Calorie Cycling/ Zig-zagging

I eat around 1500-2300 cal and I am still dropping on the scale. I "zigzag" and I love it!

Hmm...the zig-zagging idea sounds promising, but that site calculated my numbers lower than what I'm currently eating (even the highest day was lower than my daily intake right now). So I'm not sure how it calculates calories. Right now I eat 2300, sometimes more if I'm under my BMR after subtracting exercise calories. I make sure to NEVER net under 1800 calories. So for me I don't think I'd use that calculator, especially since I'm losing a little over a pound a week with my current numbers, but I may look into zig-zagging a bit more.

yea mfp always says 1200 if you want to lose 2lb a week, i think. im doing cal cycling, its a personal choice, try it if it doesnt agree with you swap for something else, i do 1300 1200 1300 1200 1300 1400 1400, thats what i set myself within my cal allowance a week, yours will be different.

You need to keep in mind the amount of exercise that you will do. If you are doing very little exercise then you need lower caloric intake to lose weight however if you are doing more exercise then you will need more calories to support the exercise and keep your metabolism going. Personally I find that I lose weight most efficiently and feel best when I have a good balance of exercise and caloric intake. I try to eat 2,000 to 2,300 on days that I exercise and I typically try to burn 500-800 calories and end up with a net 1,200 - 1,500 calories. On days where I can't exercise then I tend to ramp down my calories to closer 1,300 - 1,500. If I have a day that is higher or lower then I don't worry about it but I try to make it up so my average NET calories (intake less exercise) for a week is about 1,370 calories per day. If I do that then I find I can lose 2-3 lbs per week pretty consistently. I recently had a plateau where I just wasn't losing even though my diet and exercise were on track and I felt tired all the time, I upped my calories by about 300 a day (which is what is above) and now am losing again and feel great. Good luck

I like this.

I am always confused about the chart of this caloric cycling. So someday we eat more, other days not so much. Should I exercise on the days of more eating and less or no exercise on low calorie days? Thanks.

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Hmm...the zig-zagging idea sounds promising, but that site calculated my numbers lower than what I'm currently eating (even the highest day was lower than my daily intake right now). So I'm not sure how it calculates calories. Right now I eat 2300, sometimes more if I'm under my BMR after subtracting exercise calories. I make sure to NEVER net under 1800 calories. So for me I don't think I'd use that calculator, especially since I'm losing a little over a pound a week with my current numbers, but I may look into zig-zagging a bit more.

I love your attitude. I'm not happy unless I am losing 40 lbs a month (ok, I'm exaggerating but omg, I can't stand only losing 1 lb a week... maybe eventually I will but I am obsessed with getting under 200 and so close now). Maybe you can help me with getting rid of my unrealistic expectations! I know, as a disabled RN, that it is unrealistic but emotionally, I want to lose it NOW lol. :laugh:

on LOW days, (1000) no exercise, just 10 minutes of ab work . :grumble:
on regular days (1200) house work
on HIGH days (1500 cals) a 30 minute bike ride or a 20 minute circuit training video...

havent decided whether to eat it back or not... right now I'll just say NO... that may change in the future.

This may seem LOW to you, BUT I am still well within my low and high limits. :flowerforyou:

so to answer your question these are total calories. I do NOT log my exercise anymore because I dont want the OPTION of eating back the calories.

As time progresses I will HAVE to UP the calories to keep cycling

next month they will most likely be 1700, 1200, 1400... but for this month I am going to the extreme fat loss... next moth I can taper that down some to allow for more exercising and less calorie counting.

You need to keep in mind the amount of exercise that you will do. If you are doing very little exercise then you need lower caloric intake to lose weight however if you are doing more exercise then you will need more calories to support the exercise and keep your metabolism going. Personally I find that I lose weight most efficiently and feel best when I have a good balance of exercise and caloric intake. I try to eat 2,000 to 2,300 on days that I exercise and I typically try to burn 500-800 calories and end up with a net 1,200 - 1,500 calories. On days where I can't exercise then I tend to ramp down my calories to closer 1,300 - 1,500. If I have a day that is higher or lower then I don't worry about it but I try to make it up so my average NET calories (intake less exercise) for a week is about 1,370 calories per day. If I do that then I find I can lose 2-3 lbs per week pretty consistently. I recently had a plateau where I just wasn't losing even though my diet and exercise were on track and I felt tired all the time, I upped my calories by about 300 a day (which is what is above) and now am losing again and feel great. Good luck

I like this.

I am always confused about the chart of this caloric cycling. So someday we eat more, other days not so much. Should I exercise on the days of more eating and less or no exercise on low calorie days? Thanks.

As long as it balances out over the course of a week I'm not real sure it matters. If you feel run down or tired then you may need to eat more and/or get some rest. Myself, I tend to eat more if I exercise more because it fuels the exercise and helps with the recovery. I also will choose to exercise if I know I'm going out to eat or I want something that will result in higher calories for the day, but that allows me to feel good about splurging on a meal when I know I put in the work to earn it. I have found from my own experience that if I get into a routine then my body seems to adjust to it and my weight loss slows down. For example for several months I ate oatmeal every day for breakfast and for lunch and dinner rotated between half a dozen different things that resulted in almost exactly the same calorie count and I worked out for 30 minutes on an elliptical trainer. For awhile I lost weight and it was great but then it slowed way down. I started eating different things and more on some days than others and started mixing in different types of exercises and I started losing again. It seems that my body got used to my routine and adjusted to it, when my routine varies from day to day both in terms of diet and exercise then I get the best results.