Carb Cycling For Fat Loss

Carb Cycling For Fat Loss

Carb cycling is a great way to both lose fat over an extended period of time and preserve muscle over that same period. It is a common practice followed by bodybuilders and fitness models alike to drop thier body fat to incredibly low levels. But how exactly carb cycling works remains a mystery for many people. This article attempts to not only explain how carb cycling works, but also common strategies for carb cycling.

What is Carb Cycling?

I briefly discussed the strategy of carb cycling in the post A Better Way To Cut Fat when I discussed the practice of refeed days. Carb cycling is alternating between periods of high carb intake (refeed) with periods of low carb intake. That's it. Plain and simple. But what you really want to know is how it works.

Carb cycling attempts to slow the negative metabolic side effects of a prolonged caloric deficit. In other words, when you diet, your metabolism adapts to the lower calorie consumption. Over time, it requires fewer calories and more effort to achieve additional fat loss. This is a natural side effect of being on a caloric deficit (i.e. calories out > calories in) [1]. Carb cycling attempts to hedge against this natural side effect by periodically injecting more carbs into your diet.

Why Cycle Carbs?

Carbohydrates are your body's primary energy source, and of the 3 main classifications of macronutrients (protein, carbs and fat), they are easiest to convert into body fat (i.e. stored energy). However, carbohydrates also have the biggest impact on both muscle sparing hormones, like insulin, and fat burning hormones, like leptin [2]. So, it's kind of a catch 22. Carbs can trigger an increased positive hormonal response but they also are easily converted into fat.

This is where carb cycling comes in. An over abundance of carbohydrates certainly won't help your weight loss efforts. But by spending most of the week on a caloric deficit with a lower carbohydrate intake, while a small part of the week is spent consuming an over abundance of carbohydrates, fat loss can be achieved. And what's interesting is that by using carb cycling, fat loss appears to be sustainable over a longer period of time.

Many people have no problem dropping fat for a month or two. But eventually they hit a point where additional fat loss seemingly requires some form of starvation, which is certainly not optimal for the preservation of muscle [1]. And it is also not desirable for most people's sanity.

However, bodybuilders and fitness models are able to lose fat for sometimes up to 6months or more. How do they achieve it? The answer is carb cycling.

Strategies for Carb Cycling

 

Carb Cycling Once Per Week

If you've ever heard someone talk about giving themselves a cheat day or a cheat meal once per week then whether they know it or not, they are at least cycling calories. And most likely the bulk of those calories are carbohydrates. Other people are a little more methodical about it, injecting a certain amount of additional carbs on one day of the week. But essentially the goal is the same: raise calories (and carbohydrates) for one day to reduce the metabolic damage naturally caused by prolonged dieting on a caloric deficit.

Carb Cycling Twice Per Week

Carb cycling twice per week takes a little more calculation. For one day out of the week, you might be able to get away with (at least for a while) eating without carefully monitoring your intake and not blow your caloric deficit out of the water. However, if you have two days a week where you consume increased carbs and calories then it's pretty easy to royally screw up your fat loss progress for the whole week. Therefore, people who choose to carb cycle twice per week should pay close attention to their intake even on their high carbohydrate days.

Pulling It All Together

I don't believe in cheat days, binging or all out gluttony. And if you have a sustainable diet then you shouldn't need to cheat or binge. Not to mention, binging is not a good habit unless your goal is to develop an eating disorder at some point. So, I am not a big fat of the one day per week carb cycling approach that involves a cheat day or a cheat meal. I, myself, have been down that road before. And it's part of the reason why I blew up to over 230lbs not that long ago.

Whether you carb cycle once per week or twice per week is really just based on personal preference and your overall goals. More aggressive dieters might opt for a one day per week carb cycle, while more conservative dieters might go for a twice per week carb cycling strategy. I generally opt for a twice per week carb cycling strategy because then I get two higher carb days per week instead of one, which also means two stronger days in the gym. I can also generally achieve great results with a two day carb cycling strategy. Although, I know many bodybuilders who achieve great results by carb cycling only one day per week.

When trying to figure out how many carbs to inject on the high carb day(s), it's important to realize the goals of carb cycling: preserve muscle and reduce metabolic damage over time. Therefore, carbohydrates should be brought up close to what they should be for your maintenance prior to the start of your caloric deficit. You might actually be able to bring them up even higher if you intend to only cycle one day per week.

References

 
[1] Trexler, E., A. Smith-Ryan, and L. Norton. "Metabolic adaptation to weight loss: implications for the athlete." J Int Soc Sport Nutr 11 (2014): 7.

[2] Romon, M., et al. "Leptin response to carbohydrate or fat meal and association with subsequent satiety and energy intake." American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology And Metabolism 277.5 (1999): E855-E861.

Posted by Clayton Long