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carb cycling

A

Aussienoob

New member
Hi thinking of doing a carb cycle of 5 days plan
2 low carb
2 med carb
1 high carb days

So Do I fellow the 5 day then repeat so say Mon and Tue is low day
Wed and thurs is med day then Fri being my high day, would sat and sun then be low days and so on
 
I was going to start a thread on this tonight.....

Your high/low/no carbs days are reflective of your activity.

ie your 2 priority work outs (eg. Leg and back) will be high carbs days, your rest days are no carb, and low priority workouts are low carb days (small muscle groups and cardio)
 
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deep said:
I was going to start a thread on this tonight.....

Your high/low/no carbs days are reflective of your activity.
ie your 2 priority work outs will be high carbs days, your rest days are no carbs, and low carbs days on low priority workouts.
Click to expand...

Kaz, I noticed you reference the TNation article. I really like that one too!
I was wondering why you deviated from their protocol...any specific reasons?

ie macros are really different AND you've swapped moderate carbs for low carb and low carb for no carb.
Could be just terminology for the latter I'm guessing.
But interested to know your thoughts on the macros.

I must admit, I worked out mine using your method (and macro ratios) and TNation's and the latter was a bit scary as every part of the cycle had MASSIVE amounts of fat, for the kcals I had to accommodate (about 2000)
 
Long story to type out on my phone! Will tap out later when I get home.
My macro fats actually weren't to bad, neither were my carbs.
 
T-nation from memory increase and decrease overall calories on high, low and no carbs days which is why your fats went so high.
 
deep said:
T-nation from memory increase and decrease overall calories on high, low and no carbs days which is why your fats went so high.
Click to expand...

I kept my kcals fixed and protein fixed and just increased/decreased carbs by the amounts they suggested. The leftover was fat ... still huge!
 
So let see I understand this right
Monday's chest/triceps =med carb
Tuesday back/biceps= high carb
Wednesday shoulders/abs /40MIN cardio = med carb
Thursday legs = high carb
Friday superset DTP training = med carb
Saturday cardio = low carb
Sunday rest = Low carb

Med carb is normal till lunch then only protein and green veg
Low carb is only carb for breakfast and then veg and protein and shakes
High carb is carb in all 6 meals

I eat around 320g of carbs so low would be 80g / med would be 125g/ and high would be 320g
 
I go by Carb Cycling 101 that was written out for me by a BB friend who helped me lose my weight last year.
He kept each days calories the same, then altered the macros per Carb variation days (H/L/N).
On a High Carb day, there is no problem having additional calories for maximum protein if you are wanting to maintain/gain LBM.

With T-nation, my high Carb days worked out 2400 calories, and my no Carb day barely made 1200 calories. I seriously can't eat 2400 calories.
 
deep said:
I go by Carb Cycling 101 that was written out for me by a BB friend who helped me lose my weight last year.
He kept each days calories the same, then altered the macros per Carb variation days (H/L/N).
On a High Carb day, there is no problem having additional calories for maximum protein if you are wanting to maintain/gain LBM.

With T-nation, my high Carb days worked out 2400 calories, and my no Carb day barely made 1200 calories. I seriously can't eat 2400 calories.
Click to expand...

i'm keeping my kcals fixed. I struggle to eat the 2000 kcals I probably should be eating!
My approach has always been to keep the kcals and protein fixed (with protein macros as a minimum) and then adjust carbs up and down with the remainder going to fats.

Seems that is exactly your approach!
 
Same calories daily - Protein works out the same daily, then swap/change fats & carbs as per activity level.
For me 1429 calories (270 calorie deficit)
High Carb Day
C 161g/ Protein 143g / F 24g

Low (Moderate) Carb Day
C 107g / Protein 161g / Fats 40g

No Carb Day
C 54g / Protein 161g / Fats 63g

I would have 2 high Carb days, 2 Low, 3 No Carb. I work out 3 times a week.

You can see why I say there is nothing wrong with additional Protein calories on a High Carb day, an additional 100 calories (25g Protein) Post WO would be beneficial.

My Macros for maintenance 1500 Cal's
Carbs 150g / Protein 116g / Fat 50g
 
deep said:
Same calories daily - Protein works out the same daily, then swap/change fats & carbs as per activity level.
For me 1429 calories (270 calorie deficit)
High Carb Day
C 161g/ Protein 143g / F 24g

Low (Moderate) Carb Day
C 107g / Protein 161g / Fats 40g

No Carb Day
C 54g / Protein 161g / Fats 63g

I would have 2 high Carb days, 2 Low, 3 No Carb. I work out 3 times a week.

You can see why I say there is nothing wrong with additional Protein calories on a High Carb day, an additional 100 calories (25g Protein) Post WO would be beneficial.

My Macros for maintenance 1500 Cal's
Carbs 150g / Protein 116g / Fat 50g
Click to expand...

i get the maintenance breakdown as that's about 2g protein per kg.
Do you factor in activity level for your maintenance cos that seems low?
That means your deficit is about 71 kcals only from maintenance?

so for carb cycling you actually increase protein to about 3g/kg? Wow.

I'll start on Tuesday as i need a day or so to plan meals and I'll be onsite with a client all day tomorrow. Will start in spirit though as Monday will be a low carb (ie your non carb) day so easy to get started somewhat.

I will definitely need shakes. last time I tried it (but not as rigidly) I neede the added shakarama!
 
Viv, when I get my new macros from my Dexa I will work from those, my old dieting macros kill me these days! Not enough food!

Oh how I will look forward to high Carb day!
I am going to have wholemeal pasta on high Carb days as my post workout :):)
 
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deep said:
Viv, when I get my new macros from my Dexa I will work from those, my old dieting macros kill me these days! Not enough food!

Oh how I will look forward to high Carb day!
I am going to have wholemeal pasta on high Carb days as my post workout :):)
Click to expand...

haha I look forward to low carb days and the lack of bloat! LOL
I must be the only person on earth who clasps her stomach and cries at the thought of a refeed!! :p
i wish I could have pasta. Pizza. anything wheaten...

I didn't get macros from my DEXA ... just a BMR which is pretty consistent with the BMR you work out from the TNation article (I checked today out of interest).

That's why I struggle with this stuff. Aside from 2g/kg protein, I have no idea how to set my carbs. That's why I tried the TNation method (but keeping kcals constant). Just too low and then fat becomes massive.

Might just arbitrarily set the macro % for each based on 2.5g protein, 40% carbs and the rest fats or something. Worth a shot I guess.

shrugs in confusion.... :D
 
So on your No Carb day, your fats go up to 89g?
It wouldn't matter if you didn't consume them all, mine works out to be 56g and I rarely go over 40g. You can always buffer up with Olive oils, flaxseed oils, etc.
The other 2 days don't seem that high....
 
OP: what are you're stats and goals? Why do you want to carb cycle? Do you really think having low carbs on the weekends is a good idea?
 
Yep, 89g on a low/non carb day!
I can easily do that with olive oil and stuff added in.
I'd probably have salmon or something like that as well on those days just to bump up the fish oil intake too.
Everything helps :eek:
But I wouldn't be trying to hit that mark...happy to come out under it for sure.
My tough thing will be high carb days...hitting that amount of carbs is something I've only done once and felt ugh for 2 days!
 
I can hit the 160g, but the bulk of that will be post workout.....think wholemeal pasta! Yummo!
Your 225g is massive..... lol
 
Normal day for me is over 400g carbs at the moment. Too easy. Don't even need any pop tarts to get there. 600+ is when it starts to get hard!
 
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