𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚋 𝙲𝚢𝚌𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 ✍︎︎

Not specifically carb cycling, but I typically do best with calorie cycling which tends to cause carb cycling just because I'm eating more on some days and thus more carbs.

I usually do well with 4 low cal days and 3 high cal days - high cal days are maintenance, low cal days are about 400 cals below maintenance, but that's a slow rate of loss, about 1/2 a lb a week, which may or may not be your goal...the point is not more than 3 non-consecutive days at higher cals/carbs.

If you are researching, Leangains has a bunch of information, that program is both cal and carb cycling and has bunches of calculators and such that you can use to figure out some options you might try for cals and carbs on high/low days.

ssmith0903 wrote: »

➪ 𝖢𝖺𝗇 𝖺𝗇𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝗌𝗁𝖺𝗋𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗆𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗂𝗋 𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗌𝗈𝗇𝖺𝗅 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖼𝖺𝗋𝖻 𝖼𝗒𝖼𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀? 𝖯𝗋𝗈𝗌/𝖼𝗈𝗇𝗌

➪ 𝖶𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝖾𝖼𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝖺𝗉𝗉𝗋𝗈𝖺𝖼𝗁 𝗍𝗈 𝗈𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗋𝗌 𝗐𝗁𝗈 𝗌𝖾𝖾𝗆 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗍𝗋𝗎𝗀𝗀𝗅𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗉𝗅𝖺𝗍𝖾𝖺𝗎?
-(𝖨 𝗄𝗇𝗈𝗐 𝗇𝗈𝗍 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒 𝖽𝗂𝖾𝗍𝖺𝗋𝗒 𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗈𝖽 𝗂𝗌 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋𝗒𝗈𝗇𝖾)

➪ 𝖶𝗁𝖺𝗍 𝗐𝗈𝗎𝗅𝖽 𝗒𝗈𝗎 𝗋𝖾𝖼𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗈 𝗌𝗈𝗆𝖾𝗈𝗇𝖾 𝖺𝗌 𝖺 𝖾𝗑𝖺𝗆𝗉𝗅𝖾 𝖼𝖺𝗋𝖻 𝖼𝗒𝖼𝗅𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗐𝖾𝖾𝗄 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗁𝗈𝗐 𝗈𝖿𝗍𝖾𝗇 𝗍𝗈 𝖼𝗁𝖺𝗇𝗀𝖾 𝗂𝗍 𝗎𝗉?

☺︎︎ 𝖨’𝗆 𝖼𝗎𝗋𝗋𝖾𝗇𝗍𝗅𝗒 𝗋𝖾𝗌𝖾𝖺𝗋𝖼𝗁𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗍𝗁𝗂𝗌 𝗆𝖾𝗍𝗁𝗈𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝗆𝗒𝗌𝖾𝗅𝖿, 𝖻𝗎𝗍 𝖺𝗆 𝗂𝗇𝗍𝖾𝗋𝖾𝗌𝗍𝖾𝖽 𝗂𝗇 𝗁𝗈𝗇𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝖾𝖾𝖽𝖻𝖺𝖼𝗄 𝖿𝗋𝗈𝗆 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗌𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝖾𝗑𝗉𝖾𝗋𝗂𝖾𝗇𝖼𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗍𝗁 𝗂𝗍.

❤︎ 𝒜 𝓈𝒾𝓃𝒸ℯ𝓇ℯ 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃𝓀 𝓎ℴ𝓊 𝒾𝓃 𝒶𝒹𝓋𝒶𝓃𝒸ℯ

There really aren't any...or many pros to carb cycling for gen pop. It doesn't really do anything in particular for weightloss or weight management in general...it's not going to make losing weight faster...it doesn't break plateaus, etc. The primary benefit to carb cycling is for athletes who may need to cut some weight to either make weight or make an ideal weight for their sport (ie many cyclists have a "riding" weight they prefer) without dipping into training performance. One of the major issues with calorie deficits is a decrease in performance...that is a non starter for an athlete/competitive athlete...to combat performance deficiencies, they carb load around heavy bouts of training and cycle their heavy carbohydrate intake around heavy bouts of training.

Carb cycling is yet another "thing" that tends to trickle down from athletes/elite athletes to the general fitness population and weight loss population where the thinking is that "what's good for the goose must be good for the gander"...when in reality a lot of this kind of stuff isn't really applicable in any meaningful way to individuals just trying to lose some weight and gain some general fitness.

Some individuals may find benefit if they engage in a lot of endurance type training or other strenuous training and want to maintain a high level of physical performance while cutting some weight and maintaining a calorie deficit...I personally did some of this when I was doing a lot more endurance cycling and would cycle my carbs around my two or so long training rides while I was trying to lose weight. Ultimately the calorie deficit dictates the loss...the carb cycling helps with physical performance when cycled around heavy bouts of training.

In other words, it's really more of a dietary training protocol than it is a dietary weight loss strategy.

Years ago, (maybe decades?) I followed a person named Wendy Chant. She was a nutrition expert, a fitness guru and a body builder. She advocated for carb cycling, especially to break plateaus. I read one of her books about the science behind it and it seemed sound. Unfortunately, she died of cancer in 2009. Basically, if I recall correctly, she suggested one cycle in a higher carbohydrate meal about every 72 hours. There's also another person, Hailey Pomroy, trained as a veterinarian who switched over to helping humans because she was pretty good at helping horse trainers improve horse performance and also farmers who wanted to rapidly fatten their animal stock. Her program also had a type of carb cycling in that two days per week were much higher carbohydrate days, followed by a couple higher protein low fat days etc... she even went a step further and suggested aerobic cardio exercise on the carb up days and muscle building exercises on the protein up days. Both programs required a lot of planning and eating smaller meals more often but no calorie counting. I lost weight with both programs, probably because in the end I was just eating fewer calories, but I did appreciate the science each of these women introduced to me about nutrition, slow twitch fibers, etc.