Calorie Cycling/ Zig Zag Diet

charcharbec

So I work out about 5 times a week.. I am about 4'10 and 122 lbs. I lost most of my weight from calorie restricting and recently bumped up my calories slowly (still lost about 1 lb a week increasing) until I got to my current state. I had restricted really low based on a tip from a trainer at my gym. All that aside, I was told about calorie cycling by the owner of my box who has a degree in exercise science and who was a personal trainer and biologist for years. He is the one who reccomended I STOP restricting so low etc. ANYWAY...

I am curious (and i know there have been PLENTY of threads about this before) as to how people's success with calorie cycling has been. I am at 29.5% body fat--- once I got below 30% my body started going after my lean muscle pretty hardcore... so I am trying to get enough protein, dont take in much bad fat or go much over my carbs for the day (I am vegan so I tend to have to work to get enough protein).

If you have had ANY success with calorie cycling I am VERY interested to know. I don't really need to lose weight as much as I want to lose fat and gain and keep lean muscle.

Thanks!

dinosnopro

I dont think its a bad thing to have one or two days that you are over on calories, I have a couple of those a week but as long as my weekly total averages out I'm ok with that. the only thing I would sugest is to lift weights( low rep high weight) to keep the body from going after the muscle.

Candikickbutt

I never eat the same amount of calories a day just because it doesn't work out that way. My food calories, not NET, range anywhere from 1350-1750 during the week, yet I still have remaining calories from exercising and I still lose. I feel like zig zagging my calories has really helped me. Especially after I hit a weight loss plateau. I feel like it has kept my body guessing. Also it is nice to have a dew days where I can have a food that I really love, in moderation of course, and not feel so guilty about being over my calories.