30 Days 30 Letters: An Open Letter To My Diet Buddy #12 - August Weight Loss Plan "Intermittent Fasting and Calorie Cycling"

This is letter #12 in Her Weight loss Diary's new series - 30 Days Letters to My Diet Buddy project. The road to weight loss can be tough. If you want to feel like you aren't alone in your diet endeavors, buddying up can hold you accountable for every bite you take. Subscribe here, because you don't want to miss any letter.

P.s. Don't hesitate to share your thoughts, the best thoughtful comments will be featured every Friday.

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Dear Diet Buddy,

What are you up to this month of August? I'm sorry you've heard this from me for countless time. Of how I want to do this and that but no result come out. But wait, I don't really need to aplogize to anyone, do I? I don't have to fear to anyone's judgement because I fail to lose weight in a certain frame time. My weight loss is not a race anyway. I'm not losing weight to make anyone happy. It's a journey and I want to thank you for bear with me.

I did mention in my previous post of how I hate calorie counting. But it looks like it is the only method that will works for me right now. Calorie counting and journaling about it will help me to see how far I've been doing. So this August I decided to do INTERMITTENT FASTING and CALORIE CYCLING. I want to give myself a test for 14 days. I have no idea if I may ever get through with this plan but I'll record and see how it will turn out.

What is Calorie Cycling?

Calorie cycling which also known as zig zag dieting is an eating plan that is intended to prevent weight or fat loss plateaus by constantly changing your daily calories to trick your metabolism.

For example, you've been eating 1200 calorie to lose weight. If you eat that much calorie for long enough, you don't burn as many calorie and your weight loss will slow or stop. You hit plateau because now your body may conserving energy by lowering your metabolic rate. So rather than trying to eat even less every day, try alternating high and low calorie days.

My calorie cycling calculation from shapefit.com 

What is Intermittent Fasting?

Intermittent Fasting–IF for short–is a pattern of eating that alternates between periods of fasting (usually meaning consumption of water and sometimes low-calorie drinks such as black coffee) and non-fasting.

Here's an IF sample plan from Precision Nutrition:

Essentially, you pick any 24-hour period, and don’t eat during it. But we like to add a few things to make it easier. Here, we’ll assume a Sunday fast:

10 PM Saturday:

• Eat your last meal of the day 
• Drink 500 mL (2 cups) of water 

10 AM Sunday:

• Drink 1 L (4 cups) of water + 1 serving greens powder 
• Drink 250 mL (1 cup) of green tea 
• Take 5 grams BCAA (branched chain amino acids) powder (or take 5 capsules) 

3 PM Sunday:

• Drink 1 L (4 cups) of water + 1 serving greens powder 
• Drink 250 mL (1 cup) green tea 
• Take 5 grams BCAA (branched chain amino acids) powder (or take 5 capsules) 

10 PM Sunday:

• Eat a small snack before bed 
• Drink 500 mL (2 cups) of water 

Monday:

• Eat normally

*The tea, greens, and BCAAs aren’t essential to fasting, but in our experience, they make it a lot easier.

How to combine Intermittent Fasting and Calorie Cycling?

I get this tips from James Clear. Eat a lot on the days that you workout and less on the days that you rest. The idea behind this means you have a calorie surplus (i.e. gain muscle) on the days you train and a calorie deficit (i.e. lose fat) on the days that you rest. By the end of the week, you should have done both. Additionally, eat a lot of carbohydrates on the days that you train and few carbohydrates on the days that you rest. This is done to stimulate fat loss. Eat high protein all the time and moderate to low fat on most days. Cycling carbohydrates has also led to additional fat loss.

Does it work for you to share your goals publicly? Or do you you keep your goal to yourself?

• If you think it's okay to share your goals openly, then what is your goal (financial, fitness, vacation, weight loss, spiritual, parenthood-ing, etc) for August?  
• If your philosophy is to never share your goals, what is your rationale? 

Share in the comments. I'd love to hear about them.


Yours truly,

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