What Is Carb Cycling

Simply put – CARB CYCLING is when you alternate low and high days with your carb intake:

• Cycle one/day one is a LOW CARB DAY which is where you increase your healthy fat intake AND DO A LOW KEY WORKOUT.
• Cycle two/day two, the day after a low carb day, you increase to a moderate HIGH CARB DAY, which will reignite your metabolism AND WILL ENABLE YOU TO DO A MORE VIGOROUS WORKOUT. 
• Cycle three/day 3 is simply repeating with a LOW CARB DAY, next with a HIGH CARB DAY, etc etc.

So what’s the big deal with eating carbs and how do they work for your body?

• Carbs are digested and are broken down into glucose (which is fuel for your body and your brain).
• Glucose enters the pancreas which produces insulin (which converts to energy).
• Insulin is stored as glycogen (which is stored in fat cells).

So as you can see, CARBS ARE GOOD – OUR BODIES NEED CARBS FOR ENERGY.   We just need to burn them off the right way so they’re not just sitting in our fat cells making us just that … FAT!  And this is where CARB CYCLING comes in.

Carb cycling enables you to better utilize fat for burning as fuel, instead of burning carbs and muscle tissue for fuel.  When you eat high carbs at the right time, it resets your metabolism and tells the body to produce thyroid and leptin hormones, which are good for a healthy weight.  When you eat low carbs, it tells the body to use up its stored carbs (glycogen), which then burns the stored body fat that will lead to both body fat loss and water loss, which results in weight loss !!

How to determine how much high and low carbs to consume in a day for carb cycling …  

• HIGH CARB DAYS – Eat 2 o 2.5 grams of carbs per pound of body weight
• LOW CARB DAYS – Eat .5 grams per pound of body weight.

So for me, at 140 pounds, in order to lose weight I should be eating 280 to 350 grams of carbs on high days, and 70 grams of carbs on low days. I’ve seen charts that say 225-235 grams on high days and 2-60 grams on low days, but you decide which is best for your body.

On high days your carb intake is from starchy carbs like whole grains, fruits, pasta, potatoes, rice, non starchy veggies and dairy. On low days your carb intake is from non starchy foods like veggie, some dairy like eggs, and fish, steaks, avocados, nuts and cheese.

Now to put it all together in a plan – which I feature here called the 50Friendly Carb Cycling Diet. And if you’re anything like me and need some structure, I’ve laid out all the meals for you to follow and have put together the weekly menus. It’s all here at your fingertips. Just click on the week below and start following – pretty easy breezy.