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 just started the extreme cycle and was wondering if the Walden farms pancake syrup and jelly ok to use? Are there certain artificial sweeteners that we should avoid ? Monk fruit ?
Also I weight train and do cardio Mon,tues, wed Friday and Saturday , Thursday’s I do just cardio and sundays are my off days .. would I be ok with the extreme cycle ? So reset day is usually the day you would add a additional 1000 calories on top a typical high carb day which would probably be around 2500 calories and we don’t worry about how many carbs, fats or protein we eat? I just want to make sure I do it right .. is there any drawback on putting reset day and then highcarb day back to back? Thankyou again ..
Hi April: Chris and Heidi recommend all natural sweeteners like stevia, Truvia, and xylitol. Any other sweeteners with calories need to be included in your daily totals. You should be good to go with the Extreme Cycle! And your Reset Day is extra calories for a total of no more than 2500 for that day, and you can eat anything you’d like to eat. Lastly, you’ll want to keep the order of the days (low and high carb) as outlined. You can do this!
I’m going to give the extreme carb cycling a try. How many carbs on high days and how many on low days??
Hi Dana: All of your macros (proteins, carbs, and fats) are figured out for you in the Extreme Cycle, you simply need to follow the plan! Chris and Heidi have tried to make things super easy. You can do this!
Hi! I am just going to be starting my carb cycling journey tomorrow and I was wondering if adding Crystal Light to my water was an option to help get through the gallon per day?! Thanks! 🙂
Hi Brittney: Yes, this is an option, and here’s a blog post with some other options: https://heidipowell.net/9359. And welcome to carb cycling! 🙂
Hey! So all the macro calculators give me different values and seem to be higher in carbs? Help not sure which one to go off as I keep hearing lower carb and higher fat is best? Is that true
Hi Jillian: Yes, each calculator can give you different numbers depending on how they’re set up. Chris and Heidi incorporate both low and high carb days into their carb cycles since both carbs and fat are important for not only weight loss, but good health as well. Unless you’re carb cycling, you’ll want to make sure to get enough carbs and fat into every day. I’d try one out and see how it goes and go from there. 🙂
Currently doing the Extreme Cycle and am loving it- I think it’s working ;)… how do you know what is the best cycle for you? I just chose it because I’m reading the book Extreme Transformation.
Also, my hubby and I were confused this morning as he was making his oatmeal. The container says that 1/2 cup of dry oats 150 calories. The Extreme Cycle plan says that 3/4 cup is 100 calories. We went with our gut and followed the sheet but in that instance, should we always just follow the plan even if the container of something says it’s way more calories? We didn’t want to de-rail ourselves so we went with the plan. Also, are there brand specific items that Heidi and Chris recommend that they get their specific calories from? Or are they rounding up and down for easy math?
Thanks!
PS… Team Powell does a FANTASTIC job at keeping up with these blog comments. I love knowing I’ll have an answer in a couple days at the least. Is there a way to get an alert when a question has been answered via email? I figured that was what the email box was for.
Hi Nicole: I’d stick with the Extreme Cycle, it’s the most up-to-date of the carb cycles, although all of them are awesome! As for your oatmeal question, similar food items can be a bit different in calories and macros, so I’d always go with what the label says. And Chris and Heidi use general information when they put together the food lists for their books, but the true numbers can be a bit different depending on which specific item you choose. You guys are doing awesome! And to be honest, I’m not exactly sure if you’ll receive an email alert when a comment is answered – it depends on how the comments were set up, and that’s handled by our technical team. (And thank you! ?)
Hi! I’m so excited to start? What are some on the go snack options or brands of granola? I’m a busy mom and teacher & need a few quick meals/snacks to bring along that I can throw in my bag.
Hi Chrissy: Go for low-fat, low-sugar granolas. Other than that, choose the ones you like the best!
what is your recommendation and/or tricks and tips to feeding three small kiddos (ages 4.5, 3, and 17 months) while my hubby and I carb cycle?
I am half way through Extreme Transformation and am absolutely LOVING it. Seriously inspiring. Even though my hubby and I already eat pretty and we’re only looking to tone up and build muscle, I still find your book super helpful and informative. You guys rock.
I’m torn between following the weekly shopping lists in the back of the book and the recipes and then meal prepping OR just meal prepping while picking away at the approved foods in the back of the book while staying within the guidelines of carb cycling. What do you find is easiest for you and your family?
Thanks!
Hi Nicole: For meal prepping, here’s a post with several options that might be helpful: https://heidipowell.net/10617. As for including your kids in carb cycling, they can eat what you eat, but make sure they have a protein, fat, AND carb with every meal. And here’s another post with some fun and healthy snacks for kids: https://heidipowell.net/1119. Hope this helps! 🙂
Hello and thanks so much for your response. I will def give the extreme a try.
Hello, lately I’ve been super interested in trying out carb cycling but can’t seem to figure out which program would fit my schedule. My daily 5 sometimes 6 days a week is strength training (med/heavy usually 3-4 sets 8-10 reps) on Mon, Weds, and Fridays all starting with a 15min warmup and ending with a 20 min cardio session. Tues. Thurs and sometime Saturdays are my boxing training class. I really want to do carb cycling as I tend to hold onto my B/F around my midsection 🙁 I am in my early 50’s. Thank you much and hope to hear from you soon.
Hi Linda: I’d try the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10503 🙂
Hi! I started the Turbo Cycle 2 weeks ago and am down 4.6 lbs since I started dieting 3 weeks ago. Should you expect to lose some kind of weight on the scale each week? I made the mistake of stepping on the scale this morning after I had already eaten breakfast and saw that I was up 2 lbs from last weeks weigh in. I am a little nervous to weigh myself on Saturday to see that my weight is either up or I didn’t lose at all. What are the general weekly weight loss expectations when doing this kind of diet? Thanks!!
Hi Ashton: Chris and Heidi recommend that you weigh once a week, and for the Turbo Cycle, you’ll weigh first thing the morning of your Reward Day. As far as a rate of weight loss, that’s hard to say since each person has a different body composition, starting weight, weight loss goal, and other factors that can affect a weekly rate of weight loss. Stick to your plan exactly, and you’ll be good to go!