Carb Cycling - Please Review, Any Feedback?

[AbramsAM]

Below is all information I have gathered in regards to carb cycling. I am going to begin this program next week and want to be sure I have all the basic principles as well as implementation correct.

CARB CYCLING

Basic Principles
---------------------
- Five meals per day
- Protein for every meal
~ Four of the five meals from lean protein sources (less than 10%
cals from fat)
~ One meal with high fat protein source (20%-25% cals from fat)
- 30-50 g. protein post workout
- Three of the five meals include 1 C. green veggie (veggie must contain less than 50 cals per cup)
- Fish oil at 10-20 g. per day

HIGH CARB DAY
----------------------
- Three of five meals include protein and as many carbs as desired from
approved list AND a small piece of fruit
- Pre and post workout meals must include carbs
- Two of the five meals must consist of protein and veggie - NO carbs
-One of the meals with carbs must have 1c. veggies (To meet three serving
requirement)

LOW CARB DAY
----------------------
- Two of the five meals may contain carbs
- Meal following workout must contain carbs
- 1 g. carb per pound of body weight (ex. For me, 80 carbs for each of the
two meals)

NO CARB DAYS
-----------------------
- Only protein and fats from approved list for all meals
- Must include three servings of veggies throughout the day

Additional information
-----------------------
- No Carb Days: Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday
- High Carb Days: Monday, Friday
- Low Carb Days: Wednesday, Saturday

- Heaviest workout days on high carb days and low carb days
- Off days on no carb days

**********************************************
This is the information I have gathered from the various articles I have read. If you have any comments or feedback on areas I might have missed, please let me know! I have calculated this at five meals per day.
Thanks!

Angela

[RJC]

If this is all correct, it should be a sticky. It's very easy to understand and to the point.

[stc]

Originally Posted by RJC

If this is all correct, it should be a sticky. It's very easy to understand and to the point.

I agree. I've never carb cycled before but am interested in trying.

[AbramsAM]

Thanks guys So far I haven't read any conflicting info on carb cycling from what I posted.

Any veterans around here have any comments?

[SurelyShirley]

That list looks great Angela! I am considering carb cycling in a few months also. I like to track all my food and I was wondering about the specific macronutrient ratios, so I came up with this table. I know there is no need to be exactly spot on, and it may seem a little obsessive (lol), but I like to stay on track as much as possible. I calculated a range of calories/day also...Ok, this definitely looks obsessive, but hopefully helpful!

[daYDreAmErX]

I'd just add try to prioritize your high-carb days on the two workout you need it the most. For me, this is the day before I do a maximum effort day on deadlifts or squat (2 days/week). The two remaining training-days of the week are moderate-carb days and non-training day are no-carb days

[irongrl]

Originally Posted by SurelyShirley

That list looks great Angela! I am considering carb cycling in a few months also. I like to track all my food and I was wondering about the specific macronutrient ratios, so I came up with this table. I know there is no need to be exactly spot on, and it may seem a little obsessive (lol), but I like to stay on track as much as possible. I calculated a range of calories/day also...Ok, this definitely looks obsessive, but hopefully helpful!

Very nice table! Thanks!

[breathingsky]

Looks great, although when I have carb cycled in the past I usually maintain a ceiling. On my high carb days I might have no more than 80 carbs. On low days I'll have around 40, and then on zero days it usually comes out to about 15 (there is some in my whey powder, etc.) I also weigh less than you do, so my numbers are smaller.

My only suggestion might be to consider capping the high carb days at around 125, and save the eating as many as you want for a cheat day or a refeed day once a week.

[AbramsAM]

Thanks everyone for your feedback!

SurelyShirley - i love lists and check boxes and post-its and anything that is organizing so I'm with you there. Thanks for the check box list and I like the way you have it catagorized by different calories per day.

Daydreamer - Thanks for the feedback on incorporating the higher carb days on the "harder" workout days. I tried to incorporate mine on heavy weight days, especially lower body days.

Breathingsky - good idea on capping the carbs. I will try and look up if there is a method or something on calculating how much is "high" as it relates to body weight. I think there are percentages out there...

So today was day one of cal cycling and i am a little off on timing with meal times, but so far have been consuming all the food needed. i think i will notice a bigger difference on low and no carb days.

[clovely]

Thank you to everyone who compiled this info and gave input! I think I'm going to try cycling.

AbramsAM - it's been a couple weeks, how did this/is this going for you?

[anandagirl]

I don't know if 125 carbs on the "high carb" day is enough - Isn't the purpose of the high carb day is to trick the body, replenish the glycogen stores, etc? I don't know that 125 g of carbs would be enough to do that, unless you were only eating 1000-1200 calories a day. 125 g is only 30% on 1500 cals a day. I figured a high carb day should at least be 40-50% of calories.

[clovely]

Does this look like a plan?

Monday - cardio + Upper Body (High Carb Day)
Tuesday - off (no carb)
Wednesday - Lower Body (low carb)
Thursday - cardio - I teach a step class (low carb)
Friday - cardio + Upper body (high carb)
Saturday - cardio + Lower Body (high carb)
Sunday - off (no carb)

I'm at about 124 right now. If I shoot for 1600 calories broken up as...

High Carb Days
180g/45% carbs, 160g/40% protein, and 27g/15% fat

Low Carb Days
120g/30% carbs, 180g/45% protein, and 44g/25% fat

No Carb Days
60g/15% carbs, 180g/45% protein, and 71g/40% fat

...the no carb days scare me more because of that 71g of fat than because of the low carbs....are you sure that's going to be OK? Going over 30g/day (my long-time norm on 40/40/20) on 4 days of the week freaks me out!! I'm fat-phobic, I guess.

[Sunshineslynn]

I have to agree with anadagirl.......clovely that looks reasonable. The way I carb cycle is my lowest day is 75gms and my high day sometimes is 200gm and I have seen the best results on this. But also on the low carb days I eat about pound and half of veggies.......

[fit123]

When you count carbs do you count the carbs from veggies (like green stuff) or just breads and starchy veggies?

I never know if I should count everything like zucchini, lettuce, etc. or just potatoes, breads, carrots and such.

Thanks girls

[fit123]

Originally Posted by fit123

When you count carbs do you count the carbs from veggies (like green stuff) or just breads and starchy veggies?

I never know if I should count everything like zucchini, lettuce, etc. or just potatoes, breads, carrots and such.

Thanks girls

anyone?

[soon2Bgoddess]

I don't count green fibrous veggies as carbs!! Which is GOOD bc I can polish off a bag of broccoli a day on my no carb day!!!

[anandagirl]

If you are counting macros, I think you need to count the net carbs: total carbs minus the fiber. Fibrous veggies have very little carb action because there is so much fiber. Potatoes have a ton of carbs though...