's Indian entree, two apple slices (leftover)

Total calories eaten: 1609
Total calories burned: 2287 with 3 hours to go. I think I'll just make it!

So realizing how much I have to do to burn 2400 calories a day is sobering. It's a lot of work. But I'm going to keep on, keepin' on to get to my goal.

Hope you had a great day.