wiggamonkey
Don Juan
- Joined
- May 7, 2007
- Messages
- 22
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I came across a program called "Cheat Your Way Thin" (www.cheatyourwaythin.com) that proposes an interesting way of losing weight: having a normal diet with intermittent "cheating" to trick your body into increasing its metabolism. I know what you're all thinking, and I thought the same thing until I gave the website a fair read. The ideas don't sound entirely nonsensical. Then again, I'm not an expert. I'd like to see what you all think before I make a potentially stupid purchase.
Here is the idea behind the program, in a nutshell:
-- Normal, sustained "caloric-restriction" diets cause the body to go into starvation mode and thus burn fewer calories
-- To counter this process, you should "trick" your body now and then by increasing your caloric intake (they emphatically talk about chowing down on pizza, ice cream, donuts, or whatever your food of choice may be). The idea is that your body will respond by getting out of "starvation mode" and metabolizing faster. I REPEAT: you only do this INTERMITTENTLY-- the diet is not a sustained, unhealthy, junk food binge.
-- This, in turn, causes you to lose even MORE fat once you cycle back to a lighter caloric load with healthier foods such as fruits, veggies, and fibrous carbs
-- This diet, supplimented with regular exercise, equals rapid fat loss.
Should I listen to any of this? One the one hand, there is a huge "too-good-to-be-true" component in this whole thing that makes my "scam" radar go off.
On the other hand, the ideas behind the diet aren't entirely illogical. (What I am about to say might not be entirely correct, so feel free to correct any of it). It's premised on the idea that the amount of energy you consume and when you consume it affects the speed of your metabolism. To illustrate this, think of the "six-small-meal" plan that dieters often go on to speed up their metabolsim. The whole idea operates on the idea that your metabolism increases every time you eat and decreases when you don't eat. That's why it is a terrible idea to starve yourself to death all day and THEN pig out-- you'll be consuming a lot of calories that your body will metabolize much more slowly. In a way, manipulating the timing of your meals is similar to manipulating the sequence of how many calories you consume. Both have an impact on the speed of your metabolism. So, from this (possibly correct) perspective, this diet makes sense.
Another thing that makes me think that this COULD work is that it's endorsed by someone who has a lot of credibility in my eyes. He is a fitness expert named Anthony Ellis who has written several e-books on gaining mass. I actually had tremendous success with his program (22 lbs of muscle (NOT FAT) in 3 months). Anthony knows what he's talking about, but I am too jaded to dismiss the idea of a big name in fitness taking money to endorse someone else's product.
I cannot make up my mind and I'd love to hear some more thoughts before I make a potentially ridiculous purchase.
Thanks!
Here is the idea behind the program, in a nutshell:
-- Normal, sustained "caloric-restriction" diets cause the body to go into starvation mode and thus burn fewer calories
-- To counter this process, you should "trick" your body now and then by increasing your caloric intake (they emphatically talk about chowing down on pizza, ice cream, donuts, or whatever your food of choice may be). The idea is that your body will respond by getting out of "starvation mode" and metabolizing faster. I REPEAT: you only do this INTERMITTENTLY-- the diet is not a sustained, unhealthy, junk food binge.
-- This, in turn, causes you to lose even MORE fat once you cycle back to a lighter caloric load with healthier foods such as fruits, veggies, and fibrous carbs
-- This diet, supplimented with regular exercise, equals rapid fat loss.
Should I listen to any of this? One the one hand, there is a huge "too-good-to-be-true" component in this whole thing that makes my "scam" radar go off.
On the other hand, the ideas behind the diet aren't entirely illogical. (What I am about to say might not be entirely correct, so feel free to correct any of it). It's premised on the idea that the amount of energy you consume and when you consume it affects the speed of your metabolism. To illustrate this, think of the "six-small-meal" plan that dieters often go on to speed up their metabolsim. The whole idea operates on the idea that your metabolism increases every time you eat and decreases when you don't eat. That's why it is a terrible idea to starve yourself to death all day and THEN pig out-- you'll be consuming a lot of calories that your body will metabolize much more slowly. In a way, manipulating the timing of your meals is similar to manipulating the sequence of how many calories you consume. Both have an impact on the speed of your metabolism. So, from this (possibly correct) perspective, this diet makes sense.
Another thing that makes me think that this COULD work is that it's endorsed by someone who has a lot of credibility in my eyes. He is a fitness expert named Anthony Ellis who has written several e-books on gaining mass. I actually had tremendous success with his program (22 lbs of muscle (NOT FAT) in 3 months). Anthony knows what he's talking about, but I am too jaded to dismiss the idea of a big name in fitness taking money to endorse someone else's product.
I cannot make up my mind and I'd love to hear some more thoughts before I make a potentially ridiculous purchase.
Thanks!
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