Chris and I have been so excited and touched by the positive feedback we’ve received on our new book, Extreme Transformation! We seriously poured our lives—and lots of blood, sweat, and tears—into this book with the hope that it would help you begin and achieve your transformation goals, whatever they may be. And…we included 21 days? worth of amazing meals in this book after so many of you asked for a daily meal plan. We aim to please! 😉
Many of you have loved the daily meal plans, but we’ve heard that some of you are a little overwhelmed with all of the shopping, prepping, and cooking involved with some of the amazing recipes in the Extreme Cycle. We know it is a lot to take in all at once, and we did not mean for this new way of doing things to be a “do it all now” type of experience. We recognize that it takes just small baby steps to begin to incorporate new healthy habits into your lifestyle, and that’s exactly how we expect it to be with this new carb cycle. That being said, here are five options we’ve laid out for you to help simplify your meal planning on the Extreme Cycle:
Option 1: Follow the 21 day’s worth of meal plans as outlined in Extreme Transformation.
We’ve outlined the shopping list, meal prep, and other tips for you to use to prepare and cook your meals for 21 days. We tried our best to include a variety of recipes each week, because variety is huge when you’re trying to incorporate new habits into your life.
Option 2: Follow the daily outline of low- or high-carb meals in Extreme Transformation with some substitutions.
If you find a day’s plan that works well for you, do it again! You can double up the same meals during the week to cut down on meal prep (eat the same dinner on Monday and Thursday, for example), or swap meals (high-carb for high carb, low-carb for low-carb, clean cheat for clean cheat, breakfast for breakfast) to make meal planning and prep easier. If you find that some recipes are easier to prepare than others, then go for those!
Option 3: Use other high-and low-carb recipes.
If you have our other books, Choose to Lose and/or Choose More, Lose More for Life, you can use any of the high-carb and low-carb meals from these books in the Extreme Cycle. And if you have your own low- and high carb recipes, you can use those too.
Option 4: Put your own meals together.
We know there are times when you’re out and about and need a quick, healthy meal. Or you need a fast ‘n easy meal made in 5 minutes or less, and simply don’t have time to put one of our recipes together. Be sure to scroll to the end of this post for some guides straight from Extreme Transformation that will help you design your own meals!
Option 5: A combination of the other 4 options.
We want this meal plan to be very user friendly, which is crucial to long-term carb cycling success, so do what works best for you and your schedule! If cooking is your thing, we’ve got you covered for 21 days! If meal prepping and cooking different meals doesn’t fit into your life, then bulk prep meals. You can even freeze many of our meals for a quick option later. If you like to put your own meals together, that works too. And it’s always a good idea to keep quick options with you wherever you go so that you don’t derail your eating plan because you don’t have healthy options available. And what about eating out? Our guides in option 4 will help you navigate any menu so you can make the best choices for your goals.
And no matter which option you choose, remember that this is a life-long journey! You’re not expected to do everything at once—perfectly. One of the best things about any transformation journey is all the things we learn along the way, so it’s 100% okay—and absolutely normal—to encounter some bumps on the path. With practice and patience, you will figure out what works best for you!
If you have any other questions about meal planning on the Extreme Cycle, please leave me a comment below. And please share what’s worked for you so we can all learn from each other!
Xoxo,
Heidi
Related reading:
Carb Confusion
The Power of Protein
Protein Powder: It’s Not Just for Shakes Anymore!
Ask the Powells: How Can I Structure My Meals?
Pre-Workout Problem: To Eat or Not To Eat?
Avoiding Road Trip Road Blocks!
Are you ready to begin your own Extreme Transformation? Grab a copy of our book today, and let’s go!
640 Responses
Hi, I just started my extreme transformation journey. I am super excited and I love your book. I work 12 hour days and nights and sometimes I am super busy and don’t have time for my last high carb meal. I get home late around 9 pm. Should I skip it and just eat the low carb meal?
Thanks
Hi Elizabeth: You can get some great tips on fitting your 5 meals into your day in this blog post: https://heidipowell.net/10556/ask-the-powells-how-can-i-structure-my-meals-2/. And just do the best you can, and be sure that you’re consuming the recommended daily calories. You can do this!
HI Team POWELL! I love yu so much and i love so much all the tips enad energy you give evry time!! I’m french so it was a little bit complicated for me to understand evrything but i tried! I bought “choose more, lose more” and tried classic cycle. I lost somme pounds but i dropped…but i follow all the episodes of extreme weight loss (not translated in french) and i’m motivated one more time! YOU ARE MOTIVATING! I want to try extreme cycle but i need somme help for quantity… you talked about “thumb” (i don’t really understand how much is it in grams, sorry i’m french!!) or i’m not sure about quantity of carb on hight carb day (100 g of brown rice? 100 g of berries?) and for protein too (100g of chicken?) Sorry but i understand better with grams and the equivalence on internet are always different from a site to an another….My weight is 81 kg and my height is 166… i’m really motivated to change but its difficult for my english!!! thank yu for your help… love yu
Hi Michane: There’s a chart in this post that shows you how many calories of each macro (protein, carb, fat) you need for each type of meal, so that should help. As for converting ounces to grams, 1 ounce = 28.3495 grams. So if a recipe calls for 4 ounces of chicken, that’s 113 grams (rounded, which shouldn’t affect your results at all). Hope this helps!
Hey Team Powell…
What advise do you have for people with sluggish thyroid and adrenal issues? How to handle carbs & which cycle plan to really use??
I’ve been Paleo for some time now & am Celiac. Grains are not part of my life anymore – I’m on the fence yet on oats, rice & corn. I find it makes carbs a bit more difficult to add into my diet (although I love sweet potatoes!) I had lost 90# but fell off the wagon a bit, gaining back 25# & ended up with candida. To “remedy” this, I went ULTRA low carb (less than 45 g/day). This has triggered a slew of health issues for me that require attention to my adrenals & thyroid (not to mention having to deal with restoring my gut health to overcome this candida).
Mentally, I have a hard time with carbs… ketosis has helped me lose quite a bit of weight but I just don’t see it being long-term for success. I need to lose over 100# yet so this journey is quite an undertaking & has been consuming much of my life since 2013.
I’ve always enjoyed following EWL & am wondering if carb cycling is what I need to get my health back & start seeing some movement on that scale?!?! I’ve been adding some carbs back in slowly but, I’m so gun-shy now with my thyroid health.
Thoughts would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Anne: Carb cycling could work for you. I’d suggest you discuss the program with your healthcare team first and then follow any modifications they might recommend. They are the best ones to help you since they know your exact issues and can work with you personally. They would also be the best source to help you figure out which cycle would be best for you also. We wish you the best!
Thanks for the speedy reply 🙂
Anne B.
I am curious what your Dr’s said about which cycle to do? I have similar issues with low adrenals and it can be so time consuming to figure out the best plan for you! So, would love to know if they recommend a certain cycle for the best results but also nourishing your adrenals and thyroid?
Thanks for asking this question!
Amber
Is the Extreme Transformation diet good for fat loss vs weight loss? I consider myself fit but have trouble around the midsection.
Yes! Give it a try!
Are white corn tortillas ok or do they need to be yellow?
Yes! They’ll count as a carb just like as with yellow corn tortillas.
Hi Team Powell,
I just started reading your books and may I say…Amazeballs! I know tgat protein should be approximately 1g per lb of weight. But I was unsure how many carbs should I be consuming on a low-carb day and how many on a highcarb day? I’m 152lbs
Hi Chantel: So excited you’re loving the books! There’s a chart at the end of this post that shows you how many calories of each macro to include in each meal. Each gram of protein = 4 calories, each gram of carb = 4 calories, and each gram of fat = 9 calories. Hope that helps!
Question 🙂 I’m into Day 2 of my first week and was wondering what I should do about breakfast?! I am up at 5, gym at 5:30 for 30-45 min , shower, drive to work and it is 0715-0730 before food hits my mouth 🙁 Wondering if I could swap my breakfast with my snack? Its easier to have some yoghurt and fruit before I leave for my drive in or if you have a suggestion as I typically don’t like to eat before I work out. Otherwise I love love love the recipes I have tried so far and totally see this becoming a life style for me 🙂 Thanks guys!
Hi Ceri: Welcome to carb cycling! Here’s a post that will help you figure out the eating and working out thing: https://heidipowell.net/10556/ask-the-powells-how-can-i-structure-my-meals-2/. Hope it helps!
Hiya Team Powell!
I love all the books, the show and the powell pack is truly adorable. I do have a question though. The meals and meal plans are all designed for the typical omnivore diet. I am however a vegetarian, so I need meal plan that can be adapted to my vegetarian lifestyle (I am a vegetarian for moral reasons). Anyway, the question is, can I simply substitute tempeh, beans, and legumes for my protein? Would this mess up my carb portions? Everytime I sit down to do something like this, I end up getting stressed out and frustrated so I give up. Please Advise.
Hi Kelly: You can substitute tofu, tempeh, and hemp, bean, and pea protein. And try and use sources with the fewest carbs and highest protein amounts. You can do this!
Hello Team Powell,
I have been on the extreme for 1 week now, and with having to cheat twice in the week for work outings I was still able to lose a pound. Not too exciting, but I did have cheats and alcohol.
Cooking just a few of the recipes had taken a lot of time during week one, so this week we are trying to do more make our own meals. Question is I am confused on how some items count in the book and in general.
For instance, “cooked” brown rice… is it 1/2 Cup for women, 3/4 Cup, or 1 Cup? (I am confused with the “100 calorie” thing)
What if I find a recipe? Is there some type of calculator I can purchase or use to determine how items fit in? I know I am to stay at 1500 calories a day and choose something from each category for HC and LC days.
I found a Thai sauce with PB2 online and I have no idea how to incorporate, nor do I know how to incorporate regular recipes. I see people counting macros and I have no idea what that is… I also see that you mention to sub items as long as they are on track with the protein, carbs, fat, etc. from recipes and I am lost… I also see that some posts recommend snacking on say a kind bar, but it needs additional protein or such and again I am not sure how to incorporate.
I apologize, but I just want to be able to make this a lifestyle somehow. I need to have some quick pre-ready things that I know I can grab versus cooking for hours every Sunday, as well as how to make some of my own recipes.
Thanks 🙂
Although the book has a lot of detail, I am confused at times… and I see that there is a post stating that carrots are allowed as an additional snack?
Sorry!
Hi Nikki: So sorry for your frustrations! Check out the “Create Your Own Meals” chart at the bottom of this post for info on how to put your own meals together. This chart shows you how many calories of each macro (protein, carb, and fat) to use for each meal, and this should make things much easier. You can use this chart for recipes and for products you find at the store. Here’s another thing to keep in mind: Each gram of protein = 4 calories, each gram of carb = 4 calories, and each gram of fat = 9 calories. So if a product has 8g protein, 2g fat, and 24g carb, then there would be 32 calories from protein, 18 calories from fat, and 96 calories from carbs. This should help with figuring out food labels. Please let me know if you have any more questions, and remember it’s all about taking those baby steps when beginning a new program. You can do this!
I’ve been looking into carb cycling for awhile now and just got the Powell’s book in the mail yesterday and have really enjoyed what I’ve read so far, especially since they try and simplify things as much as possible. I just have a few questions before I get started:
1) My weekly schedule is never the same. I’m a nurse and work long (12hr) shifts which change weekly, so my heavy “work out” days (which are my days off) are never the same. Should I be consistent with 4 high carb days, 2 low carb days, 1 reset day M-Sun regardless of what my work schedule is? I ask, b/c I’ve read that your high carb days should be on days that you are working out heavier and low carb days should be when you are not working out as much. From what I’ve read so far in the book, it seems like it’s better to stay consistent rather than fluctuate b/w high and low carb days, so just looking for some clarification.
2) Although the recipes and daily food selections all look wonderful, at first I’m not sure I’d be able to cook/prep all of that with my schedule. Are there guidelines on macros per day based on personal body weight for the high and low carb days?? For example: Carbs – 1.0gm per lb of body wt on high carb days & 0.2gm per lb of body wt on low carb days. Are there guidelines on amount of macros per day based on our body wt so that we can pick our own foods? This way we can track it in My Fitness Pal (or something similar). The suggestions online are all over the place, so just looking for clarification on that as well.
Thanks!! xo
Hi Jenny: Welcome to carb cycling! Let’s get you some answers to your questions: 1) You’ll want to follow the days as outlined in the book, and just do the best you can. Here’s another post that might help: https://heidipowell.net/10556/ask-the-powells-how-can-i-structure-my-meals-2/. 2) You can follow the chart in this post (https://heidipowell.net/10617) to help you put your meals together, and this info is good for all women. And check out the other charts at the end of this post which can be very helpful too. You can do this!