Carb Cycling… ok not so much a “shortcut”, but now i’ve got your attention, lets discuss fat loss and carb cycling.

 

What is carb cycling?

Carb cycling is a low or no carb diet that involves periods of moderate to high carb intake. The advantages of carb cycling is that it gives your body an “up-down” carb intake,
that allows your body to take advantage of the energy benefits that are associated with a moderate-high carb diet & prevent your body going into a catabolic state, along with the fat loss advantages of a low carb diet.

Carb Cycling is considered by many to by an advanced technique, and is usually reserved for fitness athletes looking for rapid fat loss or bodybuilders looking to lower their body fat %  ready for a bodybuilding competition. Carb cycling works, and can produce rapid fat loss results, helping to reveal 6 pack abs fast. As mentioned, because this is an advanced technique, its no walk in the park, and you need to consider your goals and put 100% into your diet and training before starting carb cycling. Ask yourself how, “How important is fat loss to me”. If you want it bad, then do it. If you’re just a casual “gym-guy” this may not be for you. You can always enjoy a big ol’ bowl of Shreddybrek & watch this video for some bodybuilding motivation. If you want it, then lets do this.

How Carb Cycling Works

In order to lose fat, you firstly need to be in a calorie deficit, but also your metabolism needs to be in check and going full throttle to help create this calorie deficit. By undergoing a carb cycle, your body will be fueled to help speed up your metabolism, thus creating this calorie deficit. Carb cycling involves high/moderate carbs, low carbohydate days, and in some cases no carbohydrate days.

There are numerous ways to set up a carb cycle.

Example Cycle 1:

Day 1: High Carbs

Day 2: Moderate Carbs

Day 3: No Carbs

Day 4: High Carbs

Day 5: Moderate Carbs

Day 6: No Carbs

Example Cycle 2:

Day 1: High/Moderate Carbs

Day 2: Low Carbs

Day 3: High / Moderate Carbs

Day 4: Low Carbs

Example Cycle 3:

Day 1: Low Carbs

Day 2: Low Carbs

Day 3: Low Carbs

Day 4: Low Carbs

Day 5: High Carbs

Repeat From Day 1

 

There are many ways to carb cycle, and its a matter of experimentation as to what you go with. You could change this up every few weeks to experiment, and see which cycle produces the best fat loss results for you.

I am currently following 1 high/moderate carb day, 1 low day. My high / moderate day consits of 400g carbs. My low carb day is 200g carbs. It should go without saying that anyone carb cycling should have good eating habits in check. How do i eat my carbs on a low carb day?

How To Split Carbs on Low Carb Days?

The way I split my carbohydrate intake when carb cycling on a low carb day and following a muscle building diet is as follows.

I’ll consume half of my daily intake of carbs spread over breakfast and post workout. So half of my intake would be 100g carbs. I will have 50g carbs for breakfast. 50g carbs post workout. After breakfast I eat 3 meals before training (as i train on an evening). I split my remainding 100g of carbs between these 3 meals. I then have my post workout meal.

Then my last meal of the day will be meat & vegetables.

If you want some, come get some.

So that is carb cycling in a nut shell (perhaps egg shell may be more appropriate to us muscle gaining types). Its important to experiment and see what works best for you. Carb cycling can be hard, but the results of rapid fat loss, and maintaining strength are great. If you want to achieve your fat loss goals, then give carb cycling a try & let me know how you get on with it in the comments below.