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
Hi Heidi, my husband and I are just starting out. We’re going to do Turbo Cycle together. We are very confused about breakfast. It seams that we are two have two fistfulls of vegetables for breakfast every day but the breakfast recipes in the book sometimes have no vegetables at all. Can you help clear this up please? Thanks!
Hi Jaci: You can add two fist fulls of veggies to any meal, and they might not always be listed in the recipes in the book, but it’s totally okay to add them! You both can do this!
Hello – I am interested in carb cycling. Is there a food list/grocery list available. What book is best to purchase to get started?
Thank you, Lynne
Hi Lynne: I’d get Chris and Heidi’s new book, “Extreme Transformation.” http://amzn.to/1RKDIgo. It’s available in hardback, kindle, and audio book. There is an extensive food list in the book, as well as shopping lists, and here are a couple of posts to get you started: https://heidipowell.net/9060 and https://heidipowell.net/10617. You can do this!
Hi Heidi and Chris,
I wrote to you guys last week here on this blog and unfortunately did not get a reply back. What I was asking was this how often can you change from each of your 5 carb cycle plans? Can you do 2 weeks of 1 and change to another? I want to start my own transformation but want to make sure I am doing it right. I would greatly appreciate some advise so I know that I am going on the right path!
Thank you so much!
Hi Mira: I did reply to your comment, but sometimes it’s hard to find replies. 😉 It?s best to stay with the same carb cycle for several weeks, as outlined in Chris and Heidi’s program. Yes, you can change cycles at any time, but for the most part, it’s best to stick with one cycle for at least a month or two so your body can get used to it and then start losing weight. If after a month or two of following a cycle to a T and you’re not losing weight, then you can change to another cycle. I hope that helps!
How do I ask Heidi a question?
Hi Michelle: I’d be happy to answer any questions you have. 🙂
Ok, last question. So I’m attempting to do zuchinni pasta, however, looking at nutritional facts I’m noticing most of the sauces are around 10g carbs. Haven’t been able to find anything lower. Even looking at roasting garlic and using tomato sauce and some chopped tomatoes, however it still comes out around 11g carbs. Any suggestions or is this ok, being it’s from vegetables. I have choose to lose and carb cycling and the recipes just say use marinara sauce.
Hi John: Marinara sauces are fine, just watch the sodium and choose the lowest carb one you can. And keep an eye on serving sizes too.
Hi Team Powell
I’ve seen this low carb pasta made by isolator fitness. Wanted to try and implement it on low carb days. It’s made out of protein, but does have 7grams of carbs. Was curious as to whether or not that was ok. Thanks so much.
Hi John: This pasta has 7 g of net carbs, so it has too many carbs to be considered low carb in Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program. Hope that helps!
Yes, it has thank you. I guess Zuchinni Noodles it is then.
Hi Team Powell
I have tried many different diets but I can’t seem to stick to one. I have decided to give your classic carb cycle a try. I do boxing and functional training three times a week, I also run twice a week. I find both workouts equally strenuous so I am not sure which I should pair with my high carb days. I would also like to know if you can have protein shakes on low carb days as they contain carbs. Thank you for the great posts !
Hi Sheereen: Since up to 60 minutes a day (Monday-Friday) of cardio are included in this plan, you should be good to go as the plan is outlined. If you find you need to move your workouts around to better fit the HC and LC days in your carb cycle, that is okay too. What works for one person may not work for another, so it’s hard to give a one-size-fits-all answer to what would work best for you. If you find that the LC days aren’t working with your workouts and the Classic Cycle, you might want to try the Fit Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/) or the new Extreme Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/10503/carb-cycling-the-extreme-cycle/). As far as protein powders, Chris and Heidi recommend low-fat, whey-based powders with between 15-20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of carbs per serving, and this powder can count as the protein portion of any meal. Hope this helps, and we wish you the best! You can do this!
Hi there 🙂 What are some good choices of protein powder? Do you have like a week sample of carb cycling? Just to try and get someone started?
Hi Kimberly: Chris and Heidi recommend low-fat, whey-based powders with between 15-20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of carbs per serving. We really don’t have a week of carb cycling menus available. On the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles you have the flexibility to plan your meals as you’d like to. There are 21 days’ worth of meals for the new Extreme Cycle, and there are other options for meal planning on this cycle too: https://heidipowell.net/10617. For the other 4 cycles, there is an awesome graphic in this post that can help you put your meals together: https://heidipowell.net/4514. Hope this helps!
How many grams of carbs should I stay under on low carb days? Does it go by weight or is there a “magic number”. My husband and I just started carb cycling today so we’re new at this.
Hi Deborah: That depends on which cycle you’re following. For the Extreme Cycle, there’s a chart at the end of this post that outlines recommended macros for each meal: https://heidipowell.net/10617. For the Easy, Classic, Turbo, or Fit Cycles, here are some general recommendations: High-Carb Meal: Protein: 40%. Carbs: 40%, Fats: 20%, Low-Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carbs: 20%, Fats: 40%. Hope this helps! 🙂
If I purchase the book about the 4 carb cycles, does it also help with when and how you should work out on what days? I lift/exercise about 5-6 days a week and want to maximize my fat loss without losing my muscle. I am looking for lean muscle/
Yes! Both books (“Choose More, Lose More for Life,” and the new book, “Extreme Transformation”) both have complete exercise programs!
I just purchased and read most of your Extreme Transformation book already. You guys are amazing and I’m so excited (and nervous) to be going on this weight loss journey. As I am trying to bestly prepare myself so I do not fail this time I wondered if there was a place every to connect with other people starting this journey like myself. Also, I was hoping their was a printable 21-day daily tracker.
Hi Kristin: Heidi and Chris’ FB pages are a great community of support, so that’s an option. And unfortunately, we don’t have a printable daily tracker. Welcome to carb cycling – you can do this!