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
I Have been a big fan of Chris & Heidi’s for years! With every episode of Extreme Weight Loss I get more inspired to lead a healthier lifestyle! I just purchased Choose More, Loose More book which I am about to begin reading. I walk 2 1/2 miles 5 days a week. I have lost 44 pounds so far by making better decisions about food and switching to drinking just water, but I still have 67 pounds to go to make my goal weight. Any input would be greatly appreciated and which Cycle to start with would help as well! Thanks so much!
Hi Elle: Congratulations on losing 44 pounds! That’s awesome! I’d start with the Turbo Cycle in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” You can totally do this!
Hello I just purchased choose more, lose more for life. I’m trying to wrap my mind around this whole carb cycling thing. The idea of eating 5 servings of veggies a day I”m concerned is going to be unmanageable in the long term. I have to force myself to eat 2 a day because I don’t enjoy them. Are there any actual meal plans that I can follow to help me visually understand this?
Hi Charity: I’d move up to the 5 servings of vegetables a day gradually. We don’t have meal plans, but there’s an awesome graphic (and other helpful info) in this post that can help you put your meals together, as well as some awesome recipes in the book: https://heidipowell.net/4514. You can do this!
Hey guys,
Quick question. I have lost over 220lbs over the course of three diets. All moderate carb of 100-150g.
However, now at 33 years of age, I am trying to lose again! (I am now siting at 313lbs at 6″ tall). I am positive that I have messed up my metabolism from the first diet at 21. Sitting at 900KCal a day. Second at the same, and third at the same as well. I was under eating!
I have tried LCHF this past time (Did not finish due to the restrictions placed onto the diet), and lost 20Lbs in a week. Obviously water, but there was something moving on the scales. This last week, after a month break from LCHF, I have been doing a higher Calorie diet with carbs, but lost 0lbs. I was bloated the whole time.
I have forgotten how long it takes for the bloat to go away, I think it is 2 weeks? But nevertheless, I felt extremely uneasy in body, as if I was doing nothing to try and sort myself out. I see that you do a carb cycling program. Is there a reason as to why it s not solely a LCHF diet? I sit due to the fact that the body would be more satisfied n the food choices?
I have also been a massive fan of your show, and have always wondered what the contestants eat throughout the program. I know that the competition show that is on the TV for years, they tend to starve the contestants, and when they go ack to their everyday lives, they blow back up to their regular sizes, and more. This is exactly what happened to me.
Any advice in getting my body back to burning the calories that it should? (I stay 100% on plan when dieting, hence the 70lb lose in each spell which has never gone over 6 months).
Thank you ever so much! I am a father of a 5 year old, and I seriously just want to be the best dad I can be while he is still young and is forming memories.
Hi Darryl: I think Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program could work for you, and it’s a lifestyle, not a program that you’ll go off of once you achieve your transformation goals. It’s the right combination of proteins, fats, and carbs in the right portions at the right times to keep your body healthy, and it gives your body the calories it needs to function properly and lose weight. I’d start with the Extreme Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/10503). You can do this!
Hi, I have 2 questions. 1) Is fruit considered a carb? For my LC days, I was having low fat greek yogurt and pineapple. 2) Is Hummus low fat enough to have on HC days? I’m currently on a HC day, eating a salad, and instead of dressing, I had a side of hummus.
THANKS!
Hi Shannon: Let’s get you some answers to your questions! 1) Yes, all fruits are carbs, so you’ll not want to eat them for a low carb meal. 2) Hummus can count as a carb, just watch the portion size. 🙂
Hi Team Powell!
I just want to check in and make sure I am on the right plan… any advice you have would be awesome!
So, here’s my situation. I had my 31st birthday last week and decided I’m sick of carrying around the extra 30 pounds that I’ve gained in the last 3 years. Time to start keeping those promises! So, on a whim, I bought the extreme carb cycling book late on Sunday evening, headed to the grocery and then started Monday morning. Awesome so far – I can’t believe I got to eat chips and salsa today!
Now that I have had time to sit and read your blog a bit more, I just want to make sure that I am on the optimal plan to achieve my goals. I currently weigh 154 and would like to get back to somewhere in the low 120s, really as quickly as possible. I am 5’6″.
Would love your input!
Thanks!
Hi Erin: Yes, you’ve got the right carb cycle! And here’s a post that might help too: https://heidipowell.net/10617. You can do this!
Hello Heidi
I’ve hit a plateau in my weight lose, and I’m very curious abut carb cycling.
My question is how do I figure out my calories for my low and high carb days??
Thank you, Victoria
Hi Victoria: It depends on which cycle you follow. Everything is figured out for you in all 5 cycles, and you can learn about each one by following the links in this post. For the Extreme Cycle, you’ll eat around 1500 calories a day. For the other cycles, you’ll eat 1200 calories on low carb days and 1500 calories on high carb days. You can do this!
Hi heidi
I am 26 year old guy who has struggled alot with weight and muscles .i am 227.076 lbs i want to loose more but every time i have problem with diet and carbs if i start loosing i loose muscles as well.So which cycle would you prefer for me and is their any additional suggestion would you suggest me ??
Hi Affan: I would recommend the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10503. You can do this!
Hi Heidi, I am intrigued by the concept of carb cycling. I am not sure which cycle would be best for me. I have been running in 5ks, but I feel that my weight is inhibiting my progress. I’m 5’4″, female and 193 lbs. I jog 2-3 miles three times a week and I’m also doing Hip Hop Abs 6 days a week. Which cycle should I do?
Hi Erin: I’d begin with the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10503. You can totally do this!
Thank you! Can’t wait to start.
Hello,
I have a 4 month old baby and I am still strictly breastfeeding. I’ve seen great results with macro eating and exercising and am down to my pre baby weight but really want to start toning more (especially wanting my abs to pop more). Will carb cycling be good for me? Will it mess with my milk supply at all? Thanks for your help!
Hi Kenzi: Congratulations on your new baby girl! Here’s a post that outlines Heidi’s breastfeeding program, and I hope it can help you figure out what will work best for you: https://heidipowell.net/2275.
Hi Team Powell 🙂
I’ve been following the turbo cycle for 3 weeks…I lost 7.4 lbs week 1 & then 1.2 lbs week two but now I’m up 2 lbs after week 3 (I am weighing myself on the recommended day as per your book).
I workout a minimum of 9 times a week (1 hr sessions each) & sometimes 2 hrs at a time & train with a personal trainer five times a week as well as do bootcamp & boxing/kickboxing classes. My question for you is if I should be increasing my calories since I’m working out quite a bit & increasing my water to even more than what is suggested in the book? My goal is to lose 80-100 lbs in total. Currenlty I’m doing a personal 8 week challenge. Thanks in advance! 🙂
Hi Silvia: The recommendations in the book should work, but since you are working out more than what is recommended (yay for you!), you might need to adjust your calorie intake accordingly, as well as you water intake. You’re doing awesome!