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Updated: March 27, 2023
The Carb Cycling Diet is a weekly eating plan that alternates high-carb days with low-carb days to keep your metabolism in a regular cycle of burning fat.
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There are several versions of the carb cycling diet plan where two or more high-carb days will be followed by low-carb days or some variation thereof.
On high-carb days, you can increase your carb intake while decreasing your fat intake. On low-carb days, you can choose to eat fewer carbs or eliminate them altogether, while increasing your intake of fat and protein.
Athletes and people who exercise regularly often choose to synchronize their high-carb days with exercise or workouts when their energy levels are high. You may want to consider this for a few days when you are particularly active.
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What is carb cycling?
Carb cycling is an advanced dietary approach where carb intake is manipulated based on various factors. This weekly advanced diet strategy, which requires more manipulation and programming than a typical diet, takes you to a whole new level and adds a real-life twist to it.
The diet is commonly used to lose fat, maintain physical performance while dieting, or overcome a weight loss plateau. In this weekly, the Carb Cycling Diet regimen includes two high-carb days, three low-carb days and two non-carb days.
Protein intake is usually the same between days, while fat intake varies based on carb intake. High-carb days usually mean low-fat, while low-carb and no-carb days are high-fat.
How carb cycling diet works?
Carbs are the main food group that “fuel” our metabolism, making it burn calories and give us energy. Carbs are also very filling. Hence, diets that reduce or strictly limit carb intake make us feel tired and lethargic. They also make us irritable, hungry and prone to binge.
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With carb cycling diet plan, one consumes carbs to boost metabolism. This plan uses carb-rich foods to help the body function at optimum peak, burn fat and build muscle. The result is weight loss with less flab. It’s that easy! This is what makes the carb cycling diet unique and revolutionary.
But there’s a catch. That doesn’t mean going overboard with carbs and eating too many of them during the day. The catch is that you follow a carb cycling diet plan where you eat more carbs on certain days and less or no carbs on other days. This allows your body to “cycle” your carb intake so that you can lose weight and build muscle.
The theory behind this is that on days when your carb intake is low and fat intake is high, your body is forced to burn fat for energy. This is what causes weight loss. The purpose of high-carb days is to energize your metabolism and function at peak levels, providing you with energy.
Your body is never static. It conducts a symphony of metabolic reactions every moment. As your metabolic furnace burns (either on low heat or red-hot) every minute of every day, nutrients are continuously shuttled into or out of your muscles and fat cells or as fuel for important metabolic reactions. Used to keep you alive.
On high-carb/high-calorie days, your body is mainly in an anabolic state. The term anabolic describes the period when nutrients are being transferred to your cells, and you are in a state of erection. It’s in a catabolic state when your body breaks down fat tissue to fuel your cells (on your low-carb/low-calorie days). To achieve fat loss, you want most of the fuel your body burns to come from your fat cells. So you want to be catabolized most of the time!
Now, keep in mind that you don’t want to be catapulted all the time. They have their beauty in both anabolic and catabolic states. In the anabolic state, you’re building muscle and turning up your metabolic thermostat: Your muscle furnace heats up. When you are catabolic, your metabolic thermostat is turned off. Your muscle furnace cools down slowly, but with a carb cycling diet, you’re burning fat faster!
Can you control your furnace’s on and off switch?
Yes you can! You control when you build muscle and increase your metabolic rate and when you burn fat. Control the switch and you control your body.
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How?
With The Carb Cycling Diet, You Can! Carbohydrates are anabolic foods: When they are broken down into glucose, the body triggers the hormone insulin to drive nutrients into the cells. During this process, your metabolic thermostat is turned on. So when you stop eating carbs, your body goes into a predominantly catabolic state, maximizing the storage and burning of fat for fuel.
When you consume carbs in a day, you move nutrients into your cells, build muscle and rev up your metabolic furnace. The next day, you cut your carbs, essentially flipping the switch to turn your body into a prime-time fat-burning furnace!
How to create carb cycling diet for fat loss?
Follow the recommended daily intake of carbs, protein and fat on high-carb and low-carb days:
High-carb day
Type
grams per pound of bodyweight
Carbs
1.2 g
Proteins
1.2 g
Fats
0.5 g
Choose your calories’ consumption
For men:
Bodyweights
Calories
<150 lb
(P/C/F=168/168/70)= 1974 cal
151-165 lb
(P/C/F=181/181/75)= 2128 cal
166-180 lb
(P/C/F=199/199/83)=2339 cal
181-195 lb
(P/C/F=216/216/90)= 2538 cal
196 lb <
(P/C/F=235/235/98)= 2762 cal
For women:
Bodyweights
Calories
<110 lb
(P/C/F=126/126/52)= 1480 cal
111-124 lb
(P/C/F=138/138/57)= 1621 cal
125-139 lb
(P/C/F=150/150/62)= 1762 cal
140-154 lb
(P/C/F=168/168/70)= 1974 cal
155 lb <
(P/C/F=186/186/77)= 2185 cal
Low-carb day
Type
grams per pound of bodyweight
Carbs
0.7 g
Proteins
1.2 g
Fats
0.5 g
Choose your calories’ consumption
For men:
Bodyweights
Calories
<150 lb
(P/C/F=168/98/70)= 1694 cal
151-165 lb
(P/C/F=181/105/75)= 1825 cal
166-180 lb
(P/C/F=199/116/83)= 2007 cal
181-195 lb
(P/C/F=216/126/90)= 2178 cal
196 lb <
(P/C/F=235/137/98)= 2370 cal
For women:
Bodyweights
Calories
<110 lb
(P/C/F=126/73/52)= 1270 cal
111-124 lb
(P/C/F=138/80/57)= 1391 cal
125-139 lb
(P/C/F=150/87/62)= 1512 cal
140-154 lb
(P/C/F=168/98/70)= 1694 cal
155 lb <
(P/C/F=186/108/77)= 1875 cal
No-carb day
Type
grams per pound of bodyweight
Carbs
0 g
Proteins
1.2 g
Fats
0.5 g
Choose your calories’ consumption
For men:
Bodyweight
Calories
<150 lb
(P/C/F=168/0/70)= 1407 cal
151-165 lb
(P/C/F=181/0/75)= 2339 cal
166-180 lb
(P/C/F=199/0/83)= 1543 cal
181-195 lb
(P/C/F=216/0/90)= 1674 cal
196 lb <
(P/C/F=235/0/98)= 1822 cal
For women:
Bodyweight
Calories
<110 lb
(P/C/F=126/0/52)= 976 cal
111-124 lb
(P/C/F=138/0/57)= 1162 cal
125-139 lb
(P/C/F=150/0/62)= 1162 cal
140-154 lb
(P/C/F=168/0/70)= 1301 cal
155 lb <
(P/C/F=186/0/77)= 1441 cal
7 days fat loss carb cycling schedule
Days
Carb Type
Monday
Low-carb
Tuesday
Low-carb
Wednesday
Low-carb
Thursday
High-carb
Friday
No-carb
Saturday
No-carb
Sunday
High-carb
Low-carb day: Sample meal plan for 1816 calories
Upon wake-up
Ingredients
Quanties
Carnitine (Supplement optional)
500 mg
Breakfast
Ingredients
Quantities
Apple
1
Boiled Egg Whites
7
Boiled Whole Eggs
2
CLA (Supplement optional)
1 g
Morning snack
Ingredients
Quantities
Plain greek yogurt
1 cup
Roasted peanuts
20g
Cinnamon
1g
Lunch
Ingredients
Quantities
Grilled chicken breast
100g
Kidney beans or Rajma
½ cup
Green bell pepper
½ cup
Broccoli or Cauliflower
½ cup
Onion
2 sp
Tomato
2 sp
Olive oil
1 sp
Dinner
Ingredients
Quantities
Grilled White-fish
100 g
Large Roti or whole wheat bread
1
Chickpeas
½ cup
Onions
2 sp
Tomato
2 sp
Yogurt
1 sp
Ketchup
1 sp
Salt/Pepper/Garlic Powder
—
Pre-workout
Ingredients
Quantities
Coffee
½ tbs
Hot Water
240 ml
Carnitine (Supplement optional)
500 mg
Post-workout
Ingredients
Quantities
Whey protein
1-2 scoop
Cold water
300 ml
Before bed
Ingredients
Quantities
Low-fat milk
1 cup
Green cardamom
1
Cloves
2
Cinnamon
1 pinch
Whey protein
2/3 sp
Almond (crushed)
20
CLA (Supplement optional)
1 g
High-carb day: Sample meal plan for 2090 calories
Upon wake-up
Ingredients
Quantities
Carnitine (Supplement optional)
500mg
Breakfast
Ingredients
Quantities
Apple
1
Oats
1 cup
Cinnamon
1 pinch
Boiled egg white
5
CLA (Supplement optional)
1 g
Morning snack
Ingredients
Quantities
Plain Greek-yogurt
1 cup
Cheerio (sugar-free)
1 cup
Cinnamon
1 g
Lunch
Ingredients
Quantities
Grilled chicken breast
80 g
Kidney Beans (Rajma)
½ cup
Sweet potato
180 g
Green bell pepper
½ cup
Broccoli (or Cauliflower)
½ cup
Onion
2 sp
Tomato
2 sp
Olive Oil
½ sp
Dinner
Ingredients
Quantities
Grilled white fish
100g
Brown rice
1 cup
Lemon
½
Green Salad
½ Plate
Pre-workout
Ingredients
Quantities
Coffee
½ tbs
Hot water
240 ml
Carnitine (Supplement optional)
500 mg
Post-workout
Ingredients
Quantities
Whey Protein
1-2 scoop
Cold Water
300 ml
Before bed
Ingredients
Quantities
Low-fat milk
1 cup
Green cardamom
2
Cloves
2
Cinnamon
1 pinch
Whey protein
½ sp
Almond (crushed)
20
CLA (Supplement optional)
1g
No-carb day: Sample meal plan for 1716 calories
Breakfast
Ingredients
Quantities
Egg white
6
Bacon (thin slice)
4
Avocado
15 g
Whey Protein isolate
½ scoop
Walnuts
28 g
Morning snack
Ingredients
Quantities
Beef Jerky
25 g
Whey Protein isolate
1 sp
Lunch
Ingredients
Quantities
Romain lettuce or cos (shredded)
1 cup
Chicken breast
100 g
Olive oil
1 tbsp
Whey protein (low-carb)
½ sp (scoop)
Evening snack
Ingredients
Quantities
Cheese
25 g
Whey protein isolate
1.25 scoop
Dinner
Ingredients
Quantities
Salmon
100g
Zucchini
25g
Sunflower seed (dried)
1/3 cup
Mushrooms
1 cup
Olive oil
1 tbsp
Before bed
Ingredients
Quantities
Whey Protein (low-carb)
15g
Water
1 cup
Note:
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(1) Drink 3-4 litres of water; (2) Drink 2 cups of green tea a day; (3) Eat every 2-3 hours; (4) Calculate your calories according to your height, weight, age and adjust the calories; (5) Avoid the use of oil. Use what we recommend; (6) For some time, you can use lentils and black grams instead of Chiku and kidney beans; (7) Take walnuts once or twice a week instead of peanuts or almonds; (8) If possible eat salad twice a day (cucumber, tomato, lettuce, carrot); (9) Avoid eating white sugar, soda, candy, fried foods, white bread, etc; (10) Alternative supplements: casein protein, BCAA, multivitamins, fish oil, etc;
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