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
Is it possible to have too much protein at a meal? The reason I’m asking is that on high carb mornings I’d like to have two ready made yogurts with fruit in them, as they are only 35 calories each and a protein shake with 100 calories that’s 170 calories and I’m still short of the 300 I’m suppose to have I cant eat meat in the morning unless bacon which I didn’t find in the book and I don’t like Greek yogurt. I’m going by the fist size amount which is so confusing I don’t want to eat more protein then I’m allowed
Hi Tamara: It depends on how many grams of protein are in your yogurts and protein shake. And you can also have two fist fulls of veggies with every meal. Also, how many grams of carbs are in your yogurts? For breakfast on the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles you have a portion each of protein, carb, and veggies. On the Extreme Cycle, you have a portion each of protein, carb, fat, ad veggies for every breakfast. There’s an awesome graphic for your reference in this post: https://heidipowell.net/4514. Hope that helps!
can I have dill pickles on low and high carb days
Hi Tamara: Yes, they would be considered veggies, but keep an eye on the sodium content, as it can be a bit high.
How much sodium can I have in a day
We recommend less than 2000 mgs a day.
Hi! I am currently on week 2 of the carb cycling diet and I have started not being able to finish some of the meals because I am so full. Is it necessary to eat all of every meal or should I stop when I am full? Thank you!
Hi Keatha: What an interesting problem to have on a “diet”! ? If you can eat all your meal, then do. But don’t over-stuff yourself. As your exercising increases, you’ll probably be hungrier and will want to eat all that yummy food. Just do the best you can!
If I miss a meal or a bit late, should I just count 3 hours from my last meal?
Hi MW: Count that next 3 hours from when you began eating your last meal. If that will put you too late eating, then you can fudge a bit on the 3 hours between meals recommendation. Just do your best! 🙂
I just bought the extreme transformation book and am very excited to get started. Is there a suggested protein powder that I should use? Or how much protein, carbs, fat, should I look for in a protein powder? Thank you! Lindsey
Hi Lindsey: Chris and Heidi recommend low fat, whey-based powders with between 15-20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of carbs per serving. Good luck – you got this! ?
Hi there.. well you mean that maybe am on the right track, however i need to do more exercise so that i burn more calories? And that after 4 week i do change my training program? Am i right?
Thanx
Hi heidi and chris.. i have been following exactly the turbo carbs cycle as mentioned in your book for about 2 months. The big issue id that am 80kg and i have been losing only 1kg and am presently 79kg. What i want to know, am doing something wrong?
Am exercising; doing cardio and i have even join a gym.
Please help.
Thanx
You’re probably not doing anything wrong! There is a lot to take in with any new way of doing things, so double check your portion sizes (and you might even want to count calories for a bit just to make sure), make sure you’re eating the recommended calorie amounts for both low- and high-carb days, drink your water (1/2 your body weight in ounces every day), do your weekly Reward Day and the Slingshot week every 4th week, and get in as much movement as you can. The key is to burn more calories than you consume. You can do this!
I was wondering how to best deal with a situation, I am going to have to go out of town for 3 weeks in a row for work, I have been doing pretty good with the carb cycling and want to stay on track. How do I keep up with my carb cycling while having to eat from restaurants? I worry that I won’t have good options to choose from, it seems like restaurants say the food is healthy, but I think they still cook things not healthy using butter and different things. How do I go about this, I’m nervous.
Hi Jen: Here’s a blog post that might help: https://heidipowell.net/9358/avoidingroadtripblocks/. And you can always ask restaurants to not cook your food in butter, etc., and ask for them to grill any veggies. The worse they can do is say, “No,” but restaurants are getting to be more and more accommodating, so give it a try! And stay away from sauces, sauteing, etc., too. You can do this – you’ll have to do a bit of legwork, but it can be done. Safe travels!
Hi Heidi,
I have just started the Turbo cycle and have a couple questions.
Do I eat my exercise calories ( 1200 + exercise calories/ 1500 + exercise calories)?
And can I “skip” the reward day? I find my 2 higher carb days enough to keep me going and end up feeling bloated having more than 1 high carb/ high calorie day in a row
Thx!
Hi Alicia: You don’t want to eat back your exercise calories – those go towards your daily calorie deficit which leads to lost pounds. You don’t want to skip your reward day either – it is an integral part of the program for several reasons. You don’t have to eat “treat” type foods on your reward day, you can eat those extra calories in totally healthy foods if you’d like to.
Hi
I just recently started carb cycling and I love it so far! But was wondering is there any types of vitamins I should be taking while doing this program? Thanks
Hi Amy: It’s best to discuss any dietary supplements with your healthcare team first, and then follow their recommendations. You got this!