Confused about carbs and how they fit into carb cycling? Believe me, you’re not alone! Many of my most frequently asked questions are about carbs. And yes, with all the talk of “carbs this” and “carbs that” in the media, it can get a bit confusing. It gets even more complicated when you think you need to keep track of grams of carbs per meal and per day and the “good” vs. the “bad.”
It’s time to rethink how you think about carbs, agreed?!
First, the basics: Carbs—and the roles they play in your diet—are actually pretty simple. If it comes from a plant, it’s a carb, and carbs are the preferred fuel source for your muscles and organs. Breads, beans, potatoes, table sugar, fruits, and vegetables are all carbs.
There are two categories of carbs: simple and complex. The simple, not-so-healthy ones are found in foods such as cakes, cookies, some commercially made breads, and many processed foods. Fruits are also considered simple carbs because of the type of sugar they contain, but they’re a healthy choice because they’re loaded with vitamins, minerals, electrolytes, antioxidants, and some fiber. Your body breaks down simple, not-so-healthy carbs very quickly, which spikes your blood sugar levels and stimulates the release of insulin, resulting in a craving for more simple carbs. And that is soooo not good!
Complex, healthy carbs—like those found in legumes, root vegetables, whole-grains, cereals, breads, and pastas—are typically high in fiber, which slows food digestion and the release of sugars. This keeps your blood sugar and energy levels steady (and longer lasting), so your calorie-burning furnace stays hot and burns more calories! And that is awesome!
So how do carbs fit into our carb cycling program? It’s actually pretty simple. No matter what carb cycle you choose, every breakfast of every day will contain a carb. Every breakfast, every day. Your carb can be a grain, a legume, a starchy or root veggie, or a fruit.
In the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles, on low-carb days, your remaining four meals (spaced every three hours) consist of a portion each of protein, fat, and veggies (think fibrous green veggies, not the starchy, root kind), and on high-carb days, your remaining four meals (spaced every three hours) are made up of a portion each of protein and complex carbs (grains, legumes, starchy or root veggies, or fruits). To learn more about the new Extreme Cycle, go here. And no matter which cycle you choose, if you’re ever still hungry, you can always throw in a portion of veggies (again, the fibrous greens). Remember: With carb cycling, you can have non-root/non-starchy veggies with every single meal (starchy, root veggies, like potatoes, will fall into the carb category)! Pretty simple, right?
Here’s what it looks like, including some handy portion size helps, for the Easy, Classic, Turbo, and Fit Cycles:
Here’s the most important take-away about carbs: With carbs and carb cycling, it’s not about a magic number of grams of carbs to eat every day. It’s about that carb for breakfast every morning and spreading your carb intake throughout your high-carb days so your body gets the greatest benefits from those healthy carbs you eat. Carbs are amazing, and they can be an important key to achieving your transformation goals. 🙂
693 Responses
I am starting the turbo cycling on Monday but I am confused. On my low carbs days I am eating the ham omelet from your book which has tomatoes and mushrooms in it. Do I still have to add 2 portions of veggies, and if so, what veggies? I feel like it would be a huge meal for a 6am breakfast. Also, at night I am eating chicken salad with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers so I have to add veggies as well? and can you guys recommend a good dressing that I can use?
Thank you so much.
I am sorry but forgot to ask something else. Because work schedule it is impossible for me to eat every 3 hours, but I can do every 4 hours (except for pm snack). Is that acceptable? Thanks again.
6:30 bf
10:30 snack
2:30 lunch
5:30 snack
8:30 dinner
Sometimes, if you have a crazy schedule, you’ll have to adjust your eating times. Just do the best you can, and you’re good to go!
Thanks so much for answering. It was real helpful. Two more questions of you don’t mind.
I know under the carb cycle plan you don’t count grams just portions and calories – I am wondering though about carbs. If something has 10 carbs and 8 are fiber would that be considered a low carb (net 2 carbs). I was wondering how Heidi and Chris felt about the whole net carbs being carbs minus fiber.
Also today was my 1st low carb day and I feel great!!! I can only seem to get about 1100 calories though. How do I get the cals up to 1200??
I recently got the book- love it. Two questions. 1) I am starting a 16 week prep for a bikini competition. I’m currently at 15.7% body fat and hoping to lose another 7-9 pounds and achieve a body fat of 10-12%. Would you recommend your carb cycling plan for this purpose and which plan? (Turbo?) 2) Would I still do the slingshot week? Thanks in advance! It would be so much easier to not count grams!
Yes, carb cycling could work for you, and the Turbo Cycle would be a great place to start. And yes, you’ll still want to do the Reward Days and Slingshot Weeks. They are truly a key to achieving your goals. Good luck on your competition!
Hi! I am just starting carb cycling – today is my first day of the turbo cycle. I have logged all of my meals into MyFitnessPal, and I am unable to reach 1200 calories while following the portion sizes as directed.
Today is low carb, so I’ve eaten the following:
B – 4 egg whites (70 calories), 1 whole wheat sandwich thin (100 calories), broccoli, peppers, mushrooms and onions (35 calories)
S – 3 slices low sodium ham (45 calories), 1/4 cup sharp cheddar (110 calories – I know this is larger than my thumb but was trying to get more calories in there), bell peppers and cucumbers (32 calories)
L – 4 oz chicken (100 calories), 1/4 of a small avocado (31 calories), snap peas (35 calories)
S – 2 hard boiled eggs (protein & fat, 140 calories), broccoli (31 calories)
D – Romaine lettuce, cucumber, onions (31 calories), 4 oz grilled chicken (100 calories), 1 tbsp cheddar (33 calories)
The total for all of that is 922 calories. I am not sure what else to add in – that would be a LOT of extra veggies if I filled in the deficit with 278 calories of veggies, and I don’t think I can eat that much anyway.
Any ideas on how to get to 1200 while sticking with the plan? I don’t want to only eat 900 and stall my weight loss.
Please help!
Thanks so much!
Hi Megan: You’re definitely on the right track! For your first snack, make sure the ham equals a protein serving (around 15+ grams of protein). For lunch, up your avocado serving to 1/3 cup (that equals a complete fat serving). For snack #2, add in a bit more protein – 4 egg whites = 1 protein serving. For dinner, you can up your cheese serving to 1 oz too. All of these should add some calories into what you’re doing. If you have “Choose More, Lose More for Life,” there’s an awesome food guide (with serving sizes and calorie amounts) beginning on page 192. This could really help you! Good luck!
Hi. I’m 46 and about 129 and 26%bf. I want to be 120 and 20%. I have been able to take the weight off before by just restricting calories and fat but now it seems it is not coming off no matter how hard I workout everyday. I am going to start the turbo carb cycling. I have a couple questions
1. How do I count quest bars?
2. Can I eat a bar that is high fat and low carb (5g) and high protein (20g) on my low carb days.
3. I have a great meal replacement shake for high carb days – do you recommend one for the low carb days?
4. Veggies have carbs but we don’t need to worry about those carbs as long as they are not starchy veggies correct??
5. Based on my stats above is 1200 cals a day about right??
6. What veggies can I eat at b fast? Can’t imagine any veggies that I would have for b fast????
7. What is a reasonable time goal for me to get to where I want to be?
Thanks in advance for the answers
Shannon
Hi Shannon: Great questions – let’s get you some answers:
1. Quest bars are a great low carb meal replacement. You can still add the veggies too.
2. Yes, the key to knowing which bar is best for which type of meal is to look at both the carb and fat content. If more calories come from fat than carbs, then that bar is a good option for a low carb meal. If the reverse is true, then that bar is a good option for a high carb meal. Chris and Heidi do recommend consuming only one protein bar a day, since it is best to eat whole foods whenever possible.
3. Look for a whey-based powder with between 15-20 grams of protein and less than 5 grams of carbs per serving. With this powder you can also still have your fat and veggie portions for a low carb meal.
4. Yes, non-root/non-starchy veggies, while technically carbs, are counted as veggies in carb cycling.
5. You’ll want to eat 1200 calories on low carb days and 1500 calories on high carb days.
6. You can eat any veggies for breakfast! Try adding spinach or kale to a smoothie, or veggies to an omelet.
7. Chris and Heidi recommend aiming for a 10% weight loss in the first 90 days. This number does depend on how many pounds you want to lose too. The less pounds you have to lose, the longer it can take. Since you don’t have too many pounds you want to lose, a 1-2 pounds/week loss is awesome! And remember, you could be replacing fat with muscle as you’re working out, so there are other ways to gauge success than that number on the scale.
Hope that helps!
I am so excited to try this! My apologies if you have already answered this, but how many grams of carbs should a woman shoot for on a high carb day vs. a low carb day?
Hi Heidi: In carb cycling, we don’t count grams of anything, only portion sizes (and calories, if you’d like). That makes it easy! Happy carb cycling!
I’ve been looking over the carb cycling diet plan and have seen several references to Chris Powell’s enewsletter with a link to his website where you can sign up, but when I click the link it only takes me to the home page of website. I have been unable to find any reference to the enewsletter in any of the website sections/pages or a way to sign up for it. Could you please provide a direct link to the sign up option? Thank you.
I’m so sorry, that newsletter option has been removed for the time being. Hopefully this option will be available in the future. In the meantime, feel free to keep an eye on this blog for great tips, recipes, and other health-related information.
I love your show and Chris’s books! You’re both so very inspiring and down to earth! I’m ready to start my carb cycling journey this week, but had one last question. In many of the recipes in the book and online, it seems that there are a mix of carbs and fats in the same meals. Are those recipes more for the maintenance time or is there a certain amount of fats allowed on carb days, and carbs on fat days? Thank you so much for explaining everything so thoroughly, you guys and your team rock!!
Most recipes in the book are broken down into low and high carb days. Which specific recipes are you talking about? And yes, there are several recipes on this blog that contain both – not everyone follows Chris and Heidi’s carb cycling program, so we try to offer healthy options that anyone can use. If any recipes on this blog do have both fats and carbs, then those would be best for reward days/meals.
I just finished reading the Chris Powell’s choose More, Lose More for life book and I am getting ready to start next week with the turbo cycle.
I made a menu with portions and I would love your insight, however I haven’t find a way to paste it here. Is there an e-mail where I can send it? i just want to make sure I am doing things right.
Thank you, Hellen
You should be able to copy/paste it right here or on my FB wall. 🙂
Hi Hellen!! I would like to start the turbo cycle as well. Do you mind sharing your menu? I am at a standstill as of now and with twin boys it’s almost impossible to make any type of menu lol.
Thank you, I am going to try to copy and paste here the thing is I made it on excel so, I don’t know if it going to work.
Monday
Low Carb
Stack’em up-9 minutes no stop (Squats Thrusts 5 reps, Swing-ups 10 reps & Marching Soldiers 15 reps)
Breakfast 7:30am Classic Ham Omelet with 1 slice of wg bread
Snack 10:30am Protein Shake (spinach, kale and carrots), Almonds
Lunch 1:30pm Steak, veggies
Snack 4:30pm Chocolate Peanut butter Shake
T25
Dinner 7:30pm Chicken Salad
I am 34 years old, 5’5″ and 109lbs. I am athletic. I do 1-2 short but intense workouts a day of either HIIT, kettle bell, body weight, jump rope or moderate dumbbells. I have been following a low carb high fat plan b/c I am carb intolerant. Too much will make me sleepy but I am getting too thin. I want to keep growing my muscles but I still have a tiny bit of fat on my butt/thighs. I do have 4 kids with my youngest being 17 months so I know its jus time and consistency. I’d like to try the Fit cycle? But I’m afraid of the high carb days making me tired. Any advice?
By being carb intolerant, are you meaning fruits and starchy/root-type veggies too? You can try the Fit Cycle, and then change to another cycle if you need to. Give it a try! Carb cycling is meant to be a program you can follow for life, and here’s a post about how to use carb cycling to maintain your ideal weight range: https://heidipowell.net/5137/weight-loss-maintenance/. Good luck!