Creating Your Own Calorie Shifting Meal Plans

Creating your own calorie shifting meal plans may seem like a good idea. You don’t have to pay for a diet plan and (in theory) can create meal plans that suit you best. But there are a few problems with this.

Translating the calorie shifting theory into actual meal plans is tricky, to say the least. That’s because calorie shifting works by constantly changing the foods you eat. You have to know exactly what to eat when, and create the “correct” meal plans each and every day.

Secondly, you need to follow the principles closely. If your meal plans veer off course with too much customization, they’re not going to deliver the results you’re hoping for.

Calorie Shifting Diets with Meal Planning Tools

It makes far more sense to invest in a calorie shifting diet that makes it easy to plan your meals and/or ready-made calorie shifting meal plans (read on for the top picks).

Calorie shifting diets are inexpensive, ranging from $40 to $50, and will save you a lot of time and trouble. This means they are more likely to work. They deliver the full benefits of calorie shifting and reduce or completely eliminate the hassle of meal planning that can make any diet difficult to stick to.

Calorie shifting diets typically include one of three levels of meal planning help:

• Simple meal planning guidelines with the calorie shifting principles built in. The guidelines vary from day to day. To prepare your daily menu, all you need to do is follow the “rules of the day.”
• Simple guidelines plus some ready-made calorie shifting meal plans, usually enough to see you through several weeks or months. You can get started with the ready-made meal plans and get to grips with the guidelines in your own time.
• Calorie shifting diet generators. These online tools make meal planning as simple as it can be. You just log in, select your favorite foods and the diet generator will create a complete calorie shifting meal plan lasting several days or weeks.

Best Diets for Easy Calorie Shifting Meal Plans

The most popular (and recommended) options for easy calorie shifting menus are:

• Every Other Day Diet (EODD) – Meal planning guidelines (incorporated into a “SNAPP!” system) plus ready made meal plans.
• Cheat Your Way Thin Diet – Meal planning guidelines plus ready made meal plans.
• The Idiot Proof Diet – Fat Loss for Idiots – Meal planning guidelines (incorporated into the Idiot Proof Diet Handbook) plus lifetime access to the Fat Loss 4 Idiots Diet Generator that creates complete 11-day calorie shifting meal plans.

Each of these diets also gives you days off – part of how calorie shifting works. Compare days off as well as meal plans, here.

This is an original Calorie Shifting Meal Plan article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie/TheIdiot-ProofDiet.com

If you’ve already tried to find out how calorie shifting works, you may have ended up more confused than ever. That’s because the science of calorie shifting is quite simple but the method – how it is put into action – is quite complicated.

Here is a straightforward explanation of calorie shifting, to help you decide if a calorie shifting diet will work for you.

Calorie Shifting Theory

To start with the science, calorie shifting works by constantly changing – literally shifting – calories about so that calorie intakes are never predictable. You do this by eating different types of foods at different times. This keeps your metabolism (your fat-burning engine) revved up and responsive.

At the same time, the “fat-burning hormone” glucagon is kept at peak levels by ensuring a healthy and adequate amount of both carbohydrates and proteins in the diet. This means that calorie-shifting diets are never “low carb”, “low fat” or “high protein”. It also means that they are healthy, and far less likely to leave you feeling tired and drained.

Another great side benefit is that you don’t need to count calories. It is the type and timing of food that matters rather than how much, so you just eat until you are satisfied but not stuffed at each meal.

Best of all, an important part of the constant change is to have days off now and then, when you can eat more or less normally – though not to excess!

As you can see, the calorie shifting theory is simple enough. Putting it into practice is where it gets complicated.

Calorie Shifting in Practice

Information on how to create your own calorie shift diet is likely to leave you with a serious headache. You need to know exactly what to eat, and when. In other words, it helps to be a trained dietitian, mathematician – and extremely patient!

Remember, calorie shifting works through constant change – it is not as simple as figuring out a daily plan and repeating it. You’ll need to figure out a new plan that follows exact rules each and every day.

Planning out what to eat each day is a big challenge in any diet – and a big reason why many diets fail. Having to plan out your day according to complex rules is even harder.

The good news is, there’s no need. It makes way more sense to opt for a ready-made calorie shifting diet plan.

Calorie Shifting Diets

The better calorie shifting diets provide easy to follow guidelines to follow, with the calorie shifting principles built in. They also include some ready-to-go meal plans and recipes, to help you get started.

Some make it simpler yet. For instance, The Idiot Proof Diet – Fat Loss 4 Idiots – includes unlimited access to an online calorie shifting Diet Generator that creates complete 11 day diet plans.

Take a good look at all the features – some calorie shifting diet plans will suit you better than others. For instance they have different schedules for days off and may or may not require some exercise.

For more information, you can read our reviews of the most popular calorie shift diets:

• Fat Loss for Idiots – The Idiot Proof Diet
• Every Other Day Diet
• Cheat Your Way Thin

You can compare the days off that each of these diets gives you with our quick comparison chart.

An original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie/TheIdiot-ProofDiet.com

The idea of diets with days off is very appealing

If and when we actually start a diet, it’s not long before we’re craving all the foods we’re missing out on – and thinking how long it’s going to be before we can enjoy them again!

So it’s not surprising that diets with days off are going to appeal to just about anyone who wants to lose weight. The good news is, they do more than make us feel better about dieting.

Diets with days off have practical benefits too that make our weight loss efforts more successful.

• By taking away the feeling of deprivation and self-sacrifice, diets with days off are easier to stick with. Instead of having to think it’ll be months before you can enjoy your favorites again, you can tell yourself it will only be a few days or so. This really peps up will power – even the weakest-willed among us can manage to get through a few more days of dieting!
• On days off you naturally can’t go crazy – the idea is to relax but not  too much! This makes the days off a great way to learn to enjoy the foods you love in moderation. This will really help with weight maintenance when your days off diet is over.
• Thirdly, diets that give you days off are “calorie shifting” diets. The days off are actually an essential part of how calorie shifting diets work. Eating different types of foods at different times baffles the metabolism, keeping it responsive and revved up. So, by choosing a diet with days off, you are also choosing a diet that works well. The calorie shifting effect is not a fad or gimmick but a proven phenomenon.

So which diet with days off is best?

Our top recommendation for a diet with days off is the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet, known as The Idiot Proof Diet.

Fat Loss 4 Idiots has been going strong since 2004 and until recently, was about the only calorie shifting days off diet available.

Now that calorie shifting is a well known and popular concept, there are more diet plans to choose from.

Other recommended diets with days off are the Every Other Day Diet and Cheat Your Way Thin.

Although all three give you days off be sure to check out all their features to find the best diet with days off for you. You can also see our quick-view days off diet comparison chart to compare them side by side.

An original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie/TheIdiot-ProofDiet.com

For more information, see our articles on the benefits of diets with days off – more than you might expect! – and how calorie shifting diets work.

An original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie/TheIdiot-ProofDiet.com

How do you go about choosing the most effective weight loss program? One way to judge is by comparing promised weight loss results – how much and how soon – and words like “easy” and “guaranteed success” may swing your vote one way or the other. But there’s a problem with this.

Swayed by big promises and rah-rah hoopla, it’s easy to overlook or downplay what’s actually involved in a weight loss program – “Sure, I can manage that!” you say. Before you know it you may find yourself committed to eating dandelions for three months, driving miles out of your way for a “must have” magic ingredient, or neglecting your family because you’re too busy counting calories and calculating portions.

Sure, you’ve found the most effective weight loss program on the planet but – you realize – it’s not a plan you can stick with. And whatever its potential, a diet you can’t stick with is not effective at all. It’s just another failure.

So to state the obvious, the most effective weight loss program is quite simply a program you can stick with. Now you’ve probably heard this once if not several times before and may be tempted to tune out at this point. And that’s the problem.

In our search for the most effective diet program, “a diet you can stick with” tends to get lost in all the rah-rah pizzazz of the world of weight loss, sounding slow and sensible. Besides, we are all too good at convincing ourselves, faced with “revolutionary” new diets and “amazing life-changing” results, that we really can survive what turn out to be nightmare weight loss programs. Or in other words, at continually setting ourselves up for weight loss failure.

It is really important then to really take on board the concept – and I’ll say it again! – that the most effective weight loss plan is a plan you can stick with. And this is most likely a plan that’s simple and easy.

So, in your search for the most effective weight loss program consider first and foremost how simply and easily a program will integrate into your life. Be honest and realistic about its impact not just on what you can eat but on your day-to-life. On time spent shopping, on preparing and cooking meals, your ability to enjoy meals with your family, and so on – anything that is likely to make a program more or less difficult for you to follow.

If necessary, first remodel your thinking to focus on “simple and easy” rather than “complicated and painful.” Many people have the idea that, like medicine, there has to be pain and suffering for a weight loss program to be effective. Not so! For instance, the Fat Loss 4 Idiots diet plan is effective but so simple it really is idiot proof.

When you find the best weight loss diet plan, a program you can stick with for the long-term, results will take care of themselves. And that really is guaranteed! To help you get started, see our summaries of the big name diet plans, our top diet picks and other popular diet plans that many others have found to be the best diet for them.

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie

On the one hand, it’s distressing to see teenage girls suffering a loss of self-esteem and perhaps health problems because of their weight. On the other, it’s important not to make weight seem more important than it really is in terms of how we judge and are judged.

Teenage girls are already under fire on this front from what they see in the media – endless images that suggest popularity and skinny are necessary partners. And as parents know too well, weight loss can become a dangerous, even life-threatening obsession for teenage girls.

So how do you approach the issue of weight loss with teenage girls?

This will depend partly on how your teenage girl herself feels about her weight.

If she is unhappy with her weight a teenage girl will most likely be taking one of two roads – giving up on herself and making the problem worse, or ready to hear how you can help with weight loss. Either way, reinforcement regarding how special she is – “just as she is” – combined with some simple tips for encouraging weight loss in teenage girls will be a great start towards positive change.

If your teenage girl is oblivious to the problem, perhaps because she is very popular or has many similarly-sized friends, approaching the issue of weight loss is going to be more difficult. Why burst her bubble? A key reason will be your concerns about the effect of being overweight on your teen’s short and long-term health, and their ability to pursue any interest they choose in life. The best approach in this case will be a sideways one where, for example, the focus is not on weight loss for your teenage girl but on a shared family effort to enjoy a healthier lifestyle.

Of course whatever approach you take, weight loss needs a change in diet.

Diet plans for teenagers need to be chosen with care. Teenagers need a safe and healthy balanced diet plan to support not just their physical growth but chemical balances already challenged by adolescence. There’s also the problem that teenage girls can be notoriously stubborn about what they will and won’t eat. Sometimes this is exactly what’s causing the problem – too much of the wrong thing. You’ll need to find a diet plan that offers plenty of choice and variety with as few restrictions as possible so that there’s sure to be something they like!

If this sounds like quite a tall order, we recommend you check out Fat Loss 4 Idiots – the Idiot Proof Diet Plan. In a nutshell, the Idiot Proof Diet is healthy, super-simple diet plan suitable for teenagers and everyone else in the family too. Also known as the Diet for Dummies, there are two elements to the diet – an Online Diet Plan Generator for fast weight loss and a Diet Handbook for the slow and steady approach.

What makes the Idiot Proof Diet particularly good for impatient and picky teenagers is that there is no calorie counting or portion control, and few restrictions on what you can eat. Teens can use the Diet Plan Generator to create their own 11 day menu plans made up of the foods they like best. The handbook contains simple guidelines that they can print out, and the whole package is cheerful and up beat about the business of losing weight. And because it’s so easy to stick to, it’s easy for teens to lose weight rather than lose heart.

Finally, many mom’s who started the Idiot Proof Diet for themselves, have written to tell us their teenage girls have adopted “mom’s diet”. So, take a moment to check it out – a safe, easy and healthy weight loss plan for your teenage girls. To check out all your options, details of many more diet plans are available in the Weight Loss Programs category.

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie

Join in

Few moms are perfect, and most dads could benefit from shedding a few pounds too. When you make weight loss a family affair – share the pain as it were – teen girls won’t feel singled out as the one with a problem. Sharing a healthy weight loss program is also a great opportunity to bond at a time when teenage girls and their moms are too often at loggerheads.

Get a regular makeover

Whether you have a “girls beauty nights” at home or splash out on trips to a beauty parlour or spa, a makeover reinforces the idea of making a positive change that’s not all about weight. Looking good makes us feel good too, affecting confidence levels and motivating us to be the best we can in all sorts of ways, inside and out. Of course it’s also a well-deserved reward.

Take some photos

Before weight loss really gets underway, have your teenage girl rummage through her wardrobe and find the outfit she’d most like to never wear again once she’s her ideal weight. Take a picture. If you’re participating in the diet plan too, have her take one of you as well. You can stick these on the refrigerator or hide them away to shock yourselves with later.

Boost weight loss with exercise

For teenage girls and adults alike, regular exercise burns calories and boosts the metabolism, speeding up weight loss and contributing to health while also toning and firming the body – important as skin loses it’s under layer of fat. Body-conscious teenage girls are often extremely shy about participating in sports, overweight or not, but simply walking 15 minutes a day is enough to make a significant difference. Be sure your teen is aware of this – that just a little exercise can make a big difference. If she is totally against it, think creatively. There are fantastic interactive exercise and dance programs available that she can enjoy in the privacy of her room, alone or with friends.

Visit a Specialty Kitchen & Cookware Store

The ideal diet for teenage girls should be healthy and simple, and like The Idiot Proof Diet involves no calorie counting or portion control. While you won’t need fancy scales or calculators new kitchen gadgets can add a sense of fun and professionalism to the process of weight loss. For instance, if your is enjoying healthy shakes and smoothies, consider a fancy new blender that can be all theirs for keeps. Shop together – specialty kitchen and cookware stores are often overlooked but fascinating once inside – and great for a game of “guess what this is for.”

Be supportive when weight loss derails

It’s almost inevitable that teenage girls will fall off the weight loss wagon now and then – times when it’s essential to eliminate any sense of failure. This goes without saying but try to remember that your main aim is to encourage your teen to stay on track rather than give up. You can reinforce the idea that all is not lost by planning “days off” in advance, when a big party or seasonal event is coming up involving plenty of delicious food. It’s better that she enjoys the occasion, doing her best to eat somewhat sensibly, rather than fret about it during and after. Remind her that any weight gained will be minimal and easily lost again, but the occasion won’t repeat itself.

Encourage teenage girls to take a weight loss break

It’s a good idea for teenage girls to take a break and ease up on weight loss from time to time. Flexible diet plans like The Idiot Proof Diet, which has three-day breaks built-in to the program, will allow her to shift gear without gaining weight. Taking a break will help keep the issue of weight in healthy perspective, important to protect teenage girls from becoming obsessive about weight loss, or despondent enough to give up.

Many of these tips for encouraging healthy weight loss in teenage girls can apply to teen boys as well. However, it’s especially important to not only encourage but be involved in teenage girls’ weight loss programs. Teenage girls are more susceptible to problems of poor self-esteem linked with poor body image, and at greater risk of taking weight loss to dangerous extremes.

A healthy dose of realism, fun and humour will keep weight loss in perspective, and with a little thought – you know your teen best – you can probably think of many other ways to encourage healthy weight loss.

If you haven’t yet found a suitable diet, you’ll find summaries of the best known plans in the Weight Loss Programs category. Be sure to steer clear of any that are complicated, lack variety or eliminate or drastically reduce particular foods groups.

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie

Well actually, it is true. Eating low fat foods won’t help you lose weight.

Just because a food is labeled “low-fat” does not mean it is not “fattening” and it certainly does not mean it will actually help you lose weight. In fact, in many cases eating “low-fat” food causes people to gain weight.

Here’s why:

Fat is not the issue, calories are.

People gain weight because they consume more calories than they use up. Low-fat foods do not have significantly less calories than their regular-fat counterparts. On average they have only about 11% fewer calories – nowhere near the 40% less that studies show most people imagine. In fact, most low-fat foods have about the same number of calories as regular-fat versions.

Check out the nutritional values and you’ll see what I mean – there is very little difference between the number of calories in low-fat cookies and regular cookies. See these comparisons of calories in regular and low-fat foods for some actual examples.

As the Fat Loss for Idiots folk neatly point out, sugar contains no fat at all. Does this mean we will lose weight if we eat only sugar? Of course not.

Low-fat foods encourage unhealthy eating habits

Low-fat food options are also marketed as “healthier” because they contain less artery-clogging cholesterol-raising fat. However, “low-fat” is not automatically “healthier.”

• Many if not most foods labeled “low-fat” fall into the snack and indulgence category – chips, cookies, ice creams, cakes. Not only do they contain about the same calories, they are distinctly un-healthy. Low fat or not, they are typically packed with sugar and have little or no nutritional value – only a high number of “empty” unneeded calories that our bodies will convert into (you guessed it) fat.
• The availability of these “healthier” alternatives encourages people to continue snacking on junk foods rather than change their unhealthy eating habits.
• Low-fat label studies at Cornell University have shown that people eat 30% more of a food labeled “low-fat” than they do of the regular fat version, reporting that they feel less guilty about eating the low-fat version. As both versions will have about the same calories, people can (and do) actually gain weight by eating more of the low-fat alternatives. Not only that, but by super-sizing portions they end up eating about the same amount of fat. This is why the availability of countless low-fat foods has had no impact on the problem of obesity. In fact the conclusion at Cornell is that low fat labels contribute to obesity.

So is there any benefit at all to “low-fat” products?

It’s a good question. With low-fat foods having about the same calories and many essentially unhealthy, low fat or not, what is the point of low-fat products?

Low-fat products have value only as part of a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy and informed eating habits. For instance it makes sense to enhance the benefits of a lean steak and salad by opting for a low-fat salad dressing, or a whole-wheat cheese bagel by using low-fat cheese. That is, if “low-fat” is not seen as a green light to drench the salad or double up on the cheese!

Low fat foods have no value when they perpetuate unhealthy eating habits. No amount of low-fat cookies is going to make anyone slimmer or healthier – they are in fact more likely to do the opposite.

It’s unfortunate that many people don’t understand the shortcomings – and risks – of low-fat foods. Low-fat food manufacturers – the biggest winners – have not been anxious to explain the realities. The misguided belief that you can lose weight and become healthier simply by eating low-fat foods has kept the money rolling in. This may soon change – there’s a growing risk of being sued for causing obesity.

So what about low-fat diet plans?

On close analysis, “Low-Fat” diet plans limit calories as well as the amount of fat consumed. It is this reduction in calories, not the reduction in fat intake, that is responsible for any weight loss. By strictly limiting all fat, they also present a danger that the body will not receive enough of the essential “good” fats it needs.

Weight loss programs rooted in reality say very little about fat. For example, the popular Fat Loss for Idiots diet plan simply recommends leaner cuts of meat, not drowning salads in oils and opting for “good” rather than “bad” types of fat where possible – straightforward measures that the FDA recommends too.

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie

So why is it, experts ask, that despite countless “low-fat”, “light”, “lite”, and “reduced fat” food options obesity levels remain as high as ever?

The conclusion at Cornell University and other health authorities is that low-fat labels are a problem – they are actually contributing to the problem of obesity.

This is because most people believe that foods labeled “low fat” contain about 40% fewer calories than “regular” options, so they are far less vigilant about how much they eat. On average, people eat about 30% more of a food labeled low-fat and interestingly, the more overweight they are the higher this percentage gets.

The problem is that in reality, most foods labeled “low-fat” contain about the same number of calories as regular fat foods. (For examples, see this comparison of calories.) This is one of the key reasons why low-fat foods do not help people lose weight. Quite simply, low-fat foods are just as fattening – and all the more so when people are eating more of them than they would a regular food.

So why is this – why don’t foods labeled low-fat have far less calories?

On average, foods labeled “low-fat” have only 11% fewer calories. There are several reasons for this:

• All ingredients in a food item, not just fat, contribute calories. If 85% of a food’s calories come from sugar, reducing the fat content will not have much of an impact on total calories.
• Fat plays an important role in flavor. When fat content is lowered, flavor is lost. Food manufacturers often compensate by increasing sugar content so at the end of the day total calories are much the same, low-fat or not.
• Many food items are perceived to be “healthier” – lower in fat or sugar – because of clever but misleading packaging, labeling and marketing. People believe they have made a healthier food choice but they have not. For instance, take a look at the Sun Chips site. Looks healthy, doesn’t it? The reality is, their Original Flavor Multigrain Snacks have only 10 less calories per 28g serving than Lay’s Classic Potato Chips. Or put another way, only 6% fewer calories.

Because of all the above, the Food & Drug Admnistration (FDA), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) are now working to encourage consumers to focus first and foremost on calories, not fat. “We’ve concluded that the emphasis on low fat and no fat has obscured the central message that calories are the main thing.”

In other words, low fat labels have obscured the fact that low-fat foods are just as fattening.

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie

To illustrate, here is a calorie comparison of some popular regular and low-fat products. These are not “worst case” examples. Next time you are grocery shopping, take a look at the nutrition labels. You will see that these negligible differences are very much the norm. In other words, that low-fat food products are just as fattening.

Fig Newtons – 1 cookie
Regular: 56 calories
Low fat: 51 calories
Difference: 5 calories (9% less calories)

Peanut butter – 2 tbs.
Regular: 191 calories
Low fat: 187 calories
Difference: 4 calories (2% less calories)

Frozen yogurt – 1 cup
Regular: 104 calories
Low fat: 100 calories
Difference: 4 calories (4% less calories)

Granola – 1 serving
Regular: 196 calories
Low fat: 173 calories
Difference: 23 calories (12% less calories)

Chicken soup – 1 cup
Regular: 140 calories
Low fat: 120 calories
Difference: 20 calories (14% less calories)

Quaker Chewy Granola Bar – 24g bar
Regular (Chocolate Chip): 100 calories
Low fat (Chocolate Chunk): 90 calories
Difference: 10 calories (10% less calories)

Oreo cookies – 3 cookies (34g)
Regular: 160 calories
Reduced Fat: 150 calories
Difference: 10 calories (6% less calories)

This is an original article, exclusive to this site
Copyright © 2010 Caroline Mackenzie