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
While on the turbo cycle do you recommend eating a low carb meal on meal five for the the high carb days (Wednesday and Saturday) like the extreme cycle suggests for high carb days?
Hi Felicia: The Turbo Cycle is a bit different, so meal #5 on high carb days is a high carb meal, and meal #5 on low carb days is a low carb meal. 🙂
Hi there, I had some good results carb cycling in the past and came across Heidy and Chris- loving what i have read so far and from the book. I have 2 concern that i have noticed the last time i tried this (extreme cycle) for a few weeks. 1. Saturday was my ideal cheat day, but that made Friday be my low carb day which is extremely hard being it’s a night that I get together with friends and eat , well, not low carb :/, and of course you can’t even have a drink :/. so then i looked into classic b/c it’s a high carb day followed by a cheat day so it sounds more doable, but then i wanted to do something with quicker results. I know, can’t win them all. but my biggest concern is, 2. i work out a lot late night. im trying to build my lower body, and after lifting heavy, i believe i need carbs, but when i come home its time for meal 5, which is always low carb. won’t this effect my workouts?
Thank youuuu
Hi Andrea: Here are a couple of posts that can help you figure out your ideal meal schedule: https://heidipowell.net/9194 and https://heidipowell.net/10556. Hope they help – you can do this!
Hi I just bought the book Choose more loose more for life and I’d like to do Turbo cycle I need help a bit confused on Low carb days you had mentioned to me protein 40% fat 40% carbs 20%…so if it’s 1200 calories per Low cal day I’d be having 240!calories per 5 meals
Would protein be 100 cal fat 100 cal and carb 40 calories
Because on the chart on Turbo it only shows 1 Palm for protein and 1 thumb for fat it doesn’t show any amount of carb and if so how many calories would 20% of carbs be…
And vice versa for High Carb day 1500 cal = 300 calories per 5 meals
On High Carb Days, would it be approved to use Laughing Cow cheese since it’s only 1.5 g fat per wedge? I love the Ezekiel bread, but I do find it slightly dry :).
Hi Ashley: We recommend only eating any cheese for a low carb meal. 🙂
Hello
On the Turbo Cycle how many calories per meal do I have ?
High carb and low Carb =Protein ? carbs ? fat?
if im 5, 3′ 138 lbs
Hi Dina: On the Turbo Cycle, you’ll eat 1200 calories on low carb days and 1500 calories on high carb days. There’s an awesome chart in this post (as well as some other helpful info) that shows you how to put all your meals together: https://heidipowell.net/4514. 🙂
I’m on the turbo cycle. Are we able to use any of the recipes from the extreme transformation book?
Hi Jill: You can use the low and high carb meals, although for women, the calorie recommendations are a bit different on the Turbo Cycle. On the Turbo Cycle, women eat 1200 cals on low carb days and 1500 cals on high carb days. On the Extreme Cycle, women eat around 1500 cals all days (except the Reward/Reset Day). Hope that helps! 🙂
Hello
On the Turbo Cycle how many calories per meal do I have ?
High carb and low Carb =Protein ? carbs ? fat?
What are the macros for the TURBO cycle?
Hi Ashley: Here are the recommended macro percentages for the Turbo Cycle: High Carb Meal (including EVERY breakfast):
Protein: 40%, Carbs: 40%, Fats: 20%, Low Carb Meal: Protein: 40%, Carbs: 20%, Fats: 40%. 🙂
Am I able to use the Extreme Cycle high/low carb recipes if I’m about to start the Turbo cycle?
I’m not sure which one to start, so I figure try the turbo for 2-3 wks and switch to Ectreme if I don’t see good results.
Thank you!
Hi Allison: You can use the low and high carb meals, although for women, the calorie recommendations are a bit different on the Turbo Cycle. On the Turbo Cycle, women eat 1200 cals on low carb days and 1500 cals on high carb days. On the Extreme Cycle, women eat around 1500 cals all days (except the Reward/Reset Day). Hope that helps! ?
Hi,
I have a question, how would I calculate my macros on a Low Carb day verses a High Carb day? What do you recommend if Im on the extreme cycle? Thank you!
Hi Andrea: Here are the macro percentage recommendations for the 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%. 🙂
I have some leftover protein bars (nutrition: 200 cals, 3.5 fat, 19g protein, 25g carbs, 5g fiber, and 2 sugar alcohols). Would those be ok for either a high or low carb meal replacement?
Also in regards to salad dressing, for low carb days should I aim for no carb/full fat or low carb/light? For high carb days, fat free but with sugar? I love salad, and it’s hard to find fat free dressings with no sugar at least, so any suggestions are welcome!
Hi Jim: These protein bars could be eaten for high carb meals. For salad dressings, Chris and Heidi recommend low-fat or fat-free dressings with as little sugar as possible for all of their meals. Hope that helps!