Yes, I agree with denial (the poster, not the activity!). Zig-zag dieting is pretty established in some circles, and I've read it as not only a plateau-breaking technique but in general good practice to keep your body awake and working hard. Some people believe that if you stay at a calorie deficit for too long, your body begins to adapt and slow down its metabolism to compensate for the lower income. Just like tightening your spending on a low budget, you know?
Zig-zagging is supposed to let your body know you aren't starving it, but it's recommended you don't just binge on nasty, unhealthy food. Either eat more of the good stuff, or like it's been mentioned, allow yourself a few small (but rich) treats in moderation.
The specific technique I want to incorporate eventually is 3 days on my low-calorie diet, then 1 day at my "maintenance" calorie intake. You can increase the higher-calorie days to 2 or 3 if just 1 doesn't seem to be working, and if you only eat at maintenance, there's no way you can gain actual fat by eating that one day higher than the others. The absolute worst result possible - assuming the entire theory is hooplah, which I don't know enough to say for sure - is slower weight loss, and that's not very scary at all.
Hopefully doing so will off-set or at least slow down the gradual metabolism reduction all of us will experience as a result of losing a substantial amount of weight.
|