Calorie cycling?

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brightanna
brightanna Posts: 23
in Health and Weight Loss
'Calorie cycling provides same amount of calories per week, but 'tricks' your body by constantly changing daily calories. This helps to prevent or break plateaus' <--- anyone know anything about this or tried it?

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  • LATeagno
    LATeagno Posts: 620 Member
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    I cycle a lot. I aim for 1100 one day... 1500 another.... 1200 another... and even up to 2200 about once a week. I haven't had a plateau yet since i've started! I should add that I'm low carb as well (I do less than 75g of carbs per day on average).

    It's definitely worked for me! I will say this-- that one high calorie day (about as high calorie as you can do without gaining, that is... usually in the 2000 cal range) has really, REALLY helped me!
  • crickettm
    crickettm Posts: 40
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    How do you figure out what you should be doing daily to get the best results? Do you gain during this time, esp on your BIG calorie days? I am on 1200 a day....and i am STUCK.
  • sarahazelnut99
    sarahazelnut99 Posts: 307 Member
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    i havent been able to figure out what im suppose to do but i set my calories to 1300 and was screwing up a little bit so i stayed the same weight for about five months- i switched my cals to 1600 and started doing alot better with keeping under. then recently my schedule had a dramatic change, im very busy all the time and under alot of pressure so without even noticing i lost about half a pound and have felt myself losing some inches.

    i lose weight very slowly and im totally okay with that-i would love to be 139 (ive never been below 169) but i have years of time to do it :-) just as long as im not gaining im happy-dont let a plautue^sp get you down girl you got this!
  • justamyagain
    justamyagain Posts: 154 Member
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    Do a google search for the Wendie Plan. It is based on an old Weight Watcher's points plan, but it explains the concept quite well. I've tried it myself in the past, and it has worked well. Good luck!



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  • juleseybaby
    juleseybaby Posts: 712 Member
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    Bump
  • tameko2
    tameko2 Posts: 31,634 Member
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    I want to do it, but my problem with it is that it seems incredibly high if I put in the number of workouts I do (every day, non intense) on the freedieting.com calculator because I imagine it is using some much higher number for calorie burn than I actually burn on many days. So I was thinking maybe I should put myself in as "I don't work out at all" and then add exercise calories to those days? but that seems like it could really mess up the zigzag - if I end up doing a mega 2 hour workout on a 'low' day I'll end up eating as muhc as I would with a regular workout on a medium day.

    Thoughts? Help?
  • kellyisloved
    kellyisloved Posts: 441 Member
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    I can't say that I know what the technical plan is that you're talking about, but it sounds like what I've always done with my diets. I usually let myself have a 'bad day' every few days, and half of the time, I end up losing more weight that way than when I strictly stick to the same diet for weeks. I think it has something to do with tricking your body into thinking it can let go of more because you consumed more, and then you stick back to your diet for the new few days, and your body is not holding on so tightly.

    When I stick to the same low amount day after day after day, I plateau and drive myself crazy not getting anywhere, but when I diet well for 2-3 days (or longer) and then splurge a little one day, I almost always end up losing weight that week.

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