Carb Cycling

[BrisVegasGhost]

Carb Cycling...is it an effective fat loss formula if your diet and training is dialled in?

I don't know a great deal about it or the full science. But my understanding is you would have a low carb day or maybe two and then a higher carb day.

I am 84 kg and having 2600calories a day. I have dropped calories by 2400 per week which came from sugary drinks and booze. I have increased cardio to 2 x45min spin classes per week and I am weight training 3 times per week.

I am leaning out with diet and training so far but would carb cycling speed things up?
If so what would be a recommended low carb day and high carb day intake?

At the moment I would be consuming between 180 to 220 grams of carbs depending on the day.
Has carb cycling been effective for you or not?

Cheers

 

[0ni]

There are two schools of thought on this.
Essentially both have carbs under 30g a day, with a scheduled low fat, high carb refeed

do it twice a week at regular intervals for 3-4 hours (Lyle McDonald, Warren Willey)
do it once a week for the entire day (same guys)

 

[Rugby88]

The way I did it (and really should be doing it at the moment)

- Low card (under 30g), high fat, high protein Sunday - Friday

- Saturday High card day - still kept fats fairly high - I ended up cutting my carb intake from around 1pm though - so all my carbs were 1. eatin before 1pm and 2. all around (or within hours) of training.

- Never really counted the X number of carbs I was having on that day but would be in the 250-350g mark - I am fairly carb
sensitivity so I dont need to re-feed as high as some people.

 

[BrisVegasGhost]

What sort of fats would you consume? Like fats form almonds and fish?
And what amounts of fats are best be consumed on your low carb day?

Just looking at trying this carb cycling for the first time.
Would the results be quite visible over a 6 week period?

I might get some pics so people can get an idea of where I'm at and where I want to be.....
But being a ghost I will probably just look like an Orb

Cheers
BVG

 

[Rugby88]

For me I never really count anything so its hard to judge - if I was to give you an est on fats on high carb days - maybe 80g - my main "high carb" meal was a combo of heaps of oats, peanut butter, honey, choc protein powder + I used to break high protein cookies etc into this - I would train and then have this meal + some gatorade/powerade etc etc - maybe some rice/pasta and that would be it - as I said I am fairly carb sensitivity so 1. I really need how much I "carb up" and 2. Limit the time I am doing it.

I am dropping my cals again this week - but going back to having a carb refeed saturday mornings for the next few weeks as I am cutting all cheat meals.

 

[0ni]

What sort of fats would you consume? Like fats form almonds and fish?
And what amounts of fats are best be consumed on your low carb day?

Just looking at trying this carb cycling for the first time.
Would the results be quite visible over a 6 week period?

I might get some pics so people can get an idea of where I'm at and where I want to be.....
But being a ghost I will probably just look like an Orb

Cheers
BVG

Getting your fats from almonds and fish alone will cause you to starve to death
eggs, red meat, seafood, poultry are all good starts. Obviously, you go for the fattier seafood, as eating several kilos of calamari will make life suck for the foreseeable future and cause a massive dent in your wallet

Just find out how much protein you need, the lower your carbs the high it needs to be. Then just eat that amount of protein and your fats will be bang on. Now for the sake of sanity and mental health, this means not doing dumb shit like eating chicken without the skin or kangaroo alone. If you want to do body building type dieting then that is fine, but it's going to fucking suck as I will find out as of next week

 

[BrisVegasGhost]

Getting your fats from almonds and fish alone will cause you to starve to death
eggs, red meat, seafood, poultry are all good Obviously, you go for the fattier seafood, as eating several kilos of calamari will make life suck for type foreseeable future and cause a massive dent in your wallet

Just find out how much protein you need, the lower your carbs the high it needs to be. Then just eat that amount of protein and your fats will be bang on. Now for the sake of sanity and mental health, this means not doing dumb shit like eating chicken without the skin or kangaroo alone. If you want to do body building type dieting then that is fine, but it's going to fucking suck as I will find out as of next week

Thanks , yeah I have got some samon which will be a bit fattier and also some Coles chicken drumsticks with the skin on. I made up some mince chicken patties for today and started off breakfast today with 50 grams of carbs.
Yeah a bodybuilding type diet would definitely be hard.
What other foods do suggest for eating during the day on this carb cycle.
It's all new to me so thanks for the input.
Cheers

 

[0ni]

Thanks , yeah I have got some samon which will be a bit fattier and also some Coles chicken drumsticks with the skin on. I made up some mince chicken patties for today and started off breakfast today with 50 grams of carbs.
Yeah a bodybuilding type diet would definitely be hard.
What other foods do suggest for eating during the day on this carb cycle.
It's all new to me so thanks for the input.
Cheers

Low carb days you want high fats, so wings, steaks, chops, ground beef, ribs
Maybe have a higher protein, medium fat day so drumsticks, turkey, lean beef
High carb day should be low fat so chicken breast, kangaroo, any lean meat really. Carbs are obvious. This day isn't difficult, just don't be a tool and eat shit like flapjack as the majority of your calories.

I used to start it off with 2 pizzas, some sweet potato fries and a litre of ice cream

 

[0ni]

Example 1:
1 Small Pepperoni and Sausage Pizza
10 piece Chicken Nuggets
Small, heavily buttered movie popcorn
Example 2:
12 KFC Hot Wings
Most of a Digiorno 3 Meat Pizza
Example 3:
Medium Papa John’s Spicy Italian Pizza
Cinnastix
Cheese Breadsticks
Example 4:
20 Breaded Spicy Garlic Hooter’s wings
Large DQ Blizzard with Heath Bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups

 

[0ni]

EliteFTS carb cycling cliff notes (The Troponin Nutrition Macronutrient Guidebook)

High carb day:
Carbs: 2-3g/Lb
Protein: 1-1.25g/Lb
Fats: As low as possible

Low carb day:
Carbs: 0.5-1.5g/Lb
Protein: 1.25-1.5g/Lb
Fats: 0.15-0.35g/lb

Note that these values only take into account the protein in protein foods, the fat in fat foods, and the carbs in carb foods. In other words, don't count the fat and protein in oats, for example, or the carbs and protein in peanut butter. Or the fats in meat.

If your goal is to lose fat (and retain or even gain muscle), you should have only one or two “high carb days” per week. The other five or six days should be low to moderate carb days.

If your goal is to gain muscle (while keeping fat gain to a minimum), you should aim for two to four of these high carb days per week (the number will depend on your metabolism and work load or, in other words, how many days per week you train and at what intensity/volume). The rest of the week should be made up of low to moderate carb days.

 

[Bazza20]

Note that these values only take into account the protein in protein foods, the fat in fat foods, and the carbs in carb foods. In other words, don't count the fat and protein in oats, for example, or the carbs and protein in peanut butter. Or the fats in meat.

What a retarded way of doing things. What about foods which contain a decent amount of two or three macros. What about a mixed meal.

 

[0ni]

Apex Predator diet cliff notes

Low carb days:
Protein: 2g/Lb
Fats: 1g/lb

High carb days:
Protein: 2g/Lb
Carbs: As many as you can in 3 hours once a week

When you get into the single digits, you have another carb day laid out as follows:
Protein: 2g/Lb
Fats: 0.5g/Lb
Carbs: 1g/Lb

Unlike Shelby Starnes recommendations, these recommendations are for all the food combined

 

[0ni]

Natural Hormonal Enhancement cliff notes

Induction phase
7 days, no more than 20g of active carbs a day. Eat mostly meats

Macronutrient cycling
3/4 Day cycling of the following phase, eating 4 meals daily (or 5).

3 days running:
30-60 grams of active carbs, no more than 25 grams at any one meal.
15-50 grams of protein per meal, no upper limit.
Moderate consumption of fats
minimize transfatty acids to zero
favor omega-3's over saturated fats.

Last day of cycle
First 2 or 3 meals, same rules as above
Last 1 or 2 meals:
>70% Starchy Carbs, no upper limit.
Over 60gr carbs for Men,
Over 40gr carbs for Women
If you wanna eat 200gr of carbs, go ahead.
Less than 20g Fat
Less than 20 g Protein

 

[BrisVegasGhost]

Now things are getting complicated. I will have to read more into it!

Anyhow I had a low carb day today but my workout tonight had insane pumps.
Cooking a nice eye fillet now.

Cheers

 

[Big Mick]

Now things are getting complicated. I will have to read more into it!

Anyhow I had a low carb day today but my workout tonight had insane pumps.
Cooking a nice eye fillet now.

Cheers

May be keep it simple and do something like 'Carb Nite', easy plan to follow and pretty fool proof if you stick to it. I will probably be giving it a run after the xmas and new years festivities are over.

At the moment just moderating my food intake and trying not to go too crazy through December.

 

[BrisVegasGhost]

May be keep it simple and do something like 'Carb Nite', easy plan to follow and pretty fool proof if you stick to it. I will probably be giving it a run after the xmas and new years festivities are over.

At the moment just moderating my food intake and trying not to go too crazy through December.

Yeah I will maybe look for a more simple formula...but I have a general idea on what I should be doing.
Thanks for the input anyways!

Cheers

 

[Big Mick]

Yep and then fine tune and adjust as you go.

 

[jzpowahz]

I'm a similar weight to you and about 10%BF. Have done plenty of carb cycling.

Low carb days 1500ish cals. 200ish P/50C/ rest fat. 4-5 per week

refeed over 1.5days. Approximately 1100g carbs. P 1g/lb of LBM. Low fat (aim for 50g or less)

Works well for me. I don't think it's required until you are relatively lean. 12% or less at a guesstimate.

 

[0ni]

Just listing plenty of different examples to give you ideas

 

[kaz]

I might get some pics so people can get an idea of where I'm at and where I want to be.....
But being a ghost I will probably just look like an Orb

Lol