Has anyone tried Calorie Cycling?

ImKindOfABigDeal40
ImKindOfABigDeal40 Posts: 807 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I found this article. I'm desperate to break this plateau once and for all. Has anyone tried calorie cycling like described in this article?

http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-break-a-weight-loss-plateau.aspx
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Replies

  • PepeGreggerton
    PepeGreggerton Posts: 986 Member
    I found this article. I'm desperate to break this plateau once and for all. Has anyone tried calorie cycling like described in this article?

    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-break-a-weight-loss-plateau.aspx

    I try to do this
  • ImKindOfABigDeal40
    ImKindOfABigDeal40 Posts: 807 Member
    I found this article. I'm desperate to break this plateau once and for all. Has anyone tried calorie cycling like described in this article?

    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-break-a-weight-loss-plateau.aspx

    I try to do this
    Does it seem to be working for you at all?
  • themommie
    themommie Posts: 5,033 Member
    I havent but also have been on a plateau , I think I am going to give it a try. It couldnt hurt, right? and might even break that horrible plateau
  • Lyra89
    Lyra89 Posts: 674 Member
    I was also wondering about this! Anyone with good results?
  • TheBrolympus
    TheBrolympus Posts: 586 Member
    I tried this a while back and it worked. However, it just didn't fit into my routine very well. The low calorie days were hard and they effected my workouts.
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,342 Member
    I did this. It does work and the nice thing about it is somedays you have more calories than others so you feel like you have a cheat day when you don't. Plus you can move days around to suit your situation that day. Say I am going out to eat on wednesday, I would just make that my higher calorie day. Go to www.freedieting.com They have a calorie cycling calculator that will do it for you (go to the daily caloric needs calculator and at the bottom of it it has a cycle aka zigzag button). Mine looks like this, I avg 1416 calories a week.
    Mon-1416
    tue-1235
    wed-1700
    thur-1316
    fri-1416
    sat-1558
    sun-1416.
    and I move the days around as I see fit, by the end of the week I am still averaging 1416 a day. Oh and on here you will want to customize your calorie goal everyday to the calories you are consuming that day. Only way to make it work on MFP. Go under goals , customize and then just put in how many calories you are shooting for that day.
    Good luck
  • slkehl
    slkehl Posts: 3,801 Member
    Hmmm I haven't heard this term before. It makes sense though. Throwing in a couple especially low calories in each week to lose more without lowering your metabolism. Interesting.
  • ErinBeth7
    ErinBeth7 Posts: 1,625 Member
    I just did it! I was stuck at the same weight for two weeks. So, the last few days I was doing the calorie cycling. I didn't go crazy with a bunch of foods, but instead was "cheating" on one meal a day basically eating whatever I craved during that meal. The scale has moved .5 lb so far and I have yet to see the full results since my official weigh isn't until Monday (April 9).
  • coconutbuNZ
    coconutbuNZ Posts: 578 Member
    Hey thanks for that, I haven't hit the plateau but I have before and I probably will again so to avoid future frustration, I will give this calorie cycling a go to see if it works.
  • coconutbuNZ
    coconutbuNZ Posts: 578 Member
    I just did it! I was stuck at the same weight for two weeks. So, the last few days I was doing the calorie cycling. I didn't go crazy with a bunch of foods, but instead was "cheating" on one meal a day basically eating whatever I craved during that meal. The scale has moved .5 lb so far and I have yet to see the full results since my official weigh isn't until Monday (April 9).

    Hey that's great! Isn't it wonderful to know that you have to "cheat" (within reason of course, as you have) in order to lose weight? I like that!
  • nansidhe
    nansidhe Posts: 19 Member
    I have tried it and it worked for me. I had a three month plateau that would not budge. I raised my calories for three days in a row and then went back down to my normal 1,200-1,300 a day plan. The next thing I knew, I started losing again. Now I do it regularly. I don't do the crazy one where you change every day, for example:

    Sun: 1500
    Mon: 1300
    Tue: 1200
    Wed: 1500
    Thu: 1200
    Fri: 1400
    Sat: 1500

    I just adhere to my normal 1,200-1,300 for five days in a row, and then raise it to about 1,600-1,700 on the weekend. I'm down 93 pounds.

    I hope that helps.
  • ImKindOfABigDeal40
    ImKindOfABigDeal40 Posts: 807 Member
    It sounds like some people have had success with this so I will give it a try. I've tried damn near everything else.
  • DataBased
    DataBased Posts: 513 Member
    I tried this a while back and it worked. However, it just didn't fit into my routine very well. The low calorie days were hard and they effected my workouts.
    Thank you KennethR - I wondered about those low-cal days and how they would be to handle...
  • cbu23
    cbu23 Posts: 280 Member
    I can't give input from trying it myself, but I have read in the forums that a lot of people have tried this and it worked.
  • Im_NotPerfect
    Im_NotPerfect Posts: 2,181 Member
    Weight Watchers (at least the old plan) had something similar called the Tracey Plan. You'd eat at the low end of your points one day and then the high end the next day and go from there. It worked when I was doing it then, so I'll have to try it now. I've also been on a plateau for about 2 weeks.
  • chachadiva150
    chachadiva150 Posts: 453 Member
    I cycle my calories and it's been working for me.
  • PepeGreggerton
    PepeGreggerton Posts: 986 Member
    I found this article. I'm desperate to break this plateau once and for all. Has anyone tried calorie cycling like described in this article?

    http://nutritiondiva.quickanddirtytips.com/how-to-break-a-weight-loss-plateau.aspx

    I try to do this
    Does it seem to be working for you at all?

    It does seem to be working so far.
  • Grimmerick
    Grimmerick Posts: 3,342 Member
    I tried this a while back and it worked. However, it just didn't fit into my routine very well. The low calorie days were hard and they effected my workouts.
    Thank you KennethR - I wondered about those low-cal days and how they would be to handle...

    Hmm it didn't effect me at all like that. because the more calories I burned through exercise the more calories I ate that day. You still come out at your calorie goal by the end of the day. I ate back my exercise calories so I wouldn't be too far under my calorie goal
  • picassoadagio
    picassoadagio Posts: 407 Member
    I tried, but it doesn't work well when you're marathon training. :)
  • ablykins
    ablykins Posts: 200 Member
    I calorie/carb cycle and have good results. The low calorie/carb days can be tough sometimes, but knowing a refeed day is coming can help push through.
  • fbmandy55
    fbmandy55 Posts: 5,263 Member
    I have done this before as well. Also, I found out on accident that a very high calorie bad day (basically binged) got me out of a plateua as well. Apparently throwing you body a curve ball kickstarts your metabolism!
  • DeanneLea
    DeanneLea Posts: 261
    I have a weekly bonus calorie allowance that I incorporate which is similar. I use most of the allowance on the weekends and spread the rest throughout the rest of my week. I got to goal on weight watchers and they do something similar where you have weekly bonus points to use. So, when I started counting calories, I knew that was the major aspect of ww that got me where I wanted to me so I just kept it in my plan. It works great and really keeps my body guessing/losing.
  • lizzzylou
    lizzzylou Posts: 325
    bump for later knowledge
  • kalynn06
    kalynn06 Posts: 368 Member
    I've done it before with good results at breaking a plateau of more than a month's duration. I had even better results when I cycled carbs along with calories, so I had low carb, moderate carb and higher carb days with my protein staying roughly consistent at about 0.75/ lb of lean body mass or higher. I'm not ready to jump back into that yet, though. Right now I'm trying to work to a weekly average with natural high and low days, but if I hit a plateau, I'll probably go back to it.
  • Skye1999
    Skye1999 Posts: 29
    Years ago my Dr told me I ought to diet so he advised me to go on a strict diet for 1 week, then the following week to eat normally, but not put on any weight. He used to weigh me every 2 weeks and that really did work as the weight dropped off as did the inches quite quickly. I would think that this is similar. I am only losing a pound a week and I would llike to lose more. I read that some people can lose 3-4 lbs per week, wish I could.
  • kaf330
    kaf330 Posts: 61
    bump
  • olyrose
    olyrose Posts: 569 Member
    I've been doing it for about two weeks, so I can't report on the results yet. It's taken some getting used to though, because I have become so accustomed to lower calorie days that if I don't plan ahead I end up with too many calories later on (and I want to try to not just binge on junk to make the calorie limit). I think it will take a couple more weeks for me to get the hang of it. But I like the concept, especially since we end up eating out once a week so I can enjoy and feel better about the day.

    One thing that's helped, is creating an exercise entry for my high calorie days, and a food entry for my low calorie days. That way I don't have to do any guessing about what my day looks like.
  • Axels91
    Axels91 Posts: 213
    i will be doing this starting friday. i think its a great idea
  • ImKindOfABigDeal40
    ImKindOfABigDeal40 Posts: 807 Member
    Update***** I've been calorie cycling for the last 2 weeks to try and break my weight loss plateau. Initially, I gained weight even though I'm eating the same amount of calories each week. However, after the 2nd week, I've actually lost the extra weight plus 1 pound now. So I think this is working. This week and next should really give me an idea. If so, I should hit my target weight within a month.
  • hazelsmrf
    hazelsmrf Posts: 96 Member
    I do a version of calorie cycling, on one day I eat really low calorie and the next I eat high calorie. My calorie levels are 500 and 2300. It averages out to 1400 a day, the 500 cal days have become surprisingly easy for me (no hunger) and I love that on the days that i eat 2300 I don't even feel like I'm on a diet. This is definitely something that I can sustain for life, I've been doing this since the beginning of the year and loving it.

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