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
Just started carb cycling love it so far. Have lost 60 before starting but stopped losing any more weight. I have a question on the meals. How many proteins and fats and carbs do we get each meal?
There?s an awesome graphic that will help you put together both low and high carb meals, as well as some other great info, in this post: https://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/. Happy carb cycling! 🙂
Hi Chris & Heidi!
I’ve been working with the BEST group and have tried Carb Cycling but feel so much better on a Vegan-ish diet. Do you have any suggestions or potential plan for Vegans?
Thanks!
Kelly
There are some vegan options in carb cycling, and if you don’t have Chris and Heidi’s book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” you can get their free approved food list when you sign up for Chris’ free enewsletter at http://www.chrispowell.com. Enter your email address in the “Join the Transformation” section, hit “Join,” and you’ll be give a link to download the food guide. 🙂
Tempeh (2 oz), Protein Powders (I use Vega and Hammer brands: Low in fat, cals and carbs and high in protein), tofu (4 oz), seitan or other meat replacements…. Also, if you’re “vegan-ISH” and occasionally eat eggs, doing egg whites here and there adds to the variety too! I’m vegan and also feel better sticking to a vegan diet. Carb cycling is conducive for sure. 🙂
Powells first I want to say I love u guys and second I wanted to ask some questions I am doing the turbo cycle and I started two weeks ago at 387 pounds and have gotten down to 371 pounds on my reward day I gained 3 pounds even though I kept count of my calories and portions sizes four days later I finally lost that 3 pounds but I seem to just be balancing on a beam my mom is on this with me and is actually gaining weight what am I doing wrong I follow the book do everything the right way follow schedule both me and my mom do a little walking I have bad knees she has bad hips and neither one of us is able to really work out hard like the people on the show we keep our calories between 1200 and 1400 and twice now I have been stuck in one spot for days and my mom keeps gaining she started and 317 was down to 307 the Saturday before last this Saturday she was at 304 and the doctor weighed her this morning and she is at 305.7 what is happening please help us so we can get back to losing weight
First of all, make sure you’re following the Turbo Cycle exactly (especially since you can’t move as much as you’d like to), make sure you’re eating 1200 calories on low carb days and 1500 calories on high carb days, and that you are eating up to 1000 extra calories on your reward days. And don’t forget to do the slingshot week every 4th week. Since you’re not able to exercise as much as you’d like to, I’d suggest discussing the exercise part of the program with your healthcare team to see what modifications can be made so you can move as much as possible. And since you’re not able to move as much as you’d like to, it will take a bit longer for you to lose the weight, but hang in there – it will happen! Also, remember to only weigh yourself on the morning of day 6. You got this! 🙂
Have you guys considered doing a spiral bound notebook with all of this broken down? I’ve read the book and all, but still find it confusing, but if I could just plug in my food and workouts in an informative notebook that you guys put together….that part of this process would be so much easier….just a thought….I’d love to buy one myself!
Hi Heidi,
I have struggled w/ my weight since age 7 (now 41) I had a few times in my life where I lost a significant amount but as always, it eventually came back on plus some. Now at my highest weight ever, 275 I am again struggling. For my entire life food was an event for me (I’m Italian) and I remember my grandmother being so passionate as she was cooking and eating. Well the last 5 years have turned my extreme love of food into an addiction. Bingeing at times. I can’t get more than 3-4 days into my diet and I give in. All I think about is when I get to eat again so when I am trying to eat right those thoughts are even stronger. Then I’m so miserable and ashamed…..it’s a cycle I just can’t seem to break. I bought Chris’ most recent book when it firrst came out back after I wasn’t chosen for your show but I just can’t seem to get my head straight even though I have SUCH a STRONG desire to change my life. I watched this last season and cried during each of them. I saw something in everyone of them that I struggle with and was so jealous of the help the had from you. My husband would watch with me but I think he hoped it would help me get started again, I would hide behind my hands and cry for so many reason as I watched. So I sit here and think, do I have a question for you…….I think my question I ask each day is HOW does someone break this life-killing cycle I am on when they have to do it all by themselves? How do they do it when NO-ONE in their family views food the way they do and when you try to explain they just can’t grasp it? HOW do I figure out how to fix what is broken with me? I love all the work that they two of you do. I follow you on FB and Instagram and watch the shows & save the ones that touch me most praying that one day I will ‘get it together’ and be successful too. But I turned 41 last week, I’m not sure if I ever will. Thank you again for all that you do and if you are ever in Atlanta reach out and say Hello (I know but I just had to say it)
Hi Donna: Here’s where you begin, and this is the first step Chris and Heidi take with every single contestant: You make and keep a small, simple promise to yourself every day. It sounds simple, but it works! Learn about the process here: https://heidipowell.net/8679/it-really-is-all-about-promises-2/. What will your first promise be today? Make it, then keep it, then make and keep another one tomorrow, and so on. You can do this! 🙂
I am on the sling shot week. I lost the first week, but gained weeks two and three. I am trusting that the sling shot week will work and that the first week of the next cycle will show a loss! I am getting frustrated, I have been doing everything the book says, I have the first book, and I am doing the exercises plus two nights a week I am going to a weight based exercise class. My clothes are looser but the scale is up.
Yes, the slingshot week is a key to being successful. And remember, each body loses weight differently, sometimes it takes your body a bit of time to adjust to a new way of doing things, and there’s a lot more to it than the number on the scale. Loose clothes is a great sign! Be patient, follow your cycle exactly, and you should be good to go! 🙂
Hey team Powell!
I am 27, bulimic AND obese! My treatment team last year suggested I not go on any diets or restricting any food groups to keep me from relapsing BUT I cannot stay this size forever! I want to so badly get down to a healthy size and I’ve relapsed but I feel like if I could get on this easy cycle it would be a nice slow pace for me to try and lose weight and create maybe healthier eating habits. I feel sad to go against what they say but I also KNOW that being this big is just as dangerous if not much worse. What do you think? Help please!!
I’d suggest discussing the Easy Cycle with your treatment team and see what they think. They might say okay, okay with some modifications, or wait a bit longer, but no matter what, please be patient and follow their recommendations. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hello- I started carb cycling in January I did fairly well then changed to after reading both of the books. I thn follow a diabetic diet for a class my doctor had me take. (I am not diabetic but do have pcos) Since January 13 I have lost 43 pounds. I exercise 5 days a week through jazzercise and do strenthusiasm training 1-2 hours a week (@ jazzercise). What I found tough to figure out is how much is the appropriate for low and high carb days. I am a number person so I can count calories and in the diabetic diet I was give a specific a number of carbs for each meal. So in carb cycling what is a carb goal for high carb day and a low carb day? And how much protien is the goal for the day?
We don’t really count grams or calories in carb cycling, although there are some calorie values in the approved foods list in both books. There’s an awesome graphic that will help you put together both low and high carb meals, as well as some other great info, in this post: https://heidipowell.net/2713/carb-cycling-101/. And here’s a post about carb cycling and diabetes that might also be helpful: https://heidipowell.net/5078/ask-heidi-anything-im-diabetic-which-plan-should-i-follow/. Hope it helps! 🙂
Heidi, I have tried to carb cycle and lose weight the only thing stopping me is I get very light headed and start to see dots (when on a lox carb day) that’s usually when I start to give up.. how do I fix that? (im trying to lose 30 lbs) thank you Ariel
This can happen when you’re first trying carb cycling, and it should get better as your body gets used to a new way of doing things. Make sure you’re following your cycle exactly, make sure your portion sizes are right on, eat every 3 hours, drink all of your water, be sure to eat a high carb breakfast, and you should be okay.
Hello Powell Pack! I am a CrossFitter and currently attend my box 4-5 times a week. I have tried the Paleo diet, but I just can’t do it. It’s just too many limitations so I found your info on carb cycling. I am wanting to lose these last 12 pounds and lean out. What cycle would you suggest? I also go to the box at 5:30 am and I always workout fasting because if I eat within an hour before my workout I have stomach issues. How does that fit into cycling if I can’t eat within 30 minutes of waking? Thank you for your help!!
I’d try the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/. And here’s a post with some great info about eating and working out: https://heidipowell.net/1071/to-eat-or-not-to-eat-before-exercise/. Happy carb cycling! 🙂