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
This seems silly but for the egg salad it says 4 boiled egg white so does that mean from 4 whole eggs or just 2?
Hi Carol: You’ll boil 4 eggs, then separate the whites from the yolks and discard the yolks. Hope that helps!
I have a couple of questions when following this plan. What should you limit your sauces/condiments to? (Example, Simple girl sugar free BBQ sauce) And I don’t have a gym remotely close so I’m limited to what I can do at home. I have a tread mill, free weights and a weight lifting machine (leg press, bench press, butterfly, leg curl, lat pull down). So my best friend is the treadmill. If I just do different intervals on the treadmill will I still lose weight or is to much of the same thing? (Northern Montana, so lots of snow, cold and 40-60 mph wind, so outside is hard unless it’s summer or nice) Any help would be greatly appreciated
Hi Jen: You have everything you need as far as exercising goes (the treadmill works great!), and you can get Chris and Heidi’s complete exercise program in the book. Here are a couple of posts that can help get you started: https://heidipowell.net/10506/metabolic-missions/ and https://heidipowell.net/10508/accelerators/. For the condiments and sauces, you can use them as you’d like to but you definitely want to count those calories in your daily total. Hope that helps – you can do this!
Hi Team Powell
I purchased the Extreme Transformations book via Kindle version, however, the lists and charts did not convert well. Is there a way to get a paper copy of the shopping lists and trackers?
Hi Lisa: I’m so sorry, but we don’t have the charts and lists available for download.
Hi! I’m currently doing the Extreme Cycle and wondered how much equals one serving for the butternut squash? Thanks!
Hi Rese: There really aren’t serving sizes for veggies, you’ll just want to be sure and include those calories in your daily calorie totals as outlined in the “Create Your Own Meals” chart in this post.
I meant to say the Butternut Squash Chili, sorry!
No problem! I really don’t have a measurement per serving, so just divide the recipe into 3 servings as best you can, and only eat one serving at a meal. Enjoy!
yeah, I have a food scale, got 3 Rubbermaid containers, zeroed it out for each one and made sure they all weighed the same. You can just do it by ladle too. I found that all ladles are 1/2 cup.
Hello,
I should be getting my book in the mail today. My sister has done your carb cycling in the past and loved and I’m hoping and praying it works for me too.
Being I’m ready to start I found some info online and via your blog about low carb and high carb day options, I’m going to go with the extreme cycle.
My question is….what do you put in your coffee?? Almond milk? Any other options? I drink 1-2 cups and I only use a dash of local whole milk…I do not add anything else 🙂
OH and being my book should get here tonight or tomm am.
Is the extreme cycle similar to the turbo I.E. Lo-carb, Locarb, high carb , lu carb, lo carb? Just so I know what I’m doing tomm? Thank you
Hi Megan: Here’s a post with links to all the carb cycles so you can see how they compare to each other: https://heidipowell.net/2713.
Hi Megan: Welcome to carb cycling! Heidi likes iced coffee with no sweetener and a pump of mocha. Hope that helps!
I use heavy cream in my coffee ?
Hi Heidi,
What protein powder do you recommend using?
Thanks, Annette
Hi Annette: Chris and Heidi recommend low-fat, whey-based powders with between 15-20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of carbs per serving. Hope that helps!
How do you post a comment? Trying to figure this out lol
Hi Jana: You have posted a comment! ?
Hi there
Huge fan of all of the awesome work done by Chris and Heidi. If you’re a vegetarian, what can you substitute for lean proteins in the extreme cycle? Can you please provide a list and the quantity? Also, will that affect how quickly you lose weight?
Thanks for your help.
Hi Jeanine: You can use soy protein sources such as tofu and tempeh, and other vegetarian protein options such as hemp, bean, and pea protein. You would aim for the serving sizes that are outlined in this post either by using the “Create Your Own Meals” chart or the “Meal Planning Guide” chart. And as long as you’re staying within the calorie guidelines for each meal, you should lose the weight just as if you were not using vegetarian options. Hope that helps!
Hi
Thanks for the info
Can you please delete my last name from the posts?
I’m so sorry, but I have no way of doing that.
Hi guys! Just downloaded your book and already I’m excited to get started and get out of my weight rut! Being in the UK some things I may struggle to get so will have to find substitutes as close as possible for some brands. Is it okay to freeze meals/some elements in advance? Wish you were in Scotland for some coaching! Love your program and whole methodology! I’m really hoping it works for me and not only cleanse and sculpt my body but to learn to love myself and be proud of who I am. Take care! Love from across the pond!
Hi JoJo: Yes, it’s totally okay to freeze meals/items in advance, in fact, that’s an awesome way to do things! Welcome to carb cycling, you can do this!
HI Heidi,
I’m starting on the Extreme Transformation on Sunday and I think the only question I have is about milk. I know that you mention almond milk instead of skim milk. I’m not a fan of almond milk. Is it ok to use skim milk? Why is it better to use almond milk? Excited to start on this journey!
Hi Sue: Skim milk has carbs per serving, but not enough to count as a carb serving, and not enough protein to count as a protein serving, as well as 80-90 calories/cup, which is quite a bit to not count as a portion of something. Hope that answers your question – welcome to carb cycling!
hi team! what would beets be considered and how much would be a serving size? what about turnip?
Hi Carol: Both beets and turnips would be considered root veggies, so you’d want to stick to the one clenched fist-sized serving.