Metabolic confusion and Why This Diet Will Work for You

You have been wanting to lose weight but after having tried everything, from keto diet to intermittent fasting, consuming low calories, workouts and what not, you always find yourself stuck at the starting point. Nothing seems to work. If you’re losing hope, don’t. Have you tried the Metabolic confusion diet yet? It has been gaining a lot of attention from the public and if you’re wondering why read on below to get all the information you need about it.

What is Metabolic Confusion?

The name itself is quite self-explanatory. This particular diet literally confuses your metabolic system into burning stubborn fat. It is also called calorie cycling or a calorie shifting diet.

The metabolic confusion diet aims to speed up the metabolic system in order to burn fat faster for effective results.

Most diet plans have a set amount of calories that can be consumed on a daily basis —usually 1200 — but with the metabolic confusion diet, the goal is to ‘confuse’ the metabolic system by shifting between high calorie and low-calorie consumption days.

However, there’s a limit to how low and high the calorie count can go. High-calorie days are usually based around a 2000 calorie diet while low-calorie days go as low as 1200.

Metabolic Confusion vs Other Diets

As compared to other popular dieting plans, calorie shifting is considerably nonrestrictive; diet-wise, as it does not limit you to boring meals and salads, allowing you the freedom to eat almost whatever you want on high-calorie days — still staying within the high-calorie limit of course.

This does not mean that you should start eating unhealthy just because you are allowed to consume up to 2000 calories on some days. It’s best to always stick with a healthy, balanced diet for the welfare of your body.

There’s an incorrect notion popular among people that starving and eating less than what your body requires can aid in weight loss. This is absolutely wrong.

I find it is necessary to mention that starving and extremely strict dieting slows down your metabolism — The process through which your body converts the food that you consume into energy — which may result in opposite results than the ones desired: weight gain instead of weight loss.

Metabolism plays a huge part in promoting weight loss or weight gain which is why the metabolic confusion diet sounds like it could be effective in weight loss as compared to other diets that usually only aim to promote weight loss by strictly limiting your calorie intake.

How exactly does it work?

Let’s get into the science behind it to understand better. The human body has a metabolic system that gets accustomed and adjusts to your lifestyle and eating habits very quickly.

If a person almost always consumes a low-calorie diet, the metabolic system automatically adjusts to the number of calories that the body is receiving, as a result of which the person may experience a weight loss plateau.

Calorie cycling or metabolic confusion introduces high and low-calorie days due to which the metabolic system never gets time to adjust. Consequently, the metabolic system is forced to work faster as it speeds up to burn more calories.

Do you need to exercise along with the metabolic confusion diet?

Physical activity is good even for people who are not looking to lose weight. It keeps you active, keeps you fit and has a number of other health benefits like promoting good mental health, reducing your chances of coronary heart diseases and more.

All diet plans require that you workout along with them for the most effective results. Cardio workouts are especially recommended for weight loss. Just like you can achieve metabolic confusion through diet, there are exercises that can help you achieve metabolic confusion as well.

According to health experts, High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is very effective in promoting weight loss. HIIT workouts entail switching between short intense workouts that spike up the heart rate followed by recovery periods or low-intensity workouts to bring it back to normal.

It is greatly recommended to engage in at least 30 to 45 minutes of exercise along with sticking to the metabolic confusion diet for effective results.

Tip: Pair your high-calorie days with intense workouts like sprinting, crunches, burpees and jump roping. Keep physical activity moderate during low-calorie days. Yoga, walking and jogging are great exercises for low-calorie days.

Here’s a 30-minute workout plan you can follow on high-calorie days: 30-Minute Exercises to Keep You Fit.

Does Metabolic Confusion Work for Weight Loss?

As explained earlier, a calorie shifting diet does not let the metabolic system adapt to your dietary habits. A high-calorie day followed by a low-calorie day keeps the system confused as it functions at full speed to burn calories faster.

So yes, metabolic confusion does aid in weight loss in the short term, if healthy eating habits are adopted and low calorie, high-calorie days are regulated properly.

For best results, It is also important to not stray from the diet plan. Just because you’re working out does not give you a free pass to enjoy a heavy meal on low-calorie days. It is necessary to stick to the plan in order to lose weight.

However, in the long term, there is no guarantee that it will continue to be as effective as in the beginning because even though it is not restrictive diet-wise, it might prove a little challenging to keep up with the routine of shifting between low and high-calorie days.

It is best to consult a nutritionist or your general physician before starting a diet plan because dieting without proper knowledge can often result in malnutrition if you do not look into the pros and cons of it. Each body works differently and needs a different kinds of nutritions so it is best to seek professional advice.