If you want to shed those extra pounds extra fast, the Turbo Cycle is for you. Of the four original carb cycles (Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit), this cycle takes off weight the fastest. Unlike the Easy and Classic cycles, which alternate low and high carb days, the Turbo Cycle pits two low carb days against every high carb day. That means you’ll burn fat two days in a row before your body’s furnace (metabolism) is re-stoked on your high carb day, and you’ll lose weight really, really fast!
Even though the Turbo Cycle has an extra low carb day as compared to the Easy and Classic cycles, it is not a severely calorie-restricted cycle that will crash your metabolism. And since you’ll have two low carb days in a row, you may feel less energetic on the second low carb day. But this is okay. These low carb days are powerful weight loss accelerators!
Here’s what a Turbo Cycle week looks like:
- Monday: Low carb day
- Tuesday: Low carb day
- Wednesday: High carb day
- Thursday: Low 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, you’ll eat either a high carb or low carb meal (depending on which day you’re on). Your final of the day will ALWAYS be a low carb meal. Follow the portion size guide to put all your meals together. And as with the other cycles, you can stay with the Turbo Cycle as long as you want, or you can change cycles at any time. This program is tailor-made to you and you alone!
Learn more about the Turbo Cycle in our book, Choose More, Lose More for Life. And if you’re interested in learning about the Extreme Cycle, check out our 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!
950 Responses
Hi,
I am really interested in trying carb cycling. I have a little bit of hesitation because I have PCOS and am also insulin resistant. Would this still be an effect weight loss tool?
Yes, it certainly can be! I’d discuss the program with your healthcare team first, and then follow any modifications they recommend for your health issues. You can do this!
Hi Heidi. I have been nursing for 9 months and plan to go to a year. My body is holding on to some fat while I finish nursing. I am 3lbs away from pre baby weight and 5bs away from my goal weight. Can I start carb cycling or will my milk supply dip? Currently I am eating well balanced meals and exercising but my weight loss has plateaued. My stomach still has some loose skin and clothes fit but not as comfortable as before. From mama to mama please help!
Hi Laura: Here’s another post that outlines Heidi’s nursing nutrition program – I hope it will help you figure out what’s best for you: https://heidipowell.net/2275.
Hi Heidi, I bought the book and am following the Turbo Cycle for now. I’m a bit confused about when to eat the 2 servings of veggies. Are we supposed to have 2 servings of veggies with all 5 meals?
Hi Edith: Yes, you can have two fist fulls of veggies with all 5 meals on both low and high carb days. 🙂
Hi, I am currently doing the turbo cycle and am not a fan of greek yogurt or cottage cheese at all, the two snack recipes in the Choose More, Lose More for Life book. I was wondering what are some other acceptable high and low carb morning and afternoon snacks? Also if protein bars are acceptable, what brand is best?
Hi Erin: You can choose any of the foods from the approved foods list to put your meals together, so there are lots of options. And protein bars are good options, and the key to knowing which bar is best for which type of meal is to look at both the carb and fat content. If more calories come from fat than carbs, then that bar is a good option for a low carb meal. If the reverse is true, then that bar is a good option for a high carb meal. Chris and Heidi do recommend consuming only one protein bar a day, since it is best to eat whole foods whenever possible. Hope that helps!
Hi Heidi,
I don’t speak very well english and it’s hard for me to search in this site, but if I want to know about what to eat for a classic cycle, I have to buy the book or I can find some recipe on a website?
Thanks 🙂
Valerie
Hi Valerie: There’s an awesome graphic in this post that shows you how to put together all your carb cycling meals, which should be very helpful: https://heidipowell.net/4514. If you want a complete list of approved foods to help you do this, there is one in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” Good luck – you can do this!
Hello i just started carb cycling for 2 weeks, and i noticed that my weight goes down, but mostly water and muscles, and my fat went up. My protein daily intake is 1,8. Any advices?i do exercise twice a day, cardio and weight training splits, with 2 days off through the week. thanks in advance
Hi Michael: I’m a bit confused by your post – what do you mean when you say your protein daily intake is 1,8? And how do you know that you’re losing muscle and not fat? Please post another comment and we’ll work together to figure things out. 🙂
Hi Michael: I?m a bit confused by your post ? what do you mean when you say your protein daily intake is 1,8? And how do you know that you?re losing muscle and not fat? Please post another comment and we?ll work together to figure things out. 🙂
yes, sorry.
i do count my nutrients, to be sure i will hit 1500 on low carb days and 2000 cals on high carb days if possible for best results so im trying to keep my daily protein intake around 1,8g of protein / kilogram weight. Im endomorph and i do 1hour of weight exercising / 5 times per week and cardio in the morning after breakfast and 2 days off. I do regulary weight myself and my bathroom scales shows bodyfat percentage, water, weight of muscles etc., thats how i track my progress. Im dieting since i gained over 90 pounds over 3 years with my exgirlfriend (work at full stretch, no regimen and noeating/overeating at night). I use your units of measuring ( fists, hands etc) but i do count calories just in case because i feel like its not enough according to calories goal intake. thanks in advance (sorry for my english, its not my native language). I appreciate all your help. PS: i thought that im burning my muscles on low carb days, since over 140 heart rate the body starts burning carbohydrates, and on low carb days i dont eat any carbohydrates except on breakfast.
Hi Michael: Thank you for your reply! Be sure you’re only weighing one day a week, and with the Turbo Cycle, that’s on the morning of day 6. Some scales do not measure body fat percentage correctly, and the percentage on the scale can be affected by different factors, so it might not always be accurate. Keep following the portions sizes as recommended, work out as you’re doing, and you should be good to go to achieve your goals.
Hi, In low carb days we can eat carbs in just breakfast. In the other 4 meal can we eat fruits? Like Banana,Apple etc. Fruits are also carb so im little confused.
Thank You 🙂
I just finished reading Chris’s book (which I highly recommend) and it tells you specifically what foods fall into what categories. Yes, bananas are technically a fruit, but they fall into the “Carbs” category due to the nutritional content. Don’t worry SO much about what the food actually is but more about its nutritional content and it should make things easier. If you need a way to find out this information, I recommend (and use religiously) the My Fitness Pal app to track my meals, macros, and micros as well as my caloric intake and what I burn in workouts (holy run-on sentence batman!) GOOD LUCK!
Hi Chris and Heidi. I want to try carb cycling but was advised by my doctor to not work out hard till I atleast drop 50 to 60 pounds first. The doctor recommended that I try a cycle of HCG to drop the initial 50 pounds so I can start there. Any thoughts? Have you worked with this product or have any advise on it? I really admire and appreciate your advise. Thanks Again..
Hi Jason: It’s always best to follow your doctor’s recommendations. We wish you the best!
besides calories is there a certain amount of carbs to target on both the low and high carb days? in the turbo cycle.
Hi Vincent: In carb cycling, we don’t count grams of anything, just portion sizes (and calories if you’d like). There’s an awesome graphic in this post (as well as some other helpful info) that shows you how to put together all of your carb cycling meals: https://heidipowell.net/4514. Hope that helps!
Funny, I was coming back on here to ask the same thing. I’m a macro countin kinda gal, lol. Protein is easy, but I would feel much better with a more clear goal for the carbs/fat on the different days.
Hello, I stumbled upon this website while searching, yet again, for something that may suit my current situation. I am quite familiar with low carb, having been Ketogenic for the better part of the last several yrs either with SKD, Carb Night, IF or any variation of the them all. The problem began when I started training at a Crossfit type gym pretty regularly-about 1 yr ago. My performance suffered greatly in many different ways. Most just said I needed to keto adapt and all would be back to “normal”. Some said I needed more carbs for that type of workout. I’ve tried pre work out carbs (which was the most successful so far), carb back loading, trying to melt adapt, modifying my workouts, nothing really works the way I’d hoped. I end up with low energy for my WODs and craving terrible foods I would normally never eat. Since several of the options I’ve tried included insane amounts of processed carbs as the basis of the program, or sugar pre work out, I end up feeling worse than before and it takes days to recover negating the carb intake.
Then I found this! So, my question to you is, would this be the best place to start for my body and situation? I have not been in ketosis for a month now. Work out 4-6 days/wk. I’m a classic pear shape body with an extra 15+lbsof extra I’d like to get rid of. I’m 40 yo so fat loss is even harder than it was before! Thanks so much for your time, I’m looking forward to starting the program!
Hi Wendy: You might want to start with the Fit Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/), and you can change cycles at any time. Welcome to carb cycling!
Wow, thank you for the quick response! I’m really hoping to drop my bf% by at least 4%, would it be better to do the Turbo Cycle since I have so much to lose? I’m worried the Fit Cycle won’t allow for that in my circumstance. How do I choose?
Hi Wendy (again): 🙂 You can choose whichever cycle you’d like to choose, and if you find that it isn’t working for you for whatever reason, you can change cycles at any time. The program is very flexible that way! You can do this!