Can you help me cycle/zig zag my calories?

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KrystleZia
KrystleZia Posts: 17
in Health and Weight Loss
I weigh 120 lbs and last time I checked (a year ago) I was at 17% body fat (which, by the way, was at a college gym & may be totally inaccurate). I'd like to tone up...I did the hardcore more exercise/fewer calories thing and guess what? I plateaued. So, I'm trying to develop a new cycling plan. I do cardio 3-5 times a week. I'm going to incorporate more weight training into my routine. Any feedback on this plan?

Monday 1200 net calories consumed
Tuesday 1200
Wednesday 1550 (what MFP says is maintenance)
Thursday 1200
Friday 1200
Saturday 1550
Sunday 1550

Some questions: Will this order work for keeping my metabolism mixed up? Does it matter which days I do cardio or weight train (presuming I always end up with the goal # of net calories)?

Should I be paying more attention to fat/carb/protein proportions? I usually do pretty well sticking with the amounts MFP recommends.

One more question - any advice on how/where to get an accurate body fat percentage measurement?

Replies

  • randilea
    randilea Posts: 140
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    I am not sure the answer to your questions but it is something I have been wondering as well. I am interested to see what ppl think.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    Well there are a few questions that need to be asked before making any recommendations:
    1) What is your weekly weight loss goal set to?
    2) Are you eating a clean diet or is there some junk in it?
    3) By toning do you mean fat loss or muscle building as they are 2 goals which should be separated in my opinion.
    4) Were you eating back the exercise cals when you plateaued or just eating 1200 net a day?
  • KrystleZia
    KrystleZia Posts: 17
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    Well there are a few questions that need to be asked before making any recommendations:
    1) What is your weekly weight loss goal set to?
    2) Are you eating a clean diet or is there some junk in it?
    3) By toning do you mean fat loss or muscle building as they are 2 goals which should be separated in my opinion.
    4) Were you eating back the exercise cals when you plateaued or just eating 1200 net a day?

    1. It is set to 1lb. a week, but even when I change it to 2 it still puts my goal at 1200 calories per day.
    2. Generally pretty clean, I think. Eggs, edamame, nutrition bars, cream of wheat, coffee with just a tablespoon of sugar, or tea with a tbsp of honey. Occasionally I treat myself, like today's chalupa after soccer & bike riding.
    3. I was hoping to build more muscle (legs, abs, glutes, hams) and, secondarily, tone up so they can show more...but building is the priority.
    4. I'm not sure what "eating back" means. I was exercising almost every day, e.g. ate 1500 calories, burned 300 with soccer, so net 1200.
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    Eating back means that the net cals are equal to your daily goal. Ok so with that answered then your goal should not necessarily be to shed weight, as effective muscle building requires a surplus of cals now also keep in mind that the scale weight is not what we want to pay attention to but body composition which means you can shed fat while gaining muscle but the main goal is to build muscle. So here is what you need to put your goals towards meaning that you want to eat about 100- 200 additional cals above maintenance but you should try to eat 1.25 grams of protein for every pound of lean bodymass per day. The reason I separate fat loss and muscle building is that to do one you can not really be effective in the other unless you are obese (the body can pull the cals from fat needed for muscle building, which it does not do as effectively when you are lower bodyfat %) So with that in mind turn your goals towards muscle building and if you gain more fat then you can easily switch back to a weight loss phase post muscle building. I am currently attempting to cut to 10% bodyfat. I am not far off that goal right now using the cycle method on and off during this phase to preserve muscle mass and shed the fat. Once I have hit that goal I am doing 2 weeks at maintenance to determine my exact requirements to maintain (this will most likely be above mfp numbers) Once I have stabilized I am going into surplus to build muscle but the training program will compliment my diet which will still be clean and the same types of foods but more protein and a set program.

    Now if you wish to cut bodyfat then the cycle you suggested should work give it a shot for 2 weeks and see what the results are, the only way to truly tell how many cals the body needs may be to add more if plateaued. I have helped many friends break plateaus by eating more and altering to a cleaner diet. The most extreme was getting one friend to increase her daily intake an additional 500/day to break her plateau and get her losing again as she was simply not eating enough at 1200 a day net to keep her fat loss moving, for effective fat loss she needed 1700/day.
  • KrystleZia
    KrystleZia Posts: 17
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    Thanks Newfiedan! So to gain muscle I would aim for about 1700 calories net a day (maintenance + 150) and within that, at least 25.5 grams of protein (17% bodyfat = 20.4 lbs lean bodymass x 1.25 = 25.5). --That shouldn't be hard, I usually consume at least 40 grams of a protein a day even when going for 1200 net calories.

    I'm not stressing the scale...I don't even own one. I've just noticed over the past year that my metabolism hit a little bit of a speedbump, or something, because my body started putting down more fat in those spots where it likes to store fat (and I gained 5lbs, without doing any weight training, so I'm pretty sure it was all fat). Then I started doing cardio more often, and watching my calories, but it seems like for 2x the effort I don't see any progress in melting those pockets of fat. Maybe I ended up melting off some muscle instead D:

    Soooo...I think I'll go for muscle building for a month (is that enough time?) - then focus on reducing fat...
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
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    120 @ 17% bodyfat is 20.4 pounds of fat and 99.6 lean bodymass meaning 100 grams of protein a day to build muscle more effectively.
  • stroutman81
    stroutman81 Posts: 2,474 Member
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    I know you asked for my advice in this thread, but I can't really put it any better than what's been mentioned above. Good advice.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    you can get your true lean muscle mass percentage electronically tested at many chiropractic offices. 17% body fat is pretty low for a female, and may actually do more harm than good over the long haul . . . but I will not lecture on that topic.

    In any event, it sounds like you're eating a healthy amount of calories and the mix seems appropriate.

    For building muscle mass of course you want to do strength training interspersed with cardio. An excellent way to do this is cycling; specifically long, steady climbs. Not sure where you live--but if the geography is right, you may want to consider taking a look at how you can work longer, progressive climbs into your current rides (maybe you already do this?).

    Anyway, best of luck in achieving your goals.

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