Hi everyone!

I just recently decided to start counting calories as my weight loss has slowed a bit lately. I'm wondering if you guys have had any success with calorie cycling, or if you think it's better to just stick to an even number every single day? I'm contemplating the cycling, because I think it will be easier to to fit in treat meals on the weekend when i'm alotted 1800 calories one of the days, instead of the 1550 average that I would get every single day. For that, I'm willing to make one day a little over 1200 calories as my low.

Have you had any experiences/successes with cycling? Or am I better off just focusing on 1550 every day?

Thanks!

Congrats on losing first off.

Secondly, 1800 and 1550 for your height and current weight is a lot, but I don't know how much you exercise.

Cycling works. Lots of people do it. I would think tho that at 1800 and 1550, unless you are burning off a lot of calories, you may maintain.

My opinion, of course. Maybe others will be more insightful.

1550 is a lot for her height/weight? I have to disagree... I've been losing steadily eating 1550 calories 5 days a week and 1800 calories twice a week. And exercising 5 days a week, too.

Thank you for your input! I definitely see your point. If i was doing nothing then I would definitely be maintaining at these levels! However, I'm currently exercising 6x a week, for an hour or more every day switching between cardio/strength training/yoga. Also, I'm a student who travels using public transit so I do A LOT of walking throughout the day.

Up until this week, I estimate I've been eating 1800-2000 calories every day and was managing to lose roughly .5-1lb each week. I just decided though that I should probably switch things up and really track everything if I want to continue losing at that rate!

That is great to hear!! Gives me hope that this level will work for me too! THanks

I was wondering something similar - I've just started this calorie counting thing right after my TOM, and am finding it easy to keep to a fairly low calorie count. I KNOW, however, that the week before my next TOM will be tough with fighting cravings just plain being hungry.
My plan is to cycle the calories over the month to correspond with my cycle.

I like cycling because some days I just feel like I need more than other days. So, I never necessarily planned but went based on how I felt (sometimes planning is necessary though). I'm not currently cycling calories but I do think it's a good idea. Try it and see how it works.

I second that I don't think those calories are too! I regularly eat that amount and I'm only 5'3! LOL
Calorie cycling is nice to do. I do it without keeping track of it.

Weightloss is definitely a trial-and-error thing for all of us. Keep at it and find what works for you!

I actually recently switched from calorie counting to intuitive eating, and I find that I naturally do some calorie cycling of my own. Now, for the last couple of weeks I have been writing down my food choices (not with calories), just so I could see them and to make sure I wasn't going off the deep end. A couple days ago I went through my food log and counted the calories to see where I was landing each day, so I had an idea.

Basically on an average day, I land at about 1200-1300 calories. But I've also noticed that every 6-8 days, depending, I naturally spike up to around 1900-2000 calories. Sometimes this means I eat a bit more, or something it means my food is a bit more calorie-laden. But I've also kept steadily losing, so I think it's a natural thing to move your calories around. I think it's also really important to be flexible-sometimes you exercise more, need a bit more, or just need something a little bit different than what you typically have.