Zig Zag or Calorie Cycling

Maxematics

johunt615 wrote: »

jessiethe3rd wrote: »

Go ahead and do what works for you.

Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.

This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.

Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.

Sued0nim

synacious wrote: »

johunt615 wrote: »

jessiethe3rd wrote: »

Go ahead and do what works for you.

Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.

This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.

Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.

While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough

leanjogreen18

Sued0nim wrote: »

synacious wrote: »

johunt615 wrote: »

jessiethe3rd wrote: »

Go ahead and do what works for you.

Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.

This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.

Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.

While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough

Thanks Sue!!! I really appreciate the support even if it's not your cup of tea. So far this is super easy for me to stick to.

Tue I will be celebrating 33 years of being married to my best friend and Wed is my 1500 calorie day. I can swap tues 1000 day and have a glass of wine. While I'm only in about 10 days this seems like a sustainable way of eating for me. Only time will tell. I will not yo yo anymore and I will get to a healthy BMI and not oppose to switching/mixing plans if this doesn't work. But pseudoscience or not I'm all in at this point.

Funny thing too... The sort of negative comments in the thread overall have in of themselves been kind of motivating as well. Although I like the warm fluffy kind of support best:).

Maxematics

Sued0nim wrote: »

synacious wrote: »

johunt615 wrote: »

jessiethe3rd wrote: »

Go ahead and do what works for you.

Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.

This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.

Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.

While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough

There's a big difference between calorie banking, which many people on this site do, and what the OP is talking about. The OP said on the first page that the purpose is to "trick" the body into not plateauing which just does not happen. Then the OP posted various links that they think offers proof as to why calorie cycling will cause more weight loss and that is does indeed trick the body and prevent homeostasis. OP doesn't need to worry about homeostasis at the moment. That's why I mentioned she should focus on a calorie deficit in general, as I don't want her to set herself up for failure. Over time eating 800 calories one day and 1500 the next, if she's even really doing that as it's unknown without the use of a food scale, may be taxing and cause binging. It's only been one week and she's fine for now, but in the weeks to come that may not be the case. When people calorie cycle, it's usually slightly below goal one day and near maintenance at the next or it's a bit over/under their goal. It's not usually an 800 gross without eating back exercise calories unless they're following a 5:2 IF protocol where they eat at maintenance on higher calorie days, which OP is not.

ETA: The OP also says " It's only been a little over a week and I've lost 6lbs". Those of us who have been through this know much of that is water weight. I don't want the OP to think she is plateauing if she doesn't see another six pounds come off next week. Two pounds per week, or 1% of her body weight, should be the maximum loss per week.

leanjogreen18

Thanks Synacious!

I'm pretty experienced at loosing weight and I know full well the 6 lbs is mostly water weight and I regret I added that into the initial post. It does sound like the plan itself was the cause of the big loss when it was really just drinking more water to release water retainage.

I'm 50 and led a sedentary life of yo yo dieting so my plan RIGHT now is based off of my BMR which is basically maintenance until I can build up to more exercise. My daily calorie intake goes up or down 100 calories with the exception of 2 days where I have 1 1500 and 1 1000 day. 800 calories is not at all in my plan.

Because empirical evidence to prove or disprove isn't out there doesn't mean it won't work. In fact it's just taking a 500 calorie deficit and spreading it out over the week in different increments.

I absolutely have not provided links as proof of a fact and I've been very honest about it being anecdotal evidence.

I do appreciate your concern though.

Maxematics

johunt615 wrote: »

Thanks Synacious!

I'm pretty experienced at loosing weight and I know full well the 6 lbs is mostly water weight and I regret I added that into the initial post. It does sound like the plan itself was the cause of the big loss when it was really just drinking more water to release water retainage.

I'm 50 and led a sedentary life of yo yo dieting so my plan RIGHT now is based off of my BMR which is basically maintenance until I can build up to more exercise. My daily calorie intake goes up or down 100 calories with the exception of 2 days where I have 1 1500 and 1 1000 day. 800 calories is not at all in my plan.

Because empirical evidence to prove or disprove isn't out there doesn't mean it won't work. In fact it's just taking a 500 calorie deficit and spreading it out over the week in different increments.

I absolutely have not provided links as proof of a fact and I've been very honest about it being anecdotal evidence.

I do appreciate your concern though.

Good. I didn't mean to come off as negative and if I did, my apologies. It's just that there are so many posts here about crazy methods of weight loss and every time it happens, I feel bad for the poster because all it truly takes is a calorie deficit to achieve weight loss. As you've said, you have experience with this and you'll know what to do if you feel like this plan is not sustainable for you in the future. I wish you the best of luck on your journey!

leanjogreen18

Thanks again I do appreciate your concern and totally understand where your coming from.