Wondering, how to confuse your metabolism?
Let’s go over two methods.
We will first look at Haylie Pomroy’s Metabolic reset diet. The Metabolic reset diet involves varying your carbs, fats, and proteins to confuse your body into burning more fat.
Secondly, we will look at the method of calorie cycling.
It’s up to you which one you want to follow. However, both are popular ways to confuse your metabolism.
How to Confuse Metabolism Using Haylie Pomroy’s Method.
Metabolic confusion for Haylie Pomroy involves eating different proportions of carbs, fats, and proteins every day to push past any plateaus in fat loss.
According to Pomroy, you have to “confuse it to lose it.”
Effectively, you are varying your macronutrients to keep your metabolism high.
The diet is split into 3 phases/stages. Essentially each phase is for the below:
Phase 1: High carb (Monday – Tuesday)
High in carbs and low In fats
Phase 2: High Protein and High vegetables (Wednesday – Thursday)
High in proteins and Veggies and low in fats and carbs
Phase 3: high in healthy fats. (Friday – Sunday)
High in healthy Fats and very low in protein and carbs.
For example, in Phase 1 you will have meals that are high in carbs and low in fats.
Phase 2 you will have a high amount of proteins and vegetables and a low amount of fats and carbs.
Phase 3 will be all about consuming meals high in healthy fats and low in protein and carbs.
However, there are certain rules you must follow.
- There are specific carbs you must eat and some you must avoid. For example, avoid white bread, White rice, and pastry. These will more likely prevent weight loss and can make you feel lethargic and sluggish.
- Also avoid or severely limit anything like soy, sugar, dairy or corn.
- Try your best to eat organic.
- Meats must not contain nitrate. Basically nitrates act as preservatives. Common meats that contain nitrates include pepperoni, sausages, and bacon.
- Stages must be followed in order.
- Eat 5 times a day.
- Each phase contains exercises to do. These must be followed by each stage.
Phase 1 Of Metabolic Confusion
Monday to Tuesday is all about consuming healthy high carb meals. The meals would be high in carbohydrates, have an average amount of protein and be low in fat.
The types of healthy carbs you would eat, include brown rice, brown pasta, oatmeal, quinoa and fruits to name a few.
The Fruits would include fruits high in sugar like mango, papaya, pineapple, cherry, pear, grapes, watermelon, strawberries and figs.
Add 1 serving of carbs to every meal that you have. The meals should contain an average amount of protein and fats, so don’t overdo it.
Avoid the following foods:
- Foods with refined sugar
- Wheat
- Corn
- Juice
- Dried fruit
- High-fat meats
- Milk-based products, including cheese
The Logic Behind Having Carbs for Day 1
Haylie Pomroy’s research is NOT based on extensive scientific research. It’s more based on her own research and experimentation.
Carbs, and foods high in sugars are supposedly good for relaxation. They make us feel good and calm. The knock-on effect is we don’t feel stressed.
When cortisol is released it holds onto fat. So by reducing cortisol through eating “comfort foods” we can more effectively lower our cortisol and thus reduce fat retention.
Consequently, cabs act as an effective release for the nerves, stresses, and anxieties of life. All of these stressors can prevent you from dropping weight.
Some high carb recipes for phase 1 of metabolic confusion include the below:
Italian chicken and brown rice
Brocolli and chicken bowl.
White bean wrap
Oatmreal mix
Sliced Asian Pear
For more recipes see:
Online PDF on Metabolic Reset
Haylie Pomroy Example Recipes
Meal Plan
Breakfast : Oatmeal
Snack: mango,
Lunch: White bean wrap
Snack: Cacao Asian pear (sliced Asian pear with a sprinkle of cacao powder)
Dinner: Sausage Chicken and fusili brown rice or chicken and broccoli bowl.
Phase 2
From Wednesday to Thursday you will have protein-heavy and vegetable-heavy meals. Essentially, every meal should contain protein and be low in carbs and fats.
Your snacks will also be full of protein snacks.
Your protein meals would chicken, tuna, cod and lean beef along with plenty of vegetables on your plate.
Some example Veggies include broccoli, collard greens, leafy greens like kale and spinach, and onions.
The Logic
The proteins are great for building muscle (more muscle=higher metabolism) and vegetables provide a great source of nutrients and vitamins.
Proteins summary:
Tuna,
Buffalo Bison
Cod, Lean ground turkey, turkey bacon, chicken breasts,, egg whites, tuna, salmon
Protein Heavy and Vegetable heavy recipes:
Curry eggs and onions
Grilled Salmon Filets with Lemon and Dill -stage 3
Broiled Halibut with Broccoli
New york strip steak with broccoli
Stuffed red bell peppers
Turkey jerky
Egg white scramble
Smoked salmon and cucumbers
Meal Plan
Breakfast: Egg white scramble
Snack: Stuffed Mushrooms or smoked salmon and cucumbers
Lunch: Grilled salmon fillets and lemon dill.
Snacks: Turkey jerky
Dinner: New york strip steak with broccoli
Phase 3
This would be at the end of the week from Friday through to Sunday.
For this phase, you will eat meals higher in healthy fats. Proteins and carbs would be a moderate amount.
Healthy fats include:
Avocado, nuts, nut butters, berries, olive oil, safflower mayonnaise, fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, or sardines, and coconut.
The logic
After skipping out on healthy fats at the beginning of the week your body will be primed to burn fat. Similar to the keto diet your body will now burn fat and the additional carbs gained in phase 2.
Essentially by phase 3, you are in fat-burning mode.
Phase 3 Recipes
Hummus turkey rollup
Avocado turkey lettuce wrap
Baked salmon sweet potatoes
Avocado quesadillas
Sweet potato hummus and cucumbers
Avocado salad
Oatmeal with berries
Meal Plan
Breakfast: Oatmeal with berries
Snack: Avocado and balsamic vinegar, with rock salt
Lunch: Baked salmon and sweet potatoes
Dinner: Sesame chicken and rice
Simple tips to keep in mind when confusing your metabolism.
- Remember to drink plenty of water.
- Let the Freezer become your best friend. Store left-overs marked in containers according to phase.
- Always Avoid sugars and starchy foods like white bread/pasta.
- Drink no alcohol.
- Plan out meals for the week if you can. Do shopping on Weekend.
- Don’t get too attached to counting calories. Use common sense.
Metabolic confusion diet plan for endomorphs
Endomorphs naturally find it harder to lose weight due to their lower metabolism.
So how does metabolic confusion for an endomorph work?
Well..there is no difference. Calorie cycling is an effective way to confuse your metabolism if your an endomorph.
However, a particular focus has to be put on carbohydrates.
Endomorphs react badly to carbohydrates.
Consequently, for endomorphs the emphasis needs to be more on carb cycling.
This means changing carbs while keeping fat and protein levels the same.
Consequently, for endomorphs you are executing a carb cycle that also involves high and low calorie days.
Remember the carbohydrates that you can have:
Fruits like berries.
Vegetables like celery, broccoli, spinach, Sweet potato,carrots, legumes, spinach, cucumbers.
Don’t forget quinoa too.
Calorie Cycling To Confuse Your Metabolism
I have just shown how differing your intake of fats, proteins, and carbs throughout the week can confuse your metabolism.
However, through doing this you are also naturally varying the number of calories you are consuming.
If you would like to vary your approach to metabolic confusion you could also try varying your calorie intake.
For example, you can alternate between high and low-calorie days. One day you can restrict calories by removing carbs. Another day you can add some carbs and fats back in to have a high-calorie day.
You can keep alternating throughout the week to keep your metabolism on its toes.
The Logic Behind Calorie Shifting/Calorie cycling
If you’ve gone on a diet there comes a stage where you reach a weight loss plateau. The great results you saw initially tend to level out.
This is one of the downsides of dieting.
Your body recognizes you are significantly reducing your calorie intake, so slows your metabolism down.
This is your bodies reaction to thinking you are starving, which is why your body enters “starvation mode”.
So how do you get your metabolism up a couple of gears again?
Welcome, Calorie cycling.
Calorie cycling is also known as the zig-zag diet or calorie shifting.
The great benefit of calorie shifting is your metabolism gets tricked into burning fat.
How??
By raising and lowering your calorie intake your body never gets time to adjust to any restrictions in carbs.
When you raise your calories, your body burns these calories effectively in order to give you energy.
Upon reducing your calories, you are limiting your calorie intake for a short enough period of time that the body does not have enough time to adjust and slow down your metabolism.
Consequently, you are effectively tricking your metabolism into continually burning calories at a high level.
You’re not letting your body have time to adjust to the sudden restriction in calories.
Research has also shown calorie cycling to be an effective way to lose weight and increase metabolism.
The Role Of Leptin And Ghrelin
Leptin and ghrelin are appetite hormones. Essentially, Leptin makes you full, while ghrelin makes you hungry.
Calorie cycling improves the function of leptin and ghrelin in your body and keeps them balanced.
For example, during a typical diet, you are normally in a constant state of low calories. Your ghrelin levels increase and you will have a high appetite.
Likewise, your leptin levels will decrease.
These changes are exactly the opposite of what you need to lose weight.
However, calorie cycling can help prevent these detrimental hormonal changes.
When on a calorie uptake your body increases leptin and you will feel more full. According to cellucor “the more leptin you have the higher your metabolism”.
So by going up and down with your calorie intake, your ghrelin and leptin level stay balanced and work effectively to help you lose weight.
How to Calorie Cycle
You first have to work out your base/ target level of calories you need to reach. For everyone, this is a different amount.
This is the average amount of calories that you will be consuming each day to maintain your weight. It is the level that is not causing you to lose or gain weight.
During calorie cycling, you will be going over or under your target range.
For example, this would be 500-1000 calories less per day. On high-calorie days this would be 1000 calories more (Healthline).
The maintenance level or target level normally tends to be around 2000 – 3000 for adult males, and 1,600-2,400 for adult females (source).
However, this does entirely depend on you.
How to work out your calorie maintenance level for calorie cycling?
You don’t need to be scientific or exact about working out your calorie maintenance level. I personally prefer to use an app to workout my maintenance level (see below).
Calorie counting apps:
Remember these are not perfect but they are great to use and provide more or less accurate results.
However, if you would like to do it manually, you would need to do some simple maths.
You can workout your maintenance level by doing the simple calculation below.
Bodyweight in pounds x 14 and 17:
So if I’m 130 pounds I would multiply 130 by 14 and 17. The two numbers I get are 1820 and 2210. So my maintenance level would be between 1820-2210 calories.
Depending on my physical activity it would be on the higher or lower end of the range. For example, If I went to gym and danced, it would be much closer to 2210 than if I did nothing.
Another method is to simply track what you eat for 14 days and see if you lose or gain weight. You would then know if you would need to eat more or less to find your maintenance level.
However, my advice… just keep things simple and use one of the apps above.
Some Simple Guidelines
There are different ways you can calorie cycle. You can it on a daily, weekly even monthly cycle.
Weekend cycle – weekend cycle is for 5 days you have low calories. And then weekend your back on the high calories to stock up.
Daily cycle – One day high calories, and then another day low calories.
2 days on, one day off cycle – The 2 days on is all about calorie restriction. On the 2 days on, So that means the only source of carbohydrates from every meal is from vegetables. After, 2 days on your third day you can include carbs in the form of sweet potato, quinoa, brown rice, etc..
Mini cycle – 3-4 days – high calories, and then 3 4 days low calories
Monthly cycle – Instead of days, you can go week. For example, for a whole 30 days you could go on a low-calorie diet. After you can have a re-feeding window between 1-2 weeks.
High calories on workout days – If you hit the gym you can have high calories on workout days. Every day your not working out you stick to low calories.
Here is an example of a daily calorie cycle:
Avg/target/maintenance weight. = 2000
Monday – 2000
Tuesday – 2,200
Wednesday – 1,500
Thursday -2300
Friday -1700
Saturday – 2,400
Sunday – 1800
Some people may decide to go for more extreme fluctuations. For example, Monday my to have only 900 calories and the next 2000. It all depends on you. Don’t overdo it though. Too much may not be sustainable for the long haul.
Diet plan for High and Low Calorie Days
I managed to find some great resources of an example diet plan.
Check out the below resources for ideas.
Counting Macros For Calorie Cycling.
You don’t need to follow the set diet plans above. You could also create your own.
However, you would need to count your calories from the foods you eat.
Using an App.
As stated earlier, the best tip for counting calories is to work out your calorie needs for the day. and then log the foods you eat into an app like MyFitness pal or Lift.
You can then work out roughly how much you need to eat.
Working out manually:
Alternatively, you can work out your macros manually using the below method (grabbed from Healthline).
Guestimation
If you don’t like all this tracking, just use rough portion sizes. Add or remove portion sizes for low and high-calorie days. For example on high calorie you may have 2-3 fist size of carbs with every meal.
On low calorie days you may only have one.
Tips for confusing metabolism while Calorie cycling.
Have high-calorie days on weekends
- Its recommended you calorie cycle if you are nutritionally advanced, and have already utilized basic methods.
- Use High-calorie days on days you workout
- Try and keep protein target the same on low and high-calorie days
- Don’t be too particularly if you go over or under your calorie target.
- If you don’t like tracking calories use a fitness app like my fitness pal or other great apps , alternatively if you’re not into tech just use rough portion sizes.
- At every feeding try to have vegetables. Veggies contain fiber which is great for regulating blood sugar and weight loss and reduces appetite.
Metabolic Confusion Vs Calorie Cycling vs Carb CyclingIs metabolic confusion the same as carb cycling or calorie cycling? Well, there is no right or wrong answer. It all depends on how you define metabolic confusion. Most people associate the term “metabolic confusion” with Haylie Pomroy’s metabolic reset diet. However, are just different ways to “confuse your metabolism”. Calorie cycling involves eating different amounts of calories each day. You vary between high carb days and low carb days. On the other hand, with metabolic reset diet, the focus is on varying your macros by eating differing levels of carbs, proteins and fats. Consequently, both are ways to confuse metabolism but the methods of confusing your metabolism are different. Which method is better? Well, that entirely depends on what you have the most success with. In all honesty, I would stick to calorie cycling because it’s easier to follow and keep track. It is also more mainstream with more research backing it. |
FAQ
Carb Cycling VS Calorie Cycling….What’s The Difference?
They are essentially the same thing although there is a slight difference.
Carb cycling is about controlling carbohydrates specifically and not calories in general.
So with carb cycling, your fats and proteins will stay constant but your carb intake will fluctuate.
On the other hand, calorie cycling is about specifically controlling your calories.
So the primary emphasis for calorie shifting is on restricting the overall calories that you eat.
For example, a high-calorie day might be consuming 2000 calories in total from meals that include sweet potato, oats, gluten-free pasta or brown rice.
The next day, for breakfast, lunch and dinner your meals may contain none of the above. You may instead have high protein meals with healthy fats.
Ironically where calorie cycling and carb cycling are essentially the same thing is calorie cycling normally involves replacing carbs only.
Proteins and fats tend to stay quite similar with calorie cycling.
Consequently, they are pretty similar considering both methods involve varying the number of carbs.
Likewise, carb cycling can become calorie cycling. Carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram.
Thus, adjusting carbohydrate intake while eating the same amount of fat and protein can drastically change your calorie intake.
Summing It UP
We have looked over two ways how to do metabolic confusion.
The first way being the metabolic reset diet and the second-way of calorie cycling.
I can’t vouch for one over the other.
However, I believe for simplicity, calorie cycling would be slightly easier to follow.
Reason being you don’t have to follow as many rules/restrictions. Likewise, calorie cycling is widely popular among the fitness community and has more research backing it.
The strategy laid out in the metabolic reset diet, on the other hand, is more commonly associated with just Haylie Pomroy’s findings.
If you are looking for some simple ways to give your metabolism that extra boost, then I recommend learning some fat torching recipes.
It’s a fantastic resource that will make your life so much easier!
If you’re interested in other ways to promote metabolic confusion, Amazon has some amazing books to make your life easier.
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