Carb Cycling Meal Plan for Optimal Weight Loss

Carb Cycling Meal Plan for Optimal Weight Loss
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Carb Cycling is a short term plan designed to quickly burn body fat while retaining muscle mass. It is commonly used by body builders who want to sharpen the definition of their muscles. Carb cycling provides a sort of fine tuning for your body. It takes discipline and planning to follow a carb cycling plan, which also schedules the way you approach your workouts. But, if you stay disciplined, the results do come fairly quickly, on average a person can lose one or two pounds of fat each week while cycling their carbs without sacrificing any of their muscles.

Benefits of Carb Cycling

Lose body fat without feeling deprived. Many people can easily stick to a restrictive meal plan for one day, knowing that the next day will be different and less confining. That is the real beauty of carb cycling, the meals are different every day, and are flexible as long as you maintain pattern of high carbs on one day versus low carbs or no carbs on the next.

Carb cycling meal plans are flexible, but ought to be planned out in advance so that you can ensure success.

Rapid weight loss can occur in a very short period of time with this diet plan.

Break through weight loss plateaus.

Chisel your muscles by reducing overall bodyfat.

Carb Cycling Meal Plan

Carb cycling is simply a well planned diet that mixes up your carb consumption. You will plan out 3 different types of carb days; high, low, and no carbs. This diet can be tweaked to suit your particular needs, but in general two days of low carb followed by a high carb day and then no carbs works well.

Sample plan:

Monday, Wednesday and Friday are no carb days

Tuesday and Saturday are high carb days

Thursday and Sunday are low carb days

When you have lots of fat to lose, it can be helpful to do a slightly longer series of low carb days. The key is to not allow your body to go into starvation mode. Keeping it guessing while providing all the healthy carbs and protein that it needs will turn your body into a fat burning machine.

On high carb days your load up on healthy carbs, eating a variety at each meal. The low carb days generally include carbs at only one or two meals, and no carbs are allowed on the no carb day. Maintain a consistent level of protein throughout the diet and be sure to focus on healthy carbs and steer clear of sugar. Whole grains, fruits and nuts are the basis for your high carb days, not donuts or other white flour products

Protein is actually the basis of this diet, without emphasizing your protein consumption the carb cycling is really ineffective. At each and every meal during carb cycling you are free to eat protein. A basic guideline is to evenly split your protein into five or six meals a day. On no carb days, you will add green leafy vegetables to your meals, while on carb days you can add portions of healthy carbs.

Healthy Protein Choices

Planning ahead when following a carb cycling meal plan will help ensure that you have enough protein on hand to properly fuel your body. While there are many protein sources, the key is to spread out over the course of your day.

  • Chicken

  • Turkey

  • Canned tuna

  • Fish

  • Lean beef

  • Cottage cheese

  • Egg whites

Healthy Carb Choices

While vegetables can be included in a list of carbs. Green leafy, low calorie and fibrous vegetables are appropriate on all the carb days, high, low and no carb. Consider veggies like cabbage, broccoli, spinach, zucchini, squash and celery.

Healthy Carbs include:

  • Brown rice

  • Oats

  • Sweet potatoes

  • Starchy vegetables, like corn and peas

  • Beans

Limit your consumption of the following, leaving them only for high carb days and staying in moderation:

  • Whole grain pasta

  • Whole grain bread

Incorporating Your Workout

Working out is a given when discussing carb cycling. It is assumed that you are currently following a workout program and simply want to amplify the results.

In general, workout heavier on high carb days and keep it lighter on low carb days. Although it is suggested that you tap into your fat stores on low or no carb days as well.

References

What you need to know about carbohydrate cycling, Twin Peak, https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/par32.htm

Chant, Wendy, Crack The Fatloss Code, 2008