Calorie/carb cycling

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sarahlockhart0522
sarahlockhart0522 Posts: 4 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does anyone have any experience with carb and calorie cycling? I'm interested in 5 days low carb and 2 days high carb. I am very active (crossfit 5 days a week). I've been counting calories since January and have hit a plateau lately (2 weeks no change)
Anyone have success with this? I only have 15 more pounds to lose (already lost 10).

Replies

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    Sounds dreadful. Low carb is supposed to be sustained, getting into ketosis is quite unpleasant. You can eat in any pattern you want, lots of people eat less on weekdays to be able to eat more on weekends, but it doesn't allow them to eat any more in total - it all boils down to calories in - calories out. Plateaus don't really exist; you are either eating at maintenance and need to tighten up your logging, or you are retaining water. Two weeks is nothing, and the last pounds are usually the hardest, any loss will be slow and difficult to discern from water weight fluctuations. Weigh yourself daily and notice the trend.
  • valskeete
    valskeete Posts: 53 Member
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    I split up my high carb days to Tuesdays and Saturdays. It keeps my body guessing. Putting 2 high carbs days together doesn't make much sense to me, you'll spend the whole week trying to work off your weekend and it's difficult to get back into your Keto diet (not the actual Ketosis) without making yourself suffer (for me).
  • OrionSlayer
    OrionSlayer Posts: 29 Member
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    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Plateaus don't really exist; you are either eating at maintenance and need to tighten up your logging, or you are retaining water.

    I have often wondered how plateaus could be possible. I mean, if you constantly eat 100 calories below what your present weight is, won't you always lose weight? I'm not talking about the mental and psychological side of this, just the physical side. If you were able to reach a state where you could not lose no matter how much you starved yourself, you would be close to being immortal.

    Why is the last five pounds physically hard? I mean, if you were locked in a basement with no access to food, wouldn't you have steady weight loss? (Note: I'm not suggesting the L in B weight loss plan!) I'm not trying to down play the difficulty, just want to know for when I get there what to expect and how to deal with it.

  • kommodevaran
    kommodevaran Posts: 17,890 Member
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    OrionSlayer wrote: »
    kommodevaran wrote: »
    Plateaus don't really exist; you are either eating at maintenance and need to tighten up your logging, or you are retaining water.

    I have often wondered how plateaus could be possible. I mean, if you constantly eat 100 calories below what your present weight is, won't you always lose weight? I'm not talking about the mental and psychological side of this, just the physical side. If you were able to reach a state where you could not lose no matter how much you starved yourself, you would be close to being immortal.

    Why is the last five pounds physically hard? I mean, if you were locked in a basement with no access to food, wouldn't you have steady weight loss? (Note: I'm not suggesting the L in B weight loss plan!) I'm not trying to down play the difficulty, just want to know for when I get there what to expect and how to deal with it.

    Yes, locked in a basement you'd lose until death; luckily we can roam free and eat what we want, and that's exactly what creates the problem most of us are facing. "The last five pounds" don't really exist either; the BMI where you'd place the cutoff may not be where I'm content.
  • mattyc772014
    mattyc772014 Posts: 3,543 Member
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    2 weeks is not a plateau. Give it more time. Like 4 weeks.

    I have calorie cycled and carb cycled. Carb/calorie cycling will make no difference. Unless you feel better with high carbs/cals on certain days. I tend to eat a few more carbs/calories on heavy lifting training days. If either helps you stay on your goals then go for it. Really need to make sure you get the right amount of calories for you at the end of the week.
  • Yi5hedr3
    Yi5hedr3 Posts: 2,696 Member
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    You can be low carb without being in Ketosis, just staying in the 50-100 range. Then on your 2heaviest workout days you can increase carbs and lower fats.

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