Carb Cycling Tips?

freddiefrederick
freddiefrederick Posts: 7 Member
edited December 20 in Food and Nutrition
Hi y'all!

I recently went to the doctor and found out I'm not getting nearly enough protein. I do high intensity exercises 5-6x a week and most are my second job, so I don't want to go fully low carb and implement carb cycling with 4 low carb days (under 80g) and 3 high carb days (150-200g) per week.

Is anyone else carb cycling or has carb cycled with success? What sort of schedule worked for you? I'm brand new to manipulating my macros, so I'm open to any and all advice!

Replies

  • Annie_01
    Annie_01 Posts: 3,096 Member
    You might try googling Chris Powell carb cycling. There is probably some site where you can get some free info. I tried it for about two weeks several years ago. It was just too much for me...I didn't respond well to have to keep up with what I could eat and on what day I could eat it.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    slbbw wrote: »
    Why do you need to go low carb to up your protein? What are your current macro levels? Why not just hit 120g of protein daily?

    I need to give my metabolism a little jolt, and my doctor suggested manipulating macros to see if it helps :smile:

    Witch Doctor? ;)

    I there are reason YOU want to carb cycle with low carb days because it's just seems to be avoiding tackling the issue of insufficient protein intake? (Assuming that part of the Doctor's advice is accurate.)

    Why not just keep your protein and carbs fairly stable as you seem to be exercising most days?
    Does having low carb days impact your exercise performance?

    Personally I increase my carbs on days when I'm cycling for hours for fuelling reasons but my carb cycling is in reality between high and very high. I'm eating back my exercise calories in carbs (for the most part).
  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
    Tried carb cycling a few times but each time I end up struggling with extreme headaches and underperforming in my workouts.
    Perhaps if you exercise just to burn calories rather than to improve performance as such that might be less of a problem.
    It seems everyone responds differently to low carb/carb cycling and it definitely suits some people better than others. I believe VERY generally speaking, men more than women and peri menopausal/menopausal women the least. Plus individual genetic differences too.

    Like others have said, if I were you I’d just increase your protein and not worry about carb cycling. But an also curious how & why the Dr determined you needed more protein. How much have you been consuming the last few months?
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