I found the holy grail of weight loss for lazy metabolisms

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  • Nenabobena
    Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
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    freedieting.com says I should eat 12,921 calories a week. MFP says I should eat 10'360 calories a week. So basically I should eat 2,561 more a week but eat more on certain days than other and I'll lose weight? I'm sorry but this seems like BS as of right now, but I'll look into it more.

    Have you heard of the Eat more weight less group here on MFP? It works for them, I tried it and it didn't work for me. I didn't gain either any weight but I didn't lose. I don't call it BS though, it obviously works for a lot of people that work out really hard.
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
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    I did a search in the forums and I only found a couple of topics that mentioned calorie zig-zag so I decided that I would make this post with instructions.

    First things first: Go to http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm fill out the form and click at the bottom where it says "7 day calorie cycle (zig-zag)"
    All you have to do is follow the schedule (weight loss and extreme weight loss) and you will start to lose weight.

    If this worked for me it HAS to work for you. Just to give you a little background, I am 31 years old, 5'2 and my highest weight was 170lbs. I have hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia. The combination of metabolic disorders has made it nearly impossible for me to lose weight with just diet and exercise. I've tried low cal (1200) , total energy expenditure with a deficit (2000) and everything in between that range; low fat, low carb, you name it! nothing has really worked until I tried calorie cycling.

    I have been doing this for over 5 weeks and I have been losing 1lb each week consistently by following the weight loss schedule. If I plateau again I will try the extreme weight loss but so far so good.
    I wanted to post this the first week I lost weight but I wanted to make sure that it really worked before getting your hopes up.

    To adjust myfitnesspal I customized my calorie goals to my lowest calorie day ( tuesdays for me) and created 6 work outs with the calorie adjustments so I can just add it each day and count my calories the regular way. For example:
    My daily calorie is set up at 1298
    Then I add a "Monday zig-zag" exercise that I set up at 325 calories, this sets my Monday net calories to 1623
    Do the same each day with a pre-set work out for each day and you are done.

    Hope this helps!!!

    There is nothing magical here. All you are doing is averaging out your calories over a week rather than on individual days. It will work just as well, and no better than, eating the same number of calories per day. For every 3500 calories more you burn than you eat you lose one pound, no matter what time of day or week you eat or don't eat. I do this pretty naturally. Some days I'm hungrier than others so I eat more. Other days I'm less hungry so I eat less. At the end of the week, my net average has me burning 3500 calories more than I ate that week, not necessarily 500 more per day. Some days I eat more than I burn.
  • AmyParker979
    AmyParker979 Posts: 84 Member
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    Bump
  • TheRealAimee
    TheRealAimee Posts: 17
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    Bump for later. :)
  • sarahruizfitnessjourney
    sarahruizfitnessjourney Posts: 192 Member
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    Very interesting, thanks for posting. If and when I hit a plateau I will be giving this a try.
  • Curvy_princess
    Curvy_princess Posts: 135 Member
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    BUMPPPP
  • tweetybaby69
    tweetybaby69 Posts: 258 Member
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    Bump!!
  • Nenabobena
    Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
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    I am confused.... :/ Can someone state in lamest terms as possible exactly what you are suppose to do. I am going to go see what else I can find as well.

    I'm sorry I think I gave way too much information.

    In the zig-zag method you calculate your WEEKLY calorie intake, rather than a daily one like MFP is set up.
    The zig-zag schedule will give you a different daily amount of calories to eat and while some days are high at the end of the week you will still be at a calorie deficit which will result in weight loss.

    Hope that helps!
  • sailorsiren13
    sailorsiren13 Posts: 460
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    bump for later
  • focus4fitness
    focus4fitness Posts: 551 Member
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    awesome! I am so going to try this! Thanks!
  • andreamkelly
    andreamkelly Posts: 169
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    bump
  • Nenabobena
    Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
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    This is what it tells me:

    Monday 2205 1764 1384
    Tuesday 1764 1411 1384
    Wednesday 2646 2117 1661
    Thursday 2205 1764 1384
    Friday 1984 1588 1384
    Saturday 2425 1940 1523
    Sunday 2205 1764 1384

    I want to start with the extreme fat loss to get over this plateau that I have been on for months now. So, for example, on Monday I need to eat 1384 calories. Does this mean I don't count exercise calories? It's just a flat 1384 calories?

    I read it as you don't worry about exercise calories as you have already calculated that in when you put down what you exercise (3 x week; 5 x week, etc). If I'm reading this wrong - someone let me know. I think I am going to try this as I have been trying to lose for a while now and haven't even had a chance to plateau as I haven't even lost - lol. I've been doing the eat more to lose weight since I am pretty active, but have only dropped a couple pounds. I've looked into the zigzagging and have thought about doing it before. Maybe we should start a group for this as it would help to keep our comments and questions all in one place?

    Great idea, how do we start a group?
    And yes, you don't eat any other exercise calories as they are already calculated on your zig-zag schedule :)
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
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    not to be a party pooper but I have done this naturally all my life but I am overweight and before anyone says I eat too much I vary between 1200 and 1600 cals aday (i have lost 3lb in the past 4 months) plus my job is active and i do that 4 days a week...(I log every mouthful, lick slurp or morsal that I eat and drink).........................I allow myself 105000 cals a week which the site seems to say is too low by 10,000 for my height, age and weight.... I have tried to increase my intake and that just got me fatter than ever... I do have health problems that cause weight issues so maybe thats why it does not work for me

    Pedometer shows that I do 10-12000 steps a day per 8 hour shift... then there is what I do out of work to add to that...

    so what am I missing here?

    Mmmm...most of us would gain on 15000 calories a day. (105000/week) The question is how are you not as big as Jabba the Hut? What seriously strenuous workouts do you do?
  • DBiddle69
    DBiddle69 Posts: 682 Member
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    For those of you that are saying you are afraid to try this....remember this is a lifestyle not a diet!
    If it does not work for you readjust and go back to what you were or feel comfortable doing.
  • lillylouxx
    lillylouxx Posts: 3
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    bumpity bump bump
  • trybabytry
    trybabytry Posts: 181
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    Intrigued bump
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
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    This is what it tells me:

    Monday 2205 1764 1384
    Tuesday 1764 1411 1384
    Wednesday 2646 2117 1661
    Thursday 2205 1764 1384
    Friday 1984 1588 1384
    Saturday 2425 1940 1523
    Sunday 2205 1764 1384

    I want to start with the extreme fat loss to get over this plateau that I have been on for months now. So, for example, on Monday I need to eat 1384 calories. Does this mean I don't count exercise calories? It's just a flat 1384 calories?

    I read it as you don't worry about exercise calories as you have already calculated that in when you put down what you exercise (3 x week; 5 x week, etc). If I'm reading this wrong - someone let me know. I think I am going to try this as I have been trying to lose for a while now and haven't even had a chance to plateau as I haven't even lost - lol. I've been doing the eat more to lose weight since I am pretty active, but have only dropped a couple pounds. I've looked into the zigzagging and have thought about doing it before. Maybe we should start a group for this as it would help to keep our comments and questions all in one place?

    Great idea, how do we start a group?
    And yes, you don't eat any other exercise calories as they are already calculated on your zig-zag schedule :)

    My problem with "already counted" exercise calories is what if I am unable to do the workouts I've already counted? What if I get extra exercise? If I don't count it first, it's likely to be more accurate.
  • pnut80
    pnut80 Posts: 77 Member
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    i would really like to give this a try but i am a little lost :huh:

    i get the whole zig zag your cals but im not understanding exactly how your logging and im not sure about eating back my exercise cals. my exercise days vary cause of my 2 jobs. so i dont really know from 1 day to the next if im gonna get to work out. i was eating 1200 a day and plateaued, then i switched to eat more to weigh less and after 2 weeks plateaued again! so ive just been kind of maintaining the last few weeks. and i only have about 10 lbs to go to my GW.

    and im at a plateau...AGAIN :mad: im about to say screw it all and just any and everything i want! this is so frustrating!!! :explode:
  • Nenabobena
    Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
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    Is the calorie amount for net calories or calories consumed?

    The zig-zag schedule will have your exercise already into account so they are your net calories and you don't want to add any other exercise calories. Hope that helps!
  • smileybooliz
    smileybooliz Posts: 193 Member
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    zig-zagging calories is AWESOME! It usually gets me out of a plateau every time!! :smile:

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