Hi!

Isn't it so funny how when you're not dieting, you eat about a gazillion calories, yet once you decide to diet, stuffing down as small as 1200 seems impossible?

1200 is about what I've been able to get to, but I know that's much too low! I should be up at 1500-1600.

So here's what I'm wondering...

Can I eat 900-1300 calories 5 or 6 days a week, then have a cheat day to bring up my weekly average to 1500-1600? I don't want to get my body into starvation mode like it did last time Would juggling calories like this prevent that, or would it just confuse my body and encourage it to shut down on me?

Cycling your cals is ok, just be sure to average it over the whole week.

It will give you a bit of breathing room, and keeps your bod from feeling starved.

I'm not an expert, but I do know that my husband lost 110 lbs doing this. He has six days a week where he's lucky to hit 1000 calories, then one day where he doesn't even count. He allows himself to eat or drink anything.

(That would NEVER work for me, I tried it. Failed miserably. )

Hurray! Thank you both!

Like I mentioned above, last time I dieted, I restricted myself to 1200 calories. My excuse was that I'm only 5'0" and somehow I concluded that I had to eat 1000 calories a day to lose a pound a week, but knew that you shouldn't go below 1200. So I strictly and religiously ate 1200 calories every day, no cheat days. For the first month or two, it was fine. But then I hit a snag for 6 weeks, where the scale didn't budge. I got discouraged, and slowly slipped out of caring.

This time, I'm going to eat more, be less of a tightwad... and exercise more!

I'm so glad that you guys are saying that this should be fine. I can do it this way with no problem!

Wild, that is similar to the way I lost. I didn't eat just anything on the high days but I made it a point on a couple of days out of the week to eat more calories than the days I was eating low.

It certainly would not hurt to try. And if you are exercising regularly, you don't want to experience burn out or throwing your metabolism off by continuing to consistently eat low calories.

Hi! Yes, you can cycle. Just make sure your average is above 1200.

It's not your height alone that determines how much to eat--it's also your current weight, your age, and your activity level. Try putting your numbers in here:

http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm

You might be surprised.

For me, it wouldn't work to have a string of low days followed by a really high day. And I wouldn't make it a "cheat day" where I eat just any old thing. I think a better strategy is to increase calories by eating more of the weight loss friendly food--for instance, larger portions. I wouldn't increase calories with candy bars, desserts, or fast food junk; that's just bad eating habits for anyone.

Good luck!
Jay

We all have to find what works for us - and what doesn't.

The *cheat day* mentality doesn't work for me. That one day off plan would make it harder for me to get back ON plan the following day.

I would sooner up my calories every day. A handful of walnuts thrown in my salad with some avocado. A larger serving of oatmeal perhaps with some raisins or nuts. A larger piece of salmon or chicken breast.

But like I said earlier, we're all different. You can always experiment and see how it works - or how it doesn't and then feel free to try something else. Just whatever you do, if it's not working for you, don't give up like in previous attempts - just tweak, tweak and then tweak some more until you find what's right for you. Make this plan your own. Customize it for yourself.

Wow - that was really interesting. I think I might do this- gives me a couple of days to look forward to

I just like the idea that if I screw up one day and go overboard a couple hundred calories, all is NOT lost so there is no excuse to just throw in the towel and gobble up more hehe...

So I from Monday to Saturday, I averaged 1236 calories. To get up to the 1600 average I want, today I have to eat a whopping 3600 calories That is NOT going to happen! I guess next week I need to keep it UP and not rely so much on my cheat day. Lessons learned, right? If I'm lucky, maybe I can get this week's average up to 1400. Maybe!