Hello all, I am new here. I have been counting calories for 6 weeks now. Yesterday was the start of my 7th week. I have lost almost 16 pounds so I am fairly happy about that. I was reading threads here before I joined and I saw zig zag mentioned and zig zag calculators so I googled it. I had been thinking that maybe my calorie intake was too low. It is not that I am usually hungry, but I was questioning myself as to wether I would be able to lose weight when I got closer to my goal or if my metabolism will crash and burn. I journal every thing I eat in an Excel spread sheet. I also have a growing spread sheet of nutritional information of common things I eat. I copy and paste from one spread sheet to the next when I plan my meals. My target daily calorie consumption is 1440 calories. I am under that most days by between 100 and 200 calories. If I ever go over it is just ever so slightly. I don't deprive myself because I feel that if I am going to do tihs for the rest of my life it has to be realistic. I do eat out sometimes, but I plan before I go. If I crave a chocolate bar, I know it is not nutitional, but I plan for it which may mean I push the craving off for a day or too then I am satisfied. In the past, if I have deprived cravings I think I was more likely to cave in and overindulge.

Okay so now my questions about zig zag. How do you like this approach? What kind of activity level is it designed for? I know introducing an exercise routine would be great for weight loss. However, I am often at work from early in the morning until late at night and by the time I am home it takes my remaining energy to plan my next days meals, make my lunch and then I need to get to bed as I am exhausted and the alarm rings early. I have friends who totally judge me for this, but I do have a chronic disease (Crohn's) that they have never had to live with and therefor they don't understand the effort simple day to day to tasks can be. I wouldn't have understood it until 4 years ago either. It is the prednisone used to treat the Crohn's that has caused the weight gain and now the fight to take the weight back off. I have been off steroids for 1.5 years and it is time to take back my life. At least the parts I have some control over...

When the calculator mentions extreme fat loss versus fat loss how does that translate in to approximate pounds per week?

I am thinking the zig zag approach should help boost and keep my metabolism working for me and help to avoid the dreaded plateau. Have you found this to be true? I did start taking synthroid 3 weeks ago for hypothyroidism.

Other things about my weight loss plan so far. I try to drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Although I don't formally exercise I do take stairs rather than elevators when it is an option. I have lots of stairs in my house. I am on my feet at work. I don't park near doors when shopping. I eat a lot of salad. Most days for lunch because I find it fills me up and I am not hungry half way through the afternoon there is always meat and egg on the salad and I used fat free or calorie reduced salad dressings at all times. I also love wraps. I use the flax tortilla wraps and they are awesome. I fill them with chicken, rice and salsa with fat free sour cream. Taco salad wraps are another personal favourite with extra lean ground beef with reduced sodium taco seasoning, lettuce, tomatoes, calorie wise catalina, fat free sour cream.

Welcome. I can't help you about zigzag as I am not familiar with it. Maybe some one can enlighten me.

If the numbers you are talking about zig zagging, are not extreme I see so problem, it's kind of life anyway, isn't it? At your current weight I don't think 1440 is too much, actually maybe too little. I understand your exercise issues, but I would encourage you to try to make 20-30 minutes a day for yourself. When I first started (at just about your weight), it was one of the main things I changed. I started getting up at 5:30 in the morning, to get my walk and crunches in before work. It became very enjoyable and stress relieving to me. For that 20-30 minutes, no one needed anything from me, and I was free to enjoy the birds and flowers, and just think. That 30 minutes might start your day off better, than an extra half hour of sleep :-)

Hi there,
I'm pretty new here too -- I've been counting calories in fitday since Jan 07. I actually have read some posts about zig zagging and will follow this post for better explanation because I've been wondering myself. I shoot for 1200-1300 during the week of healthy foods, but on the weekend (at least Fri night and sometimes Sat.) I do splurge a little. That tends to be when I eat out or have less control (and willpower!) over my eating. I'm wondering if going up on calories for a day or two a week would be considered zig zagging or if it's more complicated then that?

Anyway, it sounds to me like you are doing really great. Your food choices sound good and you've lost a considerable amount especially given a demanding schedule and Crohn's. My sister has lupus and has to be very careful about getting her rest or she does suffer flare ups. Maybe you could incorporate working out on your days off and then slowly add a work day or two. That would give you 3-4 days of exercise... a good start.

I'll be curious to read more about zig zagging from more knowledgable posters.

Bek,
Yes I was thinking that 1440 calories may be too low of a goal for me right now. I am going to switch my current plan to the zig zag plan (using the calculator I found) and I will keep you all informed. Now the decision I have to make... There is the simplified plan with small daily fluctuations and there is the complex plan that has larger daily fluctuations. Both end up with the same number of calories over a period of one week though. I think I am going to go the complex route. Seems to me that it will better "trick" my metabolism.

Off to create new spread sheets. Just as I think I finally got the old one perfected. Today is day one on the zig zag plan!

Thanks to all who replied to me so far.

May I ask where you found the calculator?

I googled zig zag calories and found http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?itemid=64

There were a buncha chicks chatting about it in this thread

I zig zig kinda unintentionally...I take my average calories for the week.

Tanks chick in the hat

Hi Nicker, I looked at the calculator you found and that will only work if you put in your ideal body weight, not your current weight. You can determine your ideal body weight by starting at 100 pounds for the first 5 feet and then adding 5 pounds for every inch over five feet. I'm just shy of 5'1 so for me, my ideal body weight is 105. By taking your IBW and multiplying it by 15, you can determine the number of calories your body burns just to keep your body functioning. This assumes you are not an athlete or a body builder. For every 500 a calories less then this number you consume in a day, you'll lose 1 pound a week. I eat 800 calories a day during the week and around 1200 on the weekend. Sometimes I'll eat up to 1500 if it's a special occasion but NEVER more then my burn rate which for me is 1575 calories.

When I put my current weight in the calculator, it had me eating a minimum of 1,680 calories a day. I gain weight at that level. But if I put in my ideal body weight or even my goal weight of 135, it's much more accurate.