Calorie Cycling
I think many diet plans use a version of calorie cycling (without calling it that). Body for Life allows you to "eat whatever and all you want" one day a week, Burn the Fat has you eat higher every 4th day, New Rules for Lifting has you eat higher on the days you strength train, Weight Watchers gives you extra bonus points each week and extra points for exercise so you can eat higher amounts some days.....
I think that many people actually cycle calories without really thinking about it or calling it that. You might eat low calories for a few days and then have a binge (because your body is telling your brain that you're starving and need to eat now), so you eat more the day you have your binge cravings. Or on the day you don't exercise, you'll eat lower than your calorie goal and then another day when you've exercised you'll eat higher than your calorie goal. On the day you eat lower, you'll think "yea me" and on the day you eat higher you might get mad at yourself, but if you call this calorie cycling you think it's all good because it fits into the plan and you're in control.
So... IMO if being in control of the numbers makes you feel positive about the natural fluctuations that are a part of eating then go for it, call it calorie cycling and give yourself a goal for each day (I'd recommend tying exercise with your higher days and days off exercise with your lower days). I guess my warning is that you might become too focused on meeting the calorie goals each day and stop listening to what your brain and body are telling you, so you lose touch with your physiological needs. I'd argue that when you get to maintenance, you absolutely need to be able to read your body signals if you want to be successful at maintaining weight loss long term, so calorie cycling might initially hamper your success in maintaining.
I have tried calorie cycling, but I think personally it forces me to focus too much on food and intake each day to the point of obsessing over it, which, IMO is dangerous because it's the pathway to eating disorders, and I don't want to go there. What works for me (and I am just one person, and different things work for different people of course) is to have a calorie range goal (1300-1500) and try to hit somewhere in that range most of the time. If I have a day where I go over, I assume my body needed more calories that day, if I stay at the low end I figure I needed less. I also know that when I start getting the urge to bake yummy treats for my children that I probably need to eat a little more that day (so I'll try to eat something healthier like oatmeal rather than munching on raw cookie dough).
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