I recently read an article that touched on the fact that as one loses weight, their average caloric requirement will gradually decrease. Assuming this holds true, if the person maintains a constant range of calories, say 2400 per day, but their daily requirement decreases, could this explain why some people reach plateaus? How often should people be assessing / re-evaluating their daily caloric needs?
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In a recent post (Tenacious Insulin Bump) I talked about the plateau I had hit and where the fat was "sticky" - around the navel area. Some of the people above suggested tweaking protein and fat ratios, which I did (decreased protein, increased fat, stabilized carbs and calories) and introducing IF through the week. I can tell you it looks like it worked...and FAST! In a week, I busted through the plateau and dropped about a half-inch from my belly measurement. Might be a coincidence, but I'd recommend trying it at least. Thanks for the great mix of advice, all. Chris |
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Doesn't it depend on what tissue they're losing? If one looses primarily fat, then I would expect the metabolic changes due to weight loss to be minimal. On the other hand, I would expect ones BMR to drop a lot if they lost much muscle mass. You bring up a good point. A plateau may be because someone is now eating too much relative to their current BMR. |
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That SAD simplistic reasoning. It's accurate only in the context of starvation diets and doesn't hold true for the hormonal changes that happen due to paleo. |
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I lost weight for 5 years on a SAD diet, eating 1200 calories most of the time, occasionally cycling them higher on weekends. When I hit plateaus, changing my fat/protein/carb ratios helped, rather than lowering my calories. Also, changing my exercise busted a plateau or two. Now that I am done losing and in a maintenance phase, I have raised my calories to 1500 per day and I seem to be doing great. No weight gain at all. So, my n=1 experience is that as I lost weight my caloric requirement did not shift. |
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Smaller bodies usually need less food than larger ones. How often should people...? As there is no such thing as one size fits all, there is no honest answer to this. How often should you do something? Only you can decide that. Constancy in calorie intake and monitoring one's calories is not an approach which is viewed by many as part of the Paleo approach to eating. ETA: I apologize, I neglected to post a good source of information about eating from a Paleo perspective. Dr. Kurt Harris', PaleoNu, is an excellent reference site. His "Get Started" page and the explanations will answer many questions about how the body uses fats, proteins, and carbohydrates, what happens to calories, and why certain foods are more nourishing than others. (And many other subjects.) Here is the link: |
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I would say it would be more productive to alter protein intake based on weight or lean tissue and then adding fat based on energy requirements. That's what I'm doing anyway, and I haven't hit any plateaus lasting more than a week (which I think is more to do with hormones and such). |
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I'm of the opinion that, outside of starvation, each bodyfat% corresponds to a particular amount and type of carbohydrate intake, as well as perhaps non-carbohydrate insulinogenic foods. Those who immediately ratchet it all the way down should not hit plateaux. |
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