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
Hello Heidi!
I want to start carb cycling on Monday and finished reading all about the exercises and meals today. I was wondering where the “flavorings” section comes into play. Can you add one portion to any meal? I know it says one portion is the size of your pointer and middle finger but cannot find where they fit into the meals. I appreciate it!
Flavorings can be added as you like as long as they don’t put your daily calorie count over the 1200 (low carb days) or 1500 (high carb days) recommendations. Happy carb cycling!
Hi Powell Pack! I have a quick question. I am trying to choose from the classic cycle and the turbo cycle. I know I could do the turbo cycle but I would to have my 2 high carb days on Tuesday and Thursday because those are the days I get my higher intensity workouts in. Would it be okay to do (Sunday to Saturday) LC, LC, HC, LC, HC, LC, Reward day? Thanks!
It’s best to follow the cycles as they’re outlined to get the best results. You can shift the days of the week around, but they need to stay in the same order. For example, you could have your week start on Monday instead of Sunday, or Saturday instead of Sunday. But the order of the low and high carb days needs to stay as it’s outlined. Happy carb cycling!
Hello! I was just wondering if fruit smoothies are ok on high carb days? From somewhere like Thrive where it’s all natural.
Fruit smoothies are great for high carb days, just make sure you’re only adding one portion of fruit to your smoothie. 🙂
Does smoking cigarettes affect carb cycling or weight loss in general? Please help!!!! Thank you.
Hi powell pack. I just want to start off saying that i love your show and mr.chris your show and your methods have inspired me so much. I am 20 years old and i am looking to lose 100 lbs. And ive seen on your show that people can lose close to that amount in 90 days. I would love to get as close to that number in 80 days because i have a huge event coming up. Im looking into the turbo cycle and a couple questions i have is do i eat veggies for breakfast? And with no fats on high carb days, does that mean just no fat foods listed on the approved list or not even chicken with fat in it? And im looking for a great exercise routine that involves cardio. Because i really would love to get this weight off. And i believe it is possible to do it. Thank you for any help you can give me. It means a lot!!
Great questions! 1) You can eat two fist fulls of veggies (the non-root/non-starchy type) with any meal – low and high carb. 2) No fats on high carb days means no healthy fats on the list. With meats (proteins), it’s best to remove any visible fat. 3) There’s an awesome exercise routine (cardio and strength training) in Chris and Heidi’s book, “Choose More, Lose More for Life.” You can totally do this!
I am a divison 1 football player looking to cut fat, get leaner, but still be able to lift heavy and have the energy to perform at a high level during workouts. I workout 4 times a week. Do not want to lose strength. Thoughts.
With your workout intensity, you might want to try the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/. Good luck!
If you are a D1 football player, your team dietitian will set you up with a plan. As a fellow FBS football player (Tight End for a Big 10 school), our dietitian was able to get me on a plan that was low carb (technically low sugar) that helped me drop about 15 lbs from last season to the beginning of camp a couple of weeks ago while still retaining my muscle mass.
Eat clean and lift really, really heavy weights!
What is a sample / recommended reward day menu like? Caloric intake limit? Carb count limit? Thank you for your response.
On your reward day you can eat anything up to 1000 extra calories. It’s truly a reward day! 🙂
This is the same question I had. However, 1,000 extra calories on which type of day? Like say on low carb days you try to do 1200 calories and high carb days you try to do 1500 calories….so which calorie intake would you be adding the 1,000 to for a reward day? Maybe I am thinking about this TOO much but this is something I am looking in to doing so I am very interested. THANKS!
You can have up to 1000 extra calories on your Reward Day (which is treated as a high carb day), which is day 7 of the Turbo Cycle Week. Happy Turbo Cycling! 🙂
I am training for a Marathon and need to drop 20lbs. Is the Turbo Cycle a safe program to do while marathon training..
You might want to look into the Fit Cycle: https://heidipowell.net/2719/carb-cycling-the-fit-cycle/, although you can change cycles at any time. Good luck on your marathon! 🙂
Hi! Love your show and what you and Chris do for people!! My husband and I wanted to start carb-cycling. I wanted to know if I need to modify anything since I am a nursing mother, or would one of the cycles be better for me right now?
Thank you so much for your time 🙂
Check out this post for some great info on carb cycling and nursing: https://heidipowell.net/2275/q-a-carb-cycling-while-prego/. 🙂
do you have any sample menus of the turbo plan?
I’m so sorry, but we don’t. Here’s a post that has a great graphic (as well as some other useful info) that will show you how to put together each meal on all the cycles: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. 🙂