Calorie Zigzag diet - alternating proteins and carbohydrates for weight loss

Features of the Zigzag diet, its timing

The Zigzag diet is a carbohydrate alternation program that was created specifically for people who want to lose excess weight without much effort . Its developer is a scientist from Germany Karl Noorden.

Later, nutritionists made small changes to this nutrition system to increase its effectiveness.

The Zigzag diet and its weekly menu helps improve metabolism in the body.

At first, only athletes and bodybuilders used this diet. It gave them a lot of strength and energy, and also helped them lose extra pounds without destroying their muscles.

The diet consists of a quantitative alternation of carbohydrates consumed in food. At the initial stage, you need to eat as few carbohydrates as possible. Further, on the contrary, you need to fill the body with carbohydrates as much as possible. And only then should you adhere to a balanced diet.

The diet helps improve metabolism in the body. It is recommended to follow the Zigzag program for 1-2 months.

Be careful when maintaining a calorie deficit

Consuming too few calories leads to problems in the functioning of the body.

It is strongly recommended that you monitor your diet for adequate caloric intake and adjust it as needed to maintain your nutrient and energy needs.

You should not reduce your caloric intake by more than 1000 kcal per day, as this may be harmful to your body. In addition, there may be a loss of muscle mass, resulting in a risk of slowing metabolism.

Dehydration or fat loss?

Excessive weight loss can also be caused by dehydration. In addition, a healthy diet is important during physical activity, as the body must be able to maintain its metabolic processes.

If a person deprives the body of nutrients, weight loss may not be sustainable because the weight often returns as fat.

Therefore, focusing only on the number of calories you consume is not enough; it is important to consume enough fiber, protein, and other nutrients.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Zigzag diet

The benefits of the diet include:

1. There is no feeling of hunger, thanks to the replenishment of the body with all the necessary elements.
2. Consumed proteins bring many benefits: during weight loss they do not reduce muscle mass, and they also improve metabolism.
3. It is effective in action. Helps you lose extra pounds in a short period of time.
4. It is characterized by variety in the menu. After all, the main thing is to monitor the consumption of carbohydrates and proteins in the correct quantities.
5. Throughout the diet you can do physical exercise.

6. It has no harmful effects on health. It is not very difficult to start and quite easy to get out of it.
7. The “Zigzag” diet, the weekly menu of which you can change yourself, following the specified standards and examples, differs in this from other diets.

Flaws:

1. There are contraindications.
2. At the initial stage, the diet may seem difficult, because the body needs to get used to the new diet.

How many calories should you eat to lose weight?

Many people want to lose weight, and often the easiest way to do this is to burn more calories than you consume in a day. But how many calories does the body need to be healthy?

This indicator depends on many parameters and will be individual for everyone.

Some factors that affect the number of calories consumed:

• Age
• Weight
• Height
• Floor
• Physical activity level
• General health

Calorie intake individually

For example, a physically active 25-year-old man with a height of 180 cm needs to consume more calories than a 70-year-old woman with a height of 150 cm who leads a sedentary lifestyle.

Adult men typically require 2000-3000 kcal per day to maintain normal functioning and maintain a stable weight, while adult women require about 1600-2400 kcal.

Zigzag diet: plan for alternating carbohydrates by day

The nutrition in question is divided into cycles, each of which is 4 days:

• Days 1 and 2 are considered low carb. Consume 0.5 g of carbohydrates per kg of weight, and at least 3 g of protein. At the end of 2 days, glycogen is completely used up, and the body begins to use fat instead.
• on day 3 you need to consume 5 g of carbohydrates and 1 g of protein. Fats are broken down in the body, muscles and liver are replenished with glycogen.

  
  Zigzag diet: the weekly menu includes alternating carbohydrates and proteins.

• on day 4, nutrition should be balanced. On this day, carbohydrates and proteins are consumed in equal quantities of 2.5 g. This is done so that the body can replenish wasted glycogen reserves.

Important to remember! When starting the Zigzag diet, it is not recommended to eat only vegetables on carbohydrate days of the weekly menu, and only eggs and meat products on protein days, you just need to eat them in the prescribed quantity.

Sample menu for a week for the Zigzag diet

“Zigzag” diet: the menu for the week is detailed in a table according to the rules for alternating carbohydrates and proteins.

Note! Throughout the entire Zigzag diet, in addition to the main menu for the week, you should definitely drink plenty of water, and you are also allowed to drink 1 cup of coffee per day without added sugar.

Recipes for the Zigzag diet

Stewed chicken in a slow cooker:

• remove the skin from the chicken, wash, salt and pepper;
• put the chicken in the multicooker container, add a couple of bay leaves, water (150 g), diced potatoes;
• simmer for about an hour and a half.

Chicken fillet with vegetables in a pot:

• Wash and chop the broccoli and spinach well. You will need 400 g of each ingredient;
• for the marinade, cut 1 onion into rings and season it with apple juice (2 tsp), vegetable broth (200 ml) and wine (1/2 cup);
• salt and pepper the marinade and mix;
• chicken cut into small pieces is mixed with vegetables;
• Place the mixture in pots and pour in the marinade;
• cover the pots with foil with a small hole to allow steam to escape;
• bake in the oven for about 60 minutes.

The nutritional system is not very different from the diet of many people; the only thing you need to do, as indicated in the diet, is to exclude harmful foods.

Vegetable Salad:

• cut cucumbers and daikon into small pieces;
• add chopped lettuce and green onions;
• mix everything with vinegar (1 tsp) and olive oil (3 tsp).

Oatmeal:

• bring 0.5 liters of water to a boil, add oatmeal and cook until completely cooked;
• pour hot water over raisins for 5-10 minutes;
• add raisins to the porridge and mix everything well.
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Fish with vegetables:

• bake chopped garlic, tomato, zucchini and wrapped in foil in the oven at 200 degrees for 1 hour;
• add salt, pepper, olive oil and, if desired, parsley and basil to the prepared vegetables;
• grill salmon fillet, then cut it into small pieces and mix with vegetables.

Fish in a steamer:

• chop lemon (1 pc.) and dill (bunch), mix together;
• marinate fish fillets (200 g) in the prepared mixture for half an hour;
• bake fish in a double boiler;
• Sprinkle the finished dish with parsley and ground black pepper.

Diet effectiveness: what results can be achieved

The results of this diet are amazing; in just a few months you can lose 10-15 kg of excess weight. Nutritionists say: the Zigzag nutrition system is highly effective, and it is completely harmless to the body, thanks to its special diet.

Interesting fact! There are many positive reviews about the nutritional system in question from popular stars, athletes, as well as ordinary people, who prove its effectiveness and easy tolerance by the body.

The nutritional system is not very different from the diet of many people; the only thing you need to do, as indicated in the diet, is to exclude harmful foods.

It has been proven that the “Zigzag” program can be followed for a long time, even throughout life, changing it to suit you. You can return to it after a long break. The diet does not worsen mental and physical health, but, on the contrary, improves well-being and normalizes the functional state of the body.

What is a calorie calculator?

The calorie calculator is used to calculate the daily calorie intake for an individual. It can also provide some guidance for gaining or losing weight.

This calorie calculator is based on several equations and the results are based on their averages.

The Harris-Benedict formula was one of the first equations introduced. It was revised and refined in 1984, making the results more accurate.

Daily Calorie Calculator