Heya everyone, For those that don't know me, I've been dieting on and off for a few years and (luckily) I seem to be fairly good at it.. I can usually hit any goal I aim for, as long as I'm aiming low! :D I've managed this through dumb luck, and latterly following the simple rule of good ol' calorie deficit. I burn X amount of calories per day, so I eat 500, 1000, etc calories less and I loose weight. :flex:

However, I also appreciate (or think I do... :confused: ) the requirement for nutritional ratios (as in, 40/40/20). I could diet on chocolate if I wanted, and as long as I hit under my calories I'd loose weight. But I'd be getting hardly anything of nutritional value in my day, and I'd no doubt loose muscle and thus alter my bf% for the worse.

Okay, so that's all and good (hopefully!) :) But I've seen a few messages on the forums that recommend, when weight loss stalls, that someone should... I dunno, eat all their carbs in the morning, or cut out x and replace it with y, and so on... while keeping the calorie intake the same.

This is what I don't understand. How does it make any difference to your actual weight loss what you're eating, as long as you're maintaining a deficit. So... answers on a postcard to... :p

P.S. I'm not asking because I've got some weird diet, I'm managing to hit 40/40/20 pretty much on the head. I'm just curious! :read:

Thanks everyone!

Okay, so that's all and good (hopefully!) :) But I've seen a few messages on the forums that recommend, when weight loss stalls, that someone should... I dunno, eat all their carbs in the morning, or cut out x and replace it with y, and so on... while keeping the calorie intake the same.

This is what I don't understand. How does it make any difference to your actual weight loss what you're eating, as long as you're maintaining a deficit. So... answers on a postcard to... :p I think you may have gotten the wrong idea...

When you hit a plateu in diet or lifting or cardio or just about anything it's because your body has completely adjusted to what you've been doing. Remember that everything in this universe is lazy, and wants to get by expending as little energy as possible. The plateu shows that your body has arrived at that point.

So what you have to do is shock the hell out of your body :spaz:

Eat more (CLEAN) calories for a day or two, change cardio routines (get off the bike and on to the treadmill), change which way you're lifting (start doing flat bench instead of incline, etc.). The whole point is to get your body guessing again.

The way we can control our body in this arena is to constantly keep it guessing. If you've been doing HIIT for 2 months, go continuous for a few sessions, etc. If you've been eating the same damn thing for a few weeks (didn't you say you could do that?) then eat something else.

Shock the system!

Does that answer your question?

You're right, if you take in fewer calories than you burn during a given period of time you will lose weight. It may be muscle lost, fat lost, or a combination of both, but you're right in that regard.

However, it's hard to know exactly how many calories you are using up each day, as your metabolism may change. When you started, your body may have needed, say, 3000 calories to perfectly maintain its current weight. You eat 2500 per day and you will begin to lose weight, but if over time your body reacts to this caloric deficit by slowing your natural metabolic rate, you may only need 2500 calories to maintain your current weight. Unfortunately, each progressive pound of fat is harder to lose than the one before it.

daveo: I'm afraid I still don't understand! :o Are you saying that weight loss isn't simply a matter of energy in versus energy out? Or rather, that by "adapts" you mean your metabolism has slowed and thus by shocking it, you hope that you can get it back in a higher gear thus temporarily negating the need to consume fewer calories? :confused:

Teg4e: That's how I've understood it to be, but I've been thrown off track a little! I guess what I'd like to know is:-

Is there a generally held belief that calories consumed at certain times of the day are not taken in as efficiently by the body as those consumed at other times?

I think I'm being a bit slow on the uptake here! :rolleyes: Sorry guys, please persevere with me!

daveo: I'm afraid I still don't understand! :o Are you saying that weight loss isn't simply a matter of energy in versus energy out? Or rather, that by "adapts" you mean your metabolism has slowed and thus by shocking it, you hope that you can get it back in a higher gear thus temporarily negating the need to consume fewer calories? :confused: I'm not sure physiologically what happens when your body adapts, but yeah that's basically what I mean.

Let's use a conveyor belt analogy...

Say you're a factory worker, and for the longest time you've just been taking your time putting things together as they pass by you on the belt. It's been fine because your boss doesn't really care, and he's not always giving you all the parts you need. You deal with things as they come and don't put too much effort in to it. This is analgous to when you're being lazy, eating poorly, and not exercising.

The one day your boss jumps down your throat because of reduced productivity (you start exercising) and he starts throwing the proper parts at you (you start eating correctly). Now you can work like a champ and get stuff done!

Let's say your boss keeps this up for a while, the same quota and the same parts every day. For a few months. Eventually you get really good at putting together your product and it doesn't take as long for you to do it. Your productivity reaches a plateau: you're still doing the same amount of work, it's just easier than it was before.

What to do, as the boss, at this point? You have a few options:

Change products, but keep the parts the same (e.g. change from HIIT to continuous cardio). Leave them thinking that way for a while, then change back to your original product. The worker will have forgotten how to make the original product, and have to start learning again!
Change the parts, keep the product the same (e.g. change your diet). Where the worker used to be able to put a product together blindfolded, they have to think about it now and expend more engery. Eventually give them the old pieces again .
Hopefully that made some sense, if I confused you more just ignore me and go do some reading at bodybuilding.com, you'll probably find better answers there.

Thanks man, that did it! :tucool: