On Extreme Weight Loss and in our books “Choose to Lose: The 7 Day Carb Cycle Solution” and “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” Chris and I teach people how to lose weight and get healthy using a program called carb cycling. When you carb cycle, you eat 5 smaller meals a day, 1 every 3 hours starting within 30 minutes of waking up.
Eating this often is new to many people, especially those that skip breakfast and suddenly realize halfway through the day, that they’ve also missed lunch. Irregular eating can derail your fitness goals.
Preparation is key to eating every three hours. While we all know the best laid plans can go awry with an emergency, you get stuck in traffic, a meeting goes longer than planned, etc., so many people ask Chris and I what happens if I accidentally skip a meal or am unable to eat my meal on time. What do you do?
Find out the answers by watching this week’s Ask Heidi Anything.
264 Responses
Hey Heidi, I am still in high school, so it’s hard for me to eat a midmorning snack. I eat breakfast at 7 and I don’t eat lunch until 12:15. We aren’t even allowed to eat in our classes! Help!
Can you eat a snack in between classes? If not, just do the best you can. Sometimes it’s so difficult to eat every 3 hours with crazy schedules. Just make sure that the meals you can eat are spot on nutritionally. 🙂
I have a difficult time with the water. Can you use water enhancers?
Great question! Try adding some lemon or lime and see if that helps.
Eating 5 meals a day is totaly no problem during carb cycling. Problem is only that im never full, and constantly having cravings. This starts from morning till evenings and even during the nights, no matter if i just ate….it never goes away. Does anyone have sudjestions to reduce these cravings?.
Make sure you’re eating the correct portion sizes, drinking all your water, and remember that you can have a two fist-sized portion of veggies with every meal. If you’re still having cravings, try chewing a piece of minty gum, do an activity that will keep you busy, and/or get some exercise (simply going for a walk might help). And sometimes it takes your body a bit of time to adjust to a new way of doing things, so please be patient! 🙂
I was wondering about protein shakes for meals when I just don’t have time to sit down for a meal. What is the recommended carb content per serving of protein powders? Will any low-carb kind do? A store here sells Labrada low carb protein, and I was curious if that is acceptable or if it is still too high in carbs for low carb days.
Chris and Heidi recommend that protein powders have between 15-20 grams of protein and 5 or less grams of carbs per serving. For a total meal replacement powder for high carb meals, they love their Vemma Powell Perfect Protein Shake powder. If you’re interested in trying it out, Bob Brenner (one of the amazing season 3 transformations) would be happy to help you: [email protected]. 🙂
I’m just starting to carb cycle. I have a problem getting in 5 meals. I teach kindergarten and have students in my room from 7:45-11:15. I eat breakfast at 6:00 and then can’t eat again until 11:15. Is there a recommended protein bar I could try to sneak in around 9:00?
A lot of protein bars have a good amount of carbs, so be sure and watch the labels. As a general guideline, you want your protein bar to have 15-20ish grams of protein/serving. Happy carb cycling!
Thank you for all the great advice. This may sound odd but how quickly should you eat meals? I sometimes work through lunch and just pick at my food. It can sometimes take me two hours to eat which practically backs me up to my next meal.
Thank you in advance!
Thank you sooo much for replying! I have another question about high carb days…for each meal….can I do a protein + a fruit instead of a starchy bread/grain carb? I’m always on the go…and nonfat Greek yogurt + a fruit is easy for me….plus it doesn’t weigh me down & cause bloating like grains….thoughts? Thank you AGAIN! I can tell the weight is coming off! I can’t wait for my first weigh in day!!
~ Betz
Yes! You can have any approved smart carb as the carb portion of any high carb meal, so fruit is a great choice! 🙂
Hi Heidi!
I just started Carb Cycling – I had been doing just low carb for the last 6 months.
However, as most people….I’m having such a hard time eating 5 whole meals with protein & veggies on LC days! Plus, I’m pretty tired of meat…and I’m not sure about Greek yogurt or cottage cheese, although I’m going to try them 😉
Here’s my question….I have a whey protein powder that has; 85 calories, 1g fat, 1.5g carbs & 18g protein…how many times a day could I just have that? Could I replace 3 or 4 meals if I needed to with that – mixed with a tablespoon of PB2 & then eat some bell peppers & hummus? Also…I noticed other people have mentioned quest bars…can I replace a meal with one of those also on a LC day?
I completely appreciate your time & knowledge! Thank you tons in advance!!
~ Victoria
Hi Betz: You could have this protein powder as the protein portion of any meal. If you’re going to add PB2 to it, the PB2 would be the fat portion for the meal, and should only be eaten on low carb days. Hummus, since its main ingredient is chickpeas, would be considered a carb and should only be eaten as the carb portion of a high carb meal. So, you wouldn’t want to have the PB2 and the hummus in the same meal, unless it’s a reward meal. As for protein bars, many are higher in carbs and would be counted as both the protein and carb portions of a high carb meal, but would not be an option for a low carb meal. You’ll need to check the labels to see how many grams of carbs are in each bar since there are so many option available. To help clear up any carb confusion, check out this post from Heidi’s blog: https://heidipowell.net/4514/carb-confusion/. The post has an awesome graphic that I think will help you better understand the low and high carb meals. Best of luck! 🙂
I am still confused about the fruits. I am starting the Turbo plan tomorrow. I am not sure where the fruits come in or what they are counted as. I thought the carbs were the breads, pasta’s, cereals. I really need this answered, as I can’t find it addressed anywhere I read, book or internet. did I miss something?
Fruits are a carb.
Hey Heidi! I hope you are well, with my current job I work 5 days a week 8 hours a day with only one 1/2 hour break should I just eat a large breakfast, lunch, and then a snack before and after dinner so my dinner sizes are small? I know in one video you said not to double up if you had to skip a meal but I’m just curious on your opinion with all this??