calorie cycling

during the first time that i did Body for Life, about 5 years ago, i learned a very good method of calorie cycling which really worked for me. i would take a look at my 7 day calorie goal and then play around with the calories during the seven days, making sure that no two days had the same amount of calories.

i've read a lot about this system of *tricking* your metabolism and avoind hitting the wall too often. many, many people that are doing Body for Life 12 week programs use this system of cycling and it works for them too.

now all i have to do is figure out how many calories i need per week to get a deficte that will produce a one-half kilo loss per week (approx. 1lb). after i figure that number out, i will then make a weekly food chart which will indicate my daily 4 mini-meals and the total of calories for these 4 meals. then i will cycle the calorie total so that one day i have lower calories and one day higher calories, etc....

with Body for Life you are on the nutritional program for six day a week, taking a free day to eat whatever you want. however i found that to be too tempting to really go over-board and i gave up the free day after just a few weeks. i stuck with the 7 day cycle and maybe, once in a great while, i would give myself a fun treat.

i found that my sugar craving completely went away with this method of eating. it was incredible! i also started taking a very good complete supplement of vitamins and minerals, which also helps in general when on a weight-loss program.

this time around i'm going to go one step further and add some other supplements, like protein powder which i can use to make good smoothies. a few tablespoons of protein power, 1 cup of skim milk and a few fruits will make a great mini-meal when i'm just not so hungry, but i have to keep my energies up.

pay attention to the section on nutrition to see how i do it and how the whole program goes for me.

onward and upward !!