Now, depending on the time you get out of bed - kicking your day off with breakfast might not be the best way to begin meeting your daily nutritional needs - if your focus is on calorie management. Now, I know this goes against traditional advice, but read on to fully understand this approach as it applies to counting calories.
I've worked with clients in the past who have tried to eat breakfast (in many forms and variations) first thing in the morning, and they would find that doing this made them hungrier the rest of the day and it usually led to increased daily caloric intake - enough to cause long term weight gain.
I've worked with many people who wake up fairly early and start the morning with breakfast and continue to eat 'healthy' well throughout the entire day. Often, these types of people, although eating healthy foods, are taking in too many calories in the span of a whole day and either have trouble losing weight or continue to gain weight.
And now its time to reveal the 'insider's tactic' of calorie shifting. We will talk about meal shifting (instead of calorie shifting) to keep matters simple - but understand, a meal is made up of calories.
A simple strategy for those who find that keeping a lid on daily caloric intake is a challenge - is to push back the time that the first meal is eaten. Lets call this meal breakfast, even though some people may find it strange to call a meal eaten at 10:30 or 11 am, breakfast.
So, instead of eating your normal breakfast at 6:30 or 8 am, you don't skip it, you just push it back a few hours - toward your normal lunch time. In effect, you are moving, most likely, 300 - 500 (maybe more) calories and taking them in at a later time, maybe 3 or 4 hours later than normal.
Here is what happens to most people who I coach with this method. They find they are not starving for a big lunch (which also gets pushed back a few hours - to about 2pm (give or take 30 minutes). Also - these people are not ready to 'eat a horse' just before dinner - and can calmly wait until its served instead of taking in a few hundred, self destructive, pre-dinner, warm-up calories.
So, a result of this meal shifting is a reduction in 'overactive appetite' - not a bad reduction, but a healthy reduction - one that is very helpful in preventing one from over-stuffing the stomach and going beyond their daily caloric needs.
But - lets rewind a bit here. If pre-dinner food binges present a challenge for you, then calorie shifting should help you calm the urge to eat at the end of a work day and leave you in better control of keeping limits on your evening caloric intake.
So, 'the calorie shift' is also helpful for people who snack every few hours once they do start eating. By delaying when you start eating in the morning - you also delay the snack intervals you enjoy - and in effect you may reduce your total daily snacks to 2 or 3 instead of 5 or 6 (including your after dinner snack). If you've shifted your calories properly - you will have eaten less of them by the end of the day.
Common 'side effects' of this strategy are increased energy, less bloating and stomach discomfort, better sleep patterns and a few others. Hmmm - I wonder why?
There are several factors inside of this calorie based fat-loss strategy to be aware of. The types of foods you choose, the volume of foods you choose and the realization that you need less calories than you think you do to function optimally on a day to day basis.
I also realize that this may go against the "You'll shut down your metabolism, by starving yourself!" crowd. But believe me, this is far from starving yourself, very far. Please note - this is a personal strategy that I've given to many people who were unsuccessful with mainstream fat loss dieting methods. Most importantly - it's something you can do too.
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Joey Atlas, MS - Exercise Physiology, is the Amazon.com Bestselling author of the fitness book 'Fatness to Fitness' and the Author of the Ultimate Leg, Butt, Hip and Thigh Makeover, Home Exercise Program for Women. Visit his sites for more free tips and articles from Joey.
