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
you indicate on the extreme cycle blog:
“If you?ve been carb cycling with one of our other four cycles, you might have noticed a few changes in how the Extreme Cycle works. So why did we change how you?ll put your meals together? As with anything else, the more you do something, the more you learn and the better your methods become. Through all of our experience, we?ve learned that two secrets to weight loss are 1) adding a fat to breakfast to help slow down your digestion, and 2) removing that carb from dinner on high carb days prevents an evening rise in blood sugar and helps your body burn fat throughout the night. Sound good?!”
so with the current knowledge, if i am doing the turbo cycle, should i now add a fat to my breakfast & remove carb from dinner?
Hi Melissa: Yes, you can add a fat to breakfast and remove carbs from dinner. There’s a “Create Your Own Meals” chart in this post that can help you put your meals together: https://heidipowell.net/10617. Hope this helps! 🙂
Hello
I?ve been struggling to lose those last few pounds and I?ve tried everything. I?m currently fasting for 12 hours a day right now ( religiously) and I would like to know if this plan is appropriate for people fasting.
I would also like to thank you for the information and work that you?ve put into this plan. I have heard only great things and i am really excited to start.
Hi Maggie: Yes, this program can work with intermittent fasting. Chris and Heidi recommend eating 5 meals, spaced 3 hours apart, so in reality, you are fasting 12 hours between your last meal of the day and breakfast if you follow their program. Here’s a post that talks about intermittent fasting that could be helpful too: https://heidipowell.net/13082. Hope this helps! 🙂
Thank you so much Heidi ?
Hi, I typically workout 5 days a week with 4 of those days being lifting days and the other just cardio/HIIT. Im 5’7 and 165 lbs. Im trying to drop body fat % because I have built quite a bit of muscle already and I am currently at a big plateau. I was doing a lower carb type of eating but eating overnight oats right before my workouts. I am slowly adding carbs back in such as apples and pb for my snacks or a banana with a protein shake. When I did eat carbs I kept them clean and stuck with ezekiel english muffins, brown basmati rice and sweet potatoes. I had a hard time with cheat day because I felt like it lead to more cravings, however I wasn’t carb cycling. I would like to try this but wondered which type of carb cycling would benefit me the most. I thought maybe the turbo one but I’m afraid to have my high carb days on days when I don’t workout. Typically i workout Monday through Friday. Weekends is where i struggle to eat the best. Thanks so much!
Hi Brenda: You’re doing amazing! I’d try the Extreme Cycle, and here’s where you can learn more about this cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10503. And for your cheat day you can eat “treat” foods, healthy foods, or a combo of both. The important thing is to eat the extra calories. You got this!
I?m so lost :(. I have the transform app and the plan suggested for me is the turbo cycle. I just can?t understand how eating a huge, high carb breakfast, followed by 4 more meals in a day will help me lose weight. It?s SO much food. I?m convinced my body will do nothing but store it all, as it has in the past eating 5 meals a day. How long do I need to try this before seeing results? I?ve given it two weeks and I?ve gained two pounds. Any advice?!
Hi Alyssa: It is VERY common to be surprised at the amount of food you should be eating to reach your goals! Most people have the misconception (and ?old school? mentality) that you have to starve yourself to reach your goals?this is not the case at all. For our approach, we start you at the highest calorie intake possible to boost your metabolism and prime your body, then if you EVER plateau, the program will adjust your portions in a ?step-down? manner, to maximize your results and keep you losing. This is transformation the way it SHOULD be done! Your meal plan is totally customized to you and your goals, and so you can feel confident that if you eat all of that delicious food, you will achieve your goals! And here’s a post that can help also: https://heidipowell.net/12026. Be sure you’re doing your weekly progress updates in the app, and if you’re ever prompted to let the app adjust your program, allow it to do this. You can totally do this!
Hi,
I want to start your turbo cycle but how do i make sure that I’m eating low carbs on low days when i see some of the same foods that are considered to be low carb on the high carb list?
Hi Ruins: Which list are you referring to? Please reply, and I’ll be happy to help you!
Hi. I have the Transform App and I asked a ? but havent received an answer. Im wondering how my protein shake I purchase should look as far as macronutrients. There are so many on the market. I have some Shakeology at home and that has about 15 g of carbs. I dont know if that is good or bad for low carb days. Thanks and Merry Christmas!
Hi Eileen: We recommend low fat (less than 3g), low carb (less than 5g), with around 20-25g of protein per serving. Other than that, go with what you like best! 🙂
How do you figure out how many carbs in grams you are supposed to have on both high and low carb days to lose weight? I follow macros so I know no less than 1 gram per body weight for protein and that never changes.
Hi Andrea: For the Turbo Cycle, we don’t have exact grams of macros available, and we recommend you follow the portion guidelines for the meals. If you’d like to try the Extreme Cycle, we do have this information available: https://heidipowell.net/10503 and https://heidipowell.net/10617. I hope this helps! 🙂
thank you for your quick reply and suggestions….I truly appreciate it…. you guys are awesome:)… thank you again
love your website!!!! I’ve been carb cycling for the last 2 months…..and now im interested in turbo cycling…. I need your expertise on how to manage turbo cycling with my workout routine….. here are some inputs of what ive been doing so far (# are rounded to make it easier)
first: im female 39yrs old 5’8″, current weight 160, 15.5%BF and 78lbs muscle
( I stared about a year ago and I was about 175/180: 25%bf and 70ish muscle…I tried caloric deficit, ketogenic, regular eating….and nothing really worked until I stared carb cycling mid-September)
type of workout: crossfit/Olympic weightlifting/cardio plyos etc…)
bmr:1513
TDEE: (to maintain current weight) 2345
lose 1.5/week: 1595 or 1pound= 1845
my current carb cycle is this
MONDAY+WEDNESDAY+FRIDAY= LIFT DAYS: when I work out in the morning which is 85% of the time: this is my intake
CALORIES= 1595 –> 40% P + 50 % C + 10% F
if I work out late afternoon like at 4h30pm: protein stays at 40% I do “moderate”= carbs 35% and fats 25%
ON TUESDAYS: its pure cardio day no body weight, no weights:
CALORIES: 1513 = 40% P + 5 to under 10% CARBS + 55% fats
weekend: I keep it at 1513 with low carb and high fats
so technically, most of time I have 3 days high carbs 4 days low carb
as for cheat meals or days: I rarely do them, I keep them when I know there’s an event coming up or every 3 weeks, I allow myself 1 full days of a TREAT DAY!!! 🙂
NOW with the turbo cycle you state starting from Monday
L + L + H + L + L + H +REWARD
How can I apply turbo cycle with my workout routine? I like my LIFTING days with high carbs because I know when to take Low glycemic, HIGH glycemic carbs linked with weighlifting (which helps with energy, muscle repair etc….)…..
thank you so much in advance for your guidance and expertise
Hi Natali: Have you heard about the Extreme Cycle? With your workout schedule (which is awesome, BTW), you might do better on this cycle since you’d have 4 HC days in a row, then 2 LC days, then your Reward Day (which is a very important part of carb cycling). Here’s a post that outlines the Extreme Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/10503. This one might help also: https://heidipowell.net/10617. You might also aim for losing 1 lb a week instead of 1 1/2 lbs. With your workout schedule, your body might really need those extra calories…just a thought. I hope this helps! 🙂
I was wondering the same thing. I have 3 days of lifting, 3 days high impact cardio and one day yoga. High carbs on lifting days, low carbs the rest of days. So extreme cycling could be better for my needs? Heidi said that reword meals are important. Why? I’m so afraid of those meals. Afraid that one day of extra calories or extra carbs will ruin everything!
Hi Aida: Yes! Reward Meals are super important! They take care of any cravings you have and they reset your metabolism to keep you progressing towards your goals. That one day of extra calories actually helps you! Remember to do your weekly weigh-in the morning of your reward day, and you’re good to go! 🙂
What are the main differences between the turbo and the ultra plan? I see the ultra has only one HC day but wondering if you lose more weight this way?
Hi Diana: The main difference between the two plans is the number of HC days. The Ultra plan is good for those who were on a Keto diet and who are wanting to introduce carbs into their diets slowly OR who need more LC days due to health issues, and if you do have any health issues, we recommend you discuss any nutrition program with your healthcare team first. If you haven’t been following a keto diet, I’d try the Turbo Cycle first for several weeks. I hope that helps! 🙂
Hello! Just ordered a couple of your books for carb cycling and I’m wondering what is the best kind of protein powder to use? Should I get one with whey or without? Im hoping to find a good this weekend at gnc. I’ve been using about time vegan protein powder and it is NOT good so I thought I would ask for suggestions:) thank you so much 🙂
Hi Dorian: Welcome to carb cycling! For protein powders in general, we recommend low fat (less than 3g), low carb (less than 5g), with around 20-25g of protein per serving. Other than that, go with what you like best! 🙂