Red Deer Life - July 19, 2006

Here were into the later part of July. Stampede has just concluded and Westerner days is upon us. The radio over these past weeks has been riddled with talk of the carnivals and particularly the carnival food. Just the other day they were talking about deep fried Oreos and Twinkies. I hope it's just a rumor, if it's not we best have plenty of EMS on standby.

On a more serious note, all this talk of carnival food had me thinking there is likely going to be a large group of remorseful people after all the event fun has faded away. A renewed interest in many of the fad dieting programs will occur. I figured this week I'd share with you one of my own alternative methods.

If you haven't seen by now my beliefs as far as nutrition are pretty linear. Consistency is key and ratios are critical. My alternate route is not out of this world different but it is different enough that it just may be a good fit for those looking for a short term solution to ridding themselves of that summer spare tire.

Through the years I've reviewed a good deal of research regarding the body's ability to adapt to different situations and how adaptation may leady to a progress plateau. Our metabolism constantly regulating shows great signs of adaptation in as little as 72 hours. Using this 72 hour window we can force our body to consume additional energy while it's trying to adapt to a new environment, by the time it adapts we trigger our next change. This is a system of calorie cycling. It's not fancy but when applied correctly it can be quite effective.

The easiest way to implement this idea is using a seven day or one week rotation. Start on a Saturday with your normal amount of calories (this should be at least a minimum of 10-13 times body weight) Consume this amount of calories for the duration of the weekend. It should be all good and clean food and balance is important as we've discussed in previous columns. When Monday arrives remove 10% of your calories, equally from carbs and proteins. Monday through Wednesday will remain the same. For Thursday and Friday we'll cut even more calories, an additional 15%. This time 10% of total calories should be reduced from carbs while the other 5% from proteins. On Saturday we start over at the highest amount. This is important because keeping calories reduced for extended periods will only slow down our metabolism. The idea is that we keep the body adapting and using more energy as a whole. Your weight will fluctuate a little on the higher days but just remember it's a cycle, two steps forward, one small step back.