Carb cycling

slowbutsure2
slowbutsure2 Posts: 110
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

My personal trainer has recommended carb cycling to lose weight. The idea is you lower or don't have carbs every other day. Some people suggest replacing the carb calories with protein and fat, others not. The second sounds more like calorie cycling.
The theory is something like it keeps your body confused and makes it lose weight. Some swear by it.

I know some here will say its just down to overall calorie deficit, and I tend to agree. But does anyone else do this kind of thing and can offer some feedback? Is even calorie cycling helpful on any level?

Replies

  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
    I have no idea how you could confuse your body ! It may be in a permanent state of change rather than a steady state, but I have no idea if that is beneficial.

    Alternate day calorie restriction 500 - TDEE - 500 has been demonstrated to work for fat loss, it of course restricts carbs as well on the low calorie days.
  • darrensurrey
    darrensurrey Posts: 3,942 Member
    Dunno about beneficial but keeping protein levels ups whilst reducing total calories means reducing carb or fat levels. Easiest is to eat less carbs. Time carb-eating days with lifting to give you more energy for lifting and you are carb cycling.

    I've done it but it's a lot of faffing about with logging as you can't simply copy across yesterday's meals. Yes, you can copy across the yesterday+1's meal but, like me, you may not have any of the same things that you ate 2 days ago. Dunno about confusing the body but it confuses the head. :o)
  • NapsAndNachos
    NapsAndNachos Posts: 80
    I have noticed it to be beneficial to cycle carbs, but I'm not sure what method would work the best. Meaning, should it be every other day or once per week carb refeed. Personal preference, I guess.

    I don't quite believe the "keeping body confused" part, but there are certain benefits to regulating hormones. I guess the "confuse your body" thing is what's easier to tell people rather than go into detail about the hormones that affect fat loss and hunger.
  • martyqueen52
    martyqueen52 Posts: 1,120 Member
    No need to. Carbs don't make you fat. Keep your carbs at normal levels. At first you may see a few lb. gained but that is just glycogen getting re-stored in muscles from low carbing on certain days, but it evens off after a few days.

    If your carb sensitive and it bloats you badly then don't eat as many... just up your protein and fat to make up for the missing calories.

    Your trainer sounds like a "bro".
  • NapsAndNachos
    NapsAndNachos Posts: 80
    I don't consider Lyle McDonald being a "bro" and I think all his diets use carb cycling. The point is not that carbs make you fat. The point is to optimize the macronutrient intake in a specific situation.

    EDIT: that said, a regular overweight or obese person probably doesn't have to get into such specifics.
  • drozkan
    drozkan Posts: 2
    I just had a baby 3 months ago and I barely lost any of the baby weight until a month ago when I started carb cycling.
    I don't think it's just a calorie deficit as I was restricting my calories to 1500/day, breastfeeding and running 4 x per week without loosing any weight. As soon as I started carb cycling, I lost 6 lbs in one month (a lot for me), and went from 150 lbs to 144. I now have 17 pounds left to lose before I'm at pre-pregnancy weight.
    I was also very sceptical of this method since I tried Atkins before and found it left me too weak to function. Carb cycling lets you have a small portion of carbs every morning, as well as a "cheat" day, which makes you feel like you're not depriving yourself all the time.
    I think there's something to the metabolic "confusion" aspect. Basically, if your body always has glucose available from eating tons of carbs, it will never have to tap into your fat stores for fuel, therefor you will never lose weight. Carb Cycling forces your body to tap into the fat stores since you are going through short periods of time without carbs.
    Speaking from experience, carb cycling allowed me to lose weight, whereas a simple "calorie deficit" diet did not. I think it's worth a try!

    Source: BSc. in Kin, PT and team training background.

    BTW- The Carb Cycling program that I follow is Chris Powell's "Choose to Lose" book. It's fairly easy to follow.
  • bzmom3
    bzmom3 Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks so much for your input! I'm starting the carb cycling soon and like to hear positive feedback.

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