My Zig-Zag Method Challenge

sarah307
sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
edited September 28 in Food and Nutrition
*Last week, I believe I "accidentally" zig-zagged my calories. The reason for this is because my daily routine varied A LOT last week and I lost 1.4 lbs even though my settings were to lose 0.5 lb/wk and I ate over my goal, a lot.. so it was either 1. I wasn't getting enough calories to begin with or 2. I zig-zagged calories by accident.

*This week, I am going to purposely do it and see what happens :) .

I know a lot of people are interested in this and wanting to know how it works. Well, I'm going to do experiment with it. So here is my personalized zig-zag calorie challenge.

LAST WEEK (approx. what I did accidentally):

Days/Cals
1 1800
2 2400
3 1600
4 1970
5 1300
6 1280
7 1400
*worked out well that "Day 1" is actually "June 1st" :)

MY PERSONALIZED ZIG-ZAG CHALLENGE:

Week 1: this is what i'm going to *try* to do!

Days/Goal Cals
1 1500
2 1200
3 1800
4 1500
5 1300
6 1650
7 1500

****Keep in mind, I have no idea what I'm doing.****

This is my *own* little experiment and I thought I'd share it with you guys :) I will keep try to do the best I can at this and keep posted how everything goes!! :) (Also, I will be traveling for a photo shoot on day 2 of my challenge. I have no idea what kind of foods will be thrown at me there. That is the 1200 day, so if i go over that day.. I will probably make day 3, the 1200 cals goal day.)

BTW, i am just keeping my "goal settings" at 1400 as a baseline just because i don't feel like actually changing it everyday. As for my nutritional ratio, I am going to keep my settings on what I already have set. 45/35/20 for carbs/proteins/fats :)

hope everyone has a great week! wish me luck on this!
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Replies

  • bflicker11
    bflicker11 Posts: 296
    I'm really curious how this will work out. I literally just met a body builder yesterday who was telling me that is how he lost weight AND still continues to do this. He looked great and was in amazing shape. I'm afraid to do it but if you have success, maybe I'll consider it. Keep us posted!
  • melzteach
    melzteach Posts: 550 Member
    bump
  • funkyspunky871
    funkyspunky871 Posts: 1,675 Member
    Good luck! :) I loved zigzagging. It worked great, until my 1800 calorie day started turning into 4000 calorie binges. I'm just now starting to lose weight again, so I'm stick at 1450 for a couple of weeks. I might use your zigzag plan later though.
  • Jizes318
    Jizes318 Posts: 409 Member
    I zig zag and it works for me. I am 5 months in and I am at 29.8 lb loss. My boss pays BIG bucks to a trainer and for a meal plan to follow. He swears by the zig zag. He emailed me the plan and it is awesome. Mon-Sunday what you can eat or things to replace, high carb days or low carb, high cal days or low.
  • 90210UK
    90210UK Posts: 81
    Bump...good luck doll x
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Good luck! :) I loved zigzagging. It worked great, until my 1800 calorie day started turning into 4000 calorie binges. I'm just now starting to lose weight again, so I'm stick at 1450 for a couple of weeks. I might use your zigzag plan later though.

    cool, thanks for your thought!
    and remember, I personalized these calories for me via http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#
  • mykismitty
    mykismitty Posts: 23 Member
    Bump
  • cmiles23
    cmiles23 Posts: 234 Member
    here is a link to a calculator i used when i did it

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm



    edit: looks like u already used it hahahaha
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    here is a link to a calculator i used when i did it

    http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm



    edit: looks like u already used it hahahaha

    HAHA, funny!! :):):)
  • brianna626
    brianna626 Posts: 156
    Good luck, can't wait to see how this works for you!
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Thanks everyone for the support! I'll try to make this week as accurate as a "zig-zag method test' as possible! but am worried about tomorrow since i will be traveling! but we'll see what happens ;) haha
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Since I know some of you are following my 7 day zig-zag challenge for myself by looking at my diary and stuff and some of you just "bumped" the post to find for later.

    Well, for those of you who Bumped. I think I am going to post at the end of each day what My goal was and then What actually happened so people can understand better.

    Day 1:
    Today's goal was 1500 calories NET.
    My actual NET calories was 1620.
    Tomorrow's goal is going to be 1200.
  • cdpm
    cdpm Posts: 297 Member
    bump - Good luck!
  • chantel111184
    chantel111184 Posts: 124 Member
    When you zig zag did you follow ex fat loss or just fat loss calorie goals?
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    When you zig zag did you follow ex fat loss or just fat loss calorie goals?

    I am just following the fat loss calorie goals.
    For me, the extreme fat loss was way TOO extreme. (a lot of my days were around 1000, so that didn't seem good to me)
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Today is Day #2.
    Goal is to eat 1200/1300 calories.
    Let's see how it works out!
  • tatesmom
    tatesmom Posts: 56 Member
    I just started the Zig-Zag method on Monday!! I have been extremely frustrated because I have hit a plateau and did not know what else to do!! I hope it works for you AND for me!!! :smile:
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    I just started the Zig-Zag method on Monday!! I have been extremely frustrated because I have hit a plateau and did not know what else to do!! I hope it works for you AND for me!!! :smile:

    great! you will definitely have to let me know how it works for you!! :)
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    yesterday was day 2:
    goal was 1200
    my actual net was 1224!!!
    YAY!
    today's goal... 1800. AHHH planning on doing a crazy workout so idk how i'm going to do it!
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Day 3 of Zig-Zagging:

    My goal was to eat 1800 calories NET.. and I ended up with 1154 NET. oops. Sorry guys! [It is 11 pm and I am currently stuffing my face with whey protein and 2 cups of grapes.] ... tomorrow, I.Will.Eat.More.!!!! :)
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Day 3 of Zig-Zagging:

    My goal was to eat 1800 calories NET.. and I ended up with 1154 NET. oops. Sorry guys! [It is 11 pm and I am currently stuffing my face with whey protein and 2 cups of grapes.] ... tomorrow, I.Will.Eat.More.!!!! :)
  • kathala
    kathala Posts: 9
    I would love to get more details about this. i have never heard of this before. I have been dieting since 2000. I lost 143 lbs and gained back 43 lbs. I started to lose again then hit a plateau and can't seem to get past it. I am really struggling and I have to get this 43 lbs back off. I do work out most of the time 5 days a week. So ANY THING that will help would be greatly appreciated!
  • Cookie22684
    Cookie22684 Posts: 585 Member
    Bump
  • UltraRunnerGale
    UltraRunnerGale Posts: 346 Member
    I have thought about trying this. Only thing is, on the weekends I run and race a lot and it's sometimes tough to even hit 1200 calories. I'm going to watch this thread to see how it works for everyone. :love:
  • Adrianamdelacruz
    Adrianamdelacruz Posts: 67
    Bump
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    I am zig zagging as well...and really haven't lost anything in two weeks. I've changed a LOT of stuff around though along with my food intake, including lowering carbs and seriously switching up my workouts. My body is probably still freaked out lol.
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    Well, hello everyone :)

    Today is Day 4 of my 7 day zig-zag challenge :)

    I know a lot of you are following this so I will update a little.

    My Zig-Zagging Method

    NET Calorie Goals: What actually happened:
    Day 1: 1500
    1620 calories NET
    Day 2: 1200
    1224 calories NET
    Day 3: 1800
    1288 calories NET
    Day 4: 1500
    Day 5: 1300
    Day 6: 1650
    Day 7: 1500

    ***As you can see, on Day 3, I didn't eat near as much as I needed to for this challenge. But that's okay. Cause my main goal is to confuse my body. :) So, I am trying to do basically 2 days with low calorie (net) intake, with the third day being a higher calorie (net) intake.

    Today is officially Day 4 - I'll let you know how I do! I have 1500 as the goal and since that isn't significantly higher than 1288 (the previous day), it is still 200+ calories.

    ***ultimately - AFTER this 7 day challenge - I will just try to do smaller zig-zags. For example, (random numbers) ... 1200 calories, 1300 calories, [third day] 1500 calories, then back to 1200 calories.

    We'll see what happens :) !!

    ***edit:
    keep in mind, I am just guessing all of this. I got the goal numbers from a website that is posted here in this forum. I am seriously just trying this out for one week and seeing what happens :)
  • sarah307
    sarah307 Posts: 1,363 Member
    been doing some research and found this site

    http://www.rippednaturally.com/zig-zag-diet.html
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    ***edit:
    keep in mind, I am just guessing all of this. I got the goal numbers from a website that is posted here in this forum. I am seriously just trying this out for one week and seeing what happens :)

    Keep in mind hun...1 week really isn't enough time for you to see much in the way of results from zig zagging. Most people have to go at minimum two weeks, and occasionally a month to see the bigger losses. Some get really lucky and it works in a week...but it's not common.

    For me lol...today is supposed to be my 'big eat' day at 2147 net calories. Add in 600cal from working out...and even if I only eat back half of it...that's a bunch of food! Problem is...I skipped both breakfast AND my mid morning snack...since I was up all night with sick children.

    We'll see how it goes!

    Cris
  • crisanderson27
    crisanderson27 Posts: 5,343 Member
    been doing some research and found this site

    http://www.rippednaturally.com/zig-zag-diet.html

    Just read this...that's pretty interesting for sure...and his results speak for themselves. 4mos to go from 30%+ bodyfat down to 3% lol?? I'm about 20%.

    Hmm...
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