The Advanced Belly Fat Diet; Calorie Shifting to Reduce Belly Fat

This post is meant to compliment “How to Get Rid of Belly Fat Through Proper Dieting“. For those just entering the conversation, I highly recommend you start with that article first. It aims to present belly fat diet principles that we all can apply in order to trim down. This post on the other hand will be for those that have less than 15 pounds of extra fat to lose, or have successfully applied the changes to diet recommended in the other post.

Getting rid of that last bit of stubborn belly fat is quite a challenge. It’s even quite a challenge for me, and I’m in the gym five or six days a week. The reason it is tougher to lose that last 10 to 15 pounds than the first 30 to 100 is because, just our bodies have no reason to carry so much weight, they have to reason to carry so little. Fat is, as we’ve discussed previously, stored energy. And naturally, having energy stored for unforeseen physical challenges is a not a bad thing necessarily.

But that doesn’t stop those of us looking for beach ready bodies from wanting to shed those last few pounds of stubborn belly fat and tone the midsection. So let’s assume that you’re relatively close to your goals or that you’ve successfully applied the belly fat diet principles from the previous post in your daily lives and have reached that dreaded diet plateau. You’re in need of a few more belly fat blasting weapons to kill the blob. Fortunately for you, I’m going to recommend a few things that will seem both unbelievable, and very very refreshing.

One of the reasons our bodies cease to shed belly fat even when we’re dieting properly is because our metabolic rate will eventually adjust to account for the quality and quantity of food you’re consuming. In the beginning weight comes off easy because the transfer from high glycemic carbs to natural low glycemic carbohydrates found in grains and vegetables both lowers our insulin levels and is a sharp reduction in calorie consumption, despite the fact that we feel just as full or satisfied after each meal. And moving away from saturated and trans fats allows our bodies to consider our own body fat as energy rather than stuffing it full of garbage.

At this point of dietary equilibrium, the average dieter comes to the conclusion that they’re eating too much, and so they further reduce their caloric intake. This will at first elicit fat burning, but will result in another plateau which leaves you with no other option but to starve yourself to continue making progress. Excuse my directness, but this is a very stupid thing to do. And very unnecessary. It’s also a great way to damage your metabolism long term making it near impossible to metabolize food properly without putting on fat.

And now we come to the ‘what can I do’ part of the story. We have two options. The first is obvious and one of the best choices not only for burning belly fat, but also for our general health. That option is of course exercise, and I’ve laid out in detail all the changes one needs to make in that arena in other related posts. The second option is perhaps best for those that suffer from an injury or simply lack the spare time to train regularly. And this is where I try not to lose you. Calorie shifting is, in essence, the exact opposite of dieting, at least as it is commonly understood.

Calorie shifting is exactly what it sounds like. Eat varying amounts of food from day to day. It’s simple. It’s natural. And it feels really good to eat things that make us feel guilty. You see, our metabolic rate will downregulate to meet our caloric intake. We can prevent this downregulation by keeping our caloric intake exceedingly high for one or two days a week. That’s right, eating ice cream, hamburgers, cake, fudge, and anything else that makes you salivate at the thought of it, will actually help you reduce belly fat. We can’t have them every day, but we can have them. And when we have them…HAVE THEM.

So let’s say I’m within 15 pounds of my dream body and I’m eating healthy and well balanced meals of lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, beans, and whole grains. I’m also doing one or two interval training sessions a week when I have time. Now its time to have a little fun with my previously disciplined belly fat diet. Select one day a week (two if you have a decent metabolism and are trying to sustain muscle while losing fat) to binge. And when I say binge, I don’t mean eat a snickers bar. I mean eat 5. And have ice cream and bratwurst and Guinness and cheese and everything else that makes eating worth while. Eat and enjoy because this debauchery is your secret weapon in the fight against stubborn belly fat!

Calorie shifting and over consumption will guarantee your metabolism will not permanently adjust downward. But as much as this ‘day off’ helps our bodies, it does even more for our minds. Dieters know that one of the toughest things to do is to control cravings. And the harder you try to put those desires in a box, the larger and more powerful they become. When they break free they often send would be successful dieters on a one way path to obesity. So stop denying yourself. Just regulate your indulgences. It will keep your mind from sabotaging your efforts.

The other psychological benefit that occurs from this, and we all know this feeling well, is that when we eat like pigs, we feel like pigs. When we really eat to the point of sickness, we don’t want to do it again. We don’t even want to see a piece of chocolate for days. This is great for our dieting because we don’t feel the temptation to cheat for several days if not the entire weak leading up to our next binge session. So ironically, embracing our enemy is the key to victory. Just don’t embrace him too often.

Combine this powerful belly fat diet tool with my recommended interval and resistance training sessions and that last bit of stubborn belly fat will have no choice but to burn.