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
We are a family of four. Dad needs to lose nearly 100 lbs. I could lose 10-15, as could my 16 year old daughter. My son, nearly 13, is my question. He is tiny for his age only 4′ 7″ and maybe 80 lbs soaking wet. He is very active, plays football and other sports and eats well. How would carb cycling affect him? He needs to gain weight not lose. I want to do this as a family but I want to make sure he gets what he needs without sabatoging the rest of us.
Thanks
Great question! Here’s a post that will help answer your question: https://heidipowell.net/4373/ask-heidi-anything-can-my-kids-carb-cycle-with-me/. Happy carb cycling!
Can I have quest bars and how and when could I eat them when carb cycling?
Quest bars are a good option as the fat and protein part of a low carb meal. 🙂
How important is it to eat within half hour of waking up? I am finding it impossible to do first thing and need almost 2 hours before I can eat without it making me sick.
Help!!
Just do the best you can – you want to do what works best for you! Just make sure you’re getting in all 5 meals every day. 🙂
Hello Heidi- My first week on the turbo program I lost 4.2 lbs! Woo-hoo! Thank you guys! I still have a loooong way to go. I couldn’t find the answer in the books, but can you tell me how to classify Lite Coconut Milk. I wanted to make a Thai fish soup with brown rice and veggies but didn’t know if it was a carb or a fat… Also, I am having a protein smoothie with fruit for breakfast after 9 minute mission- fruit is ok for breakfast with protein powder and almond milk isn’t it??? Just checking myself.
Thanks & Namaste’ –
Hey guys! I just started this carb cycling concept and just had some quedtions about low carb days. Can you eat any of the veggies on the llist slso any dressings, coffee creamer, and diet soda on low carb days?
For low carb meals, you can eat any of the non-root/non-starchy veggies. While we don’t recommend diet soda as part of carb cycling (except on reward days/meals), you can eat dressings as either your fat portion or flavoring for a meal (depending on the fat content), and your creamer would be either your fat or a flavoring depending on how fatty it is. Hope this helps! 🙂
Hi! I’m from Holland and i just love the show! I’m currently reading your book and i have a question. Instead of unsweetened almond milk can you also use unsweetend soya milk? And i love to drink a glass of wine sometimes. Can you do that on a high carb day or just on your cheat day? Thank you very much!
Unsweetened soya milk is okay, and you’d want to save your wine for your reward/cheat day. Good luck! 🙂
Hi! You probably have replied this a thousands time, but somehow I can’t find the answer. Would you help me get this straight? Are you allowed to eat fruits on low carb days? (I started the Turbo Plan today)
Thanks so much!!!
This is a really common question! The quick answer is no, you shouldn’t eat fruits with low carb meals. Check out this post for some more great info and an awesome graphic: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. Happy Turbo Cycling! 🙂
First let me say I love love love you guys and your show! I’m just starting the turbo program after reading the 2nd book and while I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it, I’m still a tiny bit confused. The book breaks down portion sizes using your hand, but I’m more of a numbers girl. My question is, what are the recommended grams of carbs, fat, and protein on high and low carb days? I’m especially confused about the fat piece. Some proteins contain fat so I don’t know if it’s necessary to add more fat in the thumb sized portion. I can’t seem to wrap my head around that, I’d prefer to calculate these things by weighing and measuring. It would be super helpful to have a chart outlining the recommended grams for these three things to stay in the recommended calorie ranges.
Thanks for the help!! Keep up the inspiring work!
Hi Rebecca: In carb cycling there are no recommended gram counts for carbs, fat, and protein, we simply follow the portion sizes in the book. The “What Can I Eat” list beginning on page 192 does have 100 calorie counts associated with each food, so that might help. The graphic in this post might help also: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. Choose foods from the list in the book for your high and low-carb meals, and you’re good to go!
Heidi, I was wondering how effective a program like carb cycling would be for woman with P.C.O.S.?
My wife was diagnosed some time ago with PCOS, as well as Hypoglycemia.
And we were looking for the best choices for a diet plan for her.
Any recommendations or thoughts?
Thanks –
Jay – Glendale, AZ
Hi Jay: Please check out this post about carb cycling and PCOS: https://heidipowell.net/2656/ask-heidi-anything-pcos-and-carb-cycling/. And as with any nutrition and/or exercise program, it’s best to discuss it with her healthcare team first. Hope this helps! 🙂
Dear Powell guys,
Im girl from Czech republic, and as often as possible I watch your extremeweightloss epizodes in TV. I love it, and I wish I was born in America and can ask you to help me also. But Im so far, and you probablydont visit other countries for help people. Hm 🙂 Anyway I read your post about carb cycling, and I want ask you if is any chance to write me direct plan by carbcycling please for me? PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE on my knees.
thank you and wish you more satisfied clients
Stanislava
Each of the four carb cycles are linked to in this post: https://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/. Simply choose the one that fits your goals and schedule the best, and start cycling! You can find Chris and Heidi’s complete carb cycling program (that also includes their exercise program) in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” 🙂