Sport Calorie Cycling Questions...

[gokix811]

Hey everyone. Maybe someone reading this can give me some guidance. I've been working out on the p90 (not p90x) program for a little over 2 months now. However, I've hit a plateau for the past month now, i.e. a few inches lost, but scale isn't budging probably due to the fact that I've been stuck on a low cal diet (1500-1600 cal/day) with no changes.

My stats:
24 yrs old
female
174
31% BF

My cardio days are MWF; resistance training is on Sun, Tue, Th. Saturday is my rest day as well as my "cheat" day. Some articles on calorie cycling recommend to start at a medium baseline and add +500 for high days and -200 for low days. Other articles suggest different numbers. I'd like to shed as much bf and tone up as I possibly can during this summer.

Maintenance calories: 2390
Maintenance calories for FAT LOSS: 1912

So I set 1912 as my medium baseline. How does it look? Overall, it's a weekly deficit of about 1600 calories. Didn't work in any high days, because I don't know where to put it? Which days are best for high maintenance cals in order to shed a lot of bf? Please feel free to tweak any part of this! Really! Thanks

sunday 1912 Resistance, Medium maint.
monday 1500 Cardio, Low maint.
tues 1500 Resistance, Low maint.
wed 1912 Cardio, Med maint.
thur 1500 Resistance, Low maint.
fri 1500 Cardio, Low maint.
sat 1912 Rest Day maintenance

 

[malkore]

I'm no fan of calorie cycling. The body works on trends, so you want to 'teach it' to burn fat.
If calories are dipping and diving, you're just confusing the body, and when in a deficit you could even end up in a starvation mode metabolically despite taking in a reasonable number of weekly calories.

Since your current setup doesn't appear to be working for you, I'd suggest changing it up. Set a solid daily calorie intake, and don't waver.
Do, however, change the way you eat carbs. Try carb cycling, and stick to the best carb choices for the next two months.

On cardio days, restrict carbs and eat more protein and fat to maintain the calories. On weight training days, take in moderate carbs so you have the energy necessary for anaerobic training.
You can dip down to .5 grams of carbs / pound of bodyweight on cardio days (so like 80-85g) and more like 1g /pound on weight days, particularly pre-workout and complex starchy carbs like oatmeal for the energy.

 

[darren187]

Hi,

You say the scale hasn't budged but you lost a few inches, where were these inches from? It could well be that you lost fat and maintained lean mass or even that you gained a small amount of lean mass (from the exercise), which could account for the lack of weight loss.

How are you measuring your body fat, with scales or calipers? Are your weigh in times uniform (as in once per week at the same time with the same amount of clothing)?

Also you say your maintenance calorie amount is around 2500, so what was your reason for dropping to days when you ate 1500!? That's well over the 500 cal per day, safe, limit. I'm no expert but I would have thought with a continued deficit that low, for more than a week, would put your body into starvation mode guaranteed!

Are you using a macro nutrient ratio and splitting your carbs/protein/fats into percentages? If so what ratio are you using? (EVERYONE will have an opinion on what's best!) In general when cutting/dieting/losing weight a good ratio will be in the region of 40-50 carbs / 20-40% protein / 20-25% fats, similar to the 'zone diet' strategy.

I think you should carry on with your current exercise regimen but up your cals to your maintenance level for at least two or three weeks whilst you monitor your weight and body fat %. If you keep the plan simple then you will easily be able to see where you are heading, and things can be made even easier if you keep a diet/food and exercise diary/journal. So for those weeks you eat your 2000 cals per day don't cycle the amounts.

As for cycling in general, from what I have read cycling does work for the majority of people (if not all), it can be used at specific times (when cutting) or as part of a long term maintenance plan (ie for cheat days). Most plans revolve around a three or four day low schedule and every fourth or fifth day there is either one high day or several high days, and then the cycle is repeated. ie eat 500 cals under your maintenance for three days and then eat your maintenance amount of cals on the fourth day and then repeat... or eat 2000 cals for four days and 2500 for two days, and repeat. I think it's best if you experiment and decide for yourself whether or not how well its working.

When should you use cycling? Again there will be many different opinions. From my own weight loss experience, as long as you know how many calories you eat, know your body fat percentage (within a few points), use a well organised macro nutrient breakdown, and are exercising enough to be burning calories away daily, there is no real need to cycle initially! You should use a cycling program to either break a plateau or in the last few weeks of a major cut to help shift the last few cm off your waistline. So if you are losing a decent amount of weight each week and the majority of it if from fat, and you are simply creating the standard 500 cals per day deficit, use that method until you plateau (also assuming you assess your weight every few weeks and adjust your cals accordingly!!!).

 

[summer123]

Inches go down but weight does not?

Could it be that your losing water and gaining muscle? bloating and odema happens to the best of us and can be lost overnight. (Not saying you have't lost fat too but water loss can account for quite a few inches).