calorie cycling

cfredz
cfredz Posts: 292 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Has anyone had any experience with this? i re-adjusted my calories based on my current weight about a week ago to 1700 from 1800, havent seen the scale move in quite some time and i still have some fat to lose (not really concerned about "weight loss", just fat loss") I also just started my second round of Insanity. I used the Insanity calorie calculator (Harris Benedict Equation) which bumped me up to about 2100 calories but there is no way i can eat that much. I am thinking about doing calorie cycling either now or after i am done with Insanity. Is there a good caluclator for this? I tried the one on bodybuilding.com but it told me to eat like 700cal on one day and I dont think I could EVER do that. Any advice/experience with this?

Replies

  • cfredz
    cfredz Posts: 292 Member
    bump, anyone?
  • igetjunkemails
    igetjunkemails Posts: 13 Member
    I used to carb and calorie cycle when I was weight training properly, I had wonderful results in terms of fat loss and it suited me mentally. I never found a good calculator, I'd recommend adjusting it yourself and seeing what the results are on a weekly basis- I'd recommend ranging from 1200/1300 to 2000 and see how you go :) Work out your total weekly intake and split it up.
  • cfredz
    cfredz Posts: 292 Member
    I used to carb and calorie cycle when I was weight training properly, I had wonderful results in terms of fat loss and it suited me mentally. I never found a good calculator, I'd recommend adjusting it yourself and seeing what the results are on a weekly basis- I'd recommend ranging from 1200/1300 to 2000 and see how you go :) Work out your total weekly intake and split it up.

    Is it only effective while weight training? I'm currently doing Insanity with some strength training on the side a few times a week. Is this okay?
  • igetjunkemails
    igetjunkemails Posts: 13 Member
    Yeah I'd imagine so! I haven't lifted in about a year and still cycle to maintain my weight and I find it much easier than the same amount daily. I think you'll definitely see fat loss with insanity and strength training on the side. I've always found its the weekly deficit that matters and cycling means you get less of a leptin deficit over time meaning you get less hungry longterm. If you're doing strength training I'd recommend having your higher cal days on those days and go for a lower cal days on the other days. Never go as low as 700 though- you'll pass out!
  • cfredz
    cfredz Posts: 292 Member
    Yeah I'd imagine so! I haven't lifted in about a year and still cycle to maintain my weight and I find it much easier than the same amount daily. I think you'll definitely see fat loss with insanity and strength training on the side. I've always found its the weekly deficit that matters and cycling means you get less of a leptin deficit over time meaning you get less hungry longterm. If you're doing strength training I'd recommend having your higher cal days on those days and go for a lower cal days on the other days. Never go as low as 700 though- you'll pass out!

    Awesome, so my only confusion is HOW low or high should i go? Right now I'm eating 1700 (tdee minus 20%), so should i eat that most days and eat more on days i do strength training? or should i go lower than this? I am scared to eat lesss than that while doing Insanity. What days should I eat less on?
  • cfredz
    cfredz Posts: 292 Member
    bump, any other input??
  • gsgitu
    gsgitu Posts: 118 Member
    this is a good one. you can set it to cycle cals. http://www.1percentedge.com/ifcalc/

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