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
What about winter squash ie, acorn, butternut, pumpkin and spaghetti. Are these all for HC days…
The food list squash anytime and the book reads, squash – 3 med..so I assume this is for summer squash, ie, yellow and coyote…which are all LC.
Hi Pati: Any type of squash is considered a veggie in carb cycling, so you can eat those as the veggie part of any meal – both low and high-carb. 🙂
Had a question about coconut oil. Dose it fit into the fat categorie or is it even recommend to use in carb cycling ?
Thanks
Hi Amy: Coconut oil is considered a fat in carb cycling. 🙂
Thank you for responding so quickly and clearing up my “confused” confusion. I thought I was getting stuck in the weeds! Looking at the food list, it say just that! 1 TBSP and the food listed is for each serving 4 times a day, after breakfast of course…I am off to TURBO away without a glitch, thanks to you…..GO TEAM POWELL!!!!
I thought I was doing the TURBO cycle for the past 2 weeks. Man, oh man where was my head..haha.
I ended up doing LC+LC+HC+HC+LC+LC+Reward on Sunday…but HEY! it worked out great..I lost both weeks..not beating myslef up here..Now, I have the what and what nots to eat..so I am on my way to being an expert in carb cycling…HAHA..I wish…aw.
I am going back to re-reading the book, but I am starting the TURBO tomorrow. I just want to confirm something that gets to be “ify” for me on LC days…
On the food list it says…Oils ( I use evoo) 1 TBSP is on serving….so I have to eat 5 servings of healthy fat a day?, AS IN 5 TBSP OF EVOO?? …that’s pretty much the only added fat I use. I usually steam or broil my meats, not using any added fats, but if I do saute anything, I use coconut oil and subtract that amount from the total 1 TBSP for the meal. So, again my question is. Do I eat 5 servings of fat a day? one serving per meal, 5 meals a day…
You guys are the BEST! I am starting the book “at the beginning” and no skipping pages this time. (hard to do 🙂 but if you know what book, I have CTL and CTLMore and what page(s) this info is on in either book OR a link to the blog from Heidi regarding “FATS”. I search, but have no luck..
Hi Pati: Every breakfast, on both low and high-carb days, is a high-carb meal, so you’ll only eat a portion of fat for the 4 meals after breakfast. And you can choose any fats from the list, including cheeses and nuts. The approved foods list begins on page 192 in “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” Happy Turbo Cycling! 🙂
I started Carb Cycling 4 weeks ago and just finished the Carb Confusion week…I thought I was doing well but I have retained so much water and only lost .8 this week, so I was just wondering if that was normal for this week? I’ve lost 15 pounds so far so I’m anxious to get back to the regular Turbo Cycle! Thank you!
Hi Terri: It can be common for your weight loss rate to change during the slingshot week, and that is totally okay. Keep following your cycle, including the reward days and slingshot week, and you’re good to go!
Hi
I just finished reading Choose More. Lose more for Life. I can’t wait to get started on this program but had a question regarding the when to eat the veggies? Do you try to fit veggies into ever meal\snack as long as it under the recommended calories or should they be spaced out during the day on certain meals?
Thanks cant wait to hear back from you!
Hi Amy: You can have two fist fulls of veggies (the non-root/non-starchy type) with every meal – both low and high carb. There’s an awesome graphic in this post (as well as some other helpful info), that shows you how to put together all your meals: heidipowell.net/4514. Good luck! 🙂
Hello Heidi,
I have been doing the turbo cycle and have lost 30lbs, and still have about 40lbs to lose. In the last month I have started a pretty vigorous 5 day a week workout schedule of running and weightlifting. I am finding myself going over in calories each day (especially low carb days) and feeling extremely drained and starving by the end of the second low carb day. It is ok to feel this way? I feel like my food intake is not keeping up with my workouts, I just feel very hungry all the time. Thanks for your time!
Hi Brittany: Congrats on those 30 pounds gone – that’s awesome! You might want to switch to the Fit Cycle (https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/). It has an extra high-carb day, which should help you out. And if you need to adjust your calorie intake a bit for your workouts, you can certainly do that. Good luck!
Hey!
I love carb cycling. Thanks so much for introducing me to it. That being said I started carb cycling about a week ago. I am a very fit person but my weight had crept up a bit from stress. I started the Turbo cycle 3 weeks ago and I lost a bunch of weight in the first week.
I am a teacher so I am moving around all day, and when I get home I work out about 30-40 min 6 days a week, either a p90x weight video on my high carb days and cardio (swimming, biking, running or a HITT video) on my low carb days. I take a day off on low carb as well. I also log my food in a food journal (I always have but it’s a habit I would like to get rid of)
Since my initial weight loss the first week I have maintained each week. I was wondering how long I should expect to maintain before I possibly drop some weight again?
I also start my next half marathon training schedule on Monday and am wondering if I should swap to the Fit Cycle during the training since I will be running so much more, and need the carbs to be able to sustain my longer runs. I will still lift weights twice a week while I train.
Any guidance when I might break the plateau and if I should swap to the Fit Cycle?
Thanks
Hi Sara: It is common to lose more the first week, and it can take your body a bit of time to adjust to a new way of doing things. And if you don’t have much weight to lose, it can take longer too. With your training schedule, it might benefit you to change to the Fit Cycle, and you can change cycles at any time. It sounds like you’re definitely on the right track – make sure you’re drinking all your water, following the food part of the plan exactly, and do the slingshot week and weekly reward days. And good luck on your upcoming race!
Hey Heidi,
First off I’d like to thank you for a great source of information. I’m planning on starting carb cycling for the first time. I’ve seen different recommendations in terms of how grams of carbs should be consumed. I’m going to follow the turbo version and was wondering for a male 260 lnbs 5’11”. Healthy and planning on working out 5 days a week. how many carbs should i have on my high and low carb days?
Hi Kevan: There’s an awesome graphic in this post (as well as some other helpful info) that shows you how to put together all your carb cycling meals: https://heidipowell.net/4514. Good luck!
I did Low Carb High Fat for a year…I am within a few pounds of my goal weight of 115. But I am really missing my fruit and carb meals sort to say. What cycle would you suggest to lose these last 7 pounds and maintain weight?
Hi Jodi: Congrats on getting so close to your goal weight – that’s awesome! You can really choose any of the cycles, and you can change at any time. The cycle with the most high carb days (so you can get your fruits and carbs) while still losing weight at a great rate would be the Classic cycle (it has one more high carb day/week than the Turbo Cycle). And here’s a post that’s all about lifelong maintenance with carb cycling: https://heidipowell.net/5137/weight-loss-maintenance/. You got this! 🙂