Zig Zag for Ultimate Goal?

I had the same problem after losing about 30-35 lbs. My initial weight was 236 and my goal was 185, but I could never get under 195 / 18-20% BF. The initial 35 lbs were dropped by watching calories and tracking intake combined with weight lifting ... my macros were monitored but not closely. You are basically right on with what I discovered in my research as well. Basically, this is where you get to buckle down and fine tune your macros, diet and workout. The problem is that there is so much misinformation / conflicting information out there that it's easy to get confused. I broke down and bought an ebook from a very well respected nutritionist called Burn the Fat Feed the Muscle which put an end to all of the Internet searching. It is very comprehensive and everything he says has been right on with what the pros are doing and pro fitness trainers recommend.

This is how I broke my plateau. The first thing I did was switch from an online tracking website to the MFP app so that i could really take advantage of the tracking technology, food database and macro charting. I then fine tuned my diet and really cleaned it up so that it was consistently high quality. I focused on eating a lean protein source every few hours to keep the metabolism going which required a lot of pre planning and pre packing. I will typically cook a weeks worth of food (protein like fish, chicken breast, turkey patties, chicken sausage, etc) at a time and keep lot's of easy-to-grab and go fats and carbs on hand. Each morning I drink a protein shake with a tablespoon or so of natural peanut butter and water (sometimes skim milk) and throw about three meals worth of proteins, carbs and fats into my lunch kit and go .... I have also focused on WATER ... a gallon per day. Water was a challenge for me but I found a really big Bubba mug that I can fill twice and know I have had my daily intake. I will sometimes add crystal light, as well.

I have learned from listening to my body and from the knowledge in BFFM about body types that I am quite carb sensitive so i do not hesitate to do a low carb split. I also learned from trial and error that I need a pretty significant deficit to shed the last few pounds of BF but do not want to lose my hard earned muscle ... sooooo I do both a zig-zag and a carb up every FOURTH day. It is pretty easy to do if you use the bar charts and the pie chart in the MFP system. on days 1-3 my caloric intake is really low at about 1200-1300 cals and 20% carb (50p/20c/30f) but on the fourth day I will up my calories to anywhere between 1500 and 2500 cals and my carbs to about 35-40%. All zig-zagging is pretty advanced and will not work unless you have a solid, clean diet and self discipline.

Hope this helps

There's no need to zigzag calories. Eat at a modest deficit and eat adequate protein. Try to focus the calories around your workouts if you can. Incorporate full diet breaks/refeeds when needed.

Agreed. In fact this is how I lost my first 35 lbs; however, some will hit a plateau and might need to think outside the box to get those last few percentage points of BF off. In my case, I simply could not get the scale to move unless I went down to 1200 cals and that's just too low.

"At times, an aggressive calorie deficit greater than 20% may be called for, but
calorie cuts greater than 20% are much more likely to cause muscle loss and metabolic
slowdown. If you do use a calorie deficit greater than 20%, then it’s wise to raise calories
at regular intervals using the “zig-zag method” you’ll learn about in chapter six. This will
“trick your body” and prevent your metabolism from slowing down when you have a
large calorie deficit." - BFFM