Question about Zig Zagging

littleleisha

Hey, I want to give zig zagging my calories a try. Right now I am at 1200/day and I do eat all of my exercise calories back. Now, my question is, when I start this zig zagging, should I be eating all my exercise calories back and have that Net Calories?? or should I just keep my limit to the calories and not eat my exercise calories back.....??? not sure what to do here! Thanks in advance!

meokk

I did this quite successfully (before I got pregnant )

I would focus on getting 1200 x 7 per week in an uneven amt per day so for example I would do:

Monday - 900 cals
Tuesday - 1500 cals
Wednesday - 1200 cals
Thursday - 900 cals
Friday - 1500 cals
Saturday - 1200 cals
Sunday - 1200 cals

Or something along those lines, and yes, I did eat my exercise cals back on the day I earned them for the most part. It was only on very high exercise days that I couldn't eat them all but generally I was burning approx 300 cals per workout and eating them.

littleleisha

I'm just a little worried about eating only 900 calories a day...I think that might be a little too extreme for me. I didn't really want to go any lower that 1200....hmmm....this is tough deciding because if i do eat my exercise cals back and go as low as 1000, then im still technically eating over 1200 cals....maybe i should do some more research!!

cabaluchi

I have done some very extensive research into this topic of zig zagging and...yes...you should eat all of your exercise calories back and keep your low days at the 1200 calories. Have at least 4 days a week at the low and 3 at the high. The high days might be more like 1600 calories net. So gross calories on a work out day might put your calories at say 1947 with a 347 calorie burn workout. It will be a little hard to track at first...but just trust that you're workouts are keeping your net calorie intake right where you want it. The swing in about 400 to 500 calories will keep your metabolism moving and not stuck. This system will assist you in keeping lean body mass and dropping fat percentages. So here is what I am doing...I am 6 foot tall and 174 pounds and 14 - 15 percent body fat. I started at the beginning of the year at 217 pounds and 27.8 percent body fat. I foolishly dropped my weight too fast at like 2.5 pounds per week for about 4 months straight with a calorie deficit of 1600 calories. My workouts (3 to 5 a week - cardio and weight training) were suffering and my energy was low all the time. I was hungry all the time as well...sometimes starving, because i believed that this was the best way to get down in size. It worked...but I also lost about 11 pounds of lean body mass in the process. Now, I have fired up my metabolism and will keep it guessing. I am still in a weekly deficit for my calories...but have at least 3 days where it is a surplus. Here is my weekly plan...Monday and Tuesday 2100 calories, Wednesday 2700 - 2800 calories, Thursday and Friday 2100 calories, Saturday and Sunday 2700 - 2800 calories. And yes...I will log in and eat all of my workout calories...although on the high days it can be difficult to eat close to 3100 calories. My goal right now is to try to increase my lean body mass on the high days while burning off the fat on the low days. As long as my weekly average is below my maintenance level of 2500 I will still lose weight...just only body fat. Hope this helps.

vettle

This is just so interesting to me. Why does the body have to be so complicated!! Thank you cabaluchi for explaining what you did - I have to do this too as my body is stalling and getting comfortable at the weight I'm at now. I have about 12 pounds to go and it's going VERY slowly now! I don't want to lose muscle. Thanks a billion!