Carb Cycling

liwaroman

Chris & Heidi Powell well known fitness experts on extreme weightloss prescribe the carb cycling plan to lose weight.

I got The recipes and meals from their app and it looks like

2 days low carb( about 1100 calories) then a
1 high carb day ( 1700 calories) then again
2 low carb days ( 1100 calories) and
1 high carb ( 1700 calories).
The 7th day is cheat day.

Have you tried something like this and what were your results? Check out my diary to stay plugged in.

liwaroman

DeguelloTex

As long as my cheat day was under 13,000 or so, I'd lose weight regardless of the carbs.

GauchoMark

Whats the point? a 3-day cycle and a weekly cheat day? Does the cheat day have rules? Is there a workout plan attached?

I've done carb/calorie cycling with pretty good results, but each day had a purpose and a specific exercise plan. A 3 day cycle seems too short for your body to effectively switch from anabolic to catabolic and back. A one day "carb load" seems pretty inefficient too.

My point, yeah, you can do that and lose weight I'm sure, but it seems like a lot of work without any real benefit to just eating a consistent net intake. The "blank check" cheat day is scary as well.

Sabine_Stroehm

I've never quite understood cheat days. Nor carb cycling, tbh.
Nor eating all those packaged meals and drinking all those shakes, as you're doing.
Hope it works well for you. FOR THE LONG RUN.

tulips_and_tea

GauchoMark wrote: »

Whats the point? a 3-day cycle and a weekly cheat day? Does the cheat day have rules? Is there a workout plan attached?

I've done carb/calorie cycling with pretty good results, but each day had a purpose and a specific exercise plan. A 3 day cycle seems too short for your body to effectively switch from anabolic to catabolic and back. A one day "carb load" seems pretty inefficient too.

My point, yeah, you can do that and lose weight I'm sure, but it seems like a lot of work without any real benefit to just eating a consistent net intake. The "blank check" cheat day is scary as well.[/quote]

I agree with this. I don't subscribe to the "cheat day" philosophy. To each their own, of course. I'm low carb and it works for me, but this just seems over complicated. Or maybe I'm just lazy? Yep, pretty sure that's it.

Sued0nim

Seems like a lot of hassle to achieve your calorie defecit

GauchoMark

I will admit - carb cycling can be helpful for performance gains. Going low carb for a period of 4 days or more and doing glycogen depletion style exercise is great for burning fat and prepping you for a carb load. BUT you have to know what you are doing and do things for a purpose - not just because it seems like a good idea.

In general, I'm all for taking the simplest path that gets results. Most people are not really at the fitness level that requires you to go to the extremes of glycogen depletion and carb cycling.

vismal

For most purposes carb cycling is essentially just spinning your wheels. It's not going to cause extra fat burn. Fat burn is going to be about total calories in vs total calories out. Manipulation of daily calories doesn't make a big difference in the overall energy equation. Also a cheat day makes very little sense. If you eat enough, you can wipe out the entire week's deficit. Also the calorie numbers, are those for anyone? Calories should be personalized based on height, weight, gender, and goals. 1 size fits all diet plans are woefully flawed IMO.

Sued0nim

@vismal awesome new av

vismal

rabbitjb wrote: »

@vismal awesome new av

Why thank you!

liwaroman

vismal wrote: »

For most purposes carb cycling is essentially just spinning your wheels. It's not going to cause extra fat burn. Fat burn is going to be about total calories in vs total calories out. Manipulation of daily calories doesn't make a big difference in the overall energy equation. Also a cheat day makes very little sense. If you eat enough, you can wipe out the entire week's deficit. Also the calorie numbers, are those for anyone? Calories should be personalized based on height, weight, gender, and goals. 1 size fits all diet plans are woefully flawed IMO.

How do you set personalized calorie intakes for weight and height?

GauchoMark

liwaroman wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

For most purposes carb cycling is essentially just spinning your wheels. It's not going to cause extra fat burn. Fat burn is going to be about total calories in vs total calories out. Manipulation of daily calories doesn't make a big difference in the overall energy equation. Also a cheat day makes very little sense. If you eat enough, you can wipe out the entire week's deficit. Also the calorie numbers, are those for anyone? Calories should be personalized based on height, weight, gender, and goals. 1 size fits all diet plans are woefully flawed IMO.

How do you set personalized calorie intakes for weight and height?

You COULD use myfitnesspal... since we are here. ;-)

Otherwise I find that Scooby's does a good job: http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

Or if you are really into math and science you can look up the equations.

vismal

liwaroman wrote: »

vismal wrote: »

For most purposes carb cycling is essentially just spinning your wheels. It's not going to cause extra fat burn. Fat burn is going to be about total calories in vs total calories out. Manipulation of daily calories doesn't make a big difference in the overall energy equation. Also a cheat day makes very little sense. If you eat enough, you can wipe out the entire week's deficit. Also the calorie numbers, are those for anyone? Calories should be personalized based on height, weight, gender, and goals. 1 size fits all diet plans are woefully flawed IMO.

How do you set personalized calorie intakes for weight and height?

I don't know how you'd do it for a carb cycling plan. Again, I've never seen any research showing carb cycling to do anything at all so I'm not to sure. As for just setting a regular old caloric deficit, there are a number of ways to do it. It depends if you will be logging and eating back exercise calories or want to use a method where exercise is accounted for already and you eat a consistent number of calories every day.

liwaroman

@vismal @GauchoMark Yes exactly i want to figure out what formula and equation myfitness pal uses and do you think its accurate to your plans. It doen't necessarily have to be compatible with carb cycling because i just want to be able to give some kind of suggestions to others and not just refer them to the app. I'm down for a math challenge

GauchoMark

Well, the equations give you a way to estimate BMR or RMR. Once you know that, you can figure out your TDEE based on activity level. The equations are different models with varying accuracies, but I prefer the Katch-McArdle equation. It estimates RMR based on muscle mass and isn't gender specific. If you don't have a good way to get body fat percentage, then the Mifflin St Jeor equation is a good one.

Since you are logging on MFP, I prefer to simply use a sedentary activity factor of 1.2 (multiply with BMR to get TDEE) and then log activities separately. This way you don't give yourself too much credit for exercise.

As for carb cycling, if you REALLY want to do it, I would suggest reading some of Lyle McDonald's books on the subject so you really know how to set it up, why you are doing it, and the science behind it.

atypicalsmith

GauchoMark wrote: »

Well, the equations give you a way to estimate BMR or RMR. Once you know that, you can figure out your TDEE based on activity level. The equations are different models with varying accuracies, but I prefer the Katch-McArdle equation. It estimates RMR based on muscle mass and isn't gender specific. If you don't have a good way to get body fat percentage, then the Mifflin St Jeor equation is a good one.

Since you are logging on MFP, I prefer to simply use a sedentary activity factor of 1.2 (multiply with BMR to get TDEE) and then log activities separately. This way you don't give yourself too much credit for exercise.

As for carb cycling, if you REALLY want to do it, I would suggest reading some of Lyle McDonald's books on the subject so you really know how to set it up, why you are doing it, and the science behind it.

You either need a tan or a shirt

liwaroman

@GauchoMark I'm still a Nube with this can you please explain BMR RMR and TDEE. Thank you

GauchoMark

atypicalsmith wrote: »

GauchoMark wrote: »

Well, the equations give you a way to estimate BMR or RMR. Once you know that, you can figure out your TDEE based on activity level. The equations are different models with varying accuracies, but I prefer the Katch-McArdle equation. It estimates RMR based on muscle mass and isn't gender specific. If you don't have a good way to get body fat percentage, then the Mifflin St Jeor equation is a good one.

Since you are logging on MFP, I prefer to simply use a sedentary activity factor of 1.2 (multiply with BMR to get TDEE) and then log activities separately. This way you don't give yourself too much credit for exercise.

As for carb cycling, if you REALLY want to do it, I would suggest reading some of Lyle McDonald's books on the subject so you really know how to set it up, why you are doing it, and the science behind it.

You either need a tan or a shirt

That pic better?

GauchoMark

liwaroman wrote: »

@GauchoMark I'm still a Nube with this can you please explain BMR RMR and TDEE. Thank you

BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate. Basically, the energy your body spends to be alive, but not to move. Think organ function.

RMR is Resting Metabolic Rate. Very similar to BMR, but would be as if you are in a coma. Organ function plus breathing, but still not "moving"

TDEE is the Total Daily Energy Expenditure. This is your total calorie burn and is the one that really matters as far as weight loss goes. However, it is estimated based on BMR/RMR. To estimate TDEE, you calculate BMR or RMR then multiply it by an activity factor.

DeguelloTex

Or you calculate TDEE based on weight changes given particular calorie intakes, which, though with its own uncertainties, seems better to me than generic formulas and BMR estimates.

angelexperiment

Hi! I do the tyrbo cycle as you described.
Mon-lc
tues-lc
wed-hc
thu-lc
Fri-lc
Sat-hc
sunday funday limit 2100 cals women 2400 men.

I am a woman so I eat 12 to 1400 on lc day on hc day 15 to 1600 for cal.

men would be 1600 to 18 on lc on hc 1800 to 2100.

Ive done it since march. Feel free to add or ask me anything about it. No packaged meals or shakes. Oh and tgere is a workout or moves designed to do with called sgredders an 10 minute or 9 min missions. Its all in the book. You really need to buy the book it answers everything.

Annie_01

rabbitjb wrote: »

Seems like a lot of hassle to achieve your calorie defecit

I tried it for a couple of weeks...it was a hassle. Trying to remember what I could eat on a certain day...remembering when I could cook what and having to cook ahead for the high carb day on a low carb day. Drove me nuts.

I lost some weight but I was stressed for the whole two weeks.

angelexperiment

Oh I have a thread on here its called carb cycling buddies in the search feature to find more people doing it active.

GauchoMark

DeguelloTex wrote: »

Or you calculate TDEE based on weight changes given particular calorie intakes, which, though with its own uncertainties, seems better to me than generic formulas and BMR estimates.

yes, notice that I have tried to be careful to use the word "estimate" when referring to the calculations. They are not exact, but rather a starting point to get you in the ballpark. You SHOULD collect enough data to calibrate the number to match your real world results.

liwaroman

Thanks for the responses guys. @angelexperiment How Long Did You Cycle For And What Were Your Results?

angelexperiment

Since march. 25 lbs. Turbo cycle.