Zig Zag or Calorie Cycling
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Thank you sijomial.
A sustained calorie deficit for a long period would trigger a metabolic adaption. I have 80 lbs to go so I'm in it for the long haul maybe the rest of my life. I'm hoping zig zagging will prevent that. We will see.
Well, for anecdotal evidence, I have lost 90 something pounds so far and I have yet to trigger that metabolic adaptation. Granted I did have maintenance breaks.
In most cases, what happens is that people lose weight fast in the beginning and because they have a lot to lose any errors in logging don't have that much of an effect. As they become smaller, their body becomes smaller and burns fewer calories (which is completely normal because it needs to fuel a smaller frame now). Things that used to works stop working because any errors they made in the past were gobbled up by their relatively big deficit, but now that they are smaller these errors could wipe out the entire deficit.
Then there is the case of people mistaking temporary water weight gain for actual gain and panicking.
My advice: don't worry too much about the process itself, focus more on sustainability. How do you see yourself eating/moving for the rest of your life? Say 5 years from now, what do you imagine yourself doing? Keep that picture in mind, keep it reasonable, and start slowly working on building those habits.2 -
Thanks for the information. I was referring to preventing status quo or plateaus.
I'm just looking for some weight loss support from some folks that use the zig zag plan for tips and encouragement. It seems like a plan I can sustain over the long haul and some initial research shows promise. I've searched for zig zag and it seems this is not the place for support for this particular plan as there are not many posts on it.
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Thanks for the information. I was referring to preventing status quo or plateaus.
I'm just looking for some weight loss support from some folks that use the zig zag plan for tips and encouragement. It seems like a plan I can sustain over the long haul and some initial research shows promise. I've searched for zig zag and it seems this is not the place for support for this particular plan as there are not many posts on it.
Are you missing the fact that most of us do this naturally by judging calorie intake over time rather than set a prescribed and articpficially enforced limit each day
Or is it just that you want people who are following a prescriptive calorie intake...look for intermittent fasters that might be a starting point2 -
Apparently I am missing some facts, however intermittent fasting is quite different.0
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There is a bit of a "group think" here for sure but when you actually dig deeper most people do recognise that one size certainly doesn't fit all and adherence to a calorie goal over time is very personal.Thanks for the information. I was referring to preventing status quo or plateaus.
I'm just looking for some weight loss support from some folks that use the zig zag plan for tips and encouragement. It seems like a plan I can sustain over the long haul and some initial research shows promise. I've searched for zig zag and it seems this is not the place for support for this particular plan as there are not many posts on it.
But I do think the idea of daily zig-zagging having a metabolic advantage seems a bit "woo" to me, adaptions take time. Lyle McDonald is a good read on the subject.
You could argue that the MFP method of adding exercise calories separately is a bit of a calorie zig-zag I suppose?
Personally I think it's good to experiment though and would encourage you to do so. I've done same every day calories, 5:2, 6:1, 16:8, using exercise to create a deficit.... I've learned something from all of it.
I'm not even logging now so guess I've learned that as well?
The one I wish I'd known about was eating at goal weight maintenance calories as it seems a very elegant solution.
Give it a go, if it doesn't work long term you can always try another way to achieve a sustainable deficit. Good luck.
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Apparently I am missing some facts, however intermittent fasting is quite different.
By nomenclature yes but in practice they eat low some days and at maintenance on others (or some do the daily fasting thing)
I just assumed there would be similarities and shared learnings you were looking for0 -
Thank you sijomial.
I too wish I'd known about maintenance calories as well. Thanks for the encouragement!!0 -
Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.0 -
Do what works for you.
It will not trick your body and prevent a plateau however.
Good luck.0 -
jessiethe3rd wrote: »Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.
This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.
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jessiethe3rd wrote: »Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.
This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.
Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.0 -
jessiethe3rd wrote: »Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.
This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.
Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.
While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough3 -
jessiethe3rd wrote: »Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.
This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.
Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.
While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough
Thanks Sue!!! I really appreciate the support even if it's not your cup of tea. So far this is super easy for me to stick to.
Tue I will be celebrating 33 years of being married to my best friend and Wed is my 1500 calorie day. I can swap tues 1000 day and have a glass of wine. While I'm only in about 10 days this seems like a sustainable way of eating for me. Only time will tell. I will not yo yo anymore and I will get to a healthy BMI and not oppose to switching/mixing plans if this doesn't work. But pseudoscience or not I'm all in at this point.
Funny thing too... The sort of negative comments in the thread overall have in of themselves been kind of motivating as well. Although I like the warm fluffy kind of support best:).0 -
jessiethe3rd wrote: »Go ahead and do what works for you.
Personally I have to lift weights and exercise to improve my shape. A diet of this nature would not be useful to maintain a good amount of LBM.
This is a super popular plan body builders use and some swear by. I'm hoping it works for me.
Bro science aside, the majority of us do not need to do what bodybuilders do regarding their diets because we're not physically there. You said you have 80 pounds to lose and you don't even workout. The only thing you really should be focusing on right now is maintaining a consistent calorie deficit to lose weight.
While I completely agree with the sentiment, I also think that calorie defecit consistency is over time so if OP finds zig-zagging her calories useful in adhering to her overall calorie limit over time then more power to her ..it's about finding what motivates us and what we can stick to when it gets tough
There's a big difference between calorie banking, which many people on this site do, and what the OP is talking about. The OP said on the first page that the purpose is to "trick" the body into not plateauing which just does not happen. Then the OP posted various links that they think offers proof as to why calorie cycling will cause more weight loss and that is does indeed trick the body and prevent homeostasis. OP doesn't need to worry about homeostasis at the moment. That's why I mentioned she should focus on a calorie deficit in general, as I don't want her to set herself up for failure. Over time eating 800 calories one day and 1500 the next, if she's even really doing that as it's unknown without the use of a food scale, may be taxing and cause binging. It's only been one week and she's fine for now, but in the weeks to come that may not be the case. When people calorie cycle, it's usually slightly below goal one day and near maintenance at the next or it's a bit over/under their goal. It's not usually an 800 gross without eating back exercise calories unless they're following a 5:2 IF protocol where they eat at maintenance on higher calorie days, which OP is not.
ETA: The OP also says " It's only been a little over a week and I've lost 6lbs". Those of us who have been through this know much of that is water weight. I don't want the OP to think she is plateauing if she doesn't see another six pounds come off next week. Two pounds per week, or 1% of her body weight, should be the maximum loss per week.0 -
Thanks Synacious!
I'm pretty experienced at loosing weight and I know full well the 6 lbs is mostly water weight and I regret I added that into the initial post. It does sound like the plan itself was the cause of the big loss when it was really just drinking more water to release water retainage.
I'm 50 and led a sedentary life of yo yo dieting so my plan RIGHT now is based off of my BMR which is basically maintenance until I can build up to more exercise. My daily calorie intake goes up or down 100 calories with the exception of 2 days where I have 1 1500 and 1 1000 day. 800 calories is not at all in my plan.
Because empirical evidence to prove or disprove isn't out there doesn't mean it won't work. In fact it's just taking a 500 calorie deficit and spreading it out over the week in different increments.
I absolutely have not provided links as proof of a fact and I've been very honest about it being anecdotal evidence.
I do appreciate your concern though.0 -
Thanks Synacious!
I'm pretty experienced at loosing weight and I know full well the 6 lbs is mostly water weight and I regret I added that into the initial post. It does sound like the plan itself was the cause of the big loss when it was really just drinking more water to release water retainage.
I'm 50 and led a sedentary life of yo yo dieting so my plan RIGHT now is based off of my BMR which is basically maintenance until I can build up to more exercise. My daily calorie intake goes up or down 100 calories with the exception of 2 days where I have 1 1500 and 1 1000 day. 800 calories is not at all in my plan.
Because empirical evidence to prove or disprove isn't out there doesn't mean it won't work. In fact it's just taking a 500 calorie deficit and spreading it out over the week in different increments.
I absolutely have not provided links as proof of a fact and I've been very honest about it being anecdotal evidence.
I do appreciate your concern though.
Good. I didn't mean to come off as negative and if I did, my apologies. It's just that there are so many posts here about crazy methods of weight loss and every time it happens, I feel bad for the poster because all it truly takes is a calorie deficit to achieve weight loss. As you've said, you have experience with this and you'll know what to do if you feel like this plan is not sustainable for you in the future. I wish you the best of luck on your journey!0 -
Thanks again I do appreciate your concern and totally understand where your coming from.
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