Calorie Cycling - Can it work?

marfhutch · June 2013

I am a classic example of 'living for the weekend'. All week I am well behaved, eating around 1200 cals and exercising for atleast an hour a day, then come the weekend I am tempted by every foodstuff put in front of me! I am know for a fact this is slowing down my progress but I just can't seem to fight the weekend binge!

Although I know the healthiest thing to do would be to stick to my cals everyday, what I'm wondering is if calorie cycling could be the answer to this problem? As in, if I varied my calories enough on a daily basis that the weekly total was the same irrespective of the weekend binge, should my weight loss improve? If anything, should it get better as my body wouldn't be getting used to the continued defecit?

MFP target: Daily - 1400, Weekly - 9800
Example week: Daily - M 1000 T 1200 W 1000 T 1200 F 1700 S 2000 S 2000 Weekly - 10100

Diamond05 · June 2013

Bumping this. I am curious to read answers. I also read about some people cycling there calories to "trick" their body so they don't stall in their weight loss journey.

tricksee · June 2013

Results should be the same if you hit the same weekly goal.

What is not good, is 1200 calories or less.

Stop it.

jchrisman717 · June 2013

Try this website www.freedieting.com - it gives you a zig zag calorie amount. And none of them are below 1200 - even for me who is middle aged with a slowing metabolism.

adamr_z · June 2013

I did this a while back when I was following some of Tim Ferris' advice in "The 4 Hour Body" (decent book, bad title).

I found it worked amazingly well for me, but the key was to REALLY binge on just one day on the weekend not two. To the point where you get all those urges out of your system for a week.

55in13 · June 2013

Lots of people do fine at 1200 or less on some days. This is not one size fits all. The one concern I have is that 2000 is not a binge in my book. It certainly isn't enough to eat "every foodstuff put in front of me" (who is putting all this food in front of you anyway?). Are you sure it is accurate? It isn't a big enough number to just turn yourself loose. If you are trying to satisfy an urge you can't make go away, adamr_z's advice makes some sense.

marfhutch · June 2013

Lots of people do fine at 1200 or less on some days. This is not one size fits all. The one concern I have is that 2000 is not a binge in my book. It certainly isn't enough to eat "every foodstuff put in front of me" (who is putting all this food in front of you anyway?). Are you sure it is accurate? It isn't a big enough number to just turn yourself loose. If you are trying to satisfy an urge you can't make go away, adamr_z's advice makes some sense.

To be honest, I sort of made those numbers up! I haven't started doing this yet (at the moment its 4x1200, 1x2000 and 2x3000 (yikes!)), at the moment I normally log weekends but don't control them!

The problem is that I live away from home during the week, and find it easy to stick to routine because of work, but when I'm back home at the weekend I get cooked for etc and so lose track!

thedietguru · June 2013

It's actually a great plan. There's absolutely nothing wrong with 1200 calorie days when you have days in the same week that are as high as 2000.

An ongoing diet of 1200 a day would be bad, but this will probably see you yield some good results. Hell.. 24 hour fasts are proven to have many benefits so not sure why anyone would blink at the occasional 1200 calorie day when you're cycling.

Showcase_Brodown · June 2013

If you are ending up with the same amount of calories for the week, theoretically the weight loss should be the same. I don't think there is anything wrong with zigzagging around on your intake. It's a good way to allow for social situations (especially having more on the weekend).

You tend to hear a lot about people who were on a plateau and and just said "screw it" for the weekend and ended up mysteriously dropping weight - a phenomenon some have coined as the "whoosh." I don't know a lot about the science behind it, but there might be something to it to look into.

pwnderosa · June 2013

I've been doing this the whole time I've been on MFP and I'm about 8lbs from my goal now!!

I eat anywhere from 1200-2500 calories a day depending on how active I am and whether I'm doing fun things like going out to eat or to the movies where I might want to chow a little extra. Don't follow any specific plan, just try to be just a little under the weekly calories allotted come Sunday night. I think it works great, plus some days I am just hungrier than others.

SpazQ · June 2013

I calorie cycle. I carb cycle. All good. It works for me.

I don't do it so I can binge eat. I do it based on my workouts and days off.

Lyle McDonald talks about this stuff a lot and the psychological aspects of dieting.

People on a diet might cave and have a few cookies then feel guilty so they eat the entire package of cookies because of the guilt
and thinking they blew their diet by eating the couple of cookies. In reality, eating a few cookies is not blowing your diet. Eat them and account for them and move on. If people don't change their thinking they will probably never succeed.

On heavy lifting days, I am known to eat everything and anything that crosses my face. I eat non-stop.

marfhutch · June 2013

Just as a side note, my binge is not guilt related!i know I work damn hard an it won't happen over night! It's more based on the lack of routine at weekends and all my skinny friends/family joining in and not telling me off haha

marfhutch · June 2013

Ok, as an extension to this idea, could you include Intermittent Fasting as a means of ensure calories are fully varied but end up at TDEE - 20% for the week?

So an example week could be:
M 500 T 1200 W 1200 T 500 F 2000 S 3000 S 2500
Daily average = 1557 (which is just under my TDEE - 20%)

55in13 · June 2013

Ok, as an extension to this idea, could you include Intermittent Fasting as a means of ensure calories are fully varied but end up at TDEE - 20% for the week?

So an example week could be:
M 500 T 1200 W 1200 T 500 F 2000 S 3000 S 2500
Daily average = 1557 (which is just under my TDEE - 20%)

Short answer - YES

Long answer - There are a number of people who remain convinced that when you eat throughout the day will change your metabolism. That has been debunked by several studies. There are several people who think it is not sustainable and you will gain it back. I think how you safely lose the weight is irrelevant and keeping it off is a different challenge. Some people just seem to hate fasting and will post bro science or opinion against it for reasons I do not understand.

cheachea2 · October 2013

If you are ending up with the same amount of calories for the week, theoretically the weight loss should be the same. I don't think there is anything wrong with zigzagging around on your intake. It's a good way to allow for social situations (especially having more on the weekend).

You tend to hear a lot about people who were on a plateau and and just said "screw it" for the weekend and ended up mysteriously dropping weight - a phenomenon some have coined as the "whoosh." I don't know a lot about the science behind it, but there might be something to it to look into.

So glad I came across this. I often have wondered how I stay in my calories and lose 1 pound but when I eat a lot of food and go over I lose 4-5lbs. Never understood until now. Thanks

AdrianBry · October 2013

of course it can work. the question you need to ask yourself is... Is my current calorie regimen working or Iam satisifed with the reuslts? If not then you simply have to make adjustments. for example...

maybe on sunday you eat only 1500 while keeping everything else the same. you're basically on a 1000-11200 calorie m-th and then 1700-2000 the other days.

we cant really anser this. only you can thru trial and error

Calorie Cycling - Can it work?

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