There are many different diets that you can choose to follow if you want to lose weight. Carb cycling is one of them. This diet has been borrowed from bodybuilders, who use it to lose weight and gain muscle mass at the same time. As the name implies, carb cycling involveseating a certain amount of carbohydrates for a period of time and then changing that amount to one that's much lower for several days before going through the entire cycle again.
Unlike other diets, carb cycling allows you to eat the carbohydrates that you crave, as long as they are the healthy kind, so you never feel deprived.
What Exactly Is Carb Cycling?
The very idea of carb cycling is based on two different principles. One, following a diet with a small amount of carbs causes the body to burn fat for energy, leading to weight loss. Two, a high-carb diet provides you with plenty of energy and boosts your metabolism at the same time. And, of course, when your metabolism is higher, you tend to burn more calories even when at rest, leading to weight loss.
When you're in a carb cycle, you spend several days (or even an entire week or two, depending on your goals) eating veryfew carbs before cycling into a high-carb diet, which ideally lasts as long as the low carb cycle. During the low carb days, you're eating the same amount of calories as the high carb times, the only difference is your macro ratio.
Paying Attention to Your Macros
Those who've been on the keto diet, no doubt, are familiar with macros. For those who haven't and are wondering how all of this works, it's important to start by defining exactly what macros are. Short for macronutrients, macros are the main building blocks of your daily diet. They consist of three things: carbohydrates, protein, and fat.
Separate from micronutrients, which are the vitamins and minerals that fill in the gaps, your macros provide you with the nutrition you need to go about your daily routine.
Macros and Carb Cycling
When following acarb cycle, you need to pay attention to your daily macros and plan your ratios accordingly. For example, on the days that you're in a low-carb cycle, you'll eat more protein and fat to make up the difference. Choose healthy proteins like chicken, turkey, and eggs and healthy fats like avocado. On the other hand, those high-carb days will include fewer proteins and will be more low-fat.
The key is to keep the total amount of macros the same, no matter which part of the cycle you're in. This evens everything out and ensures that you have enough nutrients each and every day. By doing this, your body will be able to determine whether it needs to burn that stored fat for energy or amp up your metabolism.
How Does Carb Cycling Work?
There's a reason why the idea of carb cycling originated with bodybuilders. After all, they needed a way to burn body fat and build muscles at the same time. A carb cycle diet does just that.
According to the experts, there's a substance in the muscles called glycogen. It prevents the muscles from getting injured and also boosts their overall performance. It even helps the muscles bounce back faster after a workout. When you eat a diet high in carbohydrates, you receive all of these benefits, including a higher metabolism, which helps you burn more calories, even at rest.
During a low carbohydrate cycle, your body switches into a different mode, and you end up burning off your body's fat stores for energy. It's a little like going on the keto diet, which does the same thing, only for a smaller period of time and in a less strict manner.
Making these switches, from one diet to another in a continuous cycle, is good for your metabolism, as it keeps it on its toes (for lack of a better term), allowing it to reset every time your carb cycle changes. As a result, you'll lose weight, gain muscle mass, and feel better about yourself, all at once.
You just need to stay on the carb cycle and make sure that you pay attention to your macros, no matter which part of the cycle you're in.
The Benefits of Carb Cycling
While carb cycling might sound complicated (really, it's not — you just have to plan out your meals in advance), the benefits outweigh any extra work that you need to do to stay within your carb cycle. Here are some key benefits.
Blood Sugar Stability
For those worried about blood sugar spikes or even have to keep a close eye on their insulin levels, carb cycling can help improve insulin sensitivity. Although it isn't a substitute for diabetes medication, carb cycling has a proven effect on your blood glucose levels.
It can also increase your body's sensitivity to insulin, ensuring that your pancreas behaves properly and warding off any potential for developing pre-diabetes symptoms.
Weight Loss
Obviously, weight loss is the main reason some people choose carb cycling. It might help regulate appetite, so you feel the need to snack less.
One study tracked a number of women who followed a carb cycle diet, as well as another group that simply cut their calorie intake. Over the three-month period, the women who carb cycled lost 2.75 pounds more and lost a higher percentage of body fat than the women who restricted their calorie intake.
Increased Metabolism
A faster metabolism is the key to not only losing weight but also keeping it off. After all, when your metabolism (a.k.a. how fast your body burns calories) is higher, you have a better chance of achieving and staying at your goal weight. A carb cycling diet helps boost your metabolism because the consistent changes in macros keep your body and its digestive system healthy.
More Muscle Mass
Since carb cycling was created by bodybuilders, it should come as no surprise that the diet helps you build additional muscle mass. Even if your simple goal is to become stronger, not necessarily with muscles that pop, it will help. Lifting weights during the low-carb parts of the cycle will assist in getting your muscles to grow in strength and size.
Loss of Body Fat
On top of weight loss, there's a loss of body fat. And not just any body fat — the dangerous kind that appears in your belly region. During your low carb cycles, your body will use those fat stores as fuel, helping you not only lose weight but also shrink down in size as well. The results are well documented.
Other Benefits of Carb Cycling
Carb cycling can also positively affect your cholesterol levels, raising the amount of good cholesterol in your body while lowering the bad. Plus, it can improve your thyroid health and help keep your hormones in balance.
Are There Certain Types of Carbs You Should Eat?
The benefits of carb cycling are numerous, and as long as you pay attention to your macros, thediet is healthy. With that said, you shouldn't just go wild and eat whichever carbs you want during your high-carb cycles. In order to get the results that you want, you'll need to focus on healthy carbs. Here are some suggestions.
Avoid Unhealthy Carbs
While unhealthy carbs might taste good, they aren't what you should include in yourcarb cycling diet, even during those high carbohydrate periods. Try to avoid foods made of white flour and sugar, as well as items that are highly processed.
Not only are these foods low in fiber (which can slow down your metabolism), but they aren't very good for you. Foods like individually wrapped snack cakes, packaged cookies, donuts, certain cereals (especially the sugary kind), and loaves of white bread should be avoided as much as possible.
Stick to Healthy Carbs
Rather than fill your diet with unhealthy carbs, reach for healthy ones. There are plenty to choose from, and they all taste just as good as those sugar-filled, processed ones.
Consider adding oatmeal, vegetables, fruit, brown rice, potatoes and sweet potatoes, and an array of beans and lentils to your diet. Choose options like salad, tomatoes, and broccoli. If you want bread or noodles, go for whole grains or multigrain varieties, both of which are better for you than white bread and standard noodles.
Plus, if you really want something sweet, consider making some cookies instead of buying them. This way, you can control what goes into them, such as whole wheat flour and other healthy ingredients.
Possible Carb Cycling Schedules
In addition to eating the right kind of carbs while carb cycling, you also need to stick to a schedule. There are several different types of schedules that you can follow, depending on your overall needs. Here are some examples.
The Five-Day Plan
This cycle lasts for five days and then repeats itself over again in perpetuity or until you've decided to switch to a different plan. It consists of the following:
- Day One – Low carbs – no workout
- Day Two – Moderate carbs – light workout
- Day Three – High Carbs – high-intensity workout
- Day Four – Moderate Carbs – light workout
- Day Five – Low Carbs – no workout
Although you don't necessarily have to follow the workout part of this plan, you can easily see that it's designed to work in tandem with your exercise plans to help you meet your fitness goals.
The Weekly Plan
Intended to help you lose weight and still enjoy eating those carbs that you crave (for one week of high carbs, anyway), this plan consists of several weeks of eating a low-carb diet.
- Week One – Low carbs
- Week Two – Low carbs
- Week Three – Low carbs
- Week Four – Low carbs
- Week Five – High carbs
The Two-Week Plan
Also designed to help you lose weight, following this plan is a little less intense than the previous one:
- Days One Through 11 – Low carbs
- Days Twelve Through 14 – High carbs
Final Thoughts
A carb cycling plan can help you lose weight and body fat, as well as become more fit overall. Numerous other benefits include having a higher metabolism, better insulin production, and balanced hormones.
As you can see, spending days at a time eating a limited amount of carbohydrates can help you meet your goals. By changing your eating habits and monitoring your carb intake, you can make serious changes in the long term. Just always be sure to speak with your doctor or a registered dietitian before making a major decision about your diet.
Sources:
What to Eat If You're Carb Cycling | The Cleveland Clinic
What Is Carb Cycling and How Does It Work? | Healthline
Effects of diet cycling on weight loss, fat loss and resting energy expenditure in women | NCBI
About Author: Mario Mendias
