Calorie Confusion

You’ve dropped the weight, then make some poor choices. Hormones creep in. More poor choices follow. Eventually the pounds creep up, see (Silent Pounds) and sick feeling rushes over you after you try unsuccessfully for days to drop the additional weight. Your body is getting used to being the higher weight and you need the weight to GO before it gets too comfortable here.This is where calorie confusion may help you. It is also known as calorie shifting.
You will want to do a major switch up from your normal eating pattern. The order in which you do these days is not of major importance; just don’t do two of the same in succession.

Every day, you will want to drink a lot of water or lemon water, (lemon water will keep your liver detoxed), get a full 8 hours of sleep, and keep a food journal.  Always eat to hunger; don’t force yourself to eat.

Calorie confusion works by breaking a plateau.  Similar to plateaus in exercise, we experience the same in our diets when the body gets used to the same dietary choices we make everyday. Mix it up and your body will respond in kind.  Listen to your body and try new foods and new things you have not done before.  This will shock your system into a response.   Always remember to make little choices everyday that will help you achieve ultimate health.

This is not for P2, but I do recommend mixing things up in P2 if you reach a plateau or stall for more than a few days.  Plateaus are a normal process of the body; to break them, try eating new foods from your foods list and change your schedule.  I would only recommend this in the cases of cheating getting out of hand and your body settling up in weight where correction days are not working for you.

Here are some of the daily options:

The following are suggestions to use in a rotating schedule:

HIGH PROTEIN, LIGHT VEGGIES, NO FRUIT DAY – Start with a day much like “avoid a steak day” correction. Eat lettuce or spinach, tuna or chicken salad, hard boiled eggs, high protein. Avoid fruits and starchy vegetables. Avoid dairy (creams and cheeses). Protein, protein, protein and water water water along with low calorie drinks like coffee and tea. Only eat when hungry.  Other protein ideas are: Beef, Steak, Hamburger, Prime Rib, Filet Mignon, Roast Beef, Chicken*, Duck, Any Fish*, Tuna*, Salmon*, Trout*, Halibut*, Lamb, Eggs, Shrimp, Crab, Lobster.  Use healthy fats – Butter and coconut oil, olive oil.

HIGH VEGGIES, PROTEIN SHAKES, NO FRUIT DAY – Veggies all day with protein shakes. Still drink tons of water. Avoid regular milk – use almond milk or coconut milk in shakes.

HIGH FAT, NO FRUIT DAY – Greek yogurt, coconut oil, eat Chocolate Delight, olive oil, bacon, ribeye steaks, butter, heavy cream, avocado,chocolate avocado pudding,  macadamia nuts, cashews, etc.

HIGH FRUIT, PROTEIN SHAKE DAY – Fruits and protein shakes as needed all day.

Again, there is no particular order for these days. This is a guideline or a suggested rotation. If you have a lot of fruit that is ripe and ready to spoil, start with that! If you have lots of protein just waiting to be eaten, start there. It is truly just a change up to trick your body into releasing the weight.

Have fun with it! Switch things up and watch the scale move.

33 Comments

  1. Shannon Keeran on September 26, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Ok, when you say do “two of the same in succession”, would that be like two high fat days, then two protein days, and then two fruit/protein days? Or just pick one (high fat, protein, or fruit) and do that one for two days?

    • Shawna Culp on September 26, 2012 at 12:28 pm

      Here is the section from the article, as it is not recommended to do two days together “The order in which you do these days is not of major importance; just don’t do two of the same in succession.”

  2. Shannon Keeran on September 27, 2012 at 5:14 am

    opps….Sorry!

  3. Tracy Polk Adcock on October 1, 2012 at 6:20 pm

    What do the asterisks mean after certain things in the high protein day?

  4. Tracy on October 23, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    Hello, when you do these days does calorie count matter.domi need to keep my count between 1200-1500 cal

    • Shawna Culp on October 23, 2012 at 4:45 pm

      Calorie confusion is for p3/p4 gone South if you have been cheating and have settled way up without doing correction days and eating clean you are stuck or have been consistently eating badly. I would not count calories but eat to hunger and it is more to get you moving

      • Tracy on October 23, 2012 at 5:48 pm

        Thank you, am in p4 so this is good for me. I did a fruit and protein shake day today … And now am going to bed to get my 8 hours in. Am looking forward to a lose in the morning

  5. Carolyn on April 24, 2013 at 2:21 am

    I am in P3. I need to do a skinny day to shed a couple of lbs before P4. I want to do protein shakes and fruit day. Can I use nonfat plain yogurt in my protein shake ?

    Reply

    • admin on May 1, 2013 at 5:26 am

      yes

  6. Cortney on May 29, 2013 at 9:00 am

    So I had to do a few correction days my first was a high protein and I lost 4 lbs, but still needed to drop one more lb so I did high fat day…. Not so good I went up I feel I’m retaining the water so what kind of eating day should I pick I want to release the water…can you give me a helpful idea

  7. Lisa on June 20, 2013 at 7:10 am

    Hi do you have to do all four days in a row? Today is Thursday and I wsnt to start but Saturday maybe hard. Thanks

    • admin on July 8, 2013 at 8:30 pm

      no there are no rules for calorie confusion just to confuse your norm of a menu to get things moving

  8. Ramona on July 4, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Shawna, I know this works, I have tried this. Since im on vacation right now, it is very difficult to count everything. We ate out and I can tell that the food had a lot of grease. I will be doing this calorie confusion as soon as I get home on Saturday. I want to thank you for all your help. Happy 4th of july. Ramona

  9. Ramona on July 10, 2013 at 7:49 am

    Hi Shawna, I’m back from vacation and had gained a few lbs (5 to be exact) even though I ate only healthy things. I didn’t eat any sugars or starches that I knew of. Well I have done calorie confusion for 3 days and have lost 3 pounds. Yesterday I messed it up a little. I was doing well all day and eating protein and lettuce. Then at the end of the night I had realized that I had not eaten enough because I wasn’t really hungry. I only ate a little over 1,000 calories and I had a small avacado so I did not lose anything this morning. The nice thing is that I also did not gain anything. My question is should I continue to do calorie confusion for a few more days until I lose the rest of it? Then I will start my 21 days on P3 for stabilization all over again when I get back to my LDW.

  10. Lissa Wood on May 5, 2014 at 11:48 am

    Hi,
    on the high fat day can you have bread, pasta, potatoes or mayonnaise.
    Thank’s

    • admin on May 5, 2014 at 5:00 pm

      no I would recommend high fats like avocado, nuts, oils – mayo would be okay but no starchy breads or potatoes

      • Lissa Wood on May 6, 2014 at 5:39 am

        Thank you! I have lost over 4 lbs , started Sunday and today is Tuesday, doing fat day today!
        It’s working just great!

        • admin on May 18, 2014 at 5:20 pm

          depends on portion sizes but at least 4

  11. Frances on September 16, 2014 at 3:47 am

    Hi Shawna,
    I’m doing P 2 coming to the end soon I have not lost very much but stabilised, I wanted to loose two more kilos , I’m on heavy seizure tablets and have one special meal once a week that’s my choice , as I train really hard , for now after my surgery I only walk , what can I do to shift these other few kilos , do I do a confusion day as well , a protein shake and fruit ?
    Can u direct me please xxx

    Frances Caratozzolo

    • admin on September 16, 2014 at 10:08 am

      calorie confusion is not for phase 2

      • Frances on September 21, 2014 at 3:00 am

        Ok thanks Shawna

  12. Lissa on October 26, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    Hi,

    today is my third day and I have lost over 3 lbs!!

    on the high fat day what other meats can you have besides bacon and rib-eye steak.

    thank’s

  13. Rani on November 1, 2014 at 3:44 pm

    I will complete P3 in a few days, and have maintained my ldw within 1#. I would like to lose an additional 4 to 5 pounds. How should I proceed….stay in P3 and reduce calories until I reach my goal weight, and then Proceed to P4, or continue to stay in P3 for another 3 weeks to stabiluze? Thank you for your help!

    • admin on November 2, 2014 at 6:34 pm

      yes you can do that- it will be fine now that you are stabilized

  14. Rani on November 2, 2014 at 7:25 pm

    Thank you…will do!!

  15. Lena on March 12, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    When doing any one of these days, should you be counting the calories? With the high fat day, I think I would reach my calorie limit but not be full or satisfied.

    • admin on March 13, 2015 at 8:29 am

      on correction, eating clean and calorie confusion eat to hunger do not count calories

    • admin on March 13, 2015 at 8:33 am

      You do not count calories on correction days, eating clean days etc eat to hunger levels

  16. Lena on May 2, 2016 at 5:19 am

    On the High Fat day, can we have other dairy items, like cheese?

    • admin on May 4, 2016 at 10:07 pm

      yes but you want to stay in your fat %

  17. Jackie on June 7, 2017 at 10:16 pm

    How many days should you do? The four and then repeat? I’m up 7 pounds from ldw…

    • admin on June 12, 2017 at 8:51 pm

      usually a 3-5 days

Leave a Comment





This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.