Calorie cycling help
ereckless82
Posts: 85 Member
hi all. I seem to be getting stuck a lot in my weight loss. Im down 52lbs just about and I just seem to be stuck in the lower 190's. I do a lot of different workouts to keep my body guessing and all of that. I've tried less calories (1200-1400), higher calorie (1500-1800) and all of that and nothing seems to be working to really kick everything back into gear. I am losing inches still, which is great.
So, I wanted to info and advice on calorie cycling. See if that will get me moving again. Any suggestions on how to start? Keep in mind that I do everything from strength training functional circuit work to insanity, les mills and kickboxing and everywhere in between. I have days where I use more calories than others obviously. I do have a Garmin hr monitor that I haven't used in a long time and I wear my Fitbit zip all day and night (yes when I'm Sleeping).
Any advice on how to get started would be awesome. Thanks!
So, I wanted to info and advice on calorie cycling. See if that will get me moving again. Any suggestions on how to start? Keep in mind that I do everything from strength training functional circuit work to insanity, les mills and kickboxing and everywhere in between. I have days where I use more calories than others obviously. I do have a Garmin hr monitor that I haven't used in a long time and I wear my Fitbit zip all day and night (yes when I'm Sleeping).
Any advice on how to get started would be awesome. Thanks!
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Replies
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You don't need to 'keep you body guessing' or anything like that. If you're stuck it's because you're not eating in a deficit. How long have you been stuck for? Do you weigh everything? Can you open your diary?0
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No, I've tried eating at a deficit for a few weeks, then tried eating a little higher to see if that would kick start me. Nothing. There have been weeks where I would go 500-600 calorie deficit every single day and days where I would only go a few hundred calories deficit to see if maybe my fat and calorie burning zones were off. Nada.
I don't log my food on here. I do it the old fashioned way. In a note book in my kitchen. I've hit this road before in the past, and eventually it just stops, but I want to be a little more Proactive here.
So, advice on calorie cycling? Yes, you should always keep your body guessing when it comes to
Working out. You won't lean out properly without that.0 -
You need to do a progressive regime (lift heavier weights, run for longer, etc) but if you do that you don't need to keep changing what you do. But of course nothing wrong with doing that if you want to.
I didn't talk about calorie cycling as I don't really know much about it, but I do know about plateaus, so I figured I'd try to help with that since you hadn't got any other replies.0 -
Have you looked at your logging?0
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Calorie cycling does not increase fat loss. Not at all. Total calories for the day/week/month are what matters. You can cycle those calories any way you want for personal preference, but results will be driven by the totals, not how you divvy them out each day. If you are stuck and not losing weight, this list will identify why:
Plateau's almost always occur for a limited number of reasons. If it's been less then a month since your weight has decreased, it's not a plateau and you should just give it more time. If it's more than a month with no weight loss, examine the following. I can say with 99.99% certainty that one of the these points is cause for the plateau:
- Are you actually losing weight and the nonlinear nature of weight loss is just disguising the loss? Weight does not drop off in a linear fashion. This is why it is important to take daily weights and watch the trend, not the number. I prefer to weigh daily, take an average of a week's worth of weights, then compare those weekly averages over the course of a month. You might notice while the current number doesn't indicate loss on a particular day, the trend of the overall weight is moving down.
- Are your calorie goals and exercise goals putting you in a deficit? You may need to simply reduce your intake, increase your activity, or both.
- Is your calorie count and/or calories burned count (if you eat back burned calories) accurate? Even if your goals are correct, you might not lose weight if your counts are off. If you aren't weighing all your food on a scale (not using estimation or cups/spoons) your count is very likely inaccurate. This includes eating out and eating food you did not prepare/weigh yourself. Give this guide a read: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/1296011/calorie-counting-101/p1 As to calories burned, no matter what MFP, a cardio machine, or even an expensive fitness device tells you, your calories burned count is probably off to some degree. Consider not eating back exercise calories and using a TDEE method to calculate a calorie goal that takes exercise into account
- Are you actually meeting your calorie and exercise goals consistently? Having a perfect count, and goals that create a deficit don't matter one bit if you are not hitting them on a fairly consistent basis. How many days do you simply go over or not track at all? How many cheat days? It's very common to see diaries that are iron clad Monday thru Friday and then have no info at all for the weekend.
- Do you have a medical condition that you are unaware of that you aren't taking into account? This is LEAST likely. Do not jump to this conclusion first. Examine and reexamine the previous points before you explore this one. If you do think you have a medical condition go see a doctor. Do not waste time self diagnosing, self medicating, or asking people on the forum to diagnose/treat you.
0 - Are you actually losing weight and the nonlinear nature of weight loss is just disguising the loss? Weight does not drop off in a linear fashion. This is why it is important to take daily weights and watch the trend, not the number. I prefer to weigh daily, take an average of a week's worth of weights, then compare those weekly averages over the course of a month. You might notice while the current number doesn't indicate loss on a particular day, the trend of the overall weight is moving down.
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Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!0
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ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!Calorie cycling does not increase fat loss. Not at all. Total calories for the day/week/month are what matters.
Advice has been given. Were you looking for a different answer?0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!
You are missing the point. You are getting the advice. The advice is calorie cycling will not provide any additional benefit. Accurately assessing your caloric deficit is the proper advice. If you are seeking validation, rather than advice, you are in the wrong place.0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!
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I have no idea what calorie cycling means.
You might want to consider intermittent fasting.0 -
You asked if calorie cycling will cause you to start losing weight again. No it will not. You are currently not in a calorie deficit either by logging incorrectly or overestimating your exercise calorie burn.
Only by addressing this will you start to lose again.0 -
Based on the fact that you are just writing your food in a notebook and have not mentioned weighing EVERYTHING with a scale, it is highly likely that you are eating more calories than you think. Try eating only your base calories and not eating back any of your exercise calories (or no more than 1/4 if you are truly hungry) and I guarantee you will lose weight provided you WEIGH EVERYTHING.0
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Calorie cycling (also known as “calorie shifting” or “Zig Zag dieting”) is an approach to eating that is intended to prevent weight or fat loss plateaus by “tricking out” your metabolism.
I don't think you're going to find too many folks here who support this idea. It strikes me as over-complicating the simple fact of calories in < calories out, for no benefit.0 -
Screw it.
If you actually use MFP the way it's designed, you are almost guaranteed to do a form of Calorie-cycling.
Set your profile to lose/gain/maintain - in OP's case, lose X lb per week.
Log your exercise - here, not in some notebook, where you can easily make errors - as accurately as you can. When you do this, you "earn" Calories to eat.*
Weigh and measure the food that you eat.
Eat whatever your goal is for each individual day.
Congratulations - you just Calorie-cycled.
* What this means is that days you don't exercise? You eat some number of Calories - 1300, for instance. You go do some exercise, and burn/earn 300 Calories? That day, you eat 1600 Cals, per this example.0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!Calorie cycling does not increase fat loss. Not at all. Total calories for the day/week/month are what matters.
Advice has been given. Were you looking for a different answer?
Yes. Actual information on the topic.0 -
^^good and bad info. If someone has an opinion without actually knowing about calorie cycling, I'm interested in the opinion but have something to back it. Again, I want good and bad with calorie cycling. But, I'd like real info on it. Not just "my friend like tried it and like didn't like it and like got really sick from
Doing it." That is not what I'm looking for.
If you're not for it, just tell me why. Don't be a judge mental jerk. Just give me some info. I appreciate the real info so far. Anyone else that has some info on it would be appreciated.0 -
If you search for "calorie cycling" here on MFP, you'll get a pretty good idea about the kind of answers you'll get from members. You'll have better luck doing your own research if you just want to understand how it works.
I think maybe I calorie cycle, but not sure what the criteria is. Some days I eat 1200 calories, other days I eat back exercise calories, once in a while I eat TDEE. Weight loss is slow and steady. I guess I do it more for the convenience and sustainability rather than for kickstarting.0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!
There are a wide variety of ways to do calorie cycling, including the normal MFP approach (eat more when you work out based on the amount of the workout), the Eat to Perform way (eat more carbs on workout days, fewer on rest days), and others that alternate higher and lower calorie weeks (or two week periods) or 2-3 day periods. So you might need to be more specific in what you are asking about.0 -
rockmama72 wrote: »If you search for "calorie cycling" here on MFP, you'll get a pretty good idea about the kind of answers you'll get from members. You'll have better luck doing your own research if you just want to understand how it works.
I think maybe I calorie cycle, but not sure what the criteria is. Some days I eat 1200 calories, other days I eat back exercise calories, once in a while I eat TDEE. Weight loss is slow and steady. I guess I do it more for the convenience and sustainability rather than for kickstarting.lemurcat12 wrote: »ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!
There are a wide variety of ways to do calorie cycling, including the normal MFP approach (eat more when you work out based on the amount of the workout), the Eat to Perform way (eat more carbs on workout days, fewer on rest days), and others that alternate higher and lower calorie weeks (or two week periods) or 2-3 day periods. So you might need to be more specific in what you are asking about.
Thanks for both of these. I am probably going to end up googling it, but wanted to throw it out there in mfp to get some info from all of you out there. I don't know much about it in the first place to say whether or not it
Will help me in any way, or hurt me in any way. It's something I've seen mentioned in places before and it sparked my curiosity. I'll keep dropping weight without the cc, but just wanted to see if it is something I should consider.
Thanks!0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »Is there anyone out there that can give some advice on calorie cycling? I appreciate all of the replies, but the point of my post is to ask for advice on that topic alone. Thanks!
If you cycle on a stationary bike, you'll burn about 300 calories an hour, depending on your weight and height.0 -
I attached a link that has a calorie cycling/zig zag plan. It's really just varying your calories each day so you have some high calorie days and some low calorie days. At the end of the week the total calories whether you zig zag or just eat a set amount every day are the same. I have tried it and the high calorie days are great but the lower calorie days left my very hungry and cranky, in the end I didn't lose any more weight than a normal week. Calories in/out is the key and how you decide to spend them is up to you. Try it, couldn't hurt.
http://www.shapefit.com/calculators/calorie-intake-calculator.html0 -
Cycling on the exerbike helps a lot!0
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ereckless82 wrote: »I do weigh everything and count correctly. I just chose to write it down rather Han enter it in an app. I take the time to measure ingredients, look up fat and calories for those ingredients and calculate how much fat/calorie/sodium/sugar/protein/etc is in each serving. I cook everything and eat nothing "processed". I'm not a novice that needs to be trolled so if that is your intention when you comment on my posts, screw off.
So, I just wanted advice on calorie cycling. My reasons for it are because I'm curious. Not to lose weight necessarily or any of that. I want to Learn about it from Someone that has done it or know about it. Both good things and bad things. If you don't have any advice
On the subject, just go away and troll somewhere else. This is a forum for answers to questions, advice and understanding. Don't be a douche. Thanks.
I'm pretty sure vismal provided a great answer. I have no problem flagging folks who come to the 'general diet/weight loss' section and cannot understand people are giving you good advice and resort to name calling.0 -
Vismal typically gives very good advice.
I do believe that people need to re-read the section on the use of flags....there are specific rules for flags for what constitutes abuse and spam vs what should be reported. I believe the post above flagged repeatedly as abuse actually falls under the category of posts that should be reported, since there is no pornography, violence, etc.0 -
atypicalsmith wrote: »Cycling on the exerbike helps a lot!
Ha! I do plenty of cycling/spinning on bikes!0 -
ereckless82 wrote: »atypicalsmith wrote: »Cycling on the exerbike helps a lot!
Ha! I do plenty of cycling/spinning on bikes!
So do I! High five!!0 -
And, for some reason, I'm Only just NOW seeing vismals post. That's the kind of info I am looking for people to Provide. Thanks vismal!0
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atypicalsmith wrote: »ereckless82 wrote: »atypicalsmith wrote: »Cycling on the exerbike helps a lot!
Ha! I do plenty of cycling/spinning on bikes!
So do I! High five!!
High five!0 -
I use an elliptical.....but i actually need a bike...what with the torn acl and lcl and having many issues putting weight on my knee.
Can i flag myself? Will i get jail bars if i do? Hmmmm....
ETA just noticed the spam flag icon is....a radiation icon? Is that what I'm seeing?
I think I've spent way too much time on here on my last couple days off work.0
This discussion has been closed.
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