How to zig zag cals properly/caloric cycling properly

formicid

very interesting, will try this!

ilovethelaw07

Thanks for sharing!

oksuga

BUMP

Jayni40

Bump )

heniko

Do we have to set up for exactly one lb weight loss, can't be 1.5lb?

heniko

One thing I want to make clear is that the lower your caloric intake the less wiggle room you have to work off of. I have a daily intake of 1940 cals to work from and that is why I was able to do the 300 extra on days 1 and 2 then back to maintenance on day 3. If you have a very low intake of 1200 for women and 1500 for men then you do not have hardly any wiggle room for caloric cycling, as dipping below 1200 is not advisable, and 90% of us out there really should not be on a super low intake like that as you will lose muscle if you are not careful (and I do mean really careful) on what you are taking into your body. I have easily lost fat and continue to do so because I feed my body right with a clean diet, lots of veggies, fruits, and lean meats with a bare minimum of processed foods. This is why I advocate eating healthy/clean it removed nearly every obstacle for fat loss from the body. Fat loss should be something you approach from a health perspective, eating the minimum will not get you the best results despite what many have said in the past. The whole point of the cycling is to confuse the metabolic rate keeping it high while reducing caloric intake. So please, please make sure that you are taking care of your body and not starving it of what it needs. I have received many emails from men and women asking me if they can do the -300 cals on day 1 and 2, and when I look over their intakes with them they can not do that much because their intakes are so low. So here is one example I will post so that you can see what I advised one man/woman to do on different intakes:

Woman: caloric intake 1400 set at a 1 lb/wk loss
days 1 & 2 1250
day 3 1900 (maintenance level)
repeat

Now see in her case a 1250 intake was the lowest I recommended because she had a good diet, rich in veggies/fruits/lean meats. Her biggest problem was drinking her calories with starbucks coffee. So she ditched the high calorie coffee for some honey/cinnamon in it instead. She has lost an additional 6 pounds this way in the last 4 weeks.

Man: caloric intake 1600 cals set at a 1 lb/wk loss
Days 1 & 2 1500
Day 3 2100

In this man's case he was already set at a low intake (was much to low in my opinion but this was what he was set on) so he tried this and it did not work as well for him. So after a week and a half of emails back and forth I convinced him to raise his intake for a week. On the week he did he dropped 2 pounds as compared to the 0.6-0.7 pounds he normally lost. We had tweaked his diet and got him on track, now he is up to 1800 cals a day and losing steadily.

So I want all of you to make sure that you listen to your bodies, use common sense and not apply this in the wrong way and use it as another useful tool to help shed fat when applied correctly. You do not need to change your daily intake goal at all, just have the deficit left over on day 1 and 2 and then go over on day 3. I still do this and am in the last 10 pounds range now.

So ok I have read the thread ... maybe I'm daft but my question is ... do I use my BMR/cal to maintain my current weight number of 1810cal per day and add or minus 20% from this OR do I have the suggested 1500cal per day for 1.5lb weight loss per week then add or minus 20% from that number ... since according to what I read I understand I should be using 1500cal per day as my starting point ... add about 20% to get my maintence cal and other days minus about 20% to get my low days ...

myboysmomx2

bump!

LynnBirchfield

bump

Newfiedan

Do we have to set up for exactly one lb weight loss, can't be 1.5lb?

that depends on how much you have to lose, 40 or more sure 1.5 is fine, the reason they recommend 1 is so that as the weight comes off the body can adjust the skin will not get loose as easily as it does with rapid weight loss (2 lb or more a week). They want it to be a healthy weight and we all know the body does not like rapid changes, it will fight back at some point. I liken it to a spoiled child that hordes toys. The toys are the bodies fat and your metabolic rate is the spoiled child, chance are that it won't freak out if you sneak little bits away here and there, but try to take all of the child's toys and it freaks. (rapid weight loss) To determine what you should be eating a day for fat loss just put your numbers and stats into mfp it does the math for you that is the beauty of the site, no complication on that side of things it takes care of that part already you just eat what the goal is and the pounds come off.

CricketKate

I like your analogy of the spoiled child (maybe because I feel like a spoiled child fighting this battle:blushing: )
You're awesome, Fuzzy!

spr_chkn

bump

thisisabbie

Great, thankyou!

missvics

This is a great thread!! I'm still confused, but I'm trying to figure it out!

malabaugh

I need to switch things up soon. Will try this!

heatherfrancis

Do I add on my exercise calories to get a new total or just stick to this ratio regardless of exercise?

gcineas

bump

Newfiedan

Do I add on my exercise calories to get a new total or just stick to this ratio regardless of exercise?

on days 1 and 2 you just leave a defict how much depends on what you have to lose and your weekly weight loss goal, for those whom have to shed say 15 or less a 2 pound a week loss is not reasonable nor is dipping below 1200 cals. So for one woman whom asked me she is set to a 1 lb/wk loss so I gave her this cycle based on mfp numbers (she was given 1400 cals a day as a goal) days 1 and 2, 1300 cals leaving 100 left over at the end of the day and on day 3 1700 cals so 300 over her daily goal you do not need to change your diary settings every day to do this.

Panda_Jack

Good info thanks!

dragonairis

I'm saving this for later - after I move this is going into effect!

skinnyb450

Bump

skinnyb450

I'm sorry I have read and re-read this post and I am still confused

If I set my loss to 1lb per week that sets my calories at 1270 calories
If I choose maintenence at my current weight that sets my calories at 1770

So do I do Day 1, 2 , 4, 5 and Day 7 at 1270 calories
Day 3 and Day 6 at 1770

I was exercising 6 days of the week - How many days should I exercise and what days do you pick (your under days or your maintenece days??)
And do you need to eat ALL your exercise calories back on the days you exercise?

Sorry I'm a bit thick - I just can't get my head around it

alacarte

Thanks for posting!

lalilalu

Sounds interesting, and something I might try to mix things up....

shimmergal

bump :-)

heatherfrancis

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/64/zig-zag-calculator-for-fat-loss-andor-muscle-gain

http://www.mylifestylediet.com/calorie-calculator.php

i found this site that has a calculator, I prefer to keep it simple and use more even numbers though.

soriakyte

Thanks for the straight-forward information. I think that I will give this try.

Just1forMe

Thanks for sharing all of your helpful knowledge & for helping me set up my zig zag I'll let you know how it goes!
Since I've done it for not quite a week, my next question would be: Do you do the zig zag plan on a regular basis or does your body eventually get used to that pattern? Would you do maybe 2-3 weeks of zig zag followed by a couple weeks of eating your regular MFP daily goal? Thanks again...you are amazing

heniko

I wonder why on the http://www.naturalphysiques.com/64/zig-zag-calculator-for-fat-loss-andor-muscle-gain
link that Heather posted, it shows for me a much much higher calorie count then here on MFP ... they says I need 3262cal/day to maintain my weight, 1864cal/day for extreme fat loss and 2563cal/day for regular fat loss, while here on MFP it says 2480cal/day for maintainfg weight, 1740cal/day for 1lb fat loss weekly and 1500cal/day for 1,5lb fat loss and 1240cal/day for 2lb fat loss weekly ... WHY the big differences?

heatherfrancis

I am still trying to figure it out too....

JulyHummingbird

bump