How to carb cycle? Carb cycling is a diet where people are on alternate days, weeks and months are consuming higher carbs and lower carbs. So, they are going up and down on alternate days and the theory behind this method is that this will help you lose weight over other diet programs.
The carb cycling plan can happen daily, weekly and even monthly. This method isn’t easy for most people on some days, you will be more energetic than other days, based on how low or how high your carbs intake is.
The theory behind carb cycling is that it can be beneficial for athletes from a performance perspective. And the rationale behind this is the body needs extra energy from a specific sport that exhausts your body such as swimming, running, etc. So, the higher carbs day will fulfill the fuel/energy needs that your body needs on that specific sporting competition day.
Anecdotally there is enough experience of people being on a low-carb diet and losing weight. But when you reduce your carbs in an extreme way you are not losing body fat, you are losing water weight. So essentially you are losing weight, but it is water weight because of the amount of glycogen from reducing your carbs. It gives you an illusion that you are dropping body fat, but it is actually water.
You can lose a little bit of water weight when you carb cycle, especially on the low carb days. But there are no current scientific research studies that show that carb cycling is more effective in losing body fat or weight than other diets. To lose weight or body fat you must be in a caloric deficit, it has nothing to do with you cycling a specific macronutrient ratio.
Research studies show that when it comes to weight loss or fat loss there isn’t a specific advantage if you restrict specific macronutrients such as carbs, proteins, fats vs not doing it.
Bottom line it doesn’t matter if you restrict your carbs to 0. The result doesn’t give you a significant advantage in losing body fat.
So, carb cycling may help with fat loss but scientifically there is no advantage vs eating in a normal and balanced way.
Here are some examples of low, medium and high carbohydrate consumption:
Very low carbohydrates consumption– Under 10% of your daily calories comes from carbohydrates.
Low carbohydrates consumption – Under 26% of your daily calories come from carbohydrates.
Moderate carbohydrates consumption– 26 to 45% of your daily calories comes from carbohydrates.
High carbohydrates consumption– Over 45 of your daily calories comes from carbohydrates.
Carb cycling can be more impactful when it comes to sport performance than weight loss but if it works for you when it comes to fat loss then do it. Everybody’s body responds differently to how you consume carbs whether they are higher than normal days.
The Bottom Line is carb cycling is a diet where people alternate between high and low carbs in specific days, weeks and even months. And it is used for sports performance, weight loss and heightening insulin sensitivity.
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References
- Hall KD, Kahan S. Maintenance of Lost Weight and Long-Term Management of Obesity. Med Clin North Am. 2018 Jan;102(1):183-197. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2017.08.012. PMID: 29156185; PMCID: PMC5764193.
