Carb cycling is the foundation of what I do every day and with every client. I know through years of experience with many different clients that carb cycling works, so I’m going to introduce you to the basics and the five different carb cycling plans—Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit, and Extreme. I’m stripping it down to the basics to get you started:
What is Carb Cycling + How Does it Work?
Carb cycling is an eating plan with alternating high carb and low carb days. It’s that simple. It also has built-in reward days or reward meals (depending on the plan you’re following), so you can still eat your favorite foods on a regular basis. Sounds pretty much perfect, right? You can eat healthy foods, enjoy foods you love, and still lose weight.
While each plan has a different mix of high carb and low carb days, each day works basically the same:
- Eat five meals—no more, no less.
- Eat breakfast within 60 minutes of waking or whenever your feeding window opens if you’re an intermittent faster.
- For breakfast, you’ll eat a portion of protein, carbs, and fat.
- For your next 3 meals (snack, lunch, snack), you’ll eat either a low or high carb meal depending on which day you’re on. So, if you’re on a low carb day, those three meals will be low carb. If you’re on a high carb day, those three meals will be high carb.
- Your last meal of the day will ALWAYS be a low carb meal. Always.
- Choose approved foods.
- Drink ½ your body weight in ounces of water every day. So, if you weigh 150 lbs, you’ll drink 75 ounces a day.
How Does Carb Cycling Work?
Carb cycling is based on the right combination of proteins, carbs, and healthy fats. In order to lose weight, our bodies need the right combination. Here’s why:
- Protein builds and maintains muscles and these muscles burn calories like an inferno. Protein also breaks down more slowly than carbs and fat, which burns even more calories and helps you feel fuller longer.
- Carbs are the preferred fuel source for your muscles and organs, and they come in healthy versions (vegetables, fruits, grains, and legumes), and not-so-healthy versions (cakes, cookies, soda, doughnuts, candy, and many processed foods). Healthy carbs are also crucial for burning calories, and since they break down more slowly than those not-so-healthy carbs, they keep your blood sugar and energy levels steady, and they also keep your calorie-burning furnace hot so it burns more calories!
- Healthy fats (unsaturated fats) eaten in moderation help the development and function of your eyes and brain and help prevent heart disease, stroke, depression, and arthritis. Healthy fats also help keep your energy levels steady and keep you from feeling hungry.
Why do we alternate high carb + low carb days in carb cycling?
On high carb days you’re stocking your calorie-burning furnace so that on low carb days your furnace burns fat, and lots of it! This pattern tricks your metabolism into burning a lot of calories, even on those low carb days. It’s an amazing and well-proven process.
What are the Benefits of Carb Cycling?
Carb cycling has many benefits:
- It fits any lifestyle.
- You’ll learn how to shed weight and body fat and how to make smart lifestyle choices for the rest of your life. This puts YOU in control.
- You’ll feel better and have more energy.
- You’ll eat the foods you love.
- You’ll build lean, strong muscles.
- You’ll be empowered physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
I’ve only skimmed the surface of carb cycling, so learn more about our five carb cycling plans to find your ideal cycle, and let’s get cycling!
Get even more information on carb cycling in both or our books: Extreme Transformation (the newest edition to our carb cycline lineup featuring the Extreme Cycle) and Choose More, Lose More for Life (which features our other four cycles).
If you’d like some help creating your own meals, there’s a handy “Create Your Own Meals” chart in this post! To get a customized cycle for you and your goals + several workout programs (from gym-based to bodyweight to dance) + the all-important life lessons (the key to long-term transformation), check out The Transform App.
Note: If you’ve been carb cycling using our book, Choose Lose More, Lose More for Life, you’ll notice that we’ve changed a couple of things since that book was published: You now include a fat for breakfast, and every final meal of the day is a low carb meal. Like with a lot of things in life, the more you do them, the more you learn about how to do them even better!
xo,
1,381 Responses
I purchased Choose More, Lose More for Life at the end of December. Unfortunately before I could get started I had an accident and broke 3 bones in my ankle/leg. It has been about seven months and I am finally walking again. My question is will carb cycling work with very minimal work outs? I can only walk/bike for about 10 minutes at a time for a total of 20 minutes a day. I can’t do heavy cardio/high impact at all (at least for right now). What should I focus on if I can basically do only a few exercises a day?
Yes – it will still work! I’d suggest showing the exercise part of the program to your doctor to see what modifications need to be made while you’re healing. Hope you have a speedy recovery! 🙂
We just received our book on Saturday and started our transformations yesterday. It is going very well! I have a question… my husband needs 300 calories a day more than I do, so is it okay for him to have two portions of something to add calories to his meal? For our snack we had 1/2 cup cottage cheese with curry powder, celery sticks and I had 1 Tbs. peanut butter and he had 2 Tbs. I read where Chris had said that a calorie is a calorie no matter the source… Is it better to have extra protein instead??? I just don’t want to sabatoge us. We are working very hard and are both extremely committed to the program.
Another qestion…we are doing the turbo program, is there a sample menu that I can refer to to get ideas? It would really help if I could see the perfect day or even week to make sure I am doing this correctly.
Thanks for all y’all do- you are truly blessed people!
Protein would be okay to add, but also make sure he’s getting those two fist fulls of veggies with every meal. That will add some calories too. And I’m sorry, but we don’t have any sample menus available. There’s a great graphic in this post that might make meal planning easier: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. Happy carb cycling! 🙂
I’m 44 yrs old female who currently weighs 161.2 and am trying to get down to 140/150. I am following chris book and I Am following the turbo cycle. Where should my heart rate be at when doing cardio? I am trying to burn FAT. I stair climb for 30 mins and do 30 mins on elliptical. Then 30 mins free weights. Thank you I love your progrAm it’s really working for me.
Wow, you are doing pretty good. I just bought this book and I am so confused! I am following the classic plan and I see on all the plans it is pretty much carbs and protiens. On a low carb day after breakfast it looks like there are no carbs, but if I look at the recipes they say for a low carb meal and they add vegs, etc carbs in the recipe. I am also struggling with some of the exercises as I have a problem with my knees. So I say you are doing prettty good!
Check out this post for some great info on carbs that will help end your confusion: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. And I’d suggest you discuss the exercises with your healthcare team to see what modifications need to be made to keep your knees safe while you’re working to reach your goals. 🙂
Question for people who work 12 hr shift at night. On my first night to work I am up for over 24 hours with only about a two hour nap and a workout. Do I eat every 3 hours while awake? How do I separate a hc from lc day? That has been my biggest obstacle. I’m plateaued st 70# lost. Need another 20. Thanks a bunch.
Check out this post for some help: https://heidipowell.net/2960/ask-heidi-anything-what-if-i-cant-or-dont-eat-every-three-hours/. Whatever you consider to be a “day,” that would be either a high or low carb day, so don’t worry if one “day” goes into another regular day. And just do the best you can with your crazy schedule! 🙂
I am in the same boat as you and I have no idea how to do this. I work nights primarily as a nurse and on my first night I am always up from 7 am one day to 7:30 am the next. If it is only one night shift then I usually only sleep from 7:30 am to 12:30 pm after my night. So if I follow eating within 30 mins of waking on day one and then every 3 hours after to a total of 5 meals than I would not be able to eat from 7:30 pm until 12:30 pm the next day, that’s crazy and not possible! I think I am going to try to do it so that I eat regular during the day for my 5 meals and then take the food I can eat for 2 of my meals for the following day and space it them out every three hours during the night (so 2 meals split in to 3 eating times) and then I can have 3 meals when I am getting up at 12:30 pm onward (1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm).
If I am working consecutive nights then I will eat 3 meals from the next day during the night and 2 upon waking up at 3 pm to finish the day and repeat. So in this case day one would look like this high carb (HC) meal 1 at 7:30am, HC meal 2 at 10:30 am, HC meal 3 at 1:30 pm, HC meal 4 at 4:30 pm and HC meal 5 at 7:30 pm. Then at 10:30 P I will eat part of low carb (LC) meal 1, at 1:30 am I will eat part of LC meal 2 and LC meal 3 and at 4:30 am I will eat the rest of LC meal 3. When I get up at 3 pm, I will eat LC meal 4 at 3:30 pm and then 6:30 pm I will eat LC meal 5. I will then start my next day HC meal 1 at 9:30 P, 12:30 am I will eat LC meal 2 and 3:30P I will eat LC meal 3. I will then sleep from 7:30 A to either 12:30 pm or 3 pm depending on it I work or not again. Is that clear? What do you think about doing that?
With a crazy schedule, just do the best you can. 🙂
I’ve seen that you have written 2 books and am wondering which one to buy and how complex the carb cycling is … I have seen some examples of counting calories, multiplying grams of fat x body weight, etc… Is the carb cycling that complex? And which book is the most complete, explanatory, simplest guide, I have approx. 130lbs to lose and would love to do so before my Wedding in May 2015. Thanks for all the help in advance!
Hi Tanya,
I just bought Choose More to Lose More for Life and I thought it was great. There are great charts that layout exactly what you can and cannot have on a specific day. There is no multiplying grams or anything like that. It is really just basic learning what a true portion size is. He also provides some “9 Minute Mission” exercises to get you moving. This is only day 2 for me but so far so good. Good luck to you!
Is it safe to carb cycle while pregnant? Sorry if this was previously answered.
Great question! Get all the answers here: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. 🙂
Hi Heidi! I am in the same boat as Lauren (comment below) on this. I’m not strictly vegan but I can’t have dairy and the only meat I eat is fish. I too read the book and was super excited to try it but got stuck very quickly. Any help would be appreciated!
You can usually substitute tofu for any of the protein sources in the recipes, and you should be okay where the carbs, veggies, and healthy fats are concerned. It might take a bit of creativity, but it can be done!
I’m starting carb cycling on Monday – got the book and all the info. But a few questions about food remain: 1) Can imitation crab be used as protein (it’s basically fish but I wasn’t sure). 2) Can you use non-fat salsa, and if so in what capacity – as a condiment or vegetable? 3) Can you use hummus? I really like hummus and was wondering if there was any room for it on the program. Thank you in advance!!
Here you go: 1) From what I know about imitation crab meat, it has half the protein of “real” crab meat ounce per ounce/calorie per calorie, so that’s something to keep in mind. 2) Salsa is counted as a flavoring. 3) Hummus is a bit trickier. If it’s made with very little/no fat, then it’s considered a carb. If it’s got fat in it, then up to 2 tablespoons would be considered a flavoring.
I’d love to get more guidance on following carb cycling with a vegan diet. I read Choose More, Lose More last night and the only vegan options are tofu, tempeh (which I can’t do because the only kind I can find has wheat gluten), and protein shakes. Tofu or protein shakes for every meal of the day?! I’d love to follow carb cycling, so i would so appreciate more guidance. Thanks!
I have recently been told by my OB that I am glucose intolerant. I am 32 weeks pregnant and need to make a lifestyle change for good. I have heard a lot about this program and was just curious as to if it is something a pre diabetic could do. I am about 100 lbs over weight and need to get myself healthy. Thanks for taking time for my questions!
Congrats on the pregnancy – that’s awesome! If you’re wanting to carb cycle while pregnant or breastfeeding, check out this post for some great info: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. And here’s another post about carb cycling and diabetes: https://heidipowell.net/5078/ask-heidi-anything-im-diabetic-which-plan-should-i-follow/. And always check with your doctor first before beginning this or any nutrition and exercise program – we want to keep you safe and healthy! 🙂