Target Calories?

[stcyt 15]

I don't really count calories either with the exception of every 4th day I try to get more than 1500 on what I call my maintenance calorie days. A regular day is likely under 800 though based on rough math-- I count protien and my Water intake an just try to limit carbs. I am testing a theory of 3 days on typical vsg food and one day increased calories to keep my metabolism up. Please note: this is not from a nutritionist or doc--I figured I would try it and see how it goes for a bit. I am out of town all week, so I have not been able to hit a scale. Clothes are getting very loose and the belt had needed to go in another notch this week.

Granted, I cannot eat that much food on my high calorie days--so I suppliment with "Suplimed" a well balanced weight gain drink on day4.

So far most food has just been like taking medicine--not hungry, but I know I need the nutrients.

I'm really very curious about this. I am currently in the middle of the most frustrating stall. I have heard that keeping calories high occasionally helps with this but just people talking.... no research. Please keep us informed.

I tried to up my calories one day to see if I could break the stall but I just couldn't get enough in my sleeve.

[redroses47 1]

Awhile back I had read that some Weight Watcher followers did this with their points. They would eat lower points for a few days and then use all of their points plus their banked points once a week which they seemed to believe kicked through a stall. Maybe there is something to it.

[deletedsally 8]

CalorieCycling.Net

This link explains the basics of zig zagging your calories and has some other links at the bottom of the page. Body builders have been using this technique for years. It's based on some research that suggests that after 3 days of eating a very low calorie diet, your body will begin to attempt to prevent starvation by conserving energy/reducing metabolism. When you spike up your calories every couple days, you basically are tricking your body into so that it doesn't go into conservation mode in response to lowered caloric intake.

I've done it on previous diet programs and it worked--but it's hard to make yourself take in those extra calories when it seems like you are already stuck on a lesser amount.

[cwalker 12]

There are some days I wonder if I'm getting enough food, 2 teaspoons and I'm stuffed but 3 hours later I feel the emptiness/hunger, yet some of you never feel that hunger? I am taking prevacid so that isnt it, going back to Dr. next week is one month already!!yay,can't wait to go swimming!! Carla

[ouroborous 519]

There are some days I wonder if I'm getting enough food, 2 teaspoons and I'm stuffed but 3 hours later I feel the emptiness/hunger, yet some of you never feel that hunger? I am taking prevacid so that isnt it, going back to Dr. next week is one month already!!yay,can't wait to go swimming!! Carla

I never feel hunger; sometimes my stomach growls, but that's ALWAYS acid for me.

Are you on a high enough dose of the acid blocker? Trust me, you can have mild to moderate GERD and not even know it (for the longest time I thought I just had really bad allergies!)

[Swiftflow 6]

I'm really very curious about this. I am currently in the middle of the most frustrating stall. I have heard that keeping calories high occasionally helps with this but just people talking.... no research. Please keep us informed.

I tried to up my calories one day to see if I could break the stall but I just couldn't get enough in my sleeve.

There is no way I can eat enough food either thats why I went with the liquid calories in the Suplimed. As Kat mentioned this was originally a bodybuilding method and I tried it while on an internet ebook program called "Burn The Fat Feed the Muscle" and it did work when I stuck to it--the problem pre-sleeve is that hunger would just kill me on the low cal days and it is tough to live that way for a long amount of time. The benefit of the sleeve for me has been that I have not had the hunger and just add a few shakes on the high calorie day--I choose suplimed for the balanced nutrition--if I used junk to increase calories would run into other mental/bad habit issues.

[wannalise 15]

You can use a similar principle with exercise where you do your typical routine daily and then a few days a week "shock your system" and do things that are more difficult.

[Swiftflow 6]

Got back and weighed this morning to find I had dropped over 4 lbs this week. So far I am keeping the stall away with this calorie shifting... (knock on wood) Today is a high calorie day--to be honest the hard part is convincing myself every forth day to go ahead and up the calories for the day.

Edited May 21, 2010 by Swiftflow

[stcyt 15]

I'm gonna try it. I'll o to GNC today. This is day 15 of my post op stall and I'm going crazy

[deletedsally 8]

This is a quote from the Tom Venuto book that Swift mentioned:

When a calorie deficit is first introduced, weight loss generally occurs rapidly, just

as the numbers would dictate, but it never takes long before weight loss slows, and then

eventually stops completely. Why does this happen? Why is it that you don?t lose 50

pounds in 25 weeks or 100 pounds in 50 weeks with a 1000-calorie deficit?

The explanation is quite simple: Over thousands of years, humans have

developed a weight-regulating mechanism that recognizes when there?s a food shortage

and decreases energy expenditure to ?protect you.? This survival mechanism is known as

the ?starvation response.?

The Starvation Response

You can survive for months without food. You?ve probably heard stories about

people getting lost in the mountains or wilderness for months with no food at all (only

water), or being confined in a prisoner of war camp for years with only tiny amounts of

food. What makes surviving under these conditions possible is your body?s remarkable

ability to slow down its rate of calorie burning.

When your body senses calorie deprivation it says to itself, ?It looks like this is all

the food we?re going to be getting for a while, so we?d better stop burning so many

calories and start saving our energy. This way we?ll be able to survive longer on the little

amount of food we have.?

The starvation response developed largely from exposure to adverse

environmental conditions like droughts, natural disasters and food shortages.

Furthermore, there were no supermarkets ten thousand years ago - if people wanted to eat,

they had to either grow their food or kill it. It?s likely that at times, ancient man didn?t

know when the next meal was coming and may have only eaten once or twice a week.

The starvation response evolved in humans to ensure the survival of the species.

Your body can?t tell the difference between dieting and starvation

This wonderful feature of human evolution is a blessing if you?re stranded out in

the wilderness with no food. During periods of starvation, the body slowly begins to feed

off itself, burning fat stores, muscle and even internal organs for energy. If you continued

to burn calories at your normal rate, your limited reserves of stored energy would be

exhausted quickly and you would die very soon after you food supply was cut off. The

starvation response keeps you alive longer.

Unfortunately, this same life-preserving mechanism can work against you when

you?re trying to lose weight because your body can?t tell the difference between dieting

and starvation!

Severe calorie cutting always sends your body into ?starvation mode.? There?s

nothing you can do to stop this from happening other than to avoid severe calorie

shortages!

Here's a second quote from the same book where he describes the solution:

Here?s another common cause of fat loss plateaus: Your calories are too low and

your body has gone into starvation mode. Once you go into starvation mode, no amount

of increased training will help. The only way to get out of starvation mode is to eat more.

If you know your caloric intake has been very low for a long time and you suspect the

starvation response is the culprit, the best thing you can do is raise your calories. Keep

your food quality ?clean? (don?t eat a lot of junk), just eat more of the same good foods.

Depending on the degree to which you have slowed your metabolism, you might need a

brief one to three day raise in calories before dropping back down (zig-zag method), or

you might need to raise your calories for longer period.

One proven way to give a sluggish metabolism a jolt is by using the ?Zig-Zag? or

?High - Low? method of dieting: that is, eat one to three days of higher calories and

higher carbs followed by one to three days of lower calories and lower carbs. On the low

calorie/low carb days, you lose body fat rapidly, but before your body can adapt, you raise

the calories back up, which increases your metabolic rate and keeps you out of starvation

mode.

[OMG123 0]

I am averaging between 700 and 1000 cal a day right now at 5 months out, but that just went up from 500 - 600 about 5 or 6 weeks ago. I have already lost more than the doctors expected me to and only 7 pounds from my goal. I use LIVESTRONG.COM - Health, Fitness, Lifestyle | LIVESTRONG.COM to track EVERYTHING I eat, drink and do as exercise. I follow a low-fat, high Protein and LOW CARB diet. I never eat anything that is very high in carbs unless it includes the net carb breakdown. I get the majority of my food from various Protein Bars from Atkins or BNRG Power Crunch bars. I also use the chocolate whey crisps in my dannon plain greek yogurt or FF Cottage cheese. This gives me super high protein levels while everything else stays low. Remember, we have to lose the weight that is sitting there before we can start eating normal again, and they honeymoon period is only 6 to 9 months so as they say, no pain no gain (a better body)!

Good Luck!