Carb Cycling Example Diets

[Diab0lic]

These are example menus I have made for the carb cycling diet as outlined by Twin Peak I am currently seeing great results from. Here is the link to the diet.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par30.htm

(also see FAQ on avantlabs site)

These are for a 225lb bodybuilder (100kg). Ratios should be adjusted for weight as outlined in the article.

Keep in mind these are just examples, my actual diet varies quite a bit (except in terms of carbs which are a fairly constant oats,allbran,sweet potatoes,brown rice,yams,fruit).

I do a cycle of high, low, no, high, low, no, low at the moment starting on monday. I train mon, tues, thur, fri. I dont train on no carb days. I may adjust the cycle depending on my future results but this cycle is working for me at the moment.

I am taking creatine but finishing that cycle in a month. I also take multivitamins, vitamin c, vitamin B complex, natural unsweetened yoghurt (100g before bed), ZMA and of course the fish oil.

I will add some cardio as needed in the latter half of my cut. Will post pics when done.

Comments welcome

[taffer]

nice work, im going to give carb cycling a shot, after my bulk to get rid of all the fat i put on, and hopefully retain all/most of my muscle

just wondering a few things...

how often do you weight yourself, and under what conditions

do you count calories everyday? because the article tells you not to count (or you dont have to anyway, unless your really anal about it )
when i do it, i dont plan to count!

also you speak of great results! how have you been going?!

one last one, how do you cope on the no-carb days, i was thinking they would be bad, but then just remember he says you can eat as much protein as you want! i know it will be lower cal's, but protein really fills you up! how do you find it?

[Luis A.]

Originally posted by taffer
one last one, how do you cope on the no-carb days, i was thinking they would be bad, but then just remember he says you can eat as much protein as you want! i know it will be lower cal's, but protein really fills you up! how do you find it?

Taffer,
i`ve been following this diet program for 2 weeks now(on my 3rd currently) and in the beginning i thought that i would die without some carbs however you can do pretty good since you can still eat veggies with your meals

Diab0lic,
thanks for posting your program dude.I`m doing something similar however i was intending to clean bulk while using this program so that i could minimize fat storage.What do you think about this?I would really apprecciate some input.

[Diab0lic]

taffer:

I weigh myself and take bodyfat measurements every week on on monday evening (high carb). As mentioned in the article, your weight will fluctuate as you deplete and replenish glycogen so dont be to focused on weight, more on bf% and how you look in mirror.

I dont count calories as such, but know how many Im taking in. You only gotta figure out your low carb day portion sizes and everything else I go by how hungry I am, my progress and what Ive gotta train that day. Protein and fat are fairly constant although I might take in more protein and fibrous veggies on no carb day. Screw counting calories Although if you are on a strict pre-contest diet with strict deadlines, you may want to be more anal about this. Instead of counting calories, I would adjust the aggressiveness of my cycle (eg: alter cycle so it errors more or less to lower calorie side) or maybe start adding in or dropping controlled amounts of cardio.

I dont find no carb day too bad as I do no training of any sort on these days. I always eat 7 times on these days as opposed to 6 or 7 on the other days. Resist the cravings and itl be carb day before you know it.

My progress is good, Ive only been on for a month but am dropping waist size and keeping bicep and quad size, and am definitely showing better definition. Im not losing strength either (Im actually gaining it). although sometimes its a harder slog than when bulking.

Luis A:

In part 2 of the article, Twin Peak explains that this can be used for clean bulking. You will just adjust the ratio of days towards the higher calorie side as you need to. An example maight be.

High, low, high, low,High, low, no.

Even if you just used high or high and low carb days, the bulk would be quite clean due to the food sources and the fact that high carb day is still only 4 carb meals not 5 or 6.

Good to hear others are into this plan as it is quite sensible, easy and effective too.

Keep this thread going and post your progress, questions, sample diets, etc here

[taffer]

sounds good!
thanks for starting this thread, its been very informative

we need more carb cyclers around!

[antbrdwar]

After seeing results from two other people with carb cycling, and these ideas from you I might take a whack at it sometime in the near future. Thanks for the information sir.

[Luis A.]

Diab0olic,
regarding high carb days, i must admit that i am really afraid of overeating(i used to be fat...) and eating too much calories does this happen with you?

One other thing i am also doing cardio since i`m an endomorph so that i may avoid fat storage.I don`t want to get huge, my biggest dream is to gain some lean body mass and get ripped.If you could give me any help/advice i would really apprecciate it.

[Diab0lic]

Luis A:

On high carb days, I find that I never over eat. I occasionally have wholegrain bread sandwiches, but limit the carbs in that meal as if it were a low carb day. I often find that I dont need huge meals and they are not usually that much larger than my low carb meals. But there are 4 of them.

Look at my high carb day example, the meals never even have over 100g of carbs, but the day still provides over 3200 calories. After a few weeks, you get alot more used to the diet and everything starts to fall into place.

Prepare properly, buy everything you need before you start. Dont just say to yourself, Im gona start today. Plan ahead.

Eating low GI, high fibre carbs fills you up for longer and you can always eat heaps of fibrous veggies and lean protein. Remember that if you do a cycle like I mentioned in my original post, the high, low and no carb days will average out to the calorie level of a low carb day.

eg:
My high carb day is 3227 cal
My low carb day is 2607 cal
My no carb day is 1726 cal

When I average these out into the cycle I do of H, L, N, H, L, N, L I get 2532 cal. Couple this with the fact that Im 100kg and Im constantly revving my metabolism up and down with the diet and weight training and you see that Im not gona gain fat. You dont get fat coz you eat heaps on 1 or 2 days of the week.

If im not losing fast enough, I might change the cycle to H, L, N, L, N, H, N so I swap the number of low and no carb days. Id do this for a few weeks and then see where I need to go from there.

If youre doing cardio you should be fine starting out on the plan as stated in my original post, adjusted for your bodyweight. I wouldnt personally do it on an empty stomach or on weight training days. And make sure you have 1 day where you dont do any training. This leaves a good 2 days for cardio, plenty on this diet. You may find you dont even need it for fat loss but want to maintain it for fitness and cardiovascular health.

If you are bulking on a carb cycling diet, I would keep the cardio to a minimum depending on your goals and bodytype. I have not tried it for bulking but will in the future. At the moment my sole ambition is to be ripped for summer and I still have a ways to go. I am in no hurry though as I plan to lose next to no muscle at all. My cut will be a long slow one.

As the article says, if youre losing too quickly then up the average calories in your cycle and if youre not losing fast enough, lower them.

The diet is as malleable as you want it to be as long as you follow the basic guidelines.

[Luis A.]

Thanks for the tips Diab0lic
By the way one of the foods that i usually eat is pumpernickel rye bread.I eat it in moderation however i am afraid that it might not be the best for this diet.Could you give me some input on this?

BTW, i was checking your examples and i noticed that i had a greater difference in my carb intake between my high carb days, where i consume around 250g of carbs and, my low carb days, where i try to reduce my carb consumption to a maximum of 150g.

If this helps i`m 18 years old, weigh 71kg and am 6.1".

[Diab0lic]

Originally posted by Luis A.
Thanks for the tips Diab0lic
By the way one of the foods that i usually eat is pumpernickel rye bread.I eat it in moderation however i am afraid that it might not be the best for this diet.Could you give me some input on this?

BTW, i was checking your examples and i noticed that i had a greater difference in my carb intake between my high carb days, where i consume around 250g of carbs and, my low carb days, where i try to reduce my carb consumption to a maximum of 150g.

If this helps i`m 18 years old, weigh 71kg and am 6.1".

Read thru the article again. It says for the high carb day, You can eat one meal where the carbs come from wholegrain bread or pasta. 1 meal only and only on a high carb day. I also mentioned this above. Pumpernickel bread is probably one of the lowest GI breads you can get and has loads of fibre, etc so this is a good choice.

According to the article, you should be taking in 156 grams of carbs on a low carb day. Dont have less than 150 or more than 170. 250 on high carb day is fine. Your no carb day shouldnt be much different calorie wise to the example I posted and your low carb day should be 600 cal higher than this. Mine is 800 due to my bodyweight. My high carb day is 600 cal higher than my low carb day, and yours is 400. Considering our relative bodyweights, we seem to be eating fairly similarly.

[Diab0lic]

Here is a link to a thread I made containing a comprehensive list of healthy foods that I eat from. It is suitable for almost anyone on almost any diet.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hreadid=325153

[Diab0lic]

3.5 year bump

This is just as relevant now as then

The 3 diets average out to 2500 cals, which, combined with cardio, should do the trick nicely

[Purostaff]

Nice little bump there

I just started carb cycling myself and today was my first low carb day. To be honest though, I'm not comfortable with increasing my fat intake at all (yes skeptical mindset). Before I started the cycle, I always eat close to 40/40/20 ratio everyday. I think I might have hit a plateau (probably not yet), so I though I'd give carb cycling a try. Doesn't hurt to switch things up once in a while.

Tomorrow would complete my 11th week of cut (8 if you minus 3 weeks of rotator cuffs recovery phase). Anyways, I'll try carb cycling for about a month or so, we'll see what happens.

P.S. My cutting journal doesn't bite if you click it

[FliPSkYTraK]

what carbs do u guys eat on ur carb days?list down a few for me please?

[warbird00]

Hmm, i was reading out carb cycling on t nation and this was their sample macros for a 220 lb guy

High(er) carb days = 330g protein, 344g carbs, 33g fat

Moderate days = 330g protein, 275g carbs, 33g fat

Low(er) carb days = 330g protein, 206g carbs, 33g fat

No no carb days?

[Purostaff]

Hmm, i was reading out carb cycling on t nation and this was their sample macros for a 220 lb guy

High(er) carb days = 330g protein, 344g carbs, 33g fat

Moderate days = 330g protein, 275g carbs, 33g fat

Low(er) carb days = 330g protein, 206g carbs, 33g fat

No no carb days?

There's different ways to carb cycle. Here's another example from carb cycling 101 thread: http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...&highlight=101


No-Carb Day
15% of kcals from Carbs
45% of kcals from Protein
40% of kcals from fats


Low-Carb Day
30% of kcals from Carbs
45% of kcals from Protein
25% of kcals from fats


High-Carb Day
45% of kcals from Carbs
40% of kcals from Protein
15% of kcals from fats

---

I modify some of the ratio to make my own version.

[Diab0lic]

Bump for the hell of it. I see lots of questions about this still

[Ryanmckd]

I've been stuck at 200lbs for last month and a bit with no real progress, so i'm willing to try anything at the moment, with the fish oil, is it fish oil tablets or can u buy liquid? because i can't swallow tablets

[Zody]

Great post Diab0lic!! Repped!!

I'm digging this whole concept of carb cycling. I'm like a week into it, and it feels great!!

Set a new PR on my deads today. And it was a high carb day.

Edit- How does my diet and WO routine look??

Here are my stats- 6'0 and 180 pounds

NO CARB DAY- 315gPRO/9gCARBS/59gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 1859cals

LOW CARB DAY- 245gPRO/154gCARBS/52gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 2008cals

HIGH CARB DAY- 325gPRO/221gCARBS/46gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 2552cals


Mon - Low carb - Chest + abs
Tue - High carb - Lats + abs
Wed - Low carb - Biceps + forearms
Thu - No carb - Triceps + abs
Fri - High carb - Shoulder + traps + abs
Sat - Low carb - Legs + abs
Sun - No carb - REST DAY

Thanks

[devotchkas]

What should I eat on my no carb day?

[robwein83]

Great post Diab0lic!! Repped!!

I'm digging this whole concept of carb cycling. I'm like a week into it, and it feels great!!

Set a new PR on my deads today. And it was a high carb day.

Edit- How does my diet and WO routine look??

Here are my stats- 6'0 and 180 pounds

NO CARB DAY- 315gPRO/9gCARBS/59gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 1859cals

LOW CARB DAY- 245gPRO/154gCARBS/52gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 2008cals

HIGH CARB DAY- 325gPRO/221gCARBS/46gFATS -TOTAL CALORIES= 2552cals


Mon - Low carb - Chest + abs
Tue - High carb - Lats + abs
Wed - Low carb - Biceps + forearms
Thu - No carb - Triceps + abs
Fri - High carb - Shoulder + traps + abs
Sat - Low carb - Legs + abs
Sun - No carb - REST DAY

Thanks

What in the hell is this guy doing working out his abs so much!

[PicklesPA]

can someone please tell me the advantage of carb cycling please?

[gleesamo]

bump cuz i love carb cycling

[Manuel73]

im analyzing all this info as we speak.......hopefully i´ll have this ready in a few hours, i´m really excited to try this aproach....it makes sense...

[alyeska]

I'm very interested in trying carb cycling because I want to lose some stubborn fat, but as a vegetarian pretty much all my protein sources have some carbs (except that I do eat fish). Is the High Carb, Low Carb, and Very Low Carb plan also effective?

[Bigsby]

I've been dieting for 12 weeks, with 11 to go before my November contest. I've been losing weight steadily up until two weeks ago when I hit a plateu. I posted this problem in the contest prep section in hopes that someone knew how I could get threw this. Carb Cycling (along with a refeed) was mentioned and recommended to shock my body to get my furnace going again. I researched Carb Cycling and came across an article by Twin Peak. I read Twin Peak's article about Carb Cycling and became very intrigued and will be applying the Carb Cycle beginning on Sunday, hopefully all will go well. I still have 25 lbs to lose in 11 weeks to make the middleweight dropoff at 187.25.

[SheWulf]

Carb cycling is high effective imo. Allows me to diet down without depriving myself of carbs.

[K-Dawg_05]

What in the hell is this guy doing working out his abs so much!

spot reducing...duh

Carb cycling works great

[QT]

ITT, are we talking about carb cycling as in cutting or bulking?

If I weigh 170lbs. How do I calculate how much grams of carbs I would need on my different days?

[Mikesimms]

Hey. Just setting my numbers up for my carb cycle. I weigh 150 at 5'8 5'9. Not sure on my Body Fat yet.

High Carb Day - P-150G/F-<20G/C-210G
Low Carb Day - P-150G/F-<20G/C-150G
No Carb Day - P-150G-170G/F-<20G/C-0G

Basically hoping to keep my numbers around here. Also not sure how much to have for carbs on the High Carb Day. It says as much as you want, But I don't want to over induldge. Is 210 Enough? Should I have More?