Zig...Zag?

happenstance82

Has anyone ever tried the calorie count method known as Zig Zagging? If you have any info on it or personal experience with it, please post it. I'm kind of curious.

Thanks!

happenstance82

Has anyone ever tried the calorie count method known as Zig Zagging? If you have any info on it or personal experience with it, please post it. I'm kind of curious.

Thanks!

meg0112

Whats zig zagging?

psyknife

I don't really zig zag... but usually one day each week I'll have more calories than on the others... but zig zagging takes too much tracking and stuff... hehe.

ChubbyBunny

Zig-Zagging is varying your calorie intake so it's different a few days a week.
I have a website at home I think about it.

I usually do it once a week though, more as a jolt to the system.

IUChelle423

I decided to try it and started on Saturday. I won't know the result until Sunday, but it seems like a good concept (like muscle confusion except with calories).

I found a website that will tell you what your zig zag calories should be:
http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#

Put in your info, hit calculate and then hit "7 day calorie cycle - zig zag"

I do have a warning, though: The low seems pretty low. Yesterday was my low day and I didn't quite stick with it - I went over, but still came in at my base calories, so I'm not too worried.

IUChelle423

I don't really zig zag... but usually one day each week I'll have more calories than on the others... but zig zagging takes too much tracking and stuff... hehe.

I have found that tracking is tough because you either have to change your calories under Goal everyday or just keep tabs mentally.

memaw66

When I was doing WW , the leader suggested this but didn't call it zig zagging. She called it Hi/Low. It's where say Monday you eat really high on calories and tues really low, weds really high and so on for a week. I did it a couple of times and it helped get me over a plateau. You might try it. It was easy with WW because if you didn't use all of your points for one day you could save them and use them on another day as long as it was in the same week. So I guess it would be the same with calories as long as you do it in the same week time frame.

Let us know how it works out for you.


Memaw

shar140

I've heard it referred to calorie cycling before - go above your target by 200 kcal, then 200 below the next day, etc. Another source was pretty random in how it went above/below target, but by the end of the week it was the same total calories. But like psyknife said...that's a lot of tracking and planning!

cherapple

It doesn't have to be wild zig-zagging. It simply means eat at fat loss levels for a few days, and then eat at maintenance level for a day (you can do it in several combinations, 3 and 1, 3 and 3, whatever you find works best for you). The idea is to keep your body from ever going into starvation mode and to give it the idea that it's getting plenty to eat. Zig zagging is supposed to speed up fat loss, whereas eating at weight-loss levels for long periods of time can slow it down (as I found out when I was plateaued for months).

I've been trying to do it the last couple of weeks, but I have a sick kid in the house (pneumonia), so my schedule has been thrown off and I haven't been able to accomplish it yet.

My plan, alternating:
3 Zigs at 1550 calories (fat loss)
1 Zag at 1950 calories (maintenance and muscle gain)

Not much tracking and planning at all, really! I used a formula for my base calories that took my activity and fitness level into account, but I will continue to add and eat extra exercise calories on cardio days, and I'll use those days as my "zagging" days. Those are my theoretical thoughts, but I don't know how it will pan out in practice.

happenstance82

THANKS so much to everyone who chimed in...I really appreciate it. It sounds pretty interesting. I may try it this week or next. I will definitely let you know how it worked out for me(via blog probably)