Anyone know about calorie cycling?

I'm curious how that works.

Is this the same thing as calorie shifting?

from what i can tell yes.

Is this also the same thing as zig-zagging?

Well the concept is the same but I'm not sure about the specific details. Which is why I'm asking. Some say to raise your cal intake and then lower it below a baseline intake you eat most days on a cycle. Others say to eat your base line and just raise your intake for 2 days a week, no lowering it below the base line. And these are done on a 4 week cycle, I want to know why you need to quit doing it for 2 weeks between too. I'm wondering if both methods are effective and how well it works. I do not really want to lower my baseline because it is very low already but if adding a few calories 2 times a week will keep my body burning more efficiently I am going to try it.

I think i've heard of something like this. I think it's supposed to trick your body into not noticing it's losing weight and start sabotaging you. And also maybe to keep the dreaded plateau at bay. I will keep checking this one to see what people come up with.

Yes, I have heard of this but I've heard it called zig-zagging.  I went onto a website and found a calculator that helps indicate how many calories you should eat each day.  I'm only on day two, but I found that I didn't feel so starved for food because I could eat 1778 calories yesterday.  Today is 1616 and it bounces back and forth all week. 

I'll tell you, though:  I feel better today than I have in a long time.  I'm not exhausted (which I think is a side effect of only eating 1300 calories per day), I'm not moody, and I don't feel like I need something bad to make me feel better because I know I can have a snack-size KitKat when I get home :)  I can also eat a regular meal that makes me feel satiated.

Another bonus:  I don't feel hungry.  Maybe that's because I'm eating too many calories :) but I think it's because I actually can eat when I'm hungry, which I heard was a good rule to follow when zig-zagging!!!

The website I visited was:  http://www.naturalphysiques.com/tools.php?ite mid=64  There's a calculator here that you can use :)

Good luck everyone!!!

I had a stack of back issues of HEALTH magazines from the library (returned them so I have no idea which month). They reviewed some "diet" books and actually said that this concept is sound if done within reason. They said it keeps your metabolism guessing and you aren't really ever hungry. Their comments were a much more stringent concept, say half the calories on one day as compared to the previous. More or less.

Makes sense, surely we all have days when we really want to eat a lot and then the next day - not so much.

Our body is probably telling us something.

Hehe, I just checked out that calculator and looked at the totals it gave me for this "zig-zagging".  I then looked at my food logs for the past week and a half.  Looks almost exactly the same!  I eat mostly at specified times during the day but oftentimes when I'm at home I just eat when I'm hungry and never eat more than I tell myself I'm going to.  I've established a natural pattern of zig-zagging on my own!  Proof that this is probably a good idea.