Calorie Spiking

Hi everyone - I have a friend who is trying to start "calorie spiking" - is anyone out there familiar with this? Basically you eat healthy for 6 days and then have a cheat day where you just go totally nuts. One woman said that she eats 7000 calories on her cheat day. Of course I'm from the school of making healthy choices everyday but was just curious if anyone on MFP does this? If you do, does it really help boost metabolism?

Wow, 7000 calories on her cheat day. 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat.

my worst binges would be around 7000 cals. I think it's a bit much th. I get the spiking or calories after eating lower for a few days, but it seems rather extensive.

If I hit a weight loss plateau I will increase my daily calorie intake by 200 calories for a week or so and then drop it back down. I think of it as calorie cycling and most of those addition calories are in the form of healthy foods, like nuts and low fat cheeses. That usually jump starts my weight loss again.

But I would never just run rabid and eat like a bear getting ready to hybernate. For me the whole point of this is to be healthy and binge eating is not healthy, in my opinion. In the process of getting healthy I have lost 34 lbs, but healthy is for me the ultimate goal.

unless you're running 2 back to back marathons, I would never recommend a 7000 calorie day for most people (unless you're 7 feet tall and 375 lbs or something).

zig zagging has SOME merit but there's a very specific set of circumstances where it works, and a 7000 calorie day should NOT be included in that plan.

For instance, many body builders follow a 2 stage plan where they first bulk up, then they do a "cut phase" where they do short term fasts that maximize fat loss without jeopardizing body health (these fasts are 2 days or less, so the body never enters starvation mode). But this is a very difficult way to lose fat, better to just eat at a modest caloric deficit and slowly and gradually lose it IMHO.