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
Sorry if this has been asked and I missed it, but in looking at the approved foods list, I don’t see soup. I love tomato soup and use the low sodium option. Is this okay or high or low carb days?
Tomato soup (and yes, low sodium is best) would be an option as the veggie portion of any low or high carb meal.
I track all of my calories throughout the day and just wondering if I should be counting the calories from my veggies or if those are basically “free”? Using the hand gauge works good for me but wasn’t sure if I should be adding that to my 1200/1500 intake. Thank you for such a wonderful program! My husband and I are loving it and feeling great, 2 weeks on the Turbo cycle!
Yes, you should be counting those veggies calories. Happy Turbo Cycling! 🙂
Hi! This has probably been answered, but does carb cycling work when you’re breastfeeding? I have a 10 month old and I’ve lost 50 pounds of baby weight so far but I still have 40 to go. Would you suggest adding a couple hundred calories to each day’s eating to compensate or stick to the 1200 for low carb days and 1500 for high carb days?
This is a very popular question! Check out this post for some great info on carb cycling and pregnancy/breastfeeding: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. And congrats on the 50 pounds you’ve lost – that’s awesome!
My wife and I started the turbo cycle and after the first week, my wife’s weight has not changed. Her sodium has been low and she is using myfitness pal to be sure calories are right around 1200. Any tips, advise, comments?
One thing to check – is her app adding the calories she burns exercising back into her daily calorie total? If so, she needs to be sure and not eat those calories. Any calories burned through exercise contribute to her daily calorie deficit, which leads to weight loss. She also needs to make sure she’s eating 1500 calories on high carb days, and up to 1000 extra calories on her reward day. And ask her to please be patient – sometimes it takes our bodies a bit of time to adjust to a new way of doing things! Hope this helps. Happy Turbo Cycling!
Hey Heidi,
I am on day 3 of the classic cycle, and I’m starving! Can I up my protein a little? Adding veggies isn’t really helping. I’m already eating a bit more than two fistfuls at every meal. I’m about to have my final meal of the day and I’m having an extra meatball. Is this ok? I have been weighing my portions as of now to get used to the portion sizes and my protein serving has been exactly 3oz so far at every meal (as the book recommends).
I do Crossfit 3 times a week too. I did work out this morning but was feeling fine until this afternoon.
Are you drinking all your water every day (1/2 your body weight in ounces – 150 lbs = 75 ounces). Sometimes when we feel hungry we’re actually thirsty. And while it’s a pain, you also might want to count calories for a bit to make sure you’re getting your daily allotment. The food list in the book has a calorie guide also. Sometimes it does take our bodies a bit of time to get used to a new way of doing things, so please be patient! If none of these ideas help, you might want to try the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/. 🙂
Hello, I am a paraplegia. I use the wheelchair full time due to a spinal cord injury. I have been floundering with my weight loss for around 2 years now. I’m around 10 pounds heavy but it doesn’t look good when one is sited all the time.
I seem to be losing weight so slowly wherein in the past, I did it quite fast. I’m not sure if the hormones injected on me to remove the myoma affected my body before which caused me to gain weight. Apparently, I’m not as big as I used to. But I’m never giving up. I realized I need to lose the 10 pounds because I also do not want those helping me to have a hard time lifting me especially when I’m traveling.
-How do I get rid of my cravings?
-I heard about the food intolerance test but it’s too expensive. Do you have a similar program?
-The exercise I do to sweat and lose the calories is when I do my gait (I put my long leg brace on) and walk with a walker. I also lift a 5 pound weights for the arms but it’s hard to remove the flabs on my triceps.
-I’ve experienced yo-yo dieting many times. I’d like to stick to the weight loss once it out of my body but it’s very hard to resist food at times until I realized, I’ve added the unwanted pounds again. Please help. Thank you in advance 🙂
Hi Ida: I’d suggest discussing Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program with your healthcare team so you can work together to put a plan in place that will work around your health issues. As for those cravings, one awesome tool Chris and Heidi use with all their clients is to have them make and keep a small promise to themselves every day. Read about the process here: http://chrispowell.com/choose-a-promise/. So you could make a promise to yourself to help you curb those cravings. Give it a try!
Hi- I just started the classic cycle today. I have an exercise class 4 nights per week where I typically burn around 500 calories. From Choose to Lose I figured that I should be eating 1400 calories to lose 1 lb per week. Do I need to compensate for the extra 500 that I burn during my workout? Thanks!
No – you don’t eat back the calories you burn through exercising. Those add to your daily calorie deficit, which helps you lose weight. 🙂
I have been wanting to make veggie spaghetti, which is squash and zucchini noodles. What kind of spaghetti sauce could I use on this both low and high carb days?
You can use any marinara sauce for both low and high carbs days, the lower sodium the better. Heidi’s favorite comes from Trader Joe’s.
I have been with a trainer for 2 years and have lost 80 pounds, but want to incorporate carb cycling now as well. My question is more so when I should be doing my weight training now compared to what the book suggests with the 9 minute workout first thing in the morning. Would it be wise to do my weight training first thing then have my breakfast after? It is about 20-30 minutes of weight training. Then do my cardio after work and should I be having a protein shake after that as well? Thanks for any tips or input anyone might have?
Congrats on losing 80 pounds – that’s awesome! Here’s a post that will help answer your question: https://heidipowell.net/1071/to-eat-or-not-to-eat-before-exercise/. Happy carb cycling!
Ok, so I have been trying to start my carb cycling for 2 days. I do great for the first 2 meals, but then I start feeling sick. My symptoms feel like low sugar( shaky, nauseous, dizzy). All I want to do is lay down all day. Will this pass? Have you seen someone do this before? I don’t want to give up just feeling horrible.
Hi Melissa: Yes, what you’re describing is common. It might take your body a bit of time to adjust to this new way of life, but it will! Just be patient, follow your carb cycle exactly (including the two fist fulls of veggies – the non-root/non-starchy type – with each meal if you can), and you should be good to go! 🙂