Zig zag calories or maintenance with short diet cuts

YolliB2014

Just wondering if some of you are trying to keep a higher metabolic rate by zigzag eating your calories or do you eat closer to your maximum calories with shorter diet cuts. Do you find this helpful?

FoxySprinkles

I have done both. Right now I'm just going for deficit. But if I have events that come up like a wedding I'll definitely zigzag to try to offset extra cals at events.

scarlett_k

At this point (55kg down with ??? left to lose) I have my calories set to maintenance. Usually I will choose to have a small deficit but sometimes I'll eat close to maintenance. So yeah, sort of what you're saying except I don't really attribute that reasoning to it. I do it because it's working for me.

Walkywalkerson

I never eat the same amount of calories per day / week etc
I started with nearly 80lbs to lose so it was easier to have a deficit at a higher weight - now I'm on my last 20lbs it's getting harder and I don't want to lower my calories too much so I have to eat like that for ever!
The horror 😱
So my calories are set at my current TDEE and I try and stay within it with 200ish plus or minus
And I don't count exercise calories.
I'm not a gym goer so my exercise is mainly walking and a bit of cycling.

sijomial

I lost weight with an erratic eating style / erratic deficit (5:2) as it simply made adherence to a sensible weekly goal easier for me.
Most years I allow my weight to drift up towards the top of my maintenance range over winter and slowly lose weight again in the Spring with just odd days at a significant deficit but the majority of days eating normally.
This year I wanted to get to my best weight quicker and lost 6lbs through January and February with on/off diet weeks.

Main reason is to make the process relatively painless (I detest same every day restrictions and my diet fits my lifestyle and not the other way round) but also preserving exercise performance is important to me and an everyday deficit is not helpful for that.

I don't worry about metabolism; it looks after itself.
Talking about metabolism is the current vogue in the diet industry but you will notice what is referred to as metabolism frequently isn't or is just guesswork. How often to you see actual quantified results where people's RMR is tested and tracked?

Can irregular eating patterns help minimise adaptive thermogenesis while dieting? (Probably.)
Over the course of years how much does it matter? (Probably not.)

YolliB2014

Thanks so much for all the info! Really appreciated!

AnnPT77

I use MFP's approach of setting a base calorie level that excludes intentional exercise, then adds the exercise calories when they happen. (I've always estimated the exercise calories as thoughtfully and carefully as possible, then eaten them all, all through weight loss and 6+ years of maintenance since.) That does result in uneven calories day by day. A day with no exercise for me is a calorie goal 150-500 or more calories lower than an exercise day.

I've never used one of those deliberate calorie zig-zag strategies where they tell you to eat X calories one day, Y calories another, in some kind of pattern. I understand and agree with sijomial's point that 5:2 or alternate week deficit-calories/maintenance-calories can make the practicalities easier for some people. (They may also keep energy level up in a helpful way, vs. a long slog at a routine daily big calorie deficit.) But there are also zig-zag strategies in published sources that just seem . . . arbitrary, to me. They seem tricksy, honestly, and not in a good way.

During weight loss, I mostly stuck to my calorie goal. On a few occasions during that slightly less than one year period, I did eat above my goal, or even occasionally above maintenance. For me, that was part of a "lose in the way you plan to maintain" strategy: The high days were special occasions of some sort, birthday, holidays, maybe a special rich meal at a restaurant . . . but rare.

In maintenance, I "calorie bank" - eat a little under maintenance most days, in order to indulge sometimes, on an irregular schedule. I don't do that for metabolic benefits, I do it because that's a happy way to live, for me personally.

All of that said, I do have higher calorie needs than MFP and some other calorie estimators predict, for my demographics. Is that "a higher metabolism"? I'm doubtful. I don't really know why I need more calories (though I have some guesses), but I'm extremely doubtful that the reasons have anything to do with how I allocate my calories across days.

For some potentially interesting info, see also: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks/p1

YolliB2014

Exactly what I’m trying to achieve. To actually lose and maintain my weight loss in a normal human being way! It shouldn’t be tricky! Thanks for sharing!!!

AnnPT77

YolliB2014 wrote: »

Exactly what I’m trying to achieve. To actually lose and maintain my weight loss in a normal human being way! It shouldn’t be tricky! Thanks for sharing!!!

In that case, I'll share my approach to weight management within a calorie goal:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10636388/free-customized-personal-weight-loss-eating-plan-not-spam-or-mlm/p1

I'm still not saying that would be the right route for everyone, but I do think it's one possible way to "lose and maintain weight loss in a normal human being way". (I think other ways people have described above are also "normal human being ways".)

The trick is finding the right approach for you. The rest of us can pretty much only say what worked for us, give you things you could try as personal experiments.

Best wishes for success!

YolliB2014

Thanks AnnPT77 and everyone that offered their advice. I’m taking it all in for sure.

Unfortunately I am the one who always thinks I have to make it harder than it should be, almost next to impossible for most people, especially me, to keep up with. My goal now is slow and steady, build up the healthy instead of tear down and out the culprits all at once… I’ve always been all in or all out.

Loved reading your link! And will keep all these suggestions handy. Love that so many people are listening to and trying to listen to what their bodies need and building plans that are working!
Best to us all 🙌🏼☺️

getting_stronger1483

I lost 32 kilos (i think that's maybe 70 pounds) 11 years ago and have kept it off. I found the zigzag method incredibly useful!. One day I would have 1400 calories and the next 1800. I was really active and had an active job too so it was great to be able to have 1800 calories every second day, and handy to have that leeway on the weekend as well. Weighing foods and accurately tracking was also very important. Sometimes eating out was challenging but I became an extra picky orderer. If a restaurant had their calorie content available online I would always plan ahead and look that up too.

yirara

I do best with as little variation as possible. If I eat more one day my brain thinks it can have the same again, and again. And then thinks it can has all the snacks in the world! So yeah, in a way this increases calorie burn by having a heavier body in the end. Doesn't work for me.

ahoy_m8

This was an interesting read. Thanks for posting it, OP.

IMHO the single most important feature of a plan is that it's easy for you to stick to in a normal human being way (given that it means different things to different folks). Consistency is easiest for some -- less to think about, fewer decisions. Variety where you average calories over a week with high days/low days is an easier lifestyle fit for others-- often called "banking calories for the weekend." I don't think either have a big impact on actual metabolism.

I will say, though, that after 10 weeks deficit eating, even a really small 250 calorie deficit, I feel kind of deficit weary. So I'm an advocate of taking a "diet break to "practice maintenance" if you start feeling worn down. This may be pretty individual, too. IDK. I suspect maintaining low BF% makes it a bit harder to tolerate a sustained deficit. Even if you have a lot to lose, diet breaks can help.

cwolfman13

YolliB2014 wrote: »

Just wondering if some of you are trying to keep a higher metabolic rate by zigzag eating your calories or do you eat closer to your maximum calories with shorter diet cuts. Do you find this helpful?

I don't log or otherwise physically count calories or keep a diary anymore and haven't in years. In my 7 or so years of maintenance I can say for sure that I rarely consumed the same calories every single day but obviously I maintained, so it was within a range where everything evened out in the end.

I'm currently in process of dropping the 20 Lbs I gained during 2020 and 2021 with COVID crap. My daily deficit is flexible and varies from roughly 750 to 250 to sometimes maintenance. I have also done this previously in shedding my winter fluff. I do it primarily because it's flexible and I eat more on days when I'm hungrier and less on days when I'm not and maintenance if I feel like it. It's not exact, as I said, I don't log...but I do keep a rough tally in my head and I've spot checked it now and then and I'm usually pretty close in my educated guess. According to my trend app I'm losing at a steady rate of about .75 Lbs per week which is fine with me but will probably take me at least 7ish months to lose those 20 Lbs...just in time to fluff up for winter.

As far as keeping up my metabolism...IDK. My n=1 with this is that when I cut this way I don't really have plateaus and my rate of loss, while slow, remains stable and steady. So perhaps it does keep my hormones more normalized.

YolliB2014

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

This was an interesting read. Thanks for posting it, OP.

IMHO the single most important feature of a plan is that it's easy for you to stick to in a normal human being way (given that it means different things to different folks). Consistency is easiest for some -- less to think about, fewer decisions. Variety where you average calories over a week with high days/low days is an easier lifestyle fit for others-- often called "banking calories for the weekend." I don't think either have a big impact on actual metabolism.

I will say, though, that after 10 weeks deficit eating, even a really small 250 calorie deficit, I feel kind of deficit weary. So I'm an advocate of taking a "diet break to "practice maintenance" if you start feeling worn down. This may be pretty individual, too. IDK. I suspect maintaining low BF% makes it a bit harder to tolerate a sustained deficit. Even if you have a lot to lose, diet breaks can help.

Thanks for the input. This makes a lot of sense to me too. Normal human being way of eating to me- is eating a normal meal with my family, not leaving the table still feeling ravenous, eating the bread instead of the rice cake (which I don’t mind but sometimes…) Going out to dinner without fear, just living without my mind being absorbed with how to replace this with that.
Right now I’m eating at low deficit, this is helping so much, I actually feel some normalcy in it and am reaching satiety without overeating.
Zigzagging and diet breaks, literally seem like a great way to go as well. Thanks for sharing! Love this!!

YolliB2014

cwolfman13 wrote: »

YolliB2014 wrote: »

Just wondering if some of you are trying to keep a higher metabolic rate by zigzag eating your calories or do you eat closer to your maximum calories with shorter diet cuts. Do you find this helpful?

I don't log or otherwise physically count calories or keep a diary anymore and haven't in years. In my 7 or so years of maintenance I can say for sure that I rarely consumed the same calories every single day but obviously I maintained, so it was within a range where everything evened out in the end.

I'm currently in process of dropping the 20 Lbs I gained during 2020 and 2021 with COVID crap. My daily deficit is flexible and varies from roughly 750 to 250 to sometimes maintenance. I have also done this previously in shedding my winter fluff. I do it primarily because it's flexible and I eat more on days when I'm hungrier and less on days when I'm not and maintenance if I feel like it. It's not exact, as I said, I don't log...but I do keep a rough tally in my head and I've spot checked it now and then and I'm usually pretty close in my educated guess. According to my trend app I'm losing at a steady rate of about .75 Lbs per week which is fine with me but will probably take me at least 7ish months to lose those 20 Lbs...just in time to fluff up for winter.

As far as keeping up my metabolism...IDK. My n=1 with this is that when I cut this way I don't really have plateaus and my rate of loss, while slow, remains stable and steady. So perhaps it does keep my hormones more normalized.

Yes!! This what I am striving to achieve! I’ve been insanely restrictive in the past and yo-yo dieted my way up to “oh crap”. Needless to say I think my metabolism/ hormones might have taken a real hit, so I’m trying to keep things as friendly as I can on my body… slow is the way to go and I’m thrilled with it!
Thanks for sharing!!