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csl7037 -> RE: Fat Loss 4 Idiots/The Shifting Calories Theory? (4/26/2008 2:40:05 PM)
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It can work for fat loss but it's tricky to find what can work for you. A one-sized fits all system might work but it may not be best. I used to do something similar in that I'd eat 10x my bodyweight in calories/day plus whatever calories I burned in that morning's workouts. For example, maybe 1500 the day of a 300 cal step class or lifting workout. This worked really well for me for a long time and I'm doing something similar now varying my calories between about 1200 and 1500. The tricky thing is that you have to be realistic and relatively accurate on your estimate of calories you're burning so I use a Heart Rate Monitor. And you can't count every step you take, like vaccuuming, into the calories. I only counted dedicated gym time where I was actually working.
Carb Cycling is a much more effective system than simply shifting calories, though. It's not just calories but where those calories are coming from. For example, on my 1500 calorie days I'll have 40% of that be protein (150g), 30% (112g) be carbs and 30% (50g) be fat. On my 1200 calorie days, the amount of protein stays the same but the percentage bumps up to 50% and carbs drop to 25% (75g) and fat drops to 25% (33g). This is just what I'm trying right now. I did Body For Life for years and that is a 40/40/20 breakdown - balanced carbs and protein with lower fat.
That's an awesome system but it doesn't necessarily cycle or shift, it stays at that percentage. If you want to try the calorie cycling, coordinate the more calorie days with workouts, keep the food CLEAN, and watch the percentages - 40/40/20 is maybe the easiest thing to do. You can track all of that really easily at fitday.com. (But don't go by fitday's estimation of calories burned, it's a little off, IMO.)
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