Do you have a hard time going without your favorite foods, but you still want to lose weight? Then the Easy Cycle is for you. In this cycle you alternate low carb and high carb days, and on every single high carb day you can have a reward meal, as long as that meal isn’t your dinner meal.
That’s right, you can eat the foods you love—four days a week— and still reach your weight loss goals. And by favorite foods I mean pizza, ice cream, bacon, chocolate cake, cheesecake—they’re all okay. The power of this cycle is that if you get those favorite food cravings on low carb days, you only have to wait until the next day to satisfy them. Anyone can do that! Success can be yours with this cycle.
How is this possible? First of all, you’ll be following the low carb/high carb eating plan for your non-reward meals, and the success of this pattern has been proven many times over. And even though you’ll be rewarding yourself, you’ll be rewarding yourself less often. Let’s say you usually eat seven servings of ice cream a week. With the Easy Cycle you’re already eliminating three bowls of ice cream a week, and that’s a lot of calories! You’re satisfying your cravings without depriving yourself, and losing weight.
Here’s what an Easy Cycle week looks like:
- Monday: Low carb day
- Tuesday: High carb day w/ reward meal
- Wednesday: Low carb day
- Thursday: High carb day w/ reward meal
- Friday: Low carb day
- Saturday: High carb day w/ reward meal
- Sunday: High carb day w/ reward meal
Every breakfast—on both low and high carb days—will consist of a portion each of protein, carb, and fat. For the next three meals, you’ll either have a high carb or low carb meal (depending on which day you’re on), and then your last meal of the day will ALWAYS be a low carb meal. Follow the portion size guide, and you’re good to go!
And yes, you won’t lose weight as quickly as you would in other cycles, but the important thing is that you will lose weight, and you’ll also be forming healthy habits that will last a lifetime. And when you’re ready, you can move onto another cycle if you want to. Or you can stay with the Easy Cycle throughout your weight loss journey. It’s totally up to you!
For more information on the Easy Cycle, check out our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life.
Interested in learning about our new cycle, the Extreme Cycle? You can get all the info in our new book, Extreme Transformation.
And if you’d like some help creating your own meals, there’s a handy “Create Your Own Meals” chart in this post!
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!
151 Responses
Hi Heidi,
My question about the turbo cycle is if im working out 5 days a week do i still stay within the calories of 1200 on low carb days and 1500 on high carb days? I do about 30 to 45 minutes of cardio on LC days and heavy lifting on HC days. Any advise will be helpful.
Thank you!
Hi Ruby: Yes, this should totally work with the Turbo Cycle. And remember, you can change cycles at any time, so if the Turbo Cycle isn’t working, you might want to try the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/. Hope that helps!
Good morning, I am interested in giving carb cycling a try. I currently work out five days a week, mostly weight lifting and high cardio only a day or two a week. I am curious how I should plan my workouts around the cycle? Should I do the high intensity days on high carb days? Does it matter at all? Great blog BTW, and thanks for any advise you can give me.
Hi Miranda: The program is designed for you to do both strength training and cardio 5 days a week on both low- and high-carb days, but if you find that’s not working for you, you can adjust your workouts however you’d like to. Different things work for different people. You can do this! 🙂
Hello! I am very interested in trying the carb cycling. I have PCOS and find it super hard to lose weight even when eating super healthy and exercising.
I tried to click on the link to the book for more information but it says ” page not found”. I just need some meal ideas for what will be high carb and low carb so I can get started
Hi Jessica: Thank you for letting us know about the link – it’s now fixed. As for putting together your meals, there’s an awesome graphic in this post (as well as some other helpful info) that will help you do this: https://heidipowell.net/4514. And be sure and chat with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they might recommend. Hope that helps!
Hi guys,
Would this plan work okay for a diabetic? I was recently diagnosed with type 2 and am trying my hardest to find a good medium for my blood sugar and weight loss. I’m down 80 pounds, but have hit a huge plateau. Any help would be appreciated. You guys are awesome and I love ya!
Hi Jamie: It could work for you, but it would be best to discuss the program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they might recommend. Good luck!
Hi- I’m wondering how the reward meal fits into the fact that you’re not supposed to have fat on high carb days? Is the reward an exception to that rule? Or does the reward have to be low fat? Thanks!
Hi Susan: With reward meals, you can eat anything you want up to an extra 250 calories for that meal. Hope that helps!
I need help, I’m 56, 5ft 8in and 288lbs. I have always been thin and I hate having all this extra weight on me, but how do I get started. I feel like if I don’t do something now, I never will. How do I get motivated to start and how do I get started, whats my first step? Also, I have 3 bulging disc, so what is a good exercise for me that won’t throw my back out. Thanks, Susan
Hi Susan: You can find your first step and all the other steps (nutrition and exercise) you’ll need to achieve your transformation goals in this post on this blog: https://heidipowell.net/9060. And please discuss this program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they recommend, especially where exercise is concerned. You can do this!
One more question,,, can i have a notification of your answer…i mean if you replied my comment i get an email…is it possible?
I would love to start with easy…but when i shuld go to the next level/? Im 18 and 105kg..i have set a goal to lose 10kg in 3months…today is 1st September and 1December is my birthday,,, I really want to lose 10 or more kg by tge time…so please tell me that which one would be perfect for me to reach my goal?
Hi Rashid: The Turbo Cycle is the cycle with the quickest weight loss, so give it a try. And you can change cycles at any time. You got this!
Hi – I’m on the Easy Cycle and I’d like to understand why the reward meals are on the high carb days vs the low carb days? Is there some science behind this? My husband insists that they should be on the low carb days instead…thanks
Hi TG: I believe the science has to do with the basics behind low and high carb days. 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. So if you’re adding even more calories to that furnace on high carb days, there will be more to burn on low carb days. Also, since one of the keys to weight loss is a varying calorie consumption, if those 250 calories are added to low carb days, there’s not much of a variation in calorie consumption. Hope that helps!
Just a question regarding carb cycling and breastfeeding. Is this safe to do or should I wait until I’m done with breastfeeding altogether which will be anywhere from 6 month-1 year.
Great question! Here’s another post that outlines Heidi’s breastfeeding program: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. And congrats on the new baby!