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
Will cycling help me tone and lean out if I workout 3-4 times a week
It can. In Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program, they recommend working out 5 days a week (Monday-Friday), as well as doing their 9-Minute Missions those same days. Learn more about the exercise component of their program here: https://heidipowell.net/9059/all-about-exercise-2/. Happy carb cycling!
Hi,
Im going on holiday in just over 2 weeks time, but its supposed to be my slingshot week next week. I want to lose a few more pounds before the holiday, do you recommend sticking to the cycle or would it be ok to use my holiday as my carb week, and do the next 2 weeks as normal turbo weeks?
Thanks,
Lexi
Since you will be on vacation, it’s okay to switch up your slingshot week this time if you’d like to. Have a fun trip!
So today is my first High Carb day of my carb cycling, I followed all of the guidlines as far as portions but my calories are barely pushing 1300. I have a protein a carb and veggies with each meal/snack should I be concerned about my calories being too low for the day? If so what should I add?
Thanks!!
With 1500 calories allotted for the day, that’s about 300/meal/snack or however you’d like to split it up during the day. Double check your portion sizes, and adjust them (everyone’s hands are a bit different in size) and your calories so you’re hitting your 1500 calories/day mark. You can do this!
My husband and I are reading Choose More, Loose More, about to start carb cycling. We understand most of it but have a question. On HIGH carb days, is adding a fat to some meals or snacks OK as long as we stay within the daily calorie maximums? We’d like to add grass fed butter or coconut oil to the quinoa or quinoa pasta or veggies. OR…. do HIGH CARB days need to be LOW FAT days for carb cycling to work? Thanks so much for the clarification.
🙂
Great question! No, you don’t add any fats to high carb meals, but there are some low-fat options in the flavorings section on page 199 in “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” and you can add these to any meal (watch the calories, of course!). Happy carb cycling!
Greetings,
I was curious if you have some examples of a couple weeks of food plans? We are going through Choose more, Lose more and haven’t run across it yet. I’m struggling on figuring out how to get to 1500-1800 calories a day.
We don’t, but here are examples of a low and high carb day: (all recipes are from Chris and Heidi’s books: “Choose to Lose” and “Choose More, Lose More for Life.”). Low carb day: Breakfast (within 30 minutes of waking): Basic Omelet with a corn tortilla to make it a wrap. Snack (3 hours later): A protein shake with a portion of a healthy fat, like peanut butter, mixed in. Lunch (3 hours later): Tomato Basil and Garlic Chicken with a portion of olive oil drizzled on top. Snack (3 hours later): Sonora Cottage Cheese with a portion of avocado. Dinner: (3 hours later): Lemon Chicken drizzled with salad dressing. High carb day: Breakfast (within 30 minutes of waking): Denver Omelet with a portion of your favorite fruit or oatmeal on the side. Snack (3 hours later): Greek Yogurt Parfait with a portion of low fat granola. Lunch: (3 hours later): Caribbean Jerk Chicken with a portion of brown rice. Snack (3 hours later): Protein shake with a portion of oatmeal mixed in. Dinner (3 hours later): Apple Cider Chicken. And remember, you can have veggies (the non-root/non-starchy type) with every single meal, and you can use any of the foods on Chris and Heidi’s approved foods list – in the proper proportions – to create meals to fit your needs. Happy carb cycling!
One more – In you book you have sheets that state ” Sample weeks 1 of 4″ Do you offer that in a PDF form? We get our books on iPads and they are not user friendly in printing
I’m so sorry, but we don’t. 🙁
Okay…we did our first reward day….wow.thats a bunch of food. I’ve gone through the book and haven’t been able to find rules of rewards day? The extra calories…. Do you break that up through out the day? Eat a normal high carb day and then add 1000? Or is all 2800 fair game for a guy.
If you could direct me to the page in the second book…that would be great.
Also… Is it wise to choose red meat for your protein? Curious due to it having higher fat?
Imy wife and I really want to be successful with this and want to eat bad enough to trick our bodies but good enough to continue our loss to hit our goals.
For your reward day, you can eat those 1000 extra calories whenever you’d like, and you can eat whatever you’d like. So for women, eat up to 2500 calories that day, and men will eat up to 3000 calories that day. For red meat, Chris and Heidi recommend choosing lean cuts(refer to p 192 in “Choose More, Lose More for Life”). Happy carb cycling!
Hi! I just started the 4 cycle solution as part of a 6 week boot camp challenge at a fitness center in my city. I’m a vegetarian so need to substitute the meat protein with non-meat alternatives. Would love ideas on how to use tofu, TVP, tempeh, and other non-meat alternatives. I notice of course that beans are high in carbs as are many veggie burgers and “chicken” type soy products.
I’m in week one!
Thanks so much!!
I am also vegetarian and I have been eating cottage cheese, tofu, yogurt, and eggs for my protein. I bought tempeh a while back but forgot about it in the back of my fridge so I never tried it. I’d suggest hitting up pinterest for recipes and how to’s.
I am three days into carb cycling and MAN I have doubled my protein intake but still I’m struggling to get to my calorie minimums. I am never going to be hungry again!
Good Luck Lisa!
When we choose low carb… are we looking for 0 for the day or a certain # or % to stay under?
Thanks
Great question! Since you’ll have veggies (the non-root/non-starchy type) with every carb cycling meal (they’re optional for high carb meals if you’re full), and since veggies are carbs, you will have some carbs in each meal. There’s a great graphic (as well as some other awesome info) in this post that shows you how to put together every meal in carb cycling: https://heidipowell.net/4514. Happy carb cycling!
Hi. I am breastfeeding and I am wondering how to modify this plan to still be able to lose weight safely. I know Heidi has said somewhere not to carb cycle while breastfeeding. Thanks:)
Here’s the post where Heidi outlines her pregnancy/breastfeeding program: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. Hope it helps!
Read both books on Carb Cycling and am excited to start next week. The issue I have right now is that I feel overwhelmed by all the choices. It isn’t like a “eat this” menu plan type of thing. I know that it will be a lot of trial and error while I start. My main question is how to start making my menus? And with me being 250 lbs, should I only be eating 1200 calories on low carb days? Need help on where to start.
Great questions! Yes, you’ll eat 1200 calories on low carb days and 1500 calories on high carb days. As far as putting meals together, you’ll simply choose from the lists. For a low carb meal, choose a protein, healthy fat, and veggie (the non-root/non-starchy type). For high carb meals, choose a protein, carb, and veggie (the non-root/non-starchy type). With carb cycling, you have the freedom to choose so your meals fit your likes and you won’t get bored. You can do this!
Hi. I have the new book, and plan to start this week. I had to grocery shop first! I have a question about eggs (whole eggs, not whites). Since it’s a protein, is one egg a serving? It doesn’t really equate to the palm-size rule.
Thanks!
Great question! 2 egg yolks count as a fat, and 4 egg whites count as a protein. Hope that helps!
I have a couple of question about carb cycling. I started on Monday so today is day 4. I have to say this is a doable lifestyle. My husband is a personal trainer and we have a full gym in our home. Here is my delima: I portion my food out for hte day and have found on high carb days, I cannot eat all the food with out eating for 1.5 hours. Should I just limit it to what I can eat in 30 minutes? If I do this, I do not see how I can possible eat 1500 calories. I love veggies, but wow.
Second, my husband is 5’6″ and 165 pounds. He is all muscle but wants to carb cycle with me in order to support me. He currently eats 3200 calories a day. What should his calorie intact be in carb cycling? He does not want to lose weight nor muscle and is extremely active.
Thank you,
Kathy