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
I start work later in the day and was wondering if it was important how late my last two meals were? I sometimes find myself eating meal #5 at 10 pm or later. Considering this, I was also wondering if it would be wrong to switch times between my second snack and dinner to not eat more so late and so close to before I go to sleep. Very new to this but very motivated as well, thank you in advance for your response.
Where does almond milk fit in???? I see it on food list but doesn’t
Show under a fat carb or protein so what do we count it towards????
We categorize it under “flavoring”. 🙂
I am trying carb cycling but am having a hard time finding low carb high protein items since I do not eat a lot of meat. Do you have any suggestions? Most veggie burgers/soy protein sources still contain a lot of carbs. Please help…
Hello! I’ve recently been trying to carb cycle. I use the bode burn usually in the afternoon, but my question is about how to get my protein in? I do not eat a lot of meat so that is complicating things with carb cycling. Do you have any suggestions for somebody who doesn’t eat a lot of meat and is still looking for high protein low carb options. Let me know! Thanks for your help.
try cottage cheese, greek yogurt, almonds as a start.
When will there be more extreme weightloss shows on tv. I live in Canada, I seem to do better after watching the show, I havent found any for a bit. 🙁 , Please tell me there is more coming up soon.
Thanks
We’re filming the next season now. Some stations are playing re-runs. Check your local listings. So glad you enjoy the show! 🙂
Heidi, I wake up about 5 am and workout for at least an hour then after my workout I blend myself a protein shake. Since I wake up early do I need to have breakfast before I workout? I prefer working out on an empty stomach especially since I just wake up and go to the gym.
Did you ever get a response to your question? I was wondering the same thing! I get up early and work out on an empty stomach. By the time I’m done working out, cleaned up, etc it has been several hours since my “wake-up time”.
Thanks!
Hi Angie: Check out this post for some more info on eating and working out: https://heidipowell.net/1071/to-eat-or-not-to-eat-before-exercise/. Hope it helps! 🙂
Heidi, I’m 34, current weight is 333lbs, and I am 5’2. I’m a new mom, I have an 11 month old. I’ve been stuck for the past 10 years at around this weight, and now with my baby, my whole life has change, and i’m terrified something will happen to me if I don’t change my ways. How do I get started on how many calories I should consume, and how much I should work out? and what kind of work outs? I love to Dance. I am a stay at home mom. Thank You.
A few questions as im beginning my transformation. On low-carb days, are you allowed to eat fruit from the preferred fruit list? And when and how can you use the flavourings such as hummus? I’m following the turbo carb cycling and love it but find it difficult to find the answers to the fruit question and the flavourings.
Also, are there any sample meal plans to look at?
For a high carb meal, can I have a fat with my breakfast because it only says carb & protein?
So far I’m on my second week of the cycle and absolutely love it! Finally a lifestyle that is easy to follow, never feel deprived and am actually seeing and feeling the results.
Thanks for sharing your success with us so we can follow this incredible program at home.
If you want to eat fruit on low carb days be sure and eat it first thing in the morning. Depending on the hummus you use, it’s typically ok any day if you just use it for flavoring.
You can find sample meal plan in the book “Choose to Lose” and “Choose More Lose More for Life”. Here’s a visual that might help: http://chrispowell.com/turbo-carb-cycling-program/
No fats on High Carb day. 😉
So glad you’re seeing results!!! Keep it up! 🙂
Heidi, I have just recently started the Classic Carb-cycling process this week. I have purchased Chris?s new book to help me with the process and I have signed up on-line to get tips, etc. I have used the resource, email my trainer several times for a few questions but I have not received a response back yet. I am extremely excited about starting this plan as I have some baby weight I need to lose and I love this plan b/c I do love my carbs.
My question is that I am not much of a vegetable eater. I mainly like green beans, salads(lettuce and spinach) and cucumbers. In order for me to be successful do I need to eat vegetables at each of my 5 meals?
Breakfast and my morning snack are mainly when I don?t prefer a vegetable. The other 3 meals throughout the day are no problem, b/c I eat either a salad, green beans or cucumbers?
Now I know how all this works and of course I can?t get an exact answer but I thought I might could get some tips.
Do the best you can. Any is better than none at all. A good way to get some veggies in for breakfast is in an omelet!
I get up at 5 am and leave for bootcamp at 5:20am. Is it ok to eat my first meal when I get home from bootcamp at 6:40 am? I don’t like to eat and then work out hard like we do at bootcamp. Will this be ok when I start the carb cycling for the first time?