Has Anyone Tried Calorie Cycling - 1 Week Surplus, 1 Week Deficit?

[NaturalMsO]

Thinking of trying something new: Eating a bulking diet for one week, then a cutting diet for one week, repeat.

Primary goal: gain more muscle
Secondary goal: lose fat

I'm hoping this plan will help me achieve both. I'm interested in hearing from others who have tried this - and the results you got from it. Even if you haven't tried it, please feel free to share your thoughts about why you think this would work - or wouldn't work.

One of the reasons I decided to give this a shot is because, frankly, I find it difficult to do a long bulk and/or a long cut. I'm not planning any shows/competitions, so I have some leeway with this.

[xXBoStErXx]

Thinking of trying something new: Eating a bulking diet for one week, then a cutting diet for one week, repeat.

Primary goal: gain more muscle
Secondary goal: lose fat

I'm hoping this plan will help me achieve both. I'm interested in hearing from others who have tried this - and the results you got from it. Even if you haven't tried it, please feel free to share your thoughts about why you think this would work - or wouldn't work.

One of the reasons I decided to give this a shot is because, frankly, I find it difficult to do a long bulk and/or a long cut. I'm not planning any shows/competitions, so I have some leeway with this.

When I was cutting from 205 to where I am now I calorie/ carb cycled. I did a week of carb cycling, but i love carbs too much so than I did calorie cycling. I'm not sure if calorie cycling has any specific benefits other than it's easier to create a deficit.

I'd suggest calorie cycling to you, if you think that it would help you create a deficit longer. IE wouldnt give up on the cut. But, make sure you dont over do the calories on off days etc. I'd suggest a 1 week followed by maintenance or even break it up by the days 3 days a week eat maintenance 4 days eat -500 and your down almost 1 lb of fat a week, probably would be beneficial for maintaining your lean mass too.

Good luck

[NaturalMsO]

Thank you for your reply. I'd probably increase everything (protein, fat and carbs - but especially fat and carbs) during my bulk week. During the cut week, I'd focus on decreasing carbs and increasing cardio. And repeat.

Anyone else have any thoughts and/or experience on this?...

[Son21387]

yea true or during my "maintence" phase I would just cut out the cardio and eat normal and my cutting week eat the same incoporate cardio..

I do both calorie and carb cycling. I guess if you are cutting out carbs u are cutting out calories, but all in all calorie dip/surplus, and usually they came from carbohydrate b/c I had a steady protein intake roughly 1.3-1.5 grams of protein per body weight

[imccarthy]

You might have limited results but in all honesty your such a program would leave your body in a constant state of metabolic flux... in the end you would probably make no progress. Very little muscle can be synthesized in 7 days and the bulk would limit any fat loss.

Carb/calorie cycling may allow you to gain a bit of muscle while losing some fat - high calorie/carb days on weight training days will increase protein synthesis while low calorie/carb days on rest days will keep the fat off.

With such extreme protocols you are going to have to experiment.

[NaturalMsO]

You might have limited results but in all honesty your such a program would leave your body in a constant state of metabolic flux... in the end you would probably make no progress. Very little muscle can be synthesized in 7 days and the bulk would limit any fat loss.

Carb/calorie cycling may allow you to gain a bit of muscle while losing some fat - high calorie/carb days on weight training days will increase protein synthesis while low calorie/carb days on rest days will keep the fat off.

With such extreme protocols you are going to have to experiment.

That's exactly what I plan on doing; and it's what I'm hoping will result from this diet. True, not much muscle can be synthesized in a week, however, if I keep cycling my calories that way for several months, long-term progress will add up. Hopefully...