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Don't fool yourself - crash dieting and "marathon" gym sessions simply don't work. Your body was never meant to be fat. And getting it back in shape is easier than you think... |
How to Stagger Your Calories
By Jon Benson
This is a tip older than dieting itself, or so it seems. However, very few dieters use it, maybe because it seems "unnatural."
We like to stay in somewhat of a groove when we diet to shed body fat. However, your body is not really a "machine," as so many people call it. It's a highly adaptive organism that is far smarter than we give it credit for. 
Staggering calories is one way to honor your body's intrinsic need for change, even when on a "diet," and burn a ton of fat in the process.
The concept is simple: Figure out how many calories you need to consume a day to shed body fat. For most people, this will be between 10 and 13 calories per pound of body weight.
Let's say, for example, you come up with 2,000 calories per day. Well, rather than consume 2,000 calories seven days per week, I want you to average 2,000 calories over seven days. There's a huge difference.
This means you'll be eating, say, 1,500 calories for a day, then 2,500 calories for a day, and so-on. Or maybe 1,500 calories for two days, 2,500 for two, and so on. Either way works.
The reason this tip works is really because of how your hormones work, in particular your thyroid. Thyroid output (T4, or inactive thyroid) tends to decline when the body senses starvation or deprivation. This is a throwback to the days when we actually needed to hoard fat for long periods of famine. There is no longer that need, but we still possess these "thrifty genes."
With our example of 2,000 calories, your body will eventually decrease its T4 output, thinking a famine is at hand and all calories need to be shifted to fat storage. This is not a good thing. However, by "tricking" your body, consuming lower calories (1,500), then higher calories (2500), you wind up averaging the same 2,000 calories over a week, with the primary difference being that your body doesn't sense starvation or famine. The higher calorie days trick the body into maintaining its normal hormonal functions.
The thyroid hormone T4 converts to active thyroid, or T3, which regulates your metabolism. Obviously this is crucial for fat-burning. Now you know why so many diets utterly fail: the body shuts down T4 production (or radically lowers it), which slows the metabolic processes down considerably. It adjusts to lower calories, and that becomes your new "maintenance" level. This spells disaster for anyone wanting to shed fat and gain muscle.
Simply by staggering your calories throughout the week, you can avoid this process, and it helps break up the everyday feel most diets can carry with them. You can add a treat here and there as well, and that treat will now actually help you burn more body fat.
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