Calorie Shifting Diet Plan for Weight Loss

Many diets work well at first to help you lose weight, however, as your weight loss progress, it becomes increasingly difficult to lose weight, and many people end up giving up the diet. Why do so many people fail at diets? One of the key reasons of continued diet and weight loss failure is our body’s attempt to maintain homeostasis. As you reduce calories and begin to lose weight, you body quickly adjusts its metabolism downwards to compensate for the reduced calorie intake.

Another factor affecting weight loss is the amount of lean muscle mass you carry. The more lean muscle mass you have, the easier it is for you to burn fat. During the weight loss process, you also lose some lean muscle mass. When this happens, your calorie expenditure falls and you end up having a harder time losing weight. This is one of the key reasons why incorporating a weight lifting routine to your weight loss program is so important for maintaining muscle mass.

Calorie shifting is not a diet, but more of a dieting “theory” that aims to fight the slowdown in metabolism by constantly changing your daily caloric intake. By having an inconsistent calorie intake, the idea is that this “tricks” or “confuses” your body so that it does not slowdown its metabolism as you reduce your calorie intake, and begin to lose weight.

A little simple math can help you setup a daily calorie intake plan based on calorie shifting. For example, if you require 2500 calories daily for weight maintenance, and you set a goal to lose one pound a week, then your weekly calorie intake should be: 2500 x 7 = 17500 – 3500 = 14000 calories. You should aim to consume 14000 calories on a weekly basis to achieve a 3500 calorie deficit.

Instead of spreading 14000 calories evenly over 7 days, you up-shift and down-shift your calorie intake on a daily basis to still consume a total of 14000 calories. For example:

Monday: 1650
Tuesday: 1850
Wednesday: 2600
Thursday: 1600
Friday: 2650
Saturday: 1600
Sunday: 2050

Using a calorie shifting diet plan as above, you consume an inconsistent amount of calories daily, your weekly total is still 14,000 calories, which still gives you a 3500 calorie deficit. By constantly consuming a different amount of calories, your body will have a tough time trying to figure out how much calories you will consume in the future. By “confusing” your body, the theory of shifting calories is that you can maintain a higher metabolism rate.