If you have cycled calories successfully (calorie confusion)

Doberdawn

If you have tried this and had demonstrated success over an extended period of time (not I tried it and it worked one week)... please provide some details:

1. How much did you vary your calories (highest and lowest per day per week)?
2. How often did you cycle or change it up (e.g., high day every other day like Dr. Oz suggests or 1 day a week or...)?
3. How long did you do or (if still doing it) have you been cycling calories?
4. Were you always cycling calories or did you try it after hitting a plateau?
5. Have you managed to still lose 2 pounds a week while cycling? (Dr. Oz's method would drop me to a level of calories where I'd only burn 1 pound a week because he has you do 1200/2000 alternating days and I think that would put me too high. I want to lose 2 pounds a week as I had been for a long period of time.)
6. What forms of exercise are you doing? Specifically, are you weight training, and if yes, how often? Do you do cardio, and if yes, how often?

Thanks. I'm trying to evaluate this theory/method, but I want to know all the variables.... or as many as I can think of. If you can think of something that might help, that I didn't think to ask... please add it. If you're just going to rant that you don't like/believe Dr. Oz, please don't waste the space/time. That will not answer my question nor help me in anyway. He is not the first or only person to suggest this method, he is just a recent example who posted an online 7-day guideline diet for doing it which I'm using as the basis for discussion OF THE TOPIC AND THEORY... not of Dr. Oz himself. Please keep the focus on what would be HELPFUL about the theory and experience of using calorie confusion or caloric cycling.

Thank you all in advance!!!

Doberdawn

P.S. For those of you stopping into this topic who don't know what calorie confusion/staggering/zigzagging/shifting/cycling/etc. is or just want to learn more about it... here's a nice summary article:

http://www.answerfitness.com/316/zig-zag-dieting-fitness-nerd/

Doberdawn

Here are some articles that include scientific studies on the effectiveness of caloric cycling. One seems pretty radical though, eating only 800 calories a day for 5 days in a row? Really? Hmmm...

http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/21/1/2.full.pdf+html?sid=cbc26240-2308-49c9-8261-c9fc4e94d146

http://spectrumfit.net/727/cycling-your-workouts-and-diet-my-favorite-success-tip/

Still hoping to see some replies to this topic, maybe as people are getting off work.

Acg67

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Doberdawn

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

emtjmac

I don't really know much about the concept but I tend to dismiss any sort of "system" of eating immediately. I just stick to the principle that calories out must be greater than calories in if I want to lose weight. So far it is working for me but I'm not expert or anything and maybe there is a better way to do things. Good luck!

Doberdawn

I don't really know much about the concept but I tend to dismiss any sort of "system" of eating immediately. I just stick to the principle that calories out must be greater than calories in if I want to lose weight. So far it is working for me but I'm not expert or anything and maybe there is a better way to do things. Good luck!

That's what I had been doing for months with great success. But it's been 2 and a half weeks, coming up on 3 weeks, since I lost any weight, I even gained a couple pounds. I maintain a calorie deficit everyday and eat net 1200 daily diet. I want off this plateau.

Acg67

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Way to jump to conclusions. First you are not on a plateau, it's been 2.5 weeks you said. Secondly, you posted a single study, which isn't even really about calorie cycling as you laid it out, and it involved overweight subjects with type 2 diabetes. And had you actually read the study you would have read this;

"Thus,totaled over the 20 weeks, the assigned mean caloric intake for the two VLCD groups was identical but 18,000-28,000
kcal lower than the SBT group"

So the groups that ate less, lost more, shocking results!

monicalosesweight

Secondly, you posted a single study, which isn't even really about calorie cycling as you laid it out, and it involved overweight subjects with type 2 diabetes. And had you actually read the study you would have read this;

"Thus,totaled over the 20 weeks, the assigned mean caloric intake for the two VLCD groups was identical but 18,000-28,000
kcal lower than the SBT group"

So the groups that ate less, lost more, shocking results!

I think you really should have looked at that articles conclusions a little more closely. The actual study recipients were cycling their calories. I suggest you scroll to the bottom where they discuss this to actually see what they were accomplishing. Also, there is nothing wrong with looking at a study that doesn't necessarily title itself "Cycling Study". The point is that the technique they used is a cycling technique. As for losing weight as you pointed out, they didn't starve themselves per the study, they staggered their calories. Indicating that these are "shocking results" as you stated implies you're being sarcastic. Basically, you're being rude.

If you didn't mean to do so (i.e. you're socially innept) then next time state that and be nice. However, your comments seemed to be insulting her intelligence as opposed to responding to the topic. I suggest you move on to another thread where people are interested in that sort of thing. Right now, I wouldn't mind seeing if anyone has tried varying their calories to lose weight. I also doubt you've experienced a significant weight loss to actually experience a plateau per your ticker.

Molly_Maguire

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

BAHahahahahaaa, oh, snap.

kimberliiw

Previously when I did WW I hit a three month plateau about 6 lbs from goal. I did what they call the Wendie plan which is basically cycling calories. I didn't vary my calories quite so drastically. More closely to 400 to 500 calories between low and high days. It worked almost immediately. I resumed weight loss after the first week. Was it the cycling or the whoosh effect? I don't know, but something kicked in.

monicalosesweight

That's pretty interesting. I guess you could say the "whoosh" is sorta like cycling. :laugh:

pg3ibew

I am gonna stay away from this thread because I have no clue what this thread is about.

monicalosesweight

It's basically about lowering your calories over a short period of time than moving it back up to see if it gets you past any bumps in the road to losing weight. :happy:

Doberdawn

Way to jump to conclusions. First you are not on a plateau, it's been 2.5 weeks you said. Secondly, you posted a single study, which isn't even really about calorie cycling as you laid it out...

I repeat... Why are you here? Clearly it's not to help me nor to discuss the posted topic or answer the questions I presented. You are just being rude to me for no reason & then criticizing articles and studies you did not even fully read. The study says, and I quote:

"The purposes of this study were 1) to determine whether moderate caloric restriction with intermittent VLCD [very low calorie diet] therapy improves weight loss or glycemic control compared with moderate caloric restriction alone over the course of 20 weeks and 2) to determine an optimal interval for intermittent VLCD therapy (i.e., 1 day/week vs. 5 days every 5 weeks)."

So that is what the study I posted was about. It was about which works better, cycling or steady low cal. Now, go pee in someone else's sandbox. We're not interested in any more of your strange & unprovoked insults. Get some therapy.

As for the person who wasn't sure what this is about, you can read the articles for more details, but it is basically about eating a fluctuating schedule of calories with intermittent high days and/or low days to keep your body burning & avoid or break plateaus.

I am trying to learn more about it with an open mind because I do seem to have plateaued. I was losing a steady 2+ pounds a week for months. I have not lost anything and gained a pound since the first week of this month.

Doberdawn

It's basically about lowering your calories over a short period of time than moving it back up to see if it gets you past any bumps in the road to losing weight. :happy:

Actually, it can be either having intermittent high or low days to break & prevent plateaus. There are 2 schools of thought from what I have read. 1 suggests having intermittent days of fasting or very low calories. The other suggests having intermittent days of a very high calories intended to fool the body into continuing to burn fat and prevent it from and prevent it from lowering it's metabolic rate to adjust to the long term diet.

Doberdawn

Well, I'm on week #2 of my own personal calorie staggering experiment. Each week, my avg net calories per day is about 1200 (1197 or 1196, but close enough). Last week I lost 3 pounds. This week so far, I have lost 2 pounds. So, it appears to finally be breaking my plateau and seems to be working. I will continue my experiment. I wish I'd had more replies on this subject from folks who are doing it or have done it.... but I am making it up as I go along. I have days as high as 1900-2000 calories and days that go really low to balance them out. The remaining days are 1200. The net for the week is the equivalent of having eaten 1200 a day for the week, but with the high days thrown in to boost the metabolism into not thinking it's a famine and the low days to really burn off once the body is convinced to give up the calories. Any other experiences to report, and please don't be scared off by the one rude guy we had on here earlier. We shouldn't let the few ignorant rude folks we may encounter from time to time ruin this for all of us.

commotionstrange

Not sure why people are being antagonistic on this thread...the OP is just asking a question.

Anyways, I have done some calorie cycling, although informally. Because I have a number of evenings in the week that I go out and socialize with friends, or need to work late and pick up food, I look at my calories consumed/burned over a weekly rate. The iPhone app for MFP help this, since there's a bar graph, but you can figure it out yourself as well. As well, there are rest days from exercise that I will have less of a deficit.

So, for me, it's not an every other day thing or specific calories I aim at, but a wash over the whole week. Usually I've eaten under my calorie goal Sunday through Wednesday, and I'm over on Thursday, Friday, Saturday (when I go out and often don't get as much exercise in). It's worked for me. I've plateaued, but not because of the cycling, but becasue I I haven't been really on the wagon through the summer. Getting back to it and it's started to work again.

Personally, I think that cycling is a good idea...it is more like eating maintenance, so prepares me for what that's going to be like. If I indulge one day, I have to make up for it another day. It makes sense to me.

Good luck

CATindeeHAT

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Ignore him. This is how he responds to EVERY thread.

Self-proclaimed God's gift to the MFP threads and fitness world in general.

Acg67

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Ignore him. This is how he responds to EVERY thread.

Self-proclaimed God's gift to the MFP threads and fitness world in general.

You should tell the OP that the study she posted doesn't count because it's not from 2012

CATindeeHAT

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Here

---

>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/by_user/8103392

Trolls the boards, puts in his 2 cents to ever so slightly belittle the OP, offers nothing in the form of any kind of support. All feeds into his superiority.

You should tell the OP that the study she posted doesn't count because it's not from 2012

Dummdittlydum... cherry pick*

I rest my case.

ascotton80

Well, I'm on week #2 of my own personal calorie staggering experiment. Each week, my avg net calories per day is about 1200 (1197 or 1196, but close enough). Last week I lost 3 pounds. This week so far, I have lost 2 pounds. So, it appears to finally be breaking my plateau and seems to be working. I will continue my experiment. I wish I'd had more replies on this subject from folks who are doing it or have done it.... but I am making it up as I go along. I have days as high as 1900-2000 calories and days that go really low to balance them out. The remaining days are 1200. The net for the week is the equivalent of having eaten 1200 a day for the week, but with the high days thrown in to boost the metabolism into not thinking it's a famine and the low days to really burn off once the body is convinced to give up the calories. Any other experiences to report, and please don't be scared off by the one rude guy we had on here earlier. We shouldn't let the few ignorant rude folks we may encounter from time to time ruin this for all of us.

When you are talking about a couple of pounds, it's just as likely to have something to do with water retention, amount of waste in your body, etc as actual fat/weight loss. The best you can measure with a scale is long term trends.

kaervaak

I cycle calories, but not in the way you're talking about. I do leangains, which includes intermittent fasting, calorie cycling and carb cycling.

The basic protocol is:
1. Fast 16 hours per day (I usually break my fast at noon and start my fast at 8PM)
2. Eat higher calories and high carb/low fat on workout days (When bulking I eat TDEE + 30% on workout days with 75/25 split between carbs and fat after taking my daily protein intake into account and when cutting I do the same except I eat TDEE)
3. Eat lower calories and low carb on rest days (When bulking I eat TDEE on rest days with a 25/75 split between carbs and fat after taking my daily protein intake into account and when cutting I do the same except I eat TDEE - 30%)

My stats: Male, 29, 6' tall, 188lbs (goal 175lbs), TDEE ~3000 calories, currently cutting
Workout days: 3000 calories 180g protein, 64g fat, 420g carbs
Rest days: 2100 calories 180g protein, 116g fat, 86g carbs

mlandrethsf

What are you trying to confuse, your calories, metabolism or general knowledge of basic weight loss principals?

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Way to jump to conclusions. First you are not on a plateau, it's been 2.5 weeks you said. Secondly, you posted a single study, which isn't even really about calorie cycling as you laid it out, and it involved overweight subjects with type 2 diabetes. And had you actually read the study you would have read this;

"Thus,totaled over the 20 weeks, the assigned mean caloric intake for the two VLCD groups was identical but 18,000-28,000
kcal lower than the SBT group"

So the groups that ate less, lost more, shocking results!

Ace...you're not being nice or helpful. This is a supportive community brother!

vanillacupcakeface

I have been doing cycling but more on accident - as in I maintain 1400 daily net but then about 2 times a week I hit around 2000 or more. As long as I don't let that number go off the charts (as it has some weeks to 3000) then it won't interrupt my weekly calorie count too much. It seems to work actually. I wish I'd known more about this before when I was dealing with plateaus.

I am surprised more people aren't discussing this, it's been quite a hot topic on the net lately and though you can naysay all you want, it pretty much inarguably works if you try it.

also like me - it basically just amounts to having a cheat day or two, and by cheat day I still mean careful eating but a few extra snacks or a high calorie meal when out, etc.

Doberdawn

Thanks for all the new and far more interesting and supportive replies. As long as we just ignore the ignorant, they will lose interest and go away. You guys rock!

I am waiting to see if it works long term. I know someone up there said if it's only a couple of pounds, it's only water or waste... but my issue was, from Sept 4th till October 1st, I did not lose anything and actually gained weight. Prior to that, I'd been losing at a steady 2 pounds a week. After 1 week of cycling, I lost 3 pounds and during week 2, I lost 2 more. So, that's 5 pounds in 2 weeks after a month of nothing. I'm inclined not to throw this theory out. But, I'm open to hearing other suggestions, input and points of view... right now, for me, it is just an experiment of one while I struggle with what seemed to be a month-long plateau for me.

angiechimpanzee

The concept of calorie cycling actually happens to me on a regular basis. Some days I'll be at 1,200, some days 1,500. I don't really plan it, its just by chance.

Doberdawn

The concept of calorie cycling actually happens to me on a regular basis. Some days I'll be at 1,200, some days 1,500. I don't really plan it, its just by chance.

I was/am religious about logging my food. I eat a piece of dried ginger, I log 1 piece of dried ginger for afternoon snack. You get the idea. If I was going over, I'd workout out to bring myself down into compliance. If I was under, I'd eat more. One of my MFP buddies on here said I was his most reliable logging pal cuz I'd be right around that 1200 each day.

Now, I'm working it to make the cycles. But, I'm hoping it's worth the effort. <g>

holly3585

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Here

---

>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/by_user/8103392

Trolls the boards, puts in his 2 cents to ever so slightly belittle the OP, offers nothing in the form of any kind of support. All feeds into his superiority.

You should tell the OP that the study she posted doesn't count because it's not from 2012

Dummdittlydum... cherry pick*

I rest my case.

Katastic---- You love Bacon--- I LOVE YOU!!! I don't know how you posted the link to all of that 12pack ab guys posts but that was the funniest 5 min. read of my day!

Doberdawn

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Here

---

>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/by_user/8103392

Trolls the boards, puts in his 2 cents to ever so slightly belittle the OP, offers nothing in the form of any kind of support. All feeds into his superiority.

You should tell the OP that the study she posted doesn't count because it's not from 2012

Dummdittlydum... cherry pick*

I rest my case.

Katastic---- You love Bacon--- I LOVE YOU!!! I don't know how you posted the link to all of that 12pack ab guys posts but that was the funniest 5 min. read of my day!

Ditto!!

Prettylittlelotus

Are you actually trying to be helpful or just insulting, condescending & rude? If the latter, why? Did someone do something mean to you and now you feel a need to try & crap on someone else so you feel better? I posted the articles & studies on what it is & why it's done. Did you read them? Please go elsewhere unless you would actually like to help me. All *help* is welcome... All crap can go out with the weekly trash.

Here

---

>> http://www.myfitnesspal.com/post/by_user/8103392

Trolls the boards, puts in his 2 cents to ever so slightly belittle the OP, offers nothing in the form of any kind of support. All feeds into his superiority.

You should tell the OP that the study she posted doesn't count because it's not from 2012

Dummdittlydum... cherry pick*

I rest my case.

Katastic---- You love Bacon--- I LOVE YOU!!! I don't know how you posted the link to all of that 12pack ab guys posts but that was the funniest 5 min. read of my day!

Ditto!!

It's kind of nice hearing all the crickets!