Zig-Zagging/Spike Day

adammccrady

For those of you that practice either zig-zagging or spike day, what's your strategy?

For those of you that don't know, zig-zagging is when you look at your calorie allowance on a weekly basis rather than a daily basis. You can then eat as much (or as little) as you want (or can) to meet your weekly calorie allowance. Spike day is the same concept exept you eat at a deficit all week, and then have a "spike day" where you eat a lot of calories.

I decided to go to the Spike Day strategy last week. I have lost around 125 pounds over the past 3-4 years, and have been around 180-185 pounds for about a year now. I'm not currently trying to lose any more weight, just tring to build some muscle and stay in shape (I'm currently doing a P90X-Running Hybrid). My calorie allowance to maintain my weight is 2400 calories. I have decided to eat at a 750 calorie deficit each day (I set my diet settings to 'lose 1.5 pounds per week') to give me a 4500 deficit going into my Spike Day. I also eat back most of my exercise calories each day during the week (300 to 800 calories). I know there is no possible way I could eat 6900 calories on my Spike Day, so I think this should work out for me...

TheNewDodge

Dude, you could easily eat 6900 calories on your spike day

adammccrady

Dude, you could easily eat 6900 calories on your spike day

Yeah, you're probably right... Although last Sunday, we went out for pizza AND I made cookies (and ate a bunch of them), and only ended up with 3,700 calories. Maybe I should've eaten more cookies? Good thing I froze a bunch of them....

linzirussell

i do a spike diet, i eat low-cal, healthy stuff 6 days a week and then 1 day a week i eat whatever i want! i dont have it the same day every week either, i just have it the day that i fancy it but i only ever have 1 over each 7 day period:) so as long as i hit like a weekly calorie goal, im happy. iv lost like over 100 pounds too so it works for me hehe x

kmillers

I do this. I eat under by 400+ calories with my exercise calories Monday - Saturday and then on Sunday I have about 4000 calories that I can eat, however, I usually don't eat that much because higher caloric food to me is not as tasty as it once was. This way of eating has taken me out of a plateau though so I will continue until I am stuck again and then try something else.

Mexie1

I do this but not entirely intentionally, I am quite inconsistent in what I eat. I aim for somewhere between 1000 and 1200 a day but usually eat less on a weekday and more at the weekends. I rarely eat 200 cals either side of this - so far this year I have been >200 under on 10 occasions and >200 over on 18 occasions (13 of which were days when I exercised). My weekly averages are all between 800 and 1400 and my monthly averages are all 1000-1200. My total deficit for the year so far is roughly 71,000 so I should have lost 22lbs, and that is exactly how much I have lost.