is one day sufficient?zig zag diet?

well,i'm trying out the zig zag diet. I understand the logic behind it and how to go about it,but there's one thing i'm not very sure about

lets say, i eat low cal for 2 days, 1200,1200. Thats the lowest i can go. How long does it take for the body's metabolism to slow down.?and after eating 2 days of low cal, is 1 day of maintenance enough to rev up the metabolism?i

i've tried 2 low cals days, then 2 maintenance days...and it goes on. but nth seems to be working lol.

So you've been trying this diet for 4 days?  Give it at least a week.

"i've tried 2 low cals days, then 2 maintenance days...and it goes on"

i meant, i've tried the same cycle, 2 low cal days , 2 maintenance days..

for 2 weeks. and nth has happened.

but my question was, whether 1 day of maintenance will be enough to speed up the metabolism after 2 days of low cal.

Hmm, sorry for misunderstanding your post.   How high are your maintenance days?  2 days of low-cal is not nearly enough to put you in starvation mode, especially not at 1200.

Could you have overestimated your maintenance calories? It might be a better idea to work out your ideal calories and use that as a basis. So say 1500 a day gave you a 500 a deficit (ie you burn 2000).

3 days a week at 1200, 2 days a week at 1450, and 2 days at 2000 would add up to the same deficit per week (which is what really matters) this gives you a 1lb a week loss on average.

The goal what ever numbers you pick is to average a deficit of 500.

well,the bmr calculators say i need 1700 cals per day, but i have been eating around 1500-1600 cals maintenance,and hv not lost any weight doing the zig zag thing,so i doubt that my body is really burning 1700.

and it is pretty hard to count calories,coz i eat more of an asian diet,with different type of noodles,some of which i don't even know the name(in english that is). So ,i have to estimate...maybe thats the problem.

Original Post by stinkypillow:

well,the bmr calculators say i need 1700 cals per day, but i have been eating around 1500-1600 cals maintenance,and hv not lost any weight doing the zig zag thing,so i doubt that my body is really burning 1700.

and it is pretty hard to count calories,coz i eat more of an asian diet,with different type of noodles,some of which i don't even know the name(in english that is). So ,i have to estimate...maybe thats the problem.

 Yea, especially with noodles/pasta type- they can be high cal so perhaps you are eating more than you think. When I got a food scale, it totally helped and I finally started to lose since I was counting more accurately. Perhaps you should start buying and eating food that provides nutrition facts and so on. Good luck!

If your BMR is 1700 calories, that is not your maintenance calories that is what you would burn in a coma.

What are you stats (age/height/weight) and I'll try and work this out for you.

Ideally you're looking for a 700 cal deficit per day, so take that as 4900 deficit per week, divide up that deficit as you like maybe two days of the week try to shoot for 1000 calorie deficit (eat 1200, work out a little extra). That means you've 5 days to burn up to 2900 more calories than you consume, fit it into whatever  works for your lifestyle. For example if you eat a big family dinner on Sundays, have that as your mainenance day. This ought to see you losing 1.5 lbs per week and will set you up nicely for maintaining this for life.

18, 162 cm, 55-56 kg.thanks =)

I am now like 70 percent sure that it's the noodles.  Those things are so hard to measure.

Original Post by stinkypillow:

18, 162 cm, 55-56 kg.thanks =)

You have a perfect (ie at the low end but healthy) BMI of 21, you need 2284 calories a day to maintain healthily if you are moderately active.

Until the age of 21 your muscles, organs and skeleton are still developing so the sort of diet you are on is not healthy. I used healthyeatingcalculator to get this information.

EDIT: The reason you have not lost any weight despite eating too little is your body will resist becoming under weight. Don't be surprised if after a month or two of eating properly you have put on a very small amount. To lose this you would want to eat no lower than 1700 calories until it goes and then go back up to 2284..... this way you'll be at your healthiest.