question about calorie cycling

akilahleemarie

to avoid hitting a weight loss stall and to avoid my bmr dropping, i would like to try calorie cycling. I would like to do 1300,1600,1300,1600 gross calories a day. On the 1300 calorie days i will not exercise and on the 1600 calorie days i will exercise. My question is, in order for calorie cycling to work do you have to do calories consumed, or net calories? because due to exercise my net calories will be the same every single day. thanks

MoreBean13

I'm not sure exactly what you're aiming for here. Your metabolism doesn't react to day-by-day changes, it's long term deficit that drives weight loss. Whether you use the TDEE approach or the MFP approach to eat back exercise calories, your exercise contributes to overall energy expenditure, so your deficit comes from your BMR + NEAT + Exercise + TEF., so with your approach, which sounds identical to MFP's approach, you have the same deficit every day, which is fine. Speading your calories evenly through the week is fine, too. It's about personal preference and long-term deficit.

One thing people do benefit from is spike days, or leptin reset days, (sometimes called 'cheat days' - a term I personally hate) where you eat a good bit more than your regular deficit allows. That is definitely not the same thing as just eating back your exercise calories.