Carbohydrate Cycling: Does It Work?

Carbohydrate cycling means rotating the intake of carbohydrates in your weight loss plan. It has been utilized by competitive athletes not only to lose fat but to achieve muscle and strength at the identical time.

Carbohydrate cycling will be defined as a planned alteration of carbohydrate intake with a view to prevent a fat loss plateau and maintain metabolism together with workout performance.

The better part is that unlike a protracted term low carb weight loss plan or a keto weight loss plan, which will be quite difficult to practice & sustain, short term deprivation, as in carb cycling, is well manageable, and quite sustainable in the long term.

Carbohydrate cycling is just not a brand new concept, definitely not within the muscle world. Bodybuilders have been cycling carbohydrates since a long time to get the shredded look throughout the competitive season and now many models and actors are riding high on this bandwagon.

Carbs have been wrongly termed as evil at many places, just because it’s a double edged sword. Too much of it might result in fat storage, but a correct quantity would fuel your workout and create an anabolic environment.

So carb cycling principally provide your body with carbs after they are needed essentially the most, and eliminate/reduce them when not needed.

There are many variations to carb cycling, with people practicing programs on a weekly, or monthly basis. However, we’re going to discuss a weekly carb cycling plan.

Carbohydrate cycling has the next types, that are rotated depending on the person needs:

• Very low carbohydrates/No Carbohydrates: Under 10% of an individual’s every day calories will come from carbs. A day I don’t personally recommend.
• Low carbohydrates: Under 26% of an individual’s every day calories will come from carbs. Make sure the protein intake is between 1.6-2gm/kg body weight.
• Moderate carbohydrates: Between 27–44% of an individual’s every day calories will come from carbs. Keep the protein intake between 1.5-1.8gm/kg body weight.
• High carbohydrate: 45% or more of an individual’s every day calories will come from carbs. Keep the protein intake as 1.4-1.5gm/kg body weight.

When we discuss carbohydrate cycling it is just not just rotation or changes in carbohydrate intake however the cycling of other macronutrients i.e. proteins and fats too, in such a way that in practice days you get the required stamina and strength for a tough workout and when on rest, your fat burn enhances.

We often overeat on rest days within the name of recovery and because of this hinder the fat burn process and collect lots of unwanted body fat despite of the hard training.

Common sense says that in our hardest workout we’d require more carbohydrates for energy i.e. for many of us it’s the leg day. Leg workouts are brutal and take so much out of an individual. At this time, your body needs huge amount of carbohydrates for energy and adequate proteins to repair the damage.

However, during training days, when your workout is just not so brutal, the carbohydrate intake will reduce to a moderate level. However, in not one of the cases protein intake reduces.

On days when you’re resting or doing only cardio, you would like low carbohydrates in order that the fat burn process is enhanced.

On a high carbohydrate day:

Proteins – min 1.5 gm/kg of body weight

On a low carbohydrate day:

Proteins – 1.6-2.0 gm/kg of body weight

Fat intake in all cases would remain low to moderate.

The effect of this process will vary from individual to individual. If you might be already lean muscular and want to lose fat here and there, then you’ll have to be stricter with yourself. An obese person would simply see results just by eating clean initially.

On a high carbohydrate day all meals can have decent amount of carbohydrates. But keep the carbohydrate source clean. You can have rice, whole grains, vegetables, fruits etc.

A moderate to high carbohydrate daydoesn’t just provide the crucial fuel for an intense workout, but additionally helps the body replenish its supply of muscle glycogen, which can improve performance and reduce muscle breakdown.

Strategic high carb periods may improve the function of the weight- and appetite-regulating hormones leptin & ghrelin. High carb refeeds can have positive effects on hormones during a weight loss plan, including thyroid hormones, testosterone, and leptin.

Leptin is considered one of the explanations you’re feeling so hungry if you consistently eat less. Leptin can be considered the “master controller” of other hormones, meaning that when leptin drops, so do thyroid and reproductive hormones.

On a low carbohydrate day,the strategy is just not to go no carbs but eat less carbs only when your body needs them i.e. before and after workouts. It helps the body burn the stored fat as fuel, and helps improve insulin sensitivity.

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However, try to keep a brief intense workout, for a low carbohydrate day. And eat most of your carbs across the workout.

The no carbohydrate daybecause the name suggests is essentially the most difficult day of the week. So no fruits, grains, oats, dairy etc. but loads of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, sprouts, peas and green vegetables. On a no carbohydrate day, you won’t have any workouts except light/moderate cardio. Even the duration of cardio is to be limited to 45min to an hour no more.

However, you I won’t suggest a no carb day most often, as in case you are understanding with higher intensities 4-5 days/week, your body is virtually all the time in a recovery mode. And having lower carbs few times in every week will do the trick.

Now what’s difficult is to divide these carb cycling days in every week. Let me provide you with a tremendous double body part split:

1. Monday – let’s take it as a Chest & Calves day. Calf muscles is most frequently neglected or simply taken as a non-significant exercise, at the top of the day. But it’s considered one of the most important and most neglected muscle of the body. This can be a moderate carb day.

1. Tuesday – it might be advisable to maintain your leg workout days as a high carb day. You can keep yet another day as high carb day however the gap between the two must be minimum 2-3 days of low carb days.
2. Wednesday – the body will need the fuel to get well from previous days leg workout, and you’ve got to workout on Wednesday too, so it must be a moderate carb day. You can plan your Shoulder & Traps workout on at the present time.
3. Thursday – must be a low carb day, where you may plan a brief intense workout session, or purely an endurance workout session, and even take a break in case you want.
4. Friday – can again be a moderate carb day, where you intend your complete back workout.
5. Saturday – is your arms day, where you may plan a low to moderate carb day.

So let’s take a sample carb cycling week:

Monday – Chest & Calves – Moderate Carbs

Tuesday – Legs – High Carbs

Wednesday – Shoulder & Traps – Moderate Carbs

Thursday – Endurance or Break – Low Carbs

Friday – Back workout – Moderate Carbs

Saturday – Arms – Low to Moderate Carbs

Sunday – Break – Low to No Carbs

This was a sample workout schedule and carb distribution pattern. However, the carb intake will vary for people, because of their different workout schedules.

Does carb cycling result in weight reduction?

It may or may not. As weight reduction relies on total calorie balance, than simply cycling carbs. But if done properly, it might be much easier to lose fat on carb cycling. In fact, it’s a fantastic approach to break your fat loss plateau.

Is there may be any scientific research on carb cycling as such ?

No, not at this point of time. However carb cycling is just not a weight loss plan pattern, but a way of cycling carbs, to keep up balance.