ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT CARB CYCLING

When it works and when it does not…

9th January, 2020

What does carb cycling mean?

As the name suggests, you essentially play around with your carb intake—some days (especially when you are working out hard) you take in more, resting days you take in less and the days in between you take in a moderate amount.

Who needs it?

Carb cycling may not be apt for the general population. Athletes or bodybuilders looking improve their metabolism and increase fat loss may benefit with strategic carb planning.

Pros

• Reduces fat
• Helps break the weight plateau

Cons

• Short term benefits
• Body goes into a negative energy balance
• Requires a lot of prep

Types of carbs cycling

This is generally based on your level of training and weight loss/gain goals…

Carb cycling for fat-loss: This includes low carb intake on training days to promote fat loss and medium carbs on other days to promote regeneration between sessions.

For example… a week from Monday to Sunday will look like:

Mon: (Training day) low carbs

Tue: (Training day) low carbs

Wed: Medium carbs

Thu: (Training day) low carbs

Fri: (Training day) low carbs

Sat : (Training day) low carbs

Sun: Medium carbs

Carb cycling for weight-maintenance: This would mean low carb intake on non-training days to avoid fat gain.

Mon: (Training day) medium carbs

Tue: (Training day) medium carbs

Wed: Low carbs

Thu: (Training day) medium carbs

Fri:(Training day) medium carbs

Sat: Low carbs

Sun: Low carbs

Carb cycling for mass gain: This would include having more carbs on the days you train large muscle groups, essentially to gain weight.

Mon: (Training day) medium carbs

Tue: (Training day) high carbs

Wed: Medium carbs

Thu: (Training day) low carbs

Fri: (Training day) low carbs

Sat : (Training day) low carbs

Sun: Medium carbs

Our take…

A well-balanced diet with all carbs, protein, fat and fiber, in our view, works best not just for weight loss but also for overall health. If you do want to try carb cycling for a short term, do it under the supervision of your nutritionist or medical practitioner.