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Calorie cycling

Old 03-01-2013, 01:49 AM
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Default Calorie cycling

I may have found some interesting advice on what to do when hitting a plateau.

Calorie Cycling.

Instead of going by daily calories go by a week and space out the calories to allow yourself some "cheat" days.

For example, if my total weekly caloric intake based on metabolism, how much I want to lose, etc were 10,500 that would equal 1500/day. Instead of doing 1500/ day, lower it 5 days of the week to say 1200/day and the other 2 days go to 2250. Or one day of 2500 and one day of 2000. Those calories still all need to be on the healthy side, it doesn't give you reason to go free reign and eat junk food. The "experts" say this tricks the metabolism when it reaches "starvation mode" after awhile of dieting.

The next week go back to what you were doing before and there should be a budge on the scale.

Interesting. Thoughts?
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Old 03-01-2013, 03:07 AM
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I did this back in 2010 when I first made my goals to be healthier and lose some weight.

It worked like a charm for me.

I Googled "zig zag calories" and a site popped up that had a calculator into which I typed my variables and it came up with a weekly plan for daily calories. Mine ranged from 900 to 1700 (I'm fairly short and middle-aged, thus the lower numbers). I planned my most vigorous workouts on the higher days and some enjoyable, time-consuming things on the lower ones.
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Old 03-05-2013, 02:23 AM
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Whyme7 - interesting topic - thanks for bringing it up. Perfect timing as I may have hit a plateau.

Cassie - nice to know that zig zagging can work.

Over the last two months I've gotten comfortable with and used to the amount I'm eating (1200-1500 calories). There have been a couple of days where I was only around 1000 calories - I wasn't trying to go that low - it was just how it worked out. I can manage a couple of really low-calorie days, but I'm a bit worried that the higher calorie days might make me want more food on other days.
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Old 03-06-2013, 02:50 AM
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i am on a fairly low cal diet right now, and i think this is something i will try when i reach a plateau...or the last month before i am supposed to reach my goal weight, which i guess would be april. i definitely think this is a good thing to try for people, like me, eating around 1200 (or less) calories per day.
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Old 03-06-2013, 09:42 PM
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Calorie cycling can be good option it often restrict some food intake but after phase it instructs to eat the restricted food items. But it fails sometime as the body acts according to the diet plan and you regain the lost weight.
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Old 04-04-2013, 06:32 AM
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I did Weight Watchers years ago and there was a plan that some people were doing called the Wendie Plan (not part of any official WW plan, just something a member named Wendie made up many, many years ago and word got around and others tried it). The plan cycled the calorie intake throughout the week and still to this day, if you go on a Weight Watchers forum and somebody has hit a plateau, someone will suggest they try the Wendie Plan to break their plateau.

I think it could be great for someone with great willpower. I would be afraid that my high calorie days could derail me.

M 2 cents
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Old 04-05-2013, 07:02 PM
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You can also break through the plateau applying new juice recipes and ingredients to diet plans.
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Old 04-06-2013, 04:49 AM
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I'm planning on doing the cheat day on Sunday, tomorrow. However, I'm not going to "stuff my face" on that day. I'm simply going to increase my calorie intake by up to 1500 calories on top of the 1000 calories I normally eat. So, I will be consuming more proteins. I hope this wont mess up my progress to date.
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