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
Hello! I love the idea of carb cycling. I currently Weight train 3 days a week and do Cardio 2-3x a week (usually on the days I am not weight training). My weight training consists of power lifting. If I weight train Monday, Wednesday, Friday would those be my high carb days and then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday my low carb days? Is there a type of carb cycling that you recommend?
Hi Brittany: Here’s a post that has links to all 5 carb cycles so you can find the one that works best for you: http://heidpowell.net/2713. And you can change cycles at any time too. As far as pairing the low- and high-carb days with your workouts, what works can be different for each person, so you might have to play around with your workout schedule to see what will work best for you. You can do this!
I just read choose more lose more and extreme transformation. I am starting with the classic cycle but should I apply the new rules from the extreme cycle? Meaning keep breakfast as protein/carb/fat on all days and remove the carb from meal 5. I am on low carb day 1 of classic and followed your new tweaks.
Hi Kelly: You’ll want to follow the Classic Cycle as it’s outlined in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” You can do this!
Hi Heidi & Chris.I am a italian “girl” I’m 40 years old.? i love your trasformations.I would like yuors books. But is an italian version????love? Giorgia
Hi Giorgia: I’m so sorry, but there’s not an Italian version at this time.
Hi there Heidi and Chris, I have been at a two year plateau and have about 10-15 more pounds to loose. Would this carb cycling push me through this plateau? I know slow and steady wins. I also exercise almost daily (both strength training, cardio/HIIT). I have your book and am ready to go, I am just discouraged since I have been at this for two years (I lost 40 pounds before I stopped loosing).
Hi Deanna: Yes, carb cycling could work for you!
Hi my name is sharry burrow I’m 274 pounds 5.0 will carbs cycling work for me n I wanna get down to 150 pounds
Hi Sharry: Yes! It certainly can work for you! You can do this!
This might be a silly question, but I work out early in the morning (I get up at 4 and am at the gym just after 4:30) Obviously eating breakfast within 30 min of waking won’t work in this case – what should I be eating prior to working out when I’m on that kind of time crunch? I usually have breakfast (most of the time egg whites, toast and almond butter) around 8 am after I’m done getting ready for work. Suggestions please!
Hi Stephanie: You can get some great tips on eating and working out in this post: https://heidipowell.net/9194/qa-with-the-powells-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/. Hope it helps!
Great, thank you! Next question – I’m sorry I just stumbled across this carb cycling article and have briefly read up and tried skimming some of the previous questions and haven’t had a chance to read the book yet (this weekend!) How does the reward day/meal work? Do you stick to a strict calorie limit?
You’re so welcome! For your Reward Day, you can eat anything you want that day up to an extra 1000 calories (2500 for the day for women). It’s awesome! If you’re following the Easy Cycle, you can have a Reward Meal on any high-carb day of up to 250 extra calories. Hope that helps!
Hi I am new to this carb cycle. Just wondering since you have to eat five meals a day and every 3 hours, that would make me eat my last meal of the day at 8pm. Is that okay to eat that late? And also I take the AMP women’s ripped vitapak from gnc everyday. Is it okay to continue taking them during this carb cycle? Or will it effect the whole process?
Hi June: Yes, that’s okay. The important thing is to eat 30 minutes withing waking and then every 3 hours after that for 5 meals a day. And it’s best to discuss any supplements with your healthcare team and then follow their recommendations. You can do this!
Hi Team Powell! I’m from France and we have discovered your show about 2 years ago and I must admit i really like it. Unfortunately the channel which broadcasts it only have old shows. When I discovered the show I had already lost around 121 lbs (55kg) thanks to Dukan and Weight Watchers which are very popular here. Recently I have gained some pounds (around 15lbs / 7kg) due to an extreme tiredness period over a few months and thus i have decided to lose them now and try your Carb Cycling program and especially the Classic Cycle which I think will fit to me. But I got some questions running through my mind…..
When you say veggies for breakfast, does it mean veggies like carrot, eggplant, zucchini or things like that?
I’m used to eat some fruits for breakfast. When i eat my carbs other than fruits can i still add a piece of fruit? I love eating cottage cheese with cornflakes and put a banana in it…
I can see fats are used on low carb days. Can’t we use fats when cooking on high carb days?
Looking forward to being on Monday to start this new program!!!
Thank you
Hi Magalie: Veggies are the non-root/non-starchy type of veggies. And for breakfast, you’ll have one serving of carbs, and that can be either fruit, whole grains, or legumes. So if you have a piece of fruit, that would be your carb serving and you wouldn’t want to add any additional carbs to that meal. On high-carb days, it’s best to use nonfat cooking spray or an oils in a spritzer. Good luck – you can totally do this!
What’s the macros ?! And the limits per day?
Hi Karla: Chris and Heidi have figured out all of your macros for you in carb cycling (for both low- and high-carb meals), so you don’t need to worry about tracking them. Follow your carb cycling plan, eat proteins, carbs, and fats when outlined in the meal plan, and you’ll be getting all the macros you need to be healthy and lose weight. However, if you’d like to count your own macros, here are some general recommendations:
High-Carb Day:
Protein: 40%
Carbs: 40%
Fats: 20%
Low-Carb Day:
Protein: 40%
Carbs: 20%
Fats: 40%
I hope this helps!
Hey can i ask do i have vegetables with the snacks as well or just the meals ?
Thank you
Hi Natasha: You can have vegetables with both snacks and meals.