Time for a High Calorie Day!
Ahhh.... Another 3 low days down. Time for a high calorie day! Even though I usually eat the same amount every day, the high calorie day today will feel especially good. I had a low day and missed my workout... but at the end of the day, I hit my calories right on the mark (which means I ate 650 calories less than usual instead of eating my normal amount and burning 650).

Since today is a high calorie day, I'm taking another day off from the gym (maybe... I'll see what is going on tonight.)

Today's Topic
I was up at 3:45 this morning for some ungodly reason, so I decided to write a blog article... The topic that came to mind was breaking through weight loss plateaus.

How to Get a Stuck Fat Loss Moving
A few days ago, I said something about being unsure of which way to go to increase fat loss. I'm losing about a pound of fat per week at a 25% deficit. If the basic rules are 1) don't go deeper than a 30% deficit per day; 2) don't go below 1800 calories per day for men, 1200 for women; and 3) lose a maximum of 1% of your body weight or 2 lbs per week, whichever is greater; where do you go if a 30% deficit sends you below your minimum? Where do you go if eating your minimum number of calories only results in a 1 or a 1.5 lb weight loss? Where do you go if you're not losing weight at all?? Seems like you're stuck, right?

Trade the No-Brainer Math for Easy Math
The plan that I've been working has been "eat your maintenance level and exercise your deficit". I did this for the sake of simplicity (and safety... I can't imagine anyone losing weight too fast on this plan as long as they stick to the three rules I mentioned earlier.) If you want to increase fat loss, you'll have to do a little math. (Don't be skurrd - It's not complicated.)

Burn More Calories, and Eat More Food.
With my simple formula my maintenance level is 2500 calories per day. I have to burn 650 calories to get down to a 25% deficit (1850 calories). I don't stay at that low level more than 3 days in a row, so my cycle looks like this:

Eat 2500 calories, exercise 650 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2500 calories, exercise 650 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2500 calories, exercise 650 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2500 calories (rest) = 2500 net

If I increase my cardio intensity so I burn 850 per session instead of 650, the on my low (cardio) days, I actually have to eat MORE than I do on high (rest) calorie days!

Eat 2700 calories, exercise 850 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2700 calories, exercise 850 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2700 calories, exercise 850 calories = 1850 net
Eat 2500 calories (rest) = 2500 net

Weird, eh? Eat more to lose more weight on the same net calories. It sounds like I'm saying 1+1=2 here and 1+1=5 there! Well, kinda... *laugh* There is more to the equasion than 1+1. One additional variable is the afterburn effect, or the period after your workout when you continue to burn calories at an increased rate. When you crank up the intensity of your workouts, you really get your metabolism moving. The higher the intensity, the longer the afterburn. Another variable is the simple action of burning calories. In fat loss, a calorie burned is more valuable than a calorie not eaten.

Theory and Practice
All of this information is distilled from my venerable source for fitness knowledge, Tom Venuto. If you're looking for an accessible guide to fitness without worring about ulterior motives (like trying to sell you food or supplements), check out his book "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle". It is an invaluable resource.

For me - the burn more and eat more concept is theory... but I plan to put it into practice next week. I've been losing 1 lb of fat per week for the last 4 weeks now, so I think I have room to start cranking things up! As always, I'll let you know how it goes.

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[Update 8am]
Here are some additional thoughts for the day....

Cardio on an Empty Stomach
By the way - another tip: If your goal is fat loss, do your cardio on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. Even if your stomach is growling, once you get into the groove, you won't feel hungry. By exercising after a night-long fast, you're forcing your body to dig deep into its energy reserves. Just be sure to eat immediately afterward!

Increase Duration and/or Intensitiy
So, how should I go about increasing my calorie burn? Here is another rule for fat loss: 4) Do 45-60 minutes of cardio 5-7 days a week (health permitting). Unless you're an endurance athlete, there is really no reason to do more than an hour of cardio. If you are already doing 60 minutes of cardio and you're just not seeing results, it is time to increase the intensity and/or investigate other ways to do cardio.

It is also important to include weight training in your routine to help fight lean muscle loss, but I'll cover that in another blog... (probably after Feb 5 when I can practice what I preach!)

The rule of thumb for fat loss: If what you're doing is working - keep doing it. If it stops working, change.