How to zig zag cals properly/caloric cycling properly

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Replies

  • Juliette320
    Juliette320 Posts: 144 Member
    Okay, um what is a maintenance day? Like do you eat you cals back? On any of the days? Because I am eating 1200 cals sometimes going slightly over was scared to up my calories bc I did loose a couple of pounds and quite alot of inches in the beginning and when combined with exercise I was doing really good. But now I'm like at a plateau so 1250 for two days and ? How much for another day. And so on and so forth or what? Please and thank you for your response

    A maintenance day is when you eat enough to leave you with no deficit at all. So eat all the calories you need for that day, including exercise calories. For me this is at least 1800.

    Oh okay thank you
  • Prettyme924
    Prettyme924 Posts: 87 Member
    Bump
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  • lauraenders
    lauraenders Posts: 2 Member
    bump :)
  • himel13
    himel13 Posts: 146 Member
    bump
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    This post is really old and it could do with some editing with research that I have done since, just remember that you need to pay attention to your biofeedback, if you have plateaued that is biofeedback usually meaning that you either need to start eating back your exercise cals if you are not eating them back or you need to eat more. Women usually being the worst offenders, but many men as well. Also remember a few key things here:

    1) Not all calories are created equal, what your body does with the cals you eat greatly influences fat loss, and muscle gain, the old model of cals in vs cals out is flawed so its not a perfect system.
    2) You did not get overweight overnight nor will you shed it overnight, it takes time, patience and effort.
    3) You leaner you are the more likely you are to lose muscle with the fat loss if you are attempting a dramatic sustained caloric cut making you just as if not more unhealthy than you were at the start.
    4) Its not always about the bloody scale weight, if you allowing this to mess with your head and goals then stop right now. Body re composition is not a quick fix overnight endeavor. You can be much trimmer, fitter and heavier than when you started but look 10 times better. if you are losing inches but not scale weight then you are heading in the right direction.

    As a reminder here is how mfp is setup and remember that these are estimated numbers for you, you need to play with it to get it setup correctly for you. A person with a better body comp will require more cals than one with poor body comp at the same weight.

    Mfp has already calculated in the deficit needed to shed your desired amount of weight without any exercise at all, this is why you get to eat back the calories. I did this for 9 months with zero plateaus same for my wife. You need to fuel the body properly to get to your goal.

    Lastly a few key points:

    Starvation mode (ugghh! I hate this word) takes a while to happen, it does not happen overnight, but remember that how quickly this happens is directly related to how lean you are, in the case of obese ppl it takes a lot longer than say a person whom is 10% bodyfat.
    If cutting cals is simply not working for you anymore it may be time to take some time off of it. You need to make pit stops for your own sanity from time to time. There are many methods to shedding fat, some include not cutting calories at all and yes you can shed fat without cutting calories, I learned this first hand with experimentation.
    Stop beating yourself up if you fall off the wagon from time to time, we are all human, we all make mistakes, its how often you pick yourself up and dust yourself off and get back at it. If things are not working for you then its time to re-examine your efforts and find what works for you.
  • Interesting strategy, thanks for sharing!
  • bump!!
  • korygilliam
    korygilliam Posts: 594 Member
    Just FYI---
    I started this around November due to a 3 month plateau. I knew it was going to take a while for my body to adjust to the calories and start losing again, so I didn't expect anything dramatic to happen.

    A month later, I lost a couple of pounds (maybe), but I did feel like using this method as described by the author did make me feel like I had more freedom (since you can 'plan' your high days for those days that you know you can't exercise)

    I realized about a month ago that I am to the point that I have to make healthier food choices, rather than go by the cal in vs cal out method, so I started drinking water and 3 weeks ago I started eating fruit.

    I have slowly started to lose again (but I am losing again, that's all that matters)...I feel better...I don't crave soda anymore...I am up to 4 fruits that I can eat (2 I actually like) and eating 3 servings a day (will keep upping this)...and I hardly ever feel hungry (thanks to the increase water, fruit, and almods)

    I can't say whether this method would've worked a la carte, but it definately makes me feel more in control and I don't worry if I go over a day (I just make sure my average calories for the week stay 1230-1330).

    As for keeping track...I made a zig zag 500 calorie high day exercise and a ZZ 300 calorie low day food entry. At the beginning of each month, I determine what days need to be high days due to holidays/birthdays/travel/etc, then fill in the rest with high/low days on my diary. Then, when the day is over, I delete the placeholder.

    Good luck!
  • FITnFIRM4LIFE
    FITnFIRM4LIFE Posts: 818 Member
    Bump 4 later
  • bump! thanks!
  • nyctraveler
    nyctraveler Posts: 305 Member
    bump
  • clocklady
    clocklady Posts: 111 Member
    marking
  • lilmisslanna
    lilmisslanna Posts: 104 Member
    bump to read later
  • Trostlegirl
    Trostlegirl Posts: 91 Member
    bump
  • Newfiedan
    Newfiedan Posts: 1,517 Member
    I am glad that many of you have found results with this method but please make sure that you read the post a little further up about your biofeedback, there are many methods towards fat loss this is just one tool of many to use. The program can be augmented by using carb cycling on the low days and slightly altering when you eat carbs on your high days, either way though pay attention to your biofeedback as this will be the compass for what your body is doing.
  • emcemayo
    emcemayo Posts: 45 Member
    mmmmh interesting
  • Nitachi
    Nitachi Posts: 142
    Nice post OP but not sure if this was explained but this is also very essential when doing a zig zag protocol.

    #1) Protein and Fat should always stay consistent, only change Carbs on workout and non workout days.
    #2) Carbs higher on workout days, lower on non workout days
    #3) Keep your deficit consistent weekly, 1lb = 3500 Cals a week...

    ***********Workout Routine***********
    Mon - Rest
    Tues - Upper Strength
    Wed - Lower Strength
    Thur - Rest
    Fri - Upper Hypertrophy
    Sat - Lower Hypertrophy
    Sun - Rest

    ***********Cal Intake****************

    Maintenance = 2500 Cals
    Rate of fat loss = 1lb/week (3500 Cals)

    Mon - Low (1700) - 800 Cal Deficit
    Tues - High (2225) - 275 Cal Deficit
    Wed - High (2225) - 275 Cal Deficit
    Thur - Low (1700) - 800 Cal Deficit
    Fri - High (2225) - 275 Cal Deficit
    Sat - High (2225) - 275 Cal Deficit
    Sun - Low (1700) - 800 Cal Deficit

    Total Deficit = 3500 Cals!

    You can add/remove cals on workout days, generally I have more carbs on my leg days and slightly less on other workout days due to them being a lot more strenous and requiring every drop of energy I have.
  • tcat2012
    tcat2012 Posts: 60 Member
    Thank you