I've been reading a lot about calorie cycling lately (where you vary your calorie allowance by day, but still total to the same amount each week - as opposed to eating the same amount of calories each day). The last time I seriously calorie counted, I lost a lot of weight, but plateaued and suspect that I really screwed up my metabolism. So, this idea of "tricking" the body through calorie cycling really appeals to me.

My question is: Is calorie cycling based on calories consumed or 'net' calories (calories consumed - calories burned from exercise)?

Here's an example to illustrate my confusion. For the sake of using easy numbers, say I normally allow myself 1000 calories a day. If I exercise, I allow myself to eat calories burned. So, in a given week, I could be eating 1000, 1200, 1500, 1100, etc; but, from a 'net calorie' perspective, it is always 1000 calories per day.

So - was that calorie cycling - because I was eating different amounts each day? Or was it the opposite of calorie cycling because I was netting the same amount each day?

Such confusing stuff Any help would be appreciated!

I just base calorie cycling on calories consumed but I never eat back calories burned.

I would think in the case of eating back burned calories you'd do that after your set amounts. Like say Monday your set amount is 1000, you burn 200, so you'd eat back 200 for an actual total of 1200 consumed. Then say Tuesday your set amount is 1250, you burn 300, so you eat back 300 for an actual total of 1550 consumed.

If I ate back burned calories while calorie cycling that's how I would do it. Don't know if that's any help. =)

You'll never know how many calories you burn exercising, so I don't eat back any calories that I may have burned. What if a website says that I burn 800 calories in an hour doing Zumba, but I actually only burn 400 because it's the beginning class of a new series of dances and I'm just learning the new routine? You can never know for sure.

I calorie cycle and shake it up on a daily basis. I eat anywhere from 1600-1850 calories throughout the week. I found a range that I could lose weight in and the calories are a bit higher because I do work out 4-5 days a week.

I am pretty sure it means net.

However, I am with Emme that I think you never know how many calories you are burning, and I also think the calorie content of food is also going to be never quite accurate. I think in that sense you are always sort of zig-zagging. I try to overestimate my food a little when I'm counting, but I'm sure one day when I ring in at 1250 net and the next day when I ring it at 1250 net I could be as much as 100-200 (or more!) apart in reality, due to guesstimating portion size and calorie content. So I don't purposefully try to zig-zag, I think it's built into the imperfect process of calorie counting (unless you're super anal and accurate with your counting).

That said, I'm not a calorie counting expert, so it could be that zig-zagging requires more of a swing back and forth than just a couple hundred either way. Just sharing what has worked for me

I agree with the others in not knowing exactly how many calories I'm burning, so I dont eat back those calories.
I do however cycle my calories based on my workout for the day, not on a set number for the week.
It takes more planning and calculations but for me its worth putting in the work.
I'm a health sciences major and I learned to do this in one of my personal training classes but I eat different calorie amount depending on 1)if I workout that particular day 2)length of workout 3)intensity of my workout.
I do know that basic calorie cycling works well for a lot of people.

I think I "inadvertently" calorie cycle. I bounce all around the place during the week (1500-1700) and once a week I'm up at around 2000-2200 or better. I dunno...works for me though...may be something to this "keeps the body guessing" thing!