Carb cycling for fatloss?

[Tonka8]

Hi all,

Just Trying to find different methods on helping me reduce my BodyFat to where id like to be, ive come across a guy called Shaun Hadsall and watch alot of his youtube video about carb cycling for fatloss so im wondering as anyone done a carb cycle for fatloss and how did they get on?

Thankyou

[matman1813]

Carb cycling is a gimmick, calorie deficit is what matters.

[jfruauff]

Carb cycling is a gimmick, calorie deficit is what matters.

That might be pushing it. It does help some lose fat especially those at lower body fat levels

[Tonka8]

Carb cycling is a gimmick, calorie deficit is what matters.

yes i agree that just totally makes sense of cause just wondering if anyone as ever done it.
Thanks anyway

[Tonka8]

That might be pushing it. It does help some lose fat especially those at lower body fat levels

Oh right ok well no good for me then as to where i am now lol

[SugarFree1]

I have had great results with carb cycling. I get accurately body fat montiored through out each cut via bodpod or dexa and I've seem much less muscle loss when carb cycling.

[Tonka8]

I have had great results with carb cycling. I get accurately body fat montiored through out each cut via bodpod or dexa and I've seem much less muscle loss when carb cycling.

Thanks for that i think im going to still looking to it as this guy Shaun hadsall knows is **** tbh and im very keen to know more and give it ago ill have to do more looking up best ways to do carb cycling.

[SugarFree1]

Thanks for that i think im going to still looking to it as this guy Shaun hadsall knows is **** tbh and im very keen to know more and give it ago ill have to do more looking up best ways to do carb cycling.

There are many different variations of carb-cycling same as other diets. The one I follow is called The Anobolic Solution for Body Builders. If you google it you should be able to find a pdf copy of it somewhere. I never tell people there wrong for trying any particular diet, only suggest that they find an accurate means of body fat testing that will show factual numbers afterwards so you can see how well it worked or not. We could all lose XX lbs on any particular diet as long as there is a calorie deficeit, how much of it actually came from fat though is a big factor in what the final results will look like.

[Tonka8]

There are many different variations of carb-cycling same as other diets. The one I follow is called The Anobolic Solution for Body Builders. If you google it you should be able to find a pdf copy of it somewhere. I never tell people there wrong for trying any particular diet, only suggest that they find an accurate means of body fat testing that will show factual numbers afterwards so you can see how well it worked or not. We could all lose XX lbs on any particular diet as long as there is a calorie deficeit, how much of it actually came from fat though is a big factor in what the final results will look like.

I totally agree with you and thankyou ill look it up.

[Serpentarius]

That might be pushing it. It does help some lose fat especially those at lower body fat levels

Not true, losing bodyfat is ridiculously easy and you will benefit MORE by keeping carbs as high as possible at all times.

Carb cycling is a product people sell, calorie deficit is boring and people dont want to hear it.

[Tommy W.]

Hi all,

Just Trying to find different methods on helping me reduce my BodyFat to where id like to be, ive come across a guy called Shaun Hadsall and watch alot of his youtube video about carb cycling for fatloss so im wondering as anyone done a carb cycle for fatloss and how did they get on?

Thankyou

Carb cycling has a very minimal at best effect on fatloss. When you base your cals and macros on a weekly rather than daily basis you'll have a better understanding of the "process".

99.9 percent of people dieting and training are better served concentrating of the deficit and proper macros than worrying about things like carb cycling but people are always looking for that secret pass to faster fatloss which only exists in theory

[madeira17]

Not true, losing bodyfat is ridiculously easy and you will benefit MORE by keeping carbs as high as possible at all times.

Carb cycling is a product people sell, calorie deficit is boring and people dont want to hear it.

If its just a product than what do you think about refeeding on a diet. From the research I've gathered, we all have a set point and the further you deviate from it the more your body will fight back. Yeah of course we could just keep lowering calories and we will lose fat but at some point our bodies will favor losing more muscle along with the fat. What do you think?

[Serpentarius]

If its just a product than what do you think about refeeding on a diet. From the research I've gathered, we all have a set point and the further you deviate from it the more your body will fight back. Yeah of course we could just keep lowering calories and we will lose fat but at some point our bodies will favor losing more muscle along with the fat. What do you think?

Refeeding has its uses when done absolutely correctly, but all these "trainers" want to make it sound like it will do something for fat loss. It is a good method to take a cut further than normal, and it WILL slow fat loss down because you are sacrificing a day of a deficit.
The only downside to getting really lean is fatigue that can be hard depending on your lifestyle, and hunger which you can easily cope with but you should be able to maintain high single digits easily granted you meticulously count calories.
Having been to 8% twice, and approaching it a third time in a week or so ive never lost anything, when i was getting too much protein before i dropped 5-10 lbs off of each lift but this time around with a lot less protein ive maintained everything but lost about 1 rep on each lift.
IMO, lifting is more important than anything, diet is not even that big of a deal as our requirements arent that important and too easy to get, it is greatly exaggerated on "difficulty", its just people like to eat and dont want to be hungry.
I think many people feel they lost muscle because they didnt realize how dense fat was and when they had to drop 10-15 lbs when they could already see faint abs, they feel they lost size (see the threads "why are my arms shrinking" that people constantly post).

[madeira17]

Refeeding has its uses when done absolutely correctly, but all these "trainers" want to make it sound like it will do something for fat loss. It is a good method to take a cut further than normal, and it WILL slow fat loss down because you are sacrificing a day of a deficit.
The only downside to getting really lean is fatigue that can be hard depending on your lifestyle, and hunger which you can easily cope with but you should be able to maintain high single digits easily granted you meticulously count calories.
Having been to 8% twice, and approaching it a third time in a week or so ive never lost anything, when i was getting too much protein before i dropped 5-10 lbs off of each lift but this time around with a lot less protein ive maintained everything but lost about 1 rep on each lift.
IMO, lifting is more important than anything, diet is not even that big of a deal as our requirements arent that important and too easy to get, it is greatly exaggerated on "difficulty", its just people like to eat and dont want to be hungry.
I think many people feel they lost muscle because they didnt realize how dense fat was and when they had to drop 10-15 lbs when they could already see faint abs, they feel they lost size (see the threads "why are my arms shrinking" that people constantly post).

You mentioned that you have maintained all your strength which is great. I have a quick side topic question to ask you. I apologize original post if I am hijacking your thread! Serpentarius I'm wondering what you think about my situation. I started cutting from around 23% body fat or so and am now at 15%. I was squatting twice a week 2x5 and for the first 6 weeks of my cut I lost almost 10lbs and my strength remained the same. Starting the seventh week which was about 4 weeks ago I tweaked my back rounding it to much on squats so I stopped squatting that session. My second session of that week I returned to squatting and I felt that same pain again so I finished my set and decided to stop.

So fast forward 3 weeks of resting and not doing squats or any spinal compression lifts I went to squat and I noticed I was significantly weaker and the pain came back slightly. For a reference I was doing 2x5 with 255lbs during my cut and this time I worked up to 235x1. Could I really have lost that much strength in only 3 weeks of dieting and not squatting? I could probably have put up 300x1 when I was 175lbs and now at 160 I struggled to put up 235x1. Ok so Fast forward another two weeks which is right now and I feel great and haven't had any pain. My question is how much strength do you think I really lost on my squat? I've lost another five to six pounds since the original injury and I'm approaching 15% body fat. Upper body strength is the same as it was before cut too. I can tell my legs have gotten slightly smaller and I just don't feel as powerful as normal. Diet is always good, protein/carbs around 1gram per pound of weight and fats around 50-60 grams. I've been losing around 1-1.5lbs a week so nothing extreme. Just worried about my squat strength!

[Serpentarius]

You mentioned that you have maintained all your strength which is great. I have a quick side topic question to ask you. I apologize original post if I am hijacking your thread! Serpentarius I'm wondering what you think about my situation. I started cutting from around 23% body fat or so and am now at 15%. I was squatting twice a week 2x5 and for the first 6 weeks of my cut I lost almost 10lbs and my strength remained the same. Starting the seventh week which was about 4 weeks ago I tweaked my back rounding it to much on squats so I stopped squatting that session. My second session of that week I returned to squatting and I felt that same pain again so I finished my set and decided to stop.

So fast forward 3 weeks of resting and not doing squats or any spinal compression lifts I went to squat and I noticed I was significantly weaker and the pain came back slightly. For a reference I was doing 2x5 with 255lbs during my cut and this time I worked up to 235x1. Could I really have lost that much strength in only 3 weeks of dieting and not squatting? I could probably have put up 300x1 when I was 175lbs and now at 160 I struggled to put up 235x1. Ok so Fast forward another two weeks which is right now and I feel great and haven't had any pain. My question is how much strength do you think I really lost on my squat? I've lost another five to six pounds since the original injury and I'm approaching 15% body fat. Upper body strength is the same as it was before cut too. I can tell my legs have gotten slightly smaller and I just don't feel as powerful as normal. Diet is always good, protein/carbs around 1gram per pound of weight and fats around 50-60 grams. I've been losing around 1-1.5lbs a week so nothing extreme. Just worried about my squat strength!

Yeah, you can detrain in even a weeks time, its the CNS. It happens to a lot of people from taking just a week off but if they are not injured they will be back to normal right after which is why a deload is better than a week off (if not injured).
Let your back rest, hang from a pull up bar, foam roll if you have one, and stretch at home frequently to get blood flow, its probably just a tendon injury. You will have probably all of your strength minus 5 lbs when you are back to normal but dont worry about feeling weak after that rest period of 3 weeks, its normal.
Also, even if you do lose strength, when you start eating at maintenance again it comes right back.
If you can, leg press or hack squat machines are great, i do not use machines but they do have their place especially for those with an acute injury, this is from personal experience and as someone who wouldnt wish a back injury on their enemy.
Your legs can look smaller if they are not stimulated but it will come right back once you start working them again, work around the injury and you should be fine, remember healing etc....is more important than the weight you are trying to move, we all know how much it sucks to be injured so be patient and be on top of your calories as that has priority now.

I remember when i hurt my back my squat went from like 325 at the time to like 225
It took me a good three weeks to get back up close because the nagging pain kept persisting until i had to stop and only use machines and come back to it later. It happens, even if your form is fine, eventually like any material put under stress, things fail and you WILL get injured over the course of your lifting career many times even if they are just acute things like tendonitis, strain, tears, so on and so forth, sometimes it feels safer sitting on the couch lol

If you can, get a massage to the affected area, real sports massage can do wonders.

[madeira17]

Yeah, you can detrain in even a weeks time, its the CNS. It happens to a lot of people from taking just a week off but if they are not injured they will be back to normal right after which is why a deload is better than a week off (if not injured).
Let your back rest, hang from a pull up bar, foam roll if you have one, and stretch at home frequently to get blood flow, its probably just a tendon injury. You will have probably all of your strength minus 5 lbs when you are back to normal but dont worry about feeling weak after that rest period of 3 weeks, its normal.
Also, even if you do lose strength, when you start eating at maintenance again it comes right back.
If you can, leg press or hack squat machines are great, i do not use machines but they do have their place especially for those with an acute injury, this is from personal experience and as someone who wouldnt wish a back injury on their enemy.
Your legs can look smaller if they are not stimulated but it will come right back once you start working them again, work around the injury and you should be fine, remember healing etc....is more important than the weight you are trying to move, we all know how much it sucks to be injured so be patient and be on top of your calories as that has priority now.

I remember when i hurt my back my squat went from like 325 at the time to like 225
It took me a good three weeks to get back up close because the nagging pain kept persisting until i had to stop and only use machines and come back to it later. It happens, even if your form is fine, eventually like any material put under stress, things fail and you WILL get injured over the course of your lifting career many times even if they are just acute things like tendonitis, strain, tears, so on and so forth, sometimes it feels safer sitting on the couch lol

If you can, get a massage to the affected area, real sports massage can do wonders.

Thank you very much! Hopefully my strength isn't lost and if it is hopefully I can get it back quickly!

[and1_balla52]

Caloric deficit is what matters in the end. Now...it will help SOME people get leaner. Me personally, I handle a lower carb approach better than others...some people can do all of that IIFYM stuff...I can't exactly get away with it as easily. However, I have a friend who can eat tons of carbs...dude is a sucker for those XXL burritos from Walmart, and can kill 2-3 in a meal, dipped in a pool of ranch dressing, washed down with a Mt. Dew, and the guy is easily around 8-10% body fat. Effortlessly. Now if I were to try that...umm...yeah...not so much! Everything is individual...so to say it doesn't work would be a definite blanket statement. Set a caloric deficit and you're golden as far as fat loss goes...but there are more things at play, like physiology and things like that. Find what works for YOU! It may be carb cycling, it may be a 40/40/20 split, hell you may even be able to get away with a 50/30/20, who knows. Just DO SOMETHING!

[sports19]

Yeah, you can detrain in even a weeks time, its the CNS. It happens to a lot of people from taking just a week off but if they are not injured they will be back to normal right after which is why a deload is better than a week off (if not injured).
Let your back rest, hang from a pull up bar, foam roll if you have one, and stretch at home frequently to get blood flow, its probably just a tendon injury. You will have probably all of your strength minus 5 lbs when you are back to normal but dont worry about feeling weak after that rest period of 3 weeks, its normal.
Also, even if you do lose strength, when you start eating at maintenance again it comes right back.
If you can, leg press or hack squat machines are great, i do not use machines but they do have their place especially for those with an acute injury, this is from personal experience and as someone who wouldnt wish a back injury on their enemy.
Your legs can look smaller if they are not stimulated but it will come right back once you start working them again, work around the injury and you should be fine, remember healing etc....is more important than the weight you are trying to move, we all know how much it sucks to be injured so be patient and be on top of your calories as that has priority now.

I remember when i hurt my back my squat went from like 325 at the time to like 225
It took me a good three weeks to get back up close because the nagging pain kept persisting until i had to stop and only use machines and come back to it later. It happens, even if your form is fine, eventually like any material put under stress, things fail and you WILL get injured over the course of your lifting career many times even if they are just acute things like tendonitis, strain, tears, so on and so forth, sometimes it feels safer sitting on the couch lol

If you can, get a massage to the affected area, real sports massage can do wonders.

Hey Serpentarius You Said Your Strength Went Down 325 To 225 And You Built It Back Up In 3 weeks! How Did You Do That...What Kind Of Program Did You Use? How Frequently Were You Squatting Etc? Also You Mentioned That Madeira Would Get His Strength Back minus 5 Lbs. Where Are You Getting That Number From?

[Tonka8]

Thankyou guys much appreciated.

[Serpentarius]

Hey Serpentarius You Said Your Strength Went Down 325 To 225 And You Built It Back Up In 3 weeks! How Did You Do That...What Kind Of Program Did You Use? How Frequently Were You Squatting Etc? Also You Mentioned That Madeira Would Get His Strength Back minus 5 Lbs. Where Are You Getting That Number From?

Just any strength program works with progressive overload, the strength is there but you cannot use all of it when you start back up after a short break immediately. How often you squat depends on your level of advancement, noobies can squat many times a week without any effects, but when you get to advanced+ levels you cannot recover as much.

I just said 5 lbs because you will usually lose some strength when you come back to doing it, he is just as strong as he was but cannot use all of the strength when injured or having time off, especially in a deficit where recovery is imparied.