Anyone zig-zaggin calories?

AnnaPixie
AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
edited September 21 in Health and Weight Loss
Hi there

Just wondered if anyone out there could tell me how to zig zag calories.

I mean, is there a daily method? over a week? or is it just random?

Do you stick within your daily allowance? IE if your lowest is 1200 and then you burn 400 exercising, do you stick within 1200 and 1600??

Or do you go lower than 1200 and/or higher than 1600?

I think its a great idea to keep the metabolism guessing, so I'm intrigued to know if there is a method anyone doing it can recommend?

Thanks in advance :flowerforyou:

Replies

  • Nina74
    Nina74 Posts: 470 Member
    Here is a nice little article:
    http://www.answerfitness.com/316/zig-zag-dieting-fitness-nerd/

    I zig zag, but not always intentionally. I used to eat the same exact meals day after day, then I read how you lose better if you mix it up and mix up calorie amounts.

    Hope this is helpful!
  • buggaboo73
    buggaboo73 Posts: 169
    I do, low range one day high range the next, but always try to stay within my "losing" range.

    Low end would be what will get me 1.5 to 2 lbs per week, so for me it's 12-1300 cals.

    High end is what would get me .5 lbs a week so that's more like 15-1600 cals.

    I find if I "zig" much higher it turns in to a binge, but overall this helps me stick to the diet more because it's not every day drudgery.

    Just how I do it. Be prepared, you may get some uninivited preaching. :wink: Seems to happen on here a lot with some members who feel their way is the 'only' right way.

    Good luck!! :drinker:
  • lorilyn25
    lorilyn25 Posts: 1
    Izig zag nd it works well for me if go over my calories 1 day I'll eat way under the next I've lost alot of weight in the last month from doing this.
    Good luck
  • sherrywoody1
    sherrywoody1 Posts: 98
    I like how buggaboo does it, and when I do zig zag unintentionally I lose weight so I am going to try intentionally to do it her way. :)
  • rose1617
    rose1617 Posts: 469 Member
    Always, but totally unintentionally.
    Some days I'm just not as hungry and I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry just to give myself more calories because MFP told me to :laugh: .
    i firmly believe the most important thing you can do is listen to your body.
    I zigged over the weekend, but still stayed under my calories, and yesterday and today I was just not hungry, so I was lower than I normally would have been. Today I can feel already that I'm a bit more hungry than I was the last two days so today will be higher calories than the beginning of the week.
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    Here is a nice little article:
    http://www.answerfitness.com/316/zig-zag-dieting-fitness-nerd/

    I zig zag, but not always intentionally. I used to eat the same exact meals day after day, then I read how you lose better if you mix it up and mix up calorie amounts.

    Hope this is helpful!

    Thanks honey. VERY helpful. And definitely worth a try :bigsmile:
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    I do, low range one day high range the next, but always try to stay within my "losing" range.

    Low end would be what will get me 1.5 to 2 lbs per week, so for me it's 12-1300 cals.

    High end is what would get me .5 lbs a week so that's more like 15-1600 cals.

    I find if I "zig" much higher it turns in to a binge, but overall this helps me stick to the diet more because it's not every day drudgery.

    Just how I do it. Be prepared, you may get some uninivited preaching. :wink: Seems to happen on here a lot with some members who feel their way is the 'only' right way.

    Good luck!! :drinker:

    Fantastic! Makes sens they way you do it. Plus there is a 'tool' on the link from previous poster that I'm going to try to work it out for me - not that I'm lazy :laugh:

    As for the preachers - I usually take no notice of anyone that can't answer a question and go off on their own self righteous tangent :laugh:

    Makes sense to me to keep your body guessing. We probably do it unwittingly anyhow. I mean, nobody really eats the same food everyday unless they are dieting and tracking. So actually, zig-zagging, even in maintenance mode, seems more 'normal'

    Thanks for your help :flowerforyou:
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    Izig zag nd it works well for me if go over my calories 1 day I'll eat way under the next I've lost alot of weight in the last month from doing this.
    Good luck

    Makes sense hun. As long as there is a weekly deficit its supposed to work :flowerforyou:
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    I like how buggaboo does it, and when I do zig zag unintentionally I lose weight so I am going to try intentionally to do it her way. :)

    Yay! Sherry, great minds think alike :bigsmile:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
    I eat when I'm hungry and track my intake by averaging out the week:

    If I have 1,200 calories a day and burn 3,500 through exercise (I use a heart rate monitor, so I have a good idea that my calorie count is correct), then I can eat an average of 1,700 calories per day. However, if I'm less hungry on a particular day and eat, say, 1,000 calories, then I have 700 to carry over to another day if I'm more hungry.

    I've seen people say "the body doesn't work that way," but I've lost 3.5 pounds in three weeks doing that. I have a loss every week that I don't eat more than my weekly allotted calories.

    Everyone is different, so you'll have to experiment and see what works for you. This is what works for me.
  • AnnaPixie
    AnnaPixie Posts: 7,439 Member
    Always, but totally unintentionally.
    Some days I'm just not as hungry and I'm not going to eat if I'm not hungry just to give myself more calories because MFP told me to :laugh: .
    i firmly believe the most important thing you can do is listen to your body.
    I zigged over the weekend, but still stayed under my calories, and yesterday and today I was just not hungry, so I was lower than I normally would have been. Today I can feel already that I'm a bit more hungry than I was the last two days so today will be higher calories than the beginning of the week.

    Yes, I agree that listening to your body works....:flowerforyou: Altho, I think you need to get out the binging body mode to get tuned into listening to it? I think I'm about there now, 6 weeks in :yawn:

    I think I like this idea as I don't do routine!! Makes sense that if you do differnt things every day, then your eating shoud be different.

    Thanks for your input :flowerforyou:
This discussion has been closed.

Categories