What Is The Zig Zag Diet?

Another name for the zig zag diet is “calorie shifting” or “calorie cycling”. Since it involves changing the number of calories you eat each day over the course of a week. The idea is to avoid the inevitable plateaus that come with constant calorie diets.

Some zig zag diets have you eat a different number of calories every single day. But that gets tedious. A better approach is having “low”, “medium”, and “high” days.

Low days maximize fat burning and medium days balance fat loss with muscle building or maintenance. While a weekly high day boosts your metabolism and refills your energy stores.

Figure 1. This graph of daily calorie intake shows how the zig zag (or calorie cycling) diet gets it’s name.

Why Constant Calorie Diets Fail

Before we go further, it’s important to understand why traditional diets don’t work. One of the main reasons is predictability.

Think of a football team trying to get a first down. Now imagine the coach decides to run the ball on every play. While it may work a few times, eventually the defense recognizes the formation and adapts to stop it.

Figure 2. Doing the same thing over and over rarely results in continued success.

The same is true for constant calorie diets. After some initial success, your metabolism adapts and you stop making progress. This is called metabolic adaptation.

For instance, when you cut calories, your metabolism changes within a few weeks and you hit a plateau. At that point, you might cut calories again only to hit another plateau. This is why regular diets fail.

Figure 3. Plateaus caused by metabolic adaptation during a constant calorie diet.

Figure 4. The zig zag diet prevents changes in metabolic rate by “confusing” your body. TDEE = total daily energy expenditure, BMR = base metabolic rate.

2. Maintains or Builds Lean Muscle

One reason the zig zag diet maintains metabolism is that it prevents the breakdown of muscle tissue. More muscle means a faster metabolism and more calories burned. Which helps you get lean and look your best.

In addition, zig zag dieting can help you build muscle without gaining excess fat. By adding more high days, you create a calorie surplus. While the low and medium days help you stay lean.

3. Adjusts to Your Activity Level

With constant calorie diets, you eat the same amount regardless of your activity level. But the more calories you burn, the more calories you need.

It’s like our lazy football coach running the ball on 3rd and 20. In this situation, he’d have better odds passing the ball.

The zig zag diet is like having more plays in your playbook. Giving you the ability to adjust your calorie intake to meet your calorie needs.

Figure 5. An example of the zig zag diet adjusting calorie intake based on energy needs.

4. Burns More Fat

It’s important to realize that your metabolism adapts to the source of energy (macros), and not just the amount of energy (calories).

For example, if you constantly eat carbs your metabolism teams up on that one energy pathway. That means you get less efficient at converting carbs into energy.

Like if our soon-to-be fired coach always gives the ball to the same player. Even though he’s calling different plays, the defense knows who to go after and shuts it down.

However, mixing up your macros makes your diet more effective. Because you force your metabolism to switch between energy pathways (carbs and fat). Also known as metabolic flexibility.

Shifting macros along with calories is called carb cycling. And it’s an excellent way to become more efficient at burning fat while preserving muscle.

Figure 6. Adjusting daily carb intake along with calories is called carb cycling.