Carb Cycling 101: Carb cycling diet plans
INTRODUCTION
Carbohydrate cycling is one of the most efficient tools that bodybuilders use to achieve maximum results. Carb cycling has been a staple of the bodybuilding world for decades because it maximizes your lean bulking & fat loss efforts.
Calorie control should be your first priority when it comes to diet, but manipulating your macro-nutrients (carb cycling for example) is considered the 'next level' to improving your overall physique. Even though not everyone is looking to get their glutes shredded, carb cycling is still useful to those who feel like they hit their plateaus.
WHAT IS CARB CYCLING?
Carb cycling is simply altering your carbohydrate intake on given days. You can achieve this through No-Carb days, Lower-Carb days or Higher-Carb days. Carb cycling is commonly used to maintain physical performance, lose fat, or simply overcome a weight loss plateau.
No-Carb Days: Also referred to as Zero Starch days; in this case your aim is to not consume any starch or other carb sources. However, you will most likely ingest some carbohydrates from vegetables or some fat sources; this is acceptable but the
amount should be rather small. (Below 5% of your total daily calorie intake)
Lower-Carb Days: On these days you should shoot for 1G of carbohydrate for every pound of your body weight. If you are overweight, it's best to use your lean body mass for reference.
Higher-Carb Days: Also referred to as the re-feed day or the re-feed portion of your diet. You should aim for 2G of carbohydrates for every pounds of your body weight. Once again, if you are overweight, refer to your lean body mass for reference.
CAN I BUILD LEAN MUSCLE USING CARB CYCLING?
Shedding the extra fat is not the only perks of carb cycling; one could also gain muscles from carb cycling regardless of calorie intake. It is very useful to cycle carbs in a way which allows for effective muscle growth but at the same time limit carbs occasionally to prevent unnecessary fat gains.
The same concept applies to fat loss while limiting the amount of lost muscle mass.
Therefore, in both scenarios, carb cycling is actually beneficial. Just because you are looking to cut or bulk does not mean you cannot implement carb cycling.
SCIENCE BEHIND CARB CYCLING
Carb cycling acts a way of regulating your endocrine system and therefore your metabolic rate. When you expose yourself to severe or chronic energy deprivation, your body makes up for it by lowering the supply demand of energy. In other words, it slows down your metabolic rate which is also known to be the survival mechanism in many organisms.
It makes sense because it would be counterproductive for an organism to be burning energy without nourishment. If you are goal is to lose fat, you want yourself to be as metabolically inefficient as possible.
The most notable endocrine alterations, with regards to chronic energy deprivation, that impact your metabolic rate are the adipokine leptin and the lowering of thyroid hormones (thyronines). Leptin's main role is to regulate metabolic expenditure and caloric intake, both of which have direct proportionality to your bodyweight while thyroid hormones increase metabolic rate through acting on almost every cell in your body.
Since carbs have been shown to have significant stimulation effects on our metabolic rates, leptin production, and thyroid function we can determine why carb cycling comes in very handy during such instances. Therefore the wise solution to avoid the induced metabolic rate would be to increase energy intake, especially carbs, to help revive and regulate metabolic or hormonal dynamics.
INDIVIDUAL FACTORS (What works for him might not work for you)
Carbohydrates are the most misunderstood macro-nutrient. Many people have a diet that consists of large amounts of simple sugars and yet they seem to remain highly inactive. Those people are regularly elevating their blood glucose levels while not using the energy gained from them and therefore the excess ends up being stored and converted to fat (main cause of type ll diabetes due to blood glucose fluctuation).
It is crucial that everyone realizes what works for one might not work for the other when it comes to dieting. People think that by cutting back or eliminating carbs altogether, everything will be perfect. Contrary to popular belief, carbs should absolutely not be removed from your diet; however they should be controlled or cycled. This is not your go mark to start eating carbs like there is no tomorrow; too many carbs can definitely be an issue because it can cause impaired insulin response.
Bottom line is you shouldn’t fear carbs, instead be smart about how you consume them. If you are highly sensitive to insulin yet are active, it is likely you will need higher carb intake than, say, someone who has low insulin sensitivity and is very inactive.
CARB CYCLING AND INSULIN
Promoting nominal insulin responses require an adequate dose of carbohydrates with regards to individual tolerances. A lot of people seem to have an irrational fear of insulin; however insulin should actually be your ally if your goal is to optimize muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth).
Increase your insulin responses by consuming a sufficient amount of carbohydrates to be able to enhance your MPS (Muscle protein synthesis) response.
CARB CYCLING AND FATS
Unlike the keto diet, which compensates the restricted carb sources by increasing your fat intake, for carb cycling it is not a very wise idea to increase fat intake on lower, higher or no carb days. Reason being is that the higher the fat intake, the more the resistance of insulin, leptin and other metabolic conditions is going to be. By increasing your fat during carb cycling days you are basically priming your fat cells instead of your muscle tissues to soak up your carbohydrate intake.
CARB CYCLING AND PROTEIN
Protein intake should remain static on a carb cycling diet; that being said, protein can also boost your calories on lower or no carb days.
TYPES OF CARB CYCLING DIETS
Generally, the main things to consider are:
Do not have consecutive in your cycle.
Incorporate your on harder training days and your on lighter training days.
Even though you can easily be creative with setting up your carb cycling diets, we will present a few common carb cycling routines based on individual goals and insulin requirements:
GOAL: FAT LOSS
*N= No-carb day, L= Lower-carb day, H= Higher-carb day
Rotation starting Monday: L,L,N,H,L,N,H
No-carb Days—2 per week
Lower-carb Days—3 per week
Higher-carb Days—2 per week
GOAL: FAT LOSS (LESS INSULIN SENSITIVITY)
*N= No-carb day, L= Lower-carb day, H= Higher-carb day
Rotation starting Monday: N,L,N,H,L,N,L
No-carb Days: 3 per week
Lower-carb Days: 3 per week
Higher-carb Days: 1 per week
GOAL: GAIN MUSCLES
*N= No-carb day, L= Lower-carb day, H= Higher-carb day
Rotation starting Monday: L,H,N,H,L,L,H
No-carb Days: 1 per week
Lower-carb Days: 3 per week
Higher-carb Days: 3 per week
GOAL: GAIN MUSCLES (HIGH INSULIN SENSITIVITY)
*N= No-carb day, L= Lower-carb day, H= Higher-carb day
Rotation starting Monday: H,L,H,L,L,H,L
No-carb Days: 0 per week
Lower-carb Days: 4 per week
Higher-carb Days: 3 per week
The information stated in this article is to help introduce you to carbohydrate cycling. As mentioned, all bodies respond differently and you therefore may need to tweak your diet or training regimens to get the optimal results.
References:
1) Krotkiewski, M., Toss, L., Björntorp, P., & Holm, G. (1981). The effect of a very-low-calorie diet with and without chronic exercise on thyroid and sex hormones, plasma proteins, oxygen uptake, insulin and c peptide concentrations in obese women. International journal of obesity, 5(3), 287.
2) Dirlewanger, M., Vetta, V. D., Guenat, E., Battilana, P., Seematter, G., Schneiter, P., ... & Tappy, L. (2000). Effects of short-term carbohydrate or fat overfeeding on energy expenditure and plasma leptin concentrations in healthy female subjects. International journal of obesity, 24(11), 1413-1418.
3) Mathieson, R. A., Walberg, J. L., Gwazdauskas, F. C., Hinkle, D. E., & Gregg, J. M. (1986). The effect of varying carbohydrate content of a very-low-caloric diet on resting metabolic rate and thyroid hormones. Metabolism, 35(5), 394-398.
4) Kimball, S. R., Jurasinski, C. V., Lawrence, J. C., & Jefferson, L. S. (1997). Insulin stimulates protein synthesis in skeletal muscle by enhancing the association of eIF-4E and eIF-4G. American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology, 272(2), C754-C759.
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