So this week I am back onto calorie counting - - - in a new way. This is similar to what Jillian Michael's did in season 1 & 2 on BIGGEST LOSER (I stopped watching Biggest Loser after that)....Her team always seemed to lose more than the other team...and if you watched the shows (or go back to check them out) she had them add calories to TRICK the body into thinking it wasn't being starved.
Zig Zag -or- Calorie shifting simply means moving away from the traditional ways of eating and redefining the entire progress. No longer are you eating three meals a day - but instead eating smaller 6 - 7 meals a day and chaning up the calorie intake. Eating this way will make it possible to satisfy the body’s desire for fat and maintain a stable level of carbs. This will in turn keep the blood sugar level and less likely to fluctuate and the desire to binge is avoided.
Zig Zag diets use a different approach to losing weight that discourages many foods that conventional diets claim to be off limits. The Zig Zag diet is about portion control and alternating consumption of different types of foods. This Zig Zag dieting is used to trick the metabolism into using stored fat for energy while not converting muscle for the daily needs of the body. Most diets are geared towards losing fat and muscle seems to be a necessary casualty of the weight loss process. While doing a Zig Zag diet claims there is no need to lose muscle while also losing fat, provided that a process of calorie shifting is followed.
There are (2) ways to do the Zig Zag Diet. One is to go every other day with lower calories the other is two High Calorie Days and 5 Low Calorie Days.
Doing it every other day the guidelines are as follows:
- · Monday - 1200
- · Tuesday - 1500
- · Wednesday - 1300
- · Thursday - 1200
- · Friday - 1600
- · Saturday - 1200
- · Sunday - 1500
Average = 1350
Zig Zag should differ by a couple hundred calories per day. You should have about 3 or 4 days at the same amount and the others by 100 ,200 and 300 above that.
Your starting calories must be in proportion to your current weight. ABOVE IS AN EXAMPLE ONLY.
To get an idea of what the calories are for your weight and height - I found this site -http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm
Once your individual calories come up there is a link that says 7 Day Calorie Cycle (zigzag) - click it and it will give you a guideline of calories needed for you.
One of the best zig zagging methods I have read about is eat high calories for 2 days, then low calories for 5 days. On the high days you generally want to make sure you are eating either at your maintenance level or even a little bit MORE than your maintenance level. For example, for a 180 pound person, eat about 2600 calories for 2 days, then eat about 1800 calories for 5 days, then repeat. Also, as common dieting practices go, you should eat every 3 hours or so, which ends up to be about 5 meals a day. These are the break down of the food intake for both phases:
NOTE: This is a typical example of a person who's lean body weight (your weight minus your fat weight) is about 170 pounds, and may be different according to your physique. This exact same diet has worked very well for me in the past.
2 High calorie days:
cal. - protein/carbs/fat grams
meal#1: 540 - 40/50/20
meal#2: 490 - 55/45/10
meal#3: 490 - 55/45/10
meal#4: 490 - 55/45/10
meal#5: 535 - 55/45/15
-------------
total calories = 2,545
total grams: 260/230/65
5 Low calorie days:
cal. - protein/carbs/fat grams
meal#1: 500 - 37/44/20
meal#2: 350 - 40/24/9
meal#3: 350 - 40/24/9
meal#4: 350 - 40/24/9
meal#5: 350 - 30/15/19
-------------
total calories= 1,900
total grams: 187-131-66
Keep ratios around 35-40% protein, 25-35% carbohydrates, and 25-32% fat.
Since this is a 7 day cycle, you can have it so you eat high on Friday and Saturday (since those are the days most people go out to eat etc..) On Sunday through Thursday you could then do the 5 low calorie days, or of course fit this into how ever schedule you want it to be.
You should not gain any weight on the two high calorie days as long as you keep doing cardio workouts. This zig zag approach keeps your metabolism revved up at all times. It works perfectly, before your metabolism slows down again, you go right back to the high calorie days to rev it back up again, and you have constant fat loss and muscle maintenance. Your muscles will still have glycogen in them through out the "low" days, which is the main key factor when it comes to maintaining muscle.
The Zig Zag Diet -or- Calorie Shifting diet has been popular among body builders for years. ....let's see how I do on it this week! Below is my required calories for this week and I am going to follow the breakdown as follows:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Sunday - 1680 Calories
Wednesday - 2016 Calories
Saturday - 1849 Calories
|
1680 CALORIES |
CARBOHYDRATE |
PROTEIN |
FAT |
|
GRAMS PER DAY |
126g |
189g |
46g |
|
GRAMS PER MEAL |
21g |
31.5g |
7.7g |
|
CALORIES PER DAY |
504 cals |
756 cals |
420 cals |
|
CALORIES PER MEAL |
84 cals |
126 cals |
70 cals |
|
*** DO NOT DO ANY DIET WITHOUT YOUR DOCTORS APPROVAL***
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