While the Easy Cycle is the easiest cycle, the Classic Cycle is the simplest carb cycle. It offers a quick and easy introduction to carb cycling and results in fast and steady weight loss.
Unlike the Easy Cycle, which has a reward meal incorporated into every high carb day, the Classic Cycle has an entire reward day every week. Imagine that—a whole day to satisfy those cravings for your favorite foods! And you’ll still lose weight.
Here’s what a Classic Cycle week looks like:
- Monday: Low carb day
- Tuesday: High carb day
- Wednesday: Low carb day
- Thursday: High carb day
- Friday: Low carb day
- Saturday: High carb day
- Sunday: Reward day
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 of the day, eat either low or high carb meals (depending on which day you’re on). Your last meal of every day will ALWAYS be a low carb meal. Follow the portion size guide to put all of your meals together.
With the Classic Cycle, besides losing weight at a quick and constant pace, you’ll also be able to tune into what is happening in your body during this carb cycle process. You’ll learn and actually feel how food affects your body, and while you may experience some brief periods of nausea, headaches, low energy, and other symptoms as you change the way you fuel your body, these will be temporary. In the end, you’ll have a whole new appreciation for this marvelous body you have! And you can stick with the Classic Cycle throughout your weight loss journey or move onto another cycle. You are in control!
For more information on the Classic Cycle, check out our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life. Interested in learning about the new 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!
275 Responses
Hi All,
I have been combing thru my book and thru these questions and because there is soooo much to comb thru, I’m not finding what I need to know. Please help me to know what is a really good number to work towards for high carb and low carb quantities? I don’t even know what is reasonably low, nor reasonably high for opposite days. Thank you, I’m holding out hope that I can make a change in my journey! I have lost over 115 pounds and over the last couple years, have gained back 70! Which has made it harder to conquer it again. I can’t gain any more weight, this HAS to be what gets me back to where I was and beyond. Totally embarrassing. I even certified as CPT, helped hundreds of people lose weight and now just throwing it all away. Anyhow…thanks for your info! Be blessed Powells!! 🙂
Hi Tonya: On the Classic Cycle, or any of the cycles in Chris and Heidi’s book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” everything is figured out for you – you just follow the meal plan. If you’d like to track your macros, here are the percentages for the cycles in this book: Easy, Classic, Fit, and Turbo Cycles: High Carb Meal (including EVERY breakfast): Protein: 40%, Carbs: 40%, Fats: 20%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carbs: 20%, Fats: 40%. And welcome to carb cycling! 🙂
Do you happen to have a sample menu for low carb day and one for high carb day? I am new to this and want to get it right!
Hi Misty: We don’t have sample menus for the Classic Cycle, but there’s a chart in this post that shows you how to put your meals together on the Classic Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/4514. The Extreme Cycle does have 21 days’ worth of menus, so you might be interested in that: https://heidipowell.net/10503. 🙂
Hey guys! So i have a couple questions I?m hoping you can answer. I have been working out for going on 4 years now. I started out in the gym but then switched to hiit based workouts at home. This past year i have switched back to going to gym and doing more lifting than anything but still about 10-20minutes 5-6 days a week of hiit based cardio or plyos . I?m currently going to school to be a personal trainer because i found my passion in training so I?m always trying to learn new ways of being the best me i can be to help people with their goals in life with fitness and nutrition. I?ve been following iifym for a half a year now but not as closely as i should be but roughly. I recently started carb cycling and i tried to calculate the carb cycling myself and i have been cycling with high carb days: 122p 250c 50f and low carb days: 122p 150c 50f?Clearly i?m not an expert but i was following it off of my macros. I still want to follow macros but i would really like to carb cycle. Currently my stats are 26 year old female, 5?5, 122lbs. I weight train 5 days a week for about 60-70 minutes that includes 10-20minutes of hiit or plyos i basically do hiit on the treadmill or bike on days i don?t train legs and do my plyos on my leg days and currently training legs 3 days a week. My weight training days are mostly supersets so i?m constantly challenging my body and keeping my heart rate up through the entire workout. Also not sure if i should only being doing supersets and dropsets or would you recommend a heavier weight and the regular 60 sec rest in between sets? Trying to grow that booty but trying to stay lean at the same time! ;P i?m pretty active everyday gardening, cleaning, shopping, cooking, ect? most of the day i?m on my feet basically. I?m pretty lean with quite a bit of muscle on my already but i still have goals like growing the booty and growing more profound abs and just strength overall! At this point i want to try to gain muscle while still staying lean. What cycle would you reccomend and what would my high carb and low carb days look like? Thanks for help in advance
Hi Natasha: If you’re following any of Chris and Heidi’s carb cycles, here are the macro percentages: Easy, Classic, Fit, and Turbo Cycles: High Carb Meal (including EVERY breakfast): Protein: 40%, Carbs: 40%, Fats: 20%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carbs: 20%, Fats: 40%. Extreme Cycle: Breakfast (EVERY day): Protein: 30%, Carb: 40%, Fat: 30%, High Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carb: 50%, Fat: 10%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carb: 10%, Fat: 50%. If you’re following a different cycle, it would be best to work with a macro coach who can use your body composition, workout schedule, and goals to help you put together a program that will work for you and also help you tweak your program along the way. Here’s a link to the coaches Heidi uses, and they do work at a distance: http://www.theprophysiques.com. 🙂
Hi!! How do you carb cycle while still counting your macros daily? And what percentage would a low carb day look like and a high carb day look like?
Also, did you count your macros while you were pregnant??
HI Meaghan: If you’re following any of Chris and Heidi’s carb cycles, here are the recommended macro percentages: Easy, Classic, Fit, and Turbo Cycles: High Carb Meal (including EVERY breakfast): Protein: 40%, Carbs: 40%, Fats: 20%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carbs: 20%, Fats: 40%. Extreme Cycle: Breakfast (EVERY day): Protein: 30%, Carb: 40%, Fat: 30%, High Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carb: 50%, Fat: 10%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carb: 10%, Fat: 50%. And here’s a post that outlines Heidi’s pregnancy/breastfeeding nutrition program: https://heidipowell.net/2275. 🙂
Hi. When carb cycling, should I figure my vegetable calories in with my 1200/1500 calorie count? On the 1200 days I have trouble staying under 1200 and am wondering if it is because I count the tomatoes, carrots, green beans, etc.
Hi Kelley: Yes, the two fist fulls of veggies are included in those daily calorie counts, and it’s always best to track everything you put into your mouth. You can do this!
Hi! I am a type one diabetic since I was ten years old. I have been struggling with my weight and have a very hard time losing weight as I am on an insulin pump. Has carb cycling worked for any other type 1 diabetics or clients you’ve had with type 1 insulin dependent diabetes?
Hi Melissa: It can work for diabetics, but it’s best to discuss the program with your healthcare team first and then follow any modifications they might recommend. And here’s a post with some helpful information too: https://heidipowell.net/5078. We wish you the best!
My husband and I are type 1 diabetics. Because you eat fat on low carb days and not on higher carb days you should be fine. Just watch your blood sugars and choose what carbs you can and cannot eat based on the spike.
Hi guys,
I lost 80 pounds 2 years ago after I hemorrhaged after giving birth to twin girls as a surrogate for the second time. (both sets of twins) I needed 8 blood transfusions and an emergency hysterectomy. I’m wanting to lean out more and increase my lean muscle. I do a crossfit circuit class 6 days a week and 1 personal training session a week as well and sometimes run (I’ve done 3 half marathons best one in 1:48:17. I’ve never done crab cycling or macro counting, please help.
Hi Kate: Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling programs are for weight loss, so if that’s not your main goal, check out Heidi’s macros posts (and all the links within the post) for some great info: https://heidipowell.net/11127. For carb cycling for muscle gain, it’s best to work with a macro coach who can tailor your macros to your body composition, workouts, and goals. You can do this!
Happy Thursday! Starting my first day on the 21 day transformation! Looking through the recipes and I was wondering if there is a good substitute for Bananas (don’t like the taste) and for the peanut butter (my daughter is allergic so we don’t keep it in the house).
Thanks for the help!
Joy
Hi Joy: You can substitute other fruits for bananas in most of the recipes, and you can substitute any like recipe (low carb for low carb, etc.) for any that have nuts or bananas. Here’s a post with some other helpful meal planning tips on the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10617. You can do this!
Pea butter is a great choice to replace the peanut butter. One of my good friends as well as her two young daughters are highly allergic to all nuts. They use it all the time and it has a great flavour that is as close to peanut butter as you can get without the real deal!
Hello Heidi,
I just bought choose more lose more!! I am so excited to start my carb cycle. I had a shoulder injury so as of now I am not doing any Olympic weight lifting movements just strictly CrossFit, TRX and typical bootcamp. Work outs are an hour long which I incorporate a warm up and a strength everyday before the WOD. I workout Mon-Wed I do spinning Thursday and WOD Friday.
I gained over 20 pounds I am 5’3 and weigh 166. I want to loose weight maybe 2 pounds a week? I am thinking of doing the classic cycle do you think that would be a good one? Or the Turbo based on my workouts.
Also, I was reading about the slingshot Technique is that required to do every 4th week even when you start? Or should I give it more time before doing the slingshot?
Today is Tuesday I received the book yesterday (Monday) and I have been preparing (anxious to start 😀 ) I am starting on classic today as high carb day and have my meals all tracked on my fitness pal app to stay with in 1500 calories.
Is that an issue to start the carb cycle in the middle of the week?
Hi Sandra: Welcome to carb cycling! You can choose any of the cycles, and you can change at any time. And the Slingshot Week is an important part of the program, so do it your 4th week and every 4th week thereafter. And you’re good to begin now! You can do this! 🙂
Hey there! I’ve been training to run a 5k and I’ve been sticking to a moderate intensity running schedule. I run approximately 4-5 miles weekly and train 3-4x a week. I was recommended a daily 1600 calorie and below intake too. I used to be big into strength training but I gained quite a bit of muscle mass alongside it so my primary concern for right now is both weight and fat loss. Which carb cycle would you recommend and on what days should be high or low carb days?
Hi Kim: I’d start with the Extreme Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/10503/carb-cycling-the-extreme-cycle/), which sounds like it would fit into your goals. You can do this!
Great! I will do that! What days do you recommend that I train on? Low carb or high carb?
Since up to an hour of cardio is included in the program Monday-Friday, you should be good to go. It’s hard to give a one-size-fits-all answer to your question since what works for someone else might not work for you based on several factors, so give this a try, and then modify as needed. You can do this!