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
I just started the turbo cycle and I wanted to also keep track of my macros. I keep reading in the comments that you say you have given us the macro numbers for that cycle, but I’m not seeing those numbers anywhere in the book. I would love to know what my macros should look like on both low and high carb days. Thanks!
Hi Kelly: For the Turbo Cycle, simply follow the portion size guide in this post: https://heidipowell.net/4514. We don’t have macro numbers to follow – we’ve tried to make things as simple as possible. If you’d like a cycle with available macro numbers, here’s some info on the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10617. No matter which cycle you follow, you can totally do this! 🙂
I am a little confused, In the turbo cycle there are 2 High carb days and one reward day. That is the same amount that I have in my cycle I previously posted. All I did was switch the days around to conform to my rest and workout days. So I have the same amount of high and low carb days as the turbo, why would I switch to the classic? Also, please remind/confirm that my weight is going to fluctuate due to the water retention…It sucks to weigh and show a 4 lb gain 2 days after a reward day!
Hi Kaci: You are so right…I’m so sorry for the confusion. We have several different cycles, and it’s easy to get them all mixed up. 😉 You can totally follow the schedule you outlined. And your weight can definitely fluctuate depending on the day (carbs do retain water) and your workout (exercised muscles can retain water). This post can be helpful: https://heidipowell.net/12026 I hope this clears things up for you – you can do this! 🙂
Hi there! I have been doing the app for a week now on weight loss, but I want to change to turbo. Can I do that? How?
Hi Laura: You should be able to change your program by going to the Me page, then click on Program and go from there. We hope you’re loving the app! 🙂
Hi there, I have a question about the veggies recommended for each meal. Do the carbs in non-starchy veggies (peppers, broccoli, zucchini,etc) need to be counted towards the total carb count for the day, or are those considered ‘free’? I don’t eat a ton of grains or carbs in the first place, so I’m just wondering if I’ll really to need to eat 40-50g of carbs for breakfast on low carb days.
Hi Kayla: Non-root/non-starchy veggies are “free,” but it is a good idea to track everything you eat. It helps keeps us accountable! And we also recommend you follow the portion size guides for each meal also to make sure your body is getting all the nutrition you need to be healthy and to achieve your transformation goals. 🙂
Hi Again,
Just a quick question on portions. I’m going to do the Turbo Plan from Chose to Lose for Life (currently on my slingshot week). In the book it says that a low carb meal would be a portion of protein, portion of fat, and (optional) vegies and a high carb meal would be a portion of protein, a portion of carbs and (optional) vegies.
In this instance is a ‘portion’ considered a 100 cal portion from the acceptable food list? So any meal would be 200 calories + vegies? (either 100 cal carb, 100 cal protein or 100 cal protein, 100 cal fat)?
I’m confused because in in the latest book, you have 200cal of protein and 100cal fat with a low carb meal and 200cal of carbs and 100cal protein with a high carb.
I find the 100 cal acceptable foods list much easier to understand rather than the ‘hand’ portioning method and I just want to make sure I am not overdoing my portions so if you could clarify then that would be great! 🙂 Thanks
Hi Abi: To put together meals in “Choose to Lose,” you’ll follow the portion guide as outlined in that book, and there’s a handy chart in this post: https://heidipowell.net/4514. The 100 calorie portion guide can help you double check that you’re eating the right amount of calories, and those portions don’t necessarily match up with the portion guide. The recommendations in “Extreme Transformation” are for the meals in that carb cycle, which is a bit different than the cycle in “Choose to Lose.” I hope that helps! 🙂
Thank you so much for your response – I really appreciate it! Indecently, after I left the comment I bought Choose to Lose which i have nearly finished. Now I am a bit torn as to whether to switch to that plan or continue as I am! Over the past year and a half i have lost 40 pounds but i have completely plateaued for the last 6 months (despite exercising 6 days a week, weights and cardio, and eating low carb). Do you think I should do a slingshot week and eat high carb every day and then switch to the original turbo plan or would you advise sticking with what i’m doing?
Thanks again for your help – I think it’s totally incredible (if a little unbelievable!) that there is resource like this to help people with all their questions.
Hi Abi: You can follow whichever carb cycle will work best for you, and you can change cycles at any time! We do recommend doing the slingshot week every 4 weeks. And congratulations on losing 40 pounds – that’s awesome! 🙂
Hi,
I bought the Extreme Transformation book and as I already tend to eat low carb, I thought i would try the Turbo Cycle straight away. In the book it just says that in order to switch from Extreme to Turbo you replace two of the high-carb days with low-carb days which is what i have been doing. However, in another comment on the Turbo plan , I read that you are not meant to be having fat with breakfast, is this correct? I have been following the breakfast recipes in the Extreme Transformation book (which contain fat) so does this mean i am overeating? I also always have a low carb dinner on my high carb days, should this be high carb if i am following the turbo plan? I am now in my third week and have not lost any weight since week one (although I am already in the healthy bmi range so perhaps it will take longer?).
On another note, i’m a bit confused by a couple of the high carb recipes in the book, a few of them contain almond milk, but i thought this was a fat so you can only have with a low carb meal? Other than breakfast I tend to build my own meals so would like clarification on this. I also saw rice cakes in one of the recipes but not on the ‘acceptable foods list’ (which i plan my meals from), is 2 rice cakes considered a 100cal portion of carb?
Apologies for the long post but i do have one final comment, as i am from the UK, it would be amazing if you could give the portions in grams as well as cups! It;s quite difficult to plan and shop in advance when you have to use a cup to measure everything out!
Thanks for your help and eagerly awaiting your reply!
Hi Abi: The Turbo Cycle in “Extreme Transformation” is a bit different than the Turbo Cycle in Chris and Heidi’s other book. For the Turbo Cycle in “Extreme Transformation,” you will eat a protein, fat, and carb for breakfast, and every dinner will be a low carb meal. The amount of almond milk in any high carb meals will not affect that meal, so you’re good to go there. For the acceptable foods list, this is not an all-inclusive list, so use it to help you make your food choices. And you can definitely eat foods that are not on this list. Just be sure and check the food labels of those foods to make sure they’ll fit into your plan. Here’s a post about meal planning on the Extreme Cycle that can be helpful too: https://heidipowell.net/10617. And the fewer pounds you have to lose, the longer it can take to lose those pounds, so keep following the plan, be patient with yourself, and you will achieve your goal!
On the low carb days where you eat 2 cups of green veggies per day, thats difficult for me so i’m trying to turn those greens into smoothies while keeping all the fiber in but also adding something for better flavor. Obviously fruit is the key here but thats not easy to work with on the low carb days…any suggestions?
Hi Rich: If you’re not already doing so, add unsweetened almond milk (vanilla can help with the flavor in smoothies) and protein powder (your favorite flavor), and that can help since you shouldn’t add fruits to smoothies for low carb meals. Some people also add some unsweetened cocoa powder too. Hope that helps! 🙂
On the turbo cycle, what are the rules for “reward days”?
Hi Nicole: On the Turbo Cycle, you can eat up to 1,000 extra calories on your Reward Days, so aim for up to 2,500 calories on that day. And these 2,500 calories can be any foods! 🙂
Eating 2500 calories of whatever just seems counteractive to me. I understand and realize that having a reward meal is beneficial in resetting your metabolism. But to me, the excess calories are good I am not questioning that, I am concerned about the “eat what ever you want” part. Having a meal of maybe 1000 calories of what ever added in and eating the 1500 left over calories of good carbs, protein, and fat to me sounds more beneficial than going off the deep end for an entire day. Again, I am not saying this is incorrect, I am just looking for clarity in logic behind that concept. If you can explain to me I would greatly appreciate it. Because I for one would be in absolute heaven if I could take a trip to a mexican food restaurant and eat me some taquitos! Especially with out sabotaging my hard work during the week. Thanks so much!!
Hi Kaci: On your reward/reset day, you can eat any foods you’d like to: Healthy, “treat,” or a combo of both. The important thing is to eat those extra calories, and we recommend you do what works best for you. Some people can do treats all day and be right back on track the next day, others have a hard time doing this. As far as the logic behind reward/reset days, in addition to resetting and boosting your metabolism, these days also rest your body and give you something to look forward to so you don?t feel deprived. This is your chance to satisfy any cravings you may have, relieving any feelings of restriction. I hope that helps! 🙂
I am referring to the last post I left a few days ago regarding the Turbo Cycle Reward/reset day. Thanks for the reply, and explanation of my question. So I am okay with being able to have a reward/reset day as I have been doing this a while. lol…I did just that yesterday but I wanted to ask another question. I have a lot of muscle so I keep my calories at 2000 on high carb days and 1650 on low carb days. I do not track macros on reward days but I don’t go overboard crazy either. My question is that, in keeping my cycle in line with my lifting and cardio days it looks like this: Monday LIFT, Tuesday CARDIO (HIIT), Wednesday REST, Thursday LIFT, Friday CARDIO (HIIT), Saturday LIFT, Sunday REST….I don’t want to have a reward day followed by a high carb day. So my carb cycle looks like this:
Monday, low
Tuesday, high
Wednesday, low
Thursday, high
Friday, low
Saturday, low
Sunday, reward
Can you please look at my workout and my carb cycle and tell me if that looks sufficient as compared to my calorie intake above. I have exactly 5 weeks before my vacation and want to drop as much body fat as possible. It has been a while since I have cycled so I am sorry for the long post. Thanks so much!
Hi Kaci: You might want to try the Classic Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2722, which follows more closely the schedule you’ve outlined. In your outline, you only have 2 high carb days, which is not enough per our carb cycling program. Your body needs those carbs in the right amounts throughout the week to help you achieve your goals and have the fuel you’ll need for your workouts. On the Classic Cycle, you’ll have 3 high carb days and 3 low carb days with a low carb day following your reward day. Give it a try? And please let me know if you have any more questions – I’m happy to help! 🙂
Hi there. I’ve been following the turbo cycle but would love to track macros as well. Is there a formula I could follow to figure my macros for both high and low carb days specifically for my weight, height, age, etc?
Hi Nicole: Since we’ve figured out all of your macros for you in the Turbo Cycle, we don’t have any numbers available. We do have some numbers available for the Extreme Cycle, and you can learn about these here: https://heidipowell.net/10617. If you’d like to follow a plan based on your biometrics, you might be interested in Chris and Heidi’s new app: http://thetransformapp.com. It offers a totally customized meal and workout program that adjusts as you progress towards your goals. 🙂