I found the holy grail of weight loss for lazy metabolisms

Options
Nenabobena
Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I did a search in the forums and I only found a couple of topics that mentioned calorie zig-zag so I decided that I would make this post with instructions.

First things first: Go to http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm fill out the form and click at the bottom where it says "7 day calorie cycle (zig-zag)"
All you have to do is follow the schedule (weight loss and extreme weight loss) and you will start to lose weight.

If this worked for me it HAS to work for you. Just to give you a little background, I am 31 years old, 5'2 and my highest weight was 170lbs. I have hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia. The combination of metabolic disorders has made it nearly impossible for me to lose weight with just diet and exercise. I've tried low cal (1200) , total energy expenditure with a deficit (2000) and everything in between that range; low fat, low carb, you name it! nothing has really worked until I tried calorie cycling.

I have been doing this for over 5 weeks and I have been losing 1lb each week consistently by following the weight loss schedule. If I plateau again I will try the extreme weight loss but so far so good.
I wanted to post this the first week I lost weight but I wanted to make sure that it really worked before getting your hopes up.

To adjust myfitnesspal I customized my calorie goals to my lowest calorie day ( tuesdays for me) and created 6 work outs with the calorie adjustments so I can just add it each day and count my calories the regular way. For example:
My daily calorie is set up at 1298
Then I add a "Monday zig-zag" exercise that I set up at 325 calories, this sets my Monday net calories to 1623
Do the same each day with a pre-set work out for each day and you are done.

Hope this helps!!!
«134567…26

Replies

  • 5har0n1
    5har0n1 Posts: 2 Member
    Options
    thanks for the tip im defo going to give this a try :)
  • OpenHeaven
    OpenHeaven Posts: 275 Member
    Options
    bump
  • spikefoot
    spikefoot Posts: 419
    Options
    I already have a bit of a fluctuating intake. But this will give me something to follow and it kinda keeps it a little more interesting as opposed to somewhat random. I will give it a shot. Thanks :)
  • exerciz4me
    exerciz4me Posts: 3
    Options
    This looks very promising! Thanks so much for sharing it with everyone. Two follow up questions: (1) In your example, does that mean you are actually eating 1623 calories on Tues, or eating 1298 calories that day? And, (2) The chart created for me a different caloric intake each day. Do you adjust mfp each day or just stick w/ your lowest calories on the chart, i.e., 1298 in your example?
  • misschubbybutterfly
    misschubbybutterfly Posts: 75
    Options
    I like this! I'm going to log this away in case it's needed
  • audreygonzy
    audreygonzy Posts: 169
    Options
    bump!
  • nycalison
    nycalison Posts: 51 Member
    Options
    I *just* broke my plateau this week, but if I stall again, I'll definitely give it a try, thanks!
  • BrownEyedSister
    BrownEyedSister Posts: 74 Member
    Options
    It looks very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I'm very surprised by the difference in caloric intake this tool recommends vs. MFP. I had been considering adding a cheat day and I guess this is kinda based on the same idea. The ability to eat a few extra calories to keep your metabolism from thinking you are in a famine. :smile:
  • Nikkilynn32710
    Nikkilynn32710 Posts: 256 Member
    Options
    I think I may just copy the chart it gave me and change it manually everyday. I'm not understanding how you did yours I guess. Or i could use the maintenance it gave me and then net the number they showed me on a daily basis with or without exercise......I wonder if that would work....which is usually what I'm doing anyway.... hmm....lol. So confused. I only want to drop 11 more pounds
  • Nenabobena
    Nenabobena Posts: 79 Member
    Options
    This looks very promising! Thanks so much for sharing it with everyone. Two follow up questions: (1) In your example, does that mean you are actually eating 1623 calories on Tues, or eating 1298 calories that day? And, (2) The chart created for me a different caloric intake each day. Do you adjust mfp each day or just stick w/ your lowest calories on the chart, i.e., 1298 in your example?

    I eat 1298 calories on Tuesday (my lowest day). I have MFP set up to 1298 every day so on Tuesdays I don't do anything, just record the food for that day.
    Today Wednesday (it's my highest day) I added a pre-set exercise (that I did myself) called "Wednesday zig-zag", when I made it I put 45 minutes (because I work out every day 45 minutes, you can put any number you want) and I put the calorie difference for Wednesday (for me is 638) so when I add it it says: "Nenabobena burned 638 calories doing 45 minutes of "Wednesday Zig-Zag"

    I hope that answered your questions, if not I can elaborate again :)
  • jadesign19
    jadesign19 Posts: 512 Member
    Options
    Bump for later
  • xPOOKiEx
    xPOOKiEx Posts: 156 Member
    Options
    bump!
  • candctaber
    candctaber Posts: 274
    Options
    bump for later
  • kent4j
    kent4j Posts: 391 Member
    Options
    Bump
  • spikefoot
    spikefoot Posts: 419
    Options
    I am sure you could move around the numbers with a bit of thought. But I sure wish it automatically put the higher calories closer to the weekend... lol
  • Code2fornow
    Code2fornow Posts: 56 Member
    Options
    It sounds like she just added a "faux workout" to the charts each day to up the calorie count so that it would show what she wanted.
  • solarpower03
    solarpower03 Posts: 12,160 Member
    Options
    Yup it works well. Professional use it to become leanest for competition. Read about Tome Venuto and Fed Hatfield who are the main proponents of this.
  • bdotshaw
    bdotshaw Posts: 90 Member
    Options
    Excellent tip. Thanks!
  • pugsley5
    pugsley5 Posts: 38 Member
    Options
    Thanks so much for the tip...Plateau seems to be my middle name!lol! Will let you know how it goes.
  • Crystal0827
    Crystal0827 Posts: 244 Member
    Options
    Here is question, probably a stupid question, but if I am following this are these my NET calories or my total calories consumed. There for I would NOT be eating back exercise calories...Correct??

Categories