Calorie Cycling

[traceyf]

Okay, need some advice from the board. Anyone had success from cyling calories up high one day to get a whoosh? I've read that taking one day off and eating whatever you want can keep the scale moving as it tricks the body into not thinking it's in the starvation mode.

I've been strictly adhering to Atkins for 3 weeks. I am thinking about taking tomorrow as a "reward" day and getting back on for another 3 weeks.

Maybe I can be the experiment for the board for this type of whoosh! Thoughts? I'm down 16 pounds in 3 weeks and would like the scale to continue to be nice to me.

Here's what I read on the Keto Diet. "During the first 24-30 hours of carbing up, the body will use all dietary carbohydrates to refill glycogen, protein for rebuilding, and get this: fat for energy." They recommend once a week but I know that that's too frequent for me. Once every three weeks.

Thoughts?

[DebbieW]

You know I was going to respond to this differently but actually I can't be bothered.

This isn't how Atkins should be used & you will be doing yourself no favours by continuing this way.

Ciao

[chinadoll]

Sorry but you have great results so far so I have a hard time understanding why you want to fix something that isn't broken. Sounds like you are tired of following the program and are trying to give yourself a legitimate reason to cheat.

There are a small percentage of people who might get away with carb cycling. But for most people that one day sends them flying of track. They feel crummy afterwards and often have a really hard time getting back on plan.

If you are not drinking at least 80 or so ounces of water a day that could be part of the hold up. If you haven't moved to OWL, do so. That often spurs things. But looking at your stats you seem to have phenomenally good losses so I really don't understand why you want to throw this out the window and risk it. I would love to have your losses. You lost more in the past week than I have in three.

I hope you reconsider this path.

[Sunny_0ne]

Even when I eat too many calories of LEGAL foods, I gain weight.

No way would I chance trashing my hard-earned gains for empty carbs.

I have been on Atkins since January 3 without a single illegal food. I've lost 15.6 pounds so far.

16 pounds in three weeks sounds like diet heaven to me. I can't believe you are ready to risk those amazing results.

[Peej]

I think for the most part everyone here will insist that you just follow the book. The way most people go completely off track is to have one little cheat, nevermind a whole day of cheating. I know we like to think that there might be all these tips and tricks that might be more effective, but you're already losing quickly. I doubt there is much if anything that you can do to make your body lose faster without having adverse effects.

If you hit a stall where you aren't losing for over a week, then you might want to change things up a little (within the plan like moving on to OWL) but otherwise I wouldn't change anything at all. Your weight loss will naturally slow. It is very unlikely that you will continue at the same rate you lost during your first 2 weeks of induction, so be ready for slower weight loss in the next few weeks. It doesn't mean the plan isn't working.

Really think about it though. Have you heard anyone giving a personal account of how the "reward day" thing works? I'm sure many people have tried it. They just don't end up back here because they go off plan. However, there are lots of people here who have been successful following the book. Which seems like the best solution?

Also, I disagree with using food as a reward in general. I think that is how a lot of us start to gain weight in the first place. Food is a fuel and needs to be used as such. That doesn't mean we can't enjoy it, but when we start attaching emotional meaning to food and seeing it as a reward, I think we are more inclined to use food for comfort and overindulge during stressful times. This is true especially for really carb-heavy foods which really are addicting.

[Zarabelle]

If I have even one meal that contains carbs then I gain 5-8 pounds and take three weeks to get back to where I started again. I wouldn't recommend it.

[liv]

Are you doing this because you want to eat carbs (crap) or because you want to lose weight? It seems like you have been losing weight just fine so I don't know why you want to play around with that. If you are unsatisfied about food choices move up OWL and research some new recipes and ingredients you have not tried before. Exploration is fun.

[Lyssie]

I would be so happy to lose 16 pounds in 3 weeks. I don't really feel like I would be messing with that.

However, since your question was regarding CALORIE cycling, the way that I have heard of doing this is to eat something like 900 calories for 3 days, then on the fourth day eat 1400-1600 calories. Then return back to the beginning with 900 calories... repeat for however many times.

[EverLosing]

Originally Posted by traceyf

Okay, need some advice from the board. Anyone had success from cyling calories up high one day to get a whoosh? I've read that taking one day off and eating whatever you want can keep the scale moving as it tricks the body into not thinking it's in the starvation mode.

I've been strictly adhering to Atkins for 3 weeks. I am thinking about taking tomorrow as a "reward" day and getting back on for another 3 weeks.

Maybe I can be the experiment for the board for this type of whoosh! Thoughts? I'm down 16 pounds in 3 weeks and would like the scale to continue to be nice to me.

Here's what I read on the Keto Diet. "During the first 24-30 hours of carbing up, the body will use all dietary carbohydrates to refill glycogen, protein for rebuilding, and get this: fat for energy." They recommend once a week but I know that that's too frequent for me. Once every three weeks.

Thoughts?

Yikes!! Here are my thoughts! First, the board doesn't want you to ruin your awesome results and potential future results with this so called "experiment." It's called cheating and using the word experiment doesn't make it not cheating. Extremely doubtful you'll get a whoosh from it, some bad language might ensue when you do get back on the scale but a whoosh....highly, extremely doubtful. Sixteen pounds in 3 week? I'd like to have that in 6 weeks!! If you truly want the "scale to continue to be nice" to you, you won't even consider putting on the white lab coat and experimenting.

The other thing that strikes me is...you been following this way of eating for 3 weeks? Three weeks? I don't want to offend you but what makes you think you can do this for one day and rebound? I'm talking about willpower AND screwing with you body and metabolism. Read some of the cheat posts. I think you'll find some sad results from other who used to be interested in experimentation.

Another thing to consider. During induction, a lot of the weight shed is water weight. We simply retain less water on this WOE than a high carb diet. It might only take one day for you to see a horrible result on the scale. I wouldn't do it. You shouldn't do it. Step back from the cliff!!

[Peej]

Originally Posted by Lyssie

I would be so happy to lose 16 pounds in 3 weeks. I don't really feel like I would be messing with that.

However, since your question was regarding CALORIE cycling, the way that I have heard of doing this is to eat something like 900 calories for 3 days, then on the fourth day eat 1400-1600 calories. Then return back to the beginning with 900 calories... repeat for however many times.

I was wondering if she meant calorie cycling in a "legal" way, but then her quote involved replenishing glycogen stores so I assume she meant by consuming more carbohydrates than allowed on plan. Perhaps we've misinterpreted this?

As far as the calorie cycling thing, I still don't think it would do much for you in the long run if anything. Being able to eat until you are satisfied is one of the things that makes Atkins fairly easy to stick to in the long run. If you reduce your calories on some days and not on others, you'll probably just be hungry all the time. If you want to try it, by all means go for it, but I think letting your hunger determine how much you eat is probably consistently the best bet.