Why Does Carb Cycling Work?

[DeltaRage]

Can some tell me why carb cycling works, as opposed to spreading one's carb intake out between the low/moderate/high days?

[Captain Sagara]

because you're constantly shocking your body,it's also great to burn muscle,that's why i don't use it...

[The Solution]

There are a lot of articles on the main page and on t-nation.com .. read up if you want.. they detail it pretty damn well

or serach it on google there are tons of articles that explain it well

[Robbyrh10]

because you're constantly shocking your body,it's also great to burn muscle,that's why i don't use it...

What? "Its great to BURN muscle"

Im lost on that one.

[Captain Sagara]

What? "Its great to BURN muscle"

Im lost on that one.

Different diets,give different results for different people,i need my carbs stable to preserve muscle...I do whatever agree that's an awesome diet for recomps...

[lednasmr]

well everyone responds differently to carb cycling diets.

i personally respond very well to them, but when i increase my carbs i blow the fu*k up really quick.

[gfundaro]

I sort of blew up on the 6 weeks I cycled (Nov-Dec)...I gained a lot of strength and size, but a little fat too. I went back on 40/40/20 and I'm looking much better. But I still have the muscle and strength, and I'm loving it It's definitely great to break a plateau, but like any WOE it does affect people differently. I wanted to cut, but I recomped instead.

[DeltaRage]

There are a lot of articles on the main page and on t-nation.com .. read up if you want.. they detail it pretty damn well

or serach it on google there are tons of articles that explain it well

I've read everything there is on T-Nation, and none of it really explains why it works. I've searched google as well, but none of their explanations go into any depth.

[gfundaro]

I've read everything there is on T-Nation, and none of it really explains why it works. I've searched google as well, but none of their explanations go into any depth.

Well...you enter periods of a caloric surplus as well as deficit, you manipulate insulin levels, eat a lot of protein. Just read up on leptin, carbs, insulin, and amino acids and it takes about 30 seconds to realize why it works.

[dvsness]

Different diets,give different results for different people,i need my carbs stable to preserve muscle...I do whatever agree that's an awesome diet for recomps...

So long as your protein is high enough, that shouldn't be a problem.

I sort of blew up on the 6 weeks I cycled (Nov-Dec)...I gained a lot of strength and size, but a little fat too. I went back on 40/40/20 and I'm looking much better. But I still have the muscle and strength, and I'm loving it It's definitely great to break a plateau, but like any WOE it does affect people differently. I wanted to cut, but I recomped instead.

Then your overall calories were too high. If your cals are sufficiently under maintenance, you will lose weight.

[Jules Verne]

Very shots 'answer' as I see it is it helps prevent your body from becoming really efficient at using one particular energy source for fuel.

Similar to mixing up cardio types and/or lifting protocol (reps/set/workout length etc..).

Exactly how this 'works' on a fundamental biological level, I have no idea.

[BladeRun]

I've had very good results from carb cycling when I cut. Last cut I cycled 100g carbs/day for 3 days, 300 g carbs for 1 day, repeat.

I dropped about 30 lbs & maintained muscle and stregth about as well as you can when cutting.

Edit: Profile photos were taken during last cut.

[rainieravesouth]

I've had very good results from carb cycling when I cut. Last cut I cycled 100g carbs/day for 3 days, 300 g carbs for 1 day, repeat.

I dropped about 30 lbs & maintained muscle and stregth about as well as you can when cutting.

Edit: Profile photos were taken during last cut.

does 1g/ bw on lifting days, and then .75g/bw on non lifting days consitute as carb cycling? or is that something totally different?

[Todd_A]

does 1g/ bw on lifting days, and then .75g/bw on non lifting days consitute as carb cycling? or is that something totally different?

it would to an extent, but it isnt' as radical as most of the examples i've seen out there. Plus that would only be about 1800 calories on lifting days if you ate only 1g/bw of protein adn assuming abotu 40 g of fat assuming a 180 pound person. That just seems low to me.

it tends to look something more like 1.6 g/BW on high carb days and .6 g/BW on low carb days. But the cycling does not seem to be connected to your lifting schedule. You could design it that way, but you would have a lot of HIGH carb days. However, that would be about 2400 calories on HIGH carb days for about a 180 pound person, and 1750 on LOW carb days. It would average about 2140/day over the 5 days of a work week, and that should be low enough to promote weight loss, depending on what you do on the weekends.

[amgdoc]

carb up 200g+ every 3 days or 1 wk (tend to do it on the days of WO). On non-carb days, I do practically <50g, almost less than 10g sometimes! But it is important to have fat replace the lost carbs on non-carb days.

[rainieravesouth]

it would to an extent, but it isnt' as radical as most of the examples i've seen out there. Plus that would only be about 1800 calories on lifting days if you ate only 1g/bw of protein adn assuming abotu 40 g of fat assuming a 180 pound person. That just seems low to me.

it tends to look something more like 1.6 g/BW on high carb days and .6 g/BW on low carb days. But the cycling does not seem to be connected to your lifting schedule. You could design it that way, but you would have a lot of HIGH carb days. However, that would be about 2400 calories on HIGH carb days for about a 180 pound person, and 1750 on LOW carb days. It would average about 2140/day over the 5 days of a work week, and that should be low enough to promote weight loss, depending on what you do on the weekends.

thanks for the thorough response!

what i was thinking about trying was doing what i mentioned. on workout days. I was actually trying to get in 1.25g/lb of protein, 1g/lb carbs and then the rest be fat, around 50-60g.

on non, it would be the same amount of protein, .75 carbs, and the rest fat
would be around 70?

haha im not sure if my math is right though.

40/40/20 doesnt seem to work for me because i seem to be really responsive to carbs. so if i just time it around my workouts and keep them moderate (no more that 1gm/lb.) i hope to see fat loss.

by the way, im 5'11'' 183@ 24% BF

[rainieravesouth]

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