Zig-Zagging Calories & Exercise

Don't even know what zig-zagging is so am curious to find out!!!

I wonder what's so hard. If you zigzag, and you wanna eat more calories, go to a Chilis or Outback or something. I'm sure you can find something to overeat out there.

When I zig-zig, I don't eat back my exercise calories (and then the bunny gets it! :brokenheart: ). I think that you're supposed to though! It should be a zig-zag of NET calories. I would give it a try; I think I might.

You can go ahead and eat more to compensate, just as long as you don't keep doing it because as your weight goes down so will the amount of calories you are allowed and the amount of calories you burn. I usually eat a little more if I exercise but try not to exceed more than 100 calories over my MFP calorie goal. So far it is working for me, right now I am averaging about 3lbs per week. Good Luck.

I know many people are on both sides with this but with my experience I dont always eat my excercise calories back...however I do eat some of them. I've also zig zagged my calories when I think Ive hit a plateau to shake things up. I know this past weekend I went up higher but now Im going back down. I go anywhere from 1100 - 1400 but also jog, walk, and dance. I've lost plenty of weight from it but I upped my water intake from 8-10 glasses a day. I felt like it was gonna be too much but your body craves the water. I hope it helps you! Good Luck :flowerforyou:

Regardless of whether you zig zag your calories or not, you should be eating those exercise calories! The only number that will change from day to day is your net calories.

I always do on "regular" MFP calorie days, however, I am really finding it tough to load up on the high calorie zig zag days and adding exercise makes that even more of a challenge. There's only so many almonds I can eat. lol

How about some peanut butter? Or a bit of chocolate? Mm, I could eat my weight in peanut butter or chocolate. Lol!

Ok here is my attempt to explain the “zig zag” approach of losing weight…..(it does work very well if done correctly, I have lost 17 lbs of fat and gained 2 lbs of muscle doing it in almost 3 months time). There are a few ways to do the “Zig Zag” but I will stick with the one that I am using now. First find out what your daily maintenance calorie intake should be (this is the calorie level your body needs just to live off of and not to gain weight or loss weight). Once you know the maintenance level you need cut that number by about 300-400 calories. This is your “Low” zig zag amount, I use this amount on days I don’t workout. This forces your body to use fat to get its energy needs (don’t go too much less than 300-400 calorie drop, your body will start to slow down it’s metabolism rate and that is BAD). To get the “high” zig zag amount just add 300-400 calories to your maintenance level. I use this amounts on days I workout. Here is an example of a zig zag weekly schedule (without working out) Monday – LOW, Tuesday – LOW, Wednesday – HIGH, Thursday – LOW, Friday – LOW, Saturday – a 300 calorie higher HIGH (use this day to eat a cheat meal) Sunday – Maintenance level. Like I said there are many different ways and this is just one basic schedule. Hope it helped.