I'm on a cutting program and I've been thinking about the idea of cycling my calories on a daily basis. For instance, my daily intake would be around 1700-2000 calories. But my thinking is, I could possibly eat around 1400-1500 on "off" days, and 2200-2500 on my lifting days so I don't lose muscle. Is this viable?

I hope so because I'm in the last stage of my cutting cycle and that's what i've been doing to get over the last 10 pound hump. So far it seems to be working great.

I would personally rather opt for doing more cardio (or even double cardio sessions), as opposed to taking calories that low. I think keeping them that low for an extended period of time is just asking for muscle loss.

Here's another thread about it, called zig-zagging... http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=10476

A lot of people seem to have success with it. In that thread, Jeremy recommends zig-zagging on a weekly basis rather than a day-by-day basis.

I would personally rather opt for doing more cardio (or even double cardio sessions), as opposed to taking calories that low. I think keeping them that low for an extended period of time is just asking for muscle loss.


I never understand why people always make comments like this when he never even mentioned his weight. How do you know he doesn't weight 130 pounds?

my trainer used to put me on a carb cycling diet for two weeks at a time when I was training for competition.. it really helped... I'd have one or two day's without any carbs other than veggies and then one day with carbs (oatmeal mostly), then three day's without, then two with, then one without, etc... there was no real pattern to it, the only time it really sucked was when I had to go three day's without my oatmeal... boy did I drag, but I saw a lot of weight loss during that two weeks... I'm probably going to do something similar soon, just to boost the fat lose some... although I probably won't do it as drastically as I did before because I don't want to lose any muscle... I'll probably just drop my carbs by half insead of all the way

I never understand why people always make comments like this when he never even mentioned his weight. How do you know he doesn't weight 130 pounds?

There are obviously several different variables to take into consideration when determining calorie levels, but for most males 1400-1500 calories is unnecessarily low, in my opinion. According to Tom Venuto (from his book, "Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle"), no male should drop his calories below 1800 a day. That's where I was coming from when I wrote my previous statement.

I'm on a cutting program and I've been thinking about the idea of cycling my calories on a daily basis. For instance, my daily intake would be around 1700-2000 calories. But my thinking is, I could possibly eat around 1400-1500 on "off" days, and 2200-2500 on my lifting days so I don't lose muscle. Is this viable?

This is viable and does work well, just find your high and low calorie intake amounts and do it.
Ive done this since i started bodybuilding and have never had the need to go on an all out cutting cycle yet, i just bulk full time. :tu:

Adding a few more question, If you want to zig-zag calories, on your refeed day, how much calories do you need to consume? Your maintainance level or higher? And also, how many times a week should you refeed?

Adding a few more question, If you want to zig-zag calories, on your refeed day, how much calories do you need to consume? Your maintainance level or higher? And also, how many times a week should you refeed?

You would have your Active Caloric amount, and i do this on my workout days, usually i would have 2 days off after a workout and i eat lower cals on these days.
Im not trying to lose weight so you will have to do your own experimenting to find whats right for yourself.
If your not sure what your Active caloric amount should be :
http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml
Use this as a guide though as it wont be 100% correct but you will get the idea. :tu:

I think cycling is fine and am actually a fan, and I have about 300 more calories on lifting days than cardio days. But I agree with other people who think those calories are too low. During this current cut, I eat about 1800 calories on cardio days and 2100 on lifting days. I would aim to get 1700-1800 on your non-lifting days and maybe 2100-2200 on lifting days.

I'm experimenting with something here right now, and I hope it works for me. Well it goes like this, for 5 days (weekdays, usually) I've been consuming around 1500-1800 kcal, then at Saturday, I'll be having my refeed, I'm aiming for at least 2500-3000 kcal. So that'll be my refeed day. Note: I've been eating clean for this 6 days. Then I'll have my "free day" on Sunday. So more or less I'm having 2 refeed days, back to back in a week. How does this sound to you guys, comment, suggestions? :tu:

umm, it doesn't sound to great to me don. i do not think you need a "refeed day" consisting of 3000 clean calories, and then most definitely do not need a cheat day the next day.

how on earth do you lose FAT doing that?

This is all so very, very relative. I'm 5'9", age 29, and weighed 251 pounds on January 17th. I weighed 227 pounds this past Tuesday, March 15th - almost 8 weeks to the day. I got to that point with various calorie breakdowns over that span, but basically 1300-1400 on days without weights and 1600-1700 on days with (by adding a PWO drink). I've added weight to every resistence exercise I do in that span, gaining about 5-10% performance in all lifts and putting up several new PRs. I didn't just roll of bed one day and do this, either - my January start date was the return from a nearly three month layoff, but I'd been training for years, so those aren't the magical first-month-newbie LBM gains. This is just how my body works, it's good at functioning with relatively few dietary calories (I was a really skinny kid, and it took some doing to get as fat as I was, so maybe my body chemistry really likes at munching on fat - who knows). At any rate, the only way to really find out where your effective low-range calorie line is for losing weight and maintaining (or gaining) strength is a bit of trial and error. Find a good RMR calculator, work out your numbers and go from there.

Three things that I think that have helped me lose fat and gain strength thus far:

-I don't use a HIIT cardio program. Instead, nearly every day, I do 45 minutes of low intensity cardio, cycling for 45 minutes (about 8.5 miles). I do it early in the morning, but not in a fasted state - I drink a protein shake a bit before hand, 110 calories or so. I don't hit the gym until later in the day. Burning fat is good, but muscular catabolism is bad, so I try to meet in the middle.

-I don't screw around when I get to the gym. Dozens of isometric dumbbell curls is wasting my time; I go straight for the compound and Olympic lifts and supplement with other heavy exercises. Generally, I hit four sets of everything in an 8/6/4/2 split, trying to end each set one rep shy of failure. When I can get through the entire load with perfect form, I up the weight the following week. For me, when I train hard, my body seems to respond, even if I'm in a caloric deficit.

-I eat the right things at the right times. Currently, the only signficiant carbs I eat in a day come about one hour before and immediately after I'm lifting. That's nearly 100g of carbohydrates on lifting days, but ~75 of them surrounding my gym time. It's largely protein and fat the rest of the day.

I'm not saying anyone can bulk on 1400 calories a day, nor do I expect my fat loss and strength gains to continue by dieting as I have; ironically, I expect I'll need to eat more to continue losing fat starting sometime in the next month or so. But I am saying that each person has his own metabolic thresholds and that no one can simply declare that one flat caloric floor should to apply to all. Everyone's body works differently, that's why we're all not on the same diet.

umm, it doesn't sound to great to me don. i do not think you need a "refeed day" consisting of 3000 clean calories, and then most definitely do not need a cheat day the next day.

how on earth do you lose FAT doing that?

So should I just cut out the refeed day? Cause I'm definitely not cutting the free day, yet :lol:
Oh, and by the way, I think I only have approximately 2-3 pounds of fat to lose and I have 1 month. So I don't think I need to be that strict yet, right? Maybe for the last week I'll be very strict, but not for now.

One more question, when you're cutting, do you necessarily need to feel low on energy after 3 hours? I mean after eating, I'm fine but exactly for my next meal I'm so weak and tired, does this mean I'm consuming too little or it's just normal?