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
I started working on portion control on the day after Easter this year and have lost about 35 lbs so far. I started at around 410 lbs and have gotten to 378. This has been with only changing my eating habits. I am going to begin incorporating your carb plan as well. What I struggle with is knowing what exercises to do in the gym that will help me to lose inches around my midsection. If you can give me a few tips, it would be greatly appreciated. Also, may I continue to update you on my progress?
Thank you for being inspirations!
Hi Melissa: Congrats on those 35 pounds gone – that’s awesome! Chris and Heidi have an amazing exercise component in their carb cycling program too – you might find some things you can use there too. Get links to it here: https://heidipowell.net/9059/all-about-exercise-2/. And here’s a workout for those abs: https://heidipowell.net/4208/core-strengthening-exercises/. And yes, please keep us updated! You got this!
Do you still maintain the suggested 2000 calorie daily consumption for males while using a reward meal or better yet reward days? (depending on the plan chosen) Sorry if this question has already been asked but it seems it would be dificult to eat 5 meals with cheat food and still stay under 2000 calories.
Hi Daniel: The extra 1000 calories on reward days is added to the 2000 calories for that day. The extra 250 calories/meal for reward meals is also added to the calories for that day. Hope that helps!
It does thank you! I enjoy the fresh take on health and wellness y’all bring to the table. Really love everything your doing! So inspiring!
You guys are wonderful!! Thank you for all you do!!! I am starting to carb-cycle. I am doing the classic cycle. Could I have a reward meal twice a week (500 cals each) instead of doing it one day (1000 cals)? Thank you for your reply :).
Hi Eugenia: It?s best to not change the scheduled days and reward day of the Classic Cycle as you?ve suggested. Each cycle is designed the way it is for a reason, and if you change up the design, it could very well affect your weight loss. If you?d like to have reward meals instead of a reward day, you might want to try the Easy Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2715/carb-cycling-the-easy-cycle/. And each reward meal is only an extra 250 calories on the Easy Cycle (there are 4 reward meals during the week = 1000 extra calories). Welcome to carb cycling ? you can do this!
I have been following the Turbo Carb Cycling for 3 weeks.. The first week I lost 6 pounds, but the next 2 nothing. Yes I’m losing a few inches. I husband is a Nurse and he said I’m not eating enough carbs on high carb days. How many carbs should I eat on high carb days. And yes I’m an exercise program. Please help..
Hi Debra: It is quite common for you to lose more weight in the beginning and for you weight loss to fluctuate after that. Your rate of weight loss also depends on how many pounds you want to lose. And it’s a great sign that you’re losing inches – keep in mind that you might be replacing fat pounds with muscle pounds, so this can affect that number on the scale. We don’t count grams in carb cycling, just portion sizes (and calories if you’d like to). There’s an awesome graphic in this post (as well as other helpful info) that outlines how to put together all your carb cycling meals. And the daily calorie recommendations for women are 1200 on low carb days and 1500 on high carb days. Hope that helps – you can do this!
Dear Team Powell,
I wonder if carb cycling is suitable for me as I am a breastfeeding mom of a one year old.
Thanks in advance
Merim
Hi Merim: Here’s another post that outlines Heidi’s breastfeeding nutrition program: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. And congrats on your little one!
Hi. My name is Karolina but people say to me Lena. I’m 24 years old, I’m from Poland and have beautifoul 6 months old doughter name Diana. My weight is 95 kg i think, i don’t know how much lbs is this. I suffer from thyroid Hashimoto and i don’t know what to do to lost me weight. I try many times but even if i lost little bit then this weight back. Before i get pregnancy i lost to 76 kg but then my thyroid go more bad and now i try but is hard. Do you have some passibility to help me in some way? Or show me good way to lost my weight. I’m feel bad with myself and people make me feel bad when they say something about me. Please help me Mr. And Ms. Powell.
Hi Karolina: Thank you for your post! You can get more info on Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program (this post you’ve commented on only talks about one part of their program) in this post on this blog: https://heidipowell.net/9060. Their program can teach you everything you need to know and do to achieve your transformation goals! And please discuss their program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they recommend. We with you the best!
I bought the Choose to Lose book last week, and finished it in 2 days. The book is amazing! What I loved most is you really had to get deep in the mindset portion before you even got into how/what to eat. I love that! By the time I got to the chapter that goes over what/how to eat I was so set to do this! Today hits officially week 1. I have been fully committed and started doing a local boot camp 3 days a week which happen to be on the days I do my Shapers! (can I say Squats are now a regular day thing lol). The best part of the book is… its like Chris sitting right in front of you talking! It sounds just like him. I watch EWL every week (my husband and I record it and then watch together). If that is not motivating enough, then I don’t know what to tell ya! Cant wait to see how I will look and feel in 358 more days! Thank you Chris and Heidi for being so inspirational and creating a book that, A.) didn’t put me to sleep lol B.) that will change my life. I am enjoying my lifestyle transformation!
Hi Sarah: Thank you so much for your post! Chris and Heidi’s program is amazing – you got this!
I noticed that shrimp are not included on the approved food list in Chris’s book. Is that an error or are shrimp not allowed? Also would lettuce for a salad be considered carbs? Or am I able to eat salad on a low carb day? Thank you for your help!!
Hi Chelsea: Shrimp would be considered a protein, however, it’s calorie count per ounce is quite a bit higher than the lean protein recommendations in the foods list, so that would be something to take into consideration. And lettuce is considered a veggie in carb cycling, so you could eat it with any meal. There’s some really helpful carb-related information in this post from Heidi’s blog that might help: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. Good luck!
I read Choose More, Lose More for Life. I am gathering my lists to start the classic cycle. I was wondering if it was okay to start “day 1” as High Carb instead or it has to be low carb the day after the reward day? I want to keep the reward day as Sunday since that is my day off but because of my physical job and my work out schedule, I’d rather do high carb on Mon, Wed, Fri and Low Carb on Tues, Thurs, Sat. Will this mess me up? I would weigh in Sunday so my weigh in is after a low carb day.
Hi Candy: It’s best to keep the days in the order as outlined for optimal results. Have you looked at the Fit Cycle? That cycle might fit better into your schedule and job/workout routine. It goes HC, HC, LC, HC, HC, LC, Reward Day. And you can change cycles at any time too.
I love the idea of carb cycling and I would love to give it a shot. However reading all the details I feel overwhelmed! I am a busy mom of four little ones under the age of six and when I have a free minute it is not spent planning out the days meals and trying to figure out what carbs and proteins I should and should not be eating. Do you have a meal plan that actually lays out what you can eat each meal (like what specifically ) for the different cycle plans?
Hi Melanie: Since our carb cyclers have so many different likes/dislikes, we don’t have any meal plans available, just the lists you can choose from. If planning for a week is too much, try planning a day at a time. And since all the cycles use the low and high carb days (just in different orders), the foods list in the book will work for all of the cycles. Happy carb cycling!
Heidi,
Where is the list “just the lists you can choose from ” ?
THANKS
LOVE YOU!
Married with 2 boys under 2 🙂 Having trouble getting the last 10 lbs off!
You can find Chris and Heidi’s approved foods list in their book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.”