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Adjust calorie consumption for fat loss

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What you should remember when deciding how much to reduce calories below maintenance level is that a calorie deficit too large and spanning over a long period of time has an effect on the body different then the one expected – instead of accelerating fat loss it sends the body into starvation mode.

When in starvation mode, the body slows down the BMR in order to “save” calories and hold on to every bit of fat. Body fat and the starvation response where necessary for survival in the pre-agriculture era when food was scarce but today, with so much food available, only makes our fat loss attempts more hard and frustrating.

In order to avoid going into starvation mode what you should do is:

1. Make a sensible calorie reduction.

A good guideline is to reduce calories by no more then 15-20% except if you are very obese (body fat >30%), in which case a deficit of 25-30% is more appropriate.

2. Zig-Zag your calorie intake.

The zigzag method was developed to combat the body’s tendency to adapt to a caloric deficit by slowing down the metabolism (rate at which calories are burned).

When you are zigzagging calories what you are basically doing is stopping the body from adapting to “running” on a certain number of calories by alternating low calorie intake days with high calorie intake days.

In my opinion, the best zigzag for fat loss and prevention of lean body mass wastage is:
- 3 days – low calories (15-20% or 25-30% below maintenance level).
- 1 day – high calories (maintenance level).

Details

Creator: trifm
Category: Diet and Nutrition
Posted: 1/29/2008

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