Carbs cycling: A new approach
- Dietitian.Lauren Hmede
- Mar 30, 2019
- 6 min read
Carb Cycling for Fat Loss
Carbs get bad reputation considering their effects on the body and weight gain. What is really true is that heavy processed carbs consumption affect hormones balance and lead to inflammation and fat storage.
But healthy carbs are really important for muscle growth and overall performance so what really matters is to choose the right amount of carbs at right time intervals in order to maximize muscle growth in a process called carbs cycling. As what carbs you eat and when you eat them, it can affect your body response to them.
This plan requires a strict adherence and counting of carbs. This may seem suitable for people who are already lean and just aim to lose 10-15 pounds or even need to lose small body fat percentage. For people who have extra weight to lose they need to avoid simply starch carbs to notice the results.
How Carb Cycling Works
In carb cycling, your week is divided among three types of days: no carb days, low-carb days and high-carb days.
NO CARB DAYS: Total carbs intake should be less than 25 grams per day and one these non carbs day you may have high fiber vegetables like as leafy greens, asparagus, broccoli, onions, peppers and mushrooms freely, along with lean protein and a serving or two of good fats. Refrain from starchy carbs such as potatoes, rice, cereals and oats. These include starchier veggies such as beans, zucchini, squash, and pumpkin.
LOW CARB DAYS: The goal is to stay below 75 grams of carbs. You can eat fibrous veggies freely, but add in two to three servings of starch from clean sources such as brown rice, sweet potatoes, oats, starchy veggies and fruit. “Clean” carbs are hypoallergenic ones that are free of gluten, soy and dairy. For best results, having starchy carbs post-workout on these days is recommended.
HIGH CARB DAYS: The total amount of carbs will vary based on your size and activity level. Women will consume between 150 and 200 grams while men can get away with up to 300 grams. Most of these should come from clean sources. But if you are going to enjoy a cheat meal, it is advantageous to have it on a high-carb day.
Don’t forget to include lean protein sources and two fat servings. Don’t forget high carb diet is not for binge overeating instead it’s a systematic way to reset muscle-building and fat-burning hormones.
Ounce you follow these three protocol, it’s possible to alter the body’s hormonal environment to maximize fat loss and muscle gain throughout the week.
A sample week of carb cycling looks like this:
Day 1: No carb Day 2: Low carb Day 3: High carb Day 4: No carb Day 5: No carb Day 6: Low carb Day 7: High carb
As carbs cycling include high carbs day it is easy to adhere, satisfying and curb cravings. You need to know if you have two or more high carbs day you may at risk of having fat storage building. That is why high carbs days should be followed by non carbs day in order to achieve insulin sensitivity and boost fat burning.
Why Carb Cycling Works
Cycling carbs influences how hormones are acting inside your body:
Insulin: The fat-storing and muscle-building hormone
Upon carbs consumption insulin is released from pancreas into the bloodstream and delivers carbs into liver and muscle for storage. Upon excess intake and while storage are full, carbs are converted and stored as fat.
They key of carbs consumption is to feel full and having enough energy for exercise and performance. You need to avoid eating that leads to fat storage.
Insulin release varies based on type and amount of carb consumed. Carb cycling manipulates insulin to minimize fat storage and maximize muscle synthesis. Low-carb and no-carb days help us stay sensitive to insulin, and push fat burning. High-carb days maximize muscle growth and replenish carb storage to enhance exercise intensity.
Leptin: A hunger hormone
It is released by fat cells and it is responsible for controlling hunger and satiety feeling. It is released in response to “refeeding,” defined as a time of 12 to 24 hours of increased carbohydrate and caloric intake.
Leptin does not increase as a result of single meal consumption instead it creeps over a sustained period after carbs consumption. Leptin acts as a feedback mechanism in the hypothalamus to signal satiety. In addition, through secondary hormones, leptin also signals to the body to speed metabolism.
People who consume high carbs and high calorie diet are at risk of leptin resistance due t the high amount. The result will be a miss-singling to hypothalamus and eventually weight gain occur.
On the other hand a very low level of leptin occurs on a low calorie and low carbohydrate diet, give the body the opposite message: be hungry, eat, conserve and slow down.
In carb cycling, when leptin begins to recede to the point of drastically increasing hunger and slowing the metabolism, a high-carb day is in place to help reset it. This way, we stay leptin-sensitive.
Serotonin: The sanity hormone
Serotonin is a hormone that boost mood and decrease depression. Consumption of carbs increase serotonin and thus leading to boosting mood.
Low carbs diet will result in low serotonin level and then sugar craving occur. In the other side carbs cycling will regulate serotonin level especially in high carbs day.
Cortisol: A catabolic hormone
Cortisol is a catabolic hormones that breaks down molecules for fuel. It can breaks down both muscle and fat for energy.
Eating carbs meal is important to shut off cortisol production that is why many athletes and body builders consume carbs and protein immediately upon waking.
Eating a meal containing carbohydrates essentially shuts off cortisol production; this is why many bodybuilders will eat a meal containing carbs and protein immediately upon waking. By carb cycling, excess cortisol production (and muscle catabolism) is avoided. At just about the time that cortisol production begins to become excessively catabolic following no- and low-carb days, a high-carb day is in place to reset this hormone to avoid muscle loss.
Carb Cycling Meal Plans
Interest in carbs cycling is increasing as it allows some of cheat days. It is based of non carbs and low carbs consumption followed by high carbs days. In addition learning carbs cycling may fasten weight loss and avoid binge eating.
Benefits
Carbs cycling is easy to follow as it allows some of high carbs days.
Moreover, in carbs cycle your body will burn fat during non carbs and low carbs days. Even on high carbs day fat storage will not regained.
It regulated hormones of hunger and satiety, and it allows your muscles to restore glycogen storage that are important for athletes.
Protocol
There are many approaches to follow carbs cycling. One of the most popular is to eat low carb five days a week and high carb on two days of your choice. The days can be back-to-back or separated by a few days.
Your carb intake on high carb days should not exceed about 50 percent of your daily calories, and your calories on those days should be right at about the level that a weight loss calculator suggests for maintenance.
On your lower carb days, your carbs should be zero to 50 grams a day and your calories should be lower than on your high carb days.
Examples
For a 160 pound female, your carb cycling diet may look like this: Monday: low carb, 1,150 calories, 0 to 50 grams carbs maximum Tuesday: high carb, 1,950 calories, 243 grams of carbs maximum Wednesday: low carb, 1,150 calories, 0 to 50 grams carbs maximum Thursday: low carb, 1,150 calories, 0 to 50 grams carbs maximum Friday: low carb, 1,150 calories, 0 to 50 grams carbs maximum Saturday: high carb, 1,950 calories, 243 grams of carbs maximum Sunday: low carb, 1,150 calories, 0 to 50 grams carbs maximum
Use an online calorie calculator to determine how many calories you need to maintain weight based on your age, height and weight. That is your calorie count for high carb days, with no more than 50 percent of calories from carbs. On low carb days, aim for a calorie count that will create a 1 to 2 lb. loss every week with no more than 50 grams of carbs per day.
Considerations
The results will be better if you stick to healthy food choices. For example stick to low glycaemic index food on some high carbs day and high glycaemic index food for the reaming days. This allows you to enjoy your favourite food and still encourage consumption of healthy choices like fruits, vegetables and whole grains.
Potential
Finally, sticking to carbs cycling instead of strict dieting is a good idea as cheat days allow you to lose weight without feeling guilty and enters the yo-yo cycle. Moreover when you learn what to eat is affects your weight loss, fat burning and muscle building. Choose carbs cycling can affect your body composition and improves your overall health.
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