Is your calorie intake all over the map?
Do you eat a lot of food one day, and then cut way back the next? Do you stay "on plan" for days on end, but then "slip" for a few days and go overboard with your intake? Does stress drive your hunger, where stressful days either push your intake through the roof, or cause you to hardly eat?
If your intake fluctuates wildly from day to day... you may be setting yourself up for fat-loss failure!
CONSISTENCY OF CALORIE INTAKE
Weight loss (or gain) does not occur as a response to an individual day, or meal, or sequence of meals... but actually to your intake over the course of 5-7 days. So if you have one day, or one meal, where you go entirely off the reservation in calories or content... it WON'T destroy you results. One night's dinner out will not put on 3 pounds! And likewise, one day of STARVING yourself will not make you 3 pounds lighter. The scale may show a change, but it's NOT 3 pounds of body fat you've gained or lost. The vast majority of your weight fluctuation is water, glycogen load in the muscles, and presence or absence of food in your digestive system... NOT FAT.
But this doesn't mean you are free to binge for a few days, and then starve for a few days either! Wild fluctuations in daily calorie intake are HORRIBLE for your results on multiple levels, both physiological, and psychological.
The best way I can explain it to my clients (which is a vastly simplified version of the base science) is this... Our bodies operate in "survival mode" from the neck down. We are completely reactionary in nature to inputs (food in), and expenditure (exercise). Our body's fat storage and fat burning mechanisms don't THINK... they simply respond. Regardless of what our mind "wishes", or what our "intents" are, the body's response is purely reactionary.
As a result, wild fluctuations in calories can set off an instinctive "survival" response that can result in fat gain (and/or muscle loss) from these fluctuations. Our bodies are constantly trying to balance hormone responses and energy consumption to match our intake. When our food intake (and exercise expenditure) is consistent from day to day, both in timing, content, and volume... our body is "happiest". Everything is easy to regulate. But when our intake fluctuates from high to low on an irregular basis, the "survival instincts" switch on. Our hormones go on a roller-coaster ride. Insulin rises and dips in an unfamiliar pattern, cortisol levels change, etc, etc.
Well timed re-feeds of carbohydrates work, but it's all still a timed event, not a random pile of carbohydrates. Weight gain and weight loss is still hooked closely into total intake for 4-6 days at a time... but fat gain and fat loss (as opposed to weight gain and weight loss), is a much more sensitive equation. I general... try to stick to a nice consistent pattern, regardless of when you start your meals, or end... just try to make it as consistent as you can. Get your body on a "un-exciting" routine, and it will thank you with consistent results!
Do you eat a lot of food one day, and then cut way back the next? Do you stay "on plan" for days on end, but then "slip" for a few days and go overboard with your intake? Does stress drive your hunger, where stressful days either push your intake through the roof, or cause you to hardly eat?
If your intake fluctuates wildly from day to day... you may be setting yourself up for fat-loss failure!
CONSISTENCY OF CALORIE INTAKE
Weight loss (or gain) does not occur as a response to an individual day, or meal, or sequence of meals... but actually to your intake over the course of 5-7 days. So if you have one day, or one meal, where you go entirely off the reservation in calories or content... it WON'T destroy you results. One night's dinner out will not put on 3 pounds! And likewise, one day of STARVING yourself will not make you 3 pounds lighter. The scale may show a change, but it's NOT 3 pounds of body fat you've gained or lost. The vast majority of your weight fluctuation is water, glycogen load in the muscles, and presence or absence of food in your digestive system... NOT FAT.
But this doesn't mean you are free to binge for a few days, and then starve for a few days either! Wild fluctuations in daily calorie intake are HORRIBLE for your results on multiple levels, both physiological, and psychological.
The best way I can explain it to my clients (which is a vastly simplified version of the base science) is this... Our bodies operate in "survival mode" from the neck down. We are completely reactionary in nature to inputs (food in), and expenditure (exercise). Our body's fat storage and fat burning mechanisms don't THINK... they simply respond. Regardless of what our mind "wishes", or what our "intents" are, the body's response is purely reactionary.
As a result, wild fluctuations in calories can set off an instinctive "survival" response that can result in fat gain (and/or muscle loss) from these fluctuations. Our bodies are constantly trying to balance hormone responses and energy consumption to match our intake. When our food intake (and exercise expenditure) is consistent from day to day, both in timing, content, and volume... our body is "happiest". Everything is easy to regulate. But when our intake fluctuates from high to low on an irregular basis, the "survival instincts" switch on. Our hormones go on a roller-coaster ride. Insulin rises and dips in an unfamiliar pattern, cortisol levels change, etc, etc.
Well timed re-feeds of carbohydrates work, but it's all still a timed event, not a random pile of carbohydrates. Weight gain and weight loss is still hooked closely into total intake for 4-6 days at a time... but fat gain and fat loss (as opposed to weight gain and weight loss), is a much more sensitive equation. I general... try to stick to a nice consistent pattern, regardless of when you start your meals, or end... just try to make it as consistent as you can. Get your body on a "un-exciting" routine, and it will thank you with consistent results!
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