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
So I am officially starting Carb cycling next week. Doing a practice run this week though to get in the flow. Some things can be a bit confusing for me….like why some cheese is a protein & some a fat. All and all it has been a good 3 days of practice. I do have a few questions though:
1) I am not a huge eater in the morning. I get up at 6 and leave for the gym by 630. I started drinking a low carb prot shake on my way to the gym and then eating my HC breakfast as my “2nd” meal. Do you think this is okay?
2) Today I started to eat lunch at 1230 but didn’t get through it till about 2. Totally spaced my 330 meal because frankly I was so busy and not hungry. This may happen frequently based on my job. Any thoughts on how to handle?
3) Every 3rd weekend I work 4a-4p. I get up at 0230. There is no way I am eating breakfast at 0300. I am wondering if it is okay to stick with my weekday routine and eat when I would “normally” get up?
Thanks in advance.
Hi Angela: Welcome to carb cycling! Let’s get you some answers to your questions: 1) Yes, this is totally okay. Different things work for different people as far as eating our before working out goes, so do what works best for you. 2) Just do the best you can! Make sure you’re getting in all your portions at some point during the day, and try to eat every 3 hours. 3) Yes, this would work. Crazy things will always come up, so just do the best you can. You got this! ?
Can you eat the same meal plan for two days in a row? For example if Mon and Tues are both high carb days can you eat the exact same meals both days? Or, will this slow progress?
You can if you’d like to!
Hi Heidi.
I work out early in the morning and typcially do not eat prior to working out. I prefer to workout on an empty stomach. How do you navigate through eating within 30 minutes of waking and working out early in the morning? THANKS!
Hi Stacy: It’s best to do what will work for you. Learn more about eating and working out here: https://heidipowell.net/9194/qa-with-the-powells-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/.
Hi, I am 5′ 4 1/2″ and I weigh 125 Ibs. I def want to gain muscle. However I do not want to loose weight nor gain weight. Would this cycle be best for me? Secondly I noticed that you suggest 1200 on low day and 1500 calories on high days, I was curious to how this works if someone has a BMR with a higher calorie number than that suggested to intake on low and high calorie days? Which should they follow the carb cycle calorie intake or the BMR calorie intake?
Hi Leilani: Here are a couple of blog posts that might help you figure out what will work best for you:
https://heidipowell.net/5137/weight-loss-maintenance/
https://heidipowell.net/5366/all-about-calories/
In a nutshell, you’ll want to make sure your calories consumed and calories burned are as equal as possible, and add in strength training over and above the 9 minutes recommended in the 9-Minute Missions (strength training) part of Chris and Heidi’s plan. It might also be a great option to work with a Certified Personal Trainer for a bit who can help you put a program in place that will help you reach your goals. You can totally do this! 🙂
Hi, I actually struggle with high-carb days. It is so hard to cook with no oil whatsoever; I wind up burning things or they don’t taste good. Is it possible to cook with a tiny bit of oil on high-carb days and just limit my intake?
Hi Caroline: Have you tried using cooking spray? That’s a great option to use. Or you can use oil in a spritzer too. Hope that helps!
Very excited about trying this, do you have an approved food list??? I think that would help me … Thanks you both rock..
Hi Jeff: There is an awesome and extensive approved foods list in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” http://amzn.to/1rhkPaQ. You can do this! 🙂
Hi Heidi, I work long shifts in the hospital and sometimes don’t have time to sit down for a meal and a protein or nutrition bar works best. I was looking for some suggestions for bars that would work on LC or HC days. I know you have mentioned QUEST bars before, but I truly cannot stomach them or any bar that has any of the artificial sweetners like mallitol, sorbitol, xylitol, etc 🙁 Wondering what you thought about the following (I know I should limit to one/day):
Kind + Protein for a LC day : 200cal, 14g fat, 13g carbs, 10g protein
Cliff bar for a HC day: 260 cal, 7g fat, 43g carbs, 9g protein
Is there a min/max number of carbs/fat/protein the bars should contain?
Thanks!
Hi Heather: For low-carb meals, Chris and Heidi prefer Quest and Kind + Protein bars, so you’re good to go there. For high-carb meals, they recommend Think Thin and Cliff Builder, even though they do have some fat content. The key to knowing which bar is best for which type of meal is to look at both the carb and fat content. If more calories come from fat than carbs, then that bar is a good option for a low-carb meal. If the reverse is true, then that bar is a good option for a high-carb meal. Chris and Heidi do recommend consuming only one protein bar a day, since it is best to eat whole foods whenever possible. 🙂
My previous post got deleted and I’m not sure why so I’ll try again.
My husband and I are getting ready to start the Turbo cycle. I have 100lbs to lose and he has 200+ to lose. We both need it for our health…Not to mention we want a baby! I have PCOS and he has some issues as well but weight can help both factors. My questions are:
1. How fast do most see results? I know it is a lifestyle change but I’m just curious what we can expect. Obviously the quicker the better but we want to be smart about it too.
2. Am I correct in thinking that I don’t have to count any macros? Just eat from the list in the book and the correct portions? I don’t need to worry about carbs, calories, protein, fat or anything?
Thanks so much for putting this out there for people like me. You are both amazing!
Hi Dana: Your post didn’t get deleted – all posts have to be approved before they’re posted. 😉
Good to know for the future! Sorry I was impatient waiting for a response! 🙂
My husband and I are doing this together and getting ready to start the Turbo cycle tomorrow (after we go to the grocery store and clear all the bad food our of our house)
1. I have about 100lbs to lose and my husband has about 200+lbs to lose and I was curious what results we should see? I know this is a lifestyle change but I am still curious about how quick we should see the pounds and inches start to disappear.
2. Am I correct in thinking that I do not have to count macros? I only need to stay within the portion size on the plan and watch calories? I am very confused on what I need to track.
Hi Dana: Let’s get you some answers to your questions! 1. Your rate of weight loss depends on body composition, current weight, and how well you adhere to the program. How quickly you’ll see pounds and inches disappear can be different for every person. Stick to your cycle, and you should be successful! 2. No, you do not have to count macros, just portion sizes (and calories if you’d like to). This makes it so much simpler! You both can do this! 🙂
hi! I do a lot of heavy weight training and I would like to do the carb cycling, but how much calories do I have to take? In the scedual I saw it was 1500 for the man, 1200 for woman, but that is way to low when I train 6 days a week. And how much f/c/p on hi and low days? thnx!!
Hi Rosa: The daily calorie recommendations for women are 1200 on low-carb days and 1500 on high-carb days. If you feel you need more calories to meet your needs, you can use the men’s portion sizes and calorie recommendations: 1500 on low-carb days and 2000 on high-carb days. Another idea would be to use the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/. And here’s another post that might help also: https://heidipowell.net/2582/ask-heidi-anything-does-fit-fit-bulking-up/. And we don’t count grams of anything in carb cycling – just portions sizes and calories (if you’d like). Hope this helps!