Carbohydrate Cycling, THE FACTS

By Martin Knibbs
Professional Chef, Qualified PT, BSc Sports Science & Nutrition

Carbohydrate cycling

Ok, so there is somewhat a debate on whether carbohydrates should be consumed over say a high protein/fats diet to low carb diets!!

There are some people that work better with complex carbs and others work better with a high-fat diet. However, what I normally advocate is leaving carbohydrates in your diet when you can. If you’re starting to diet and up until that point you have been eating carbohydrates, I don’t see any reason to just cut them out completely. Of course, you may need to taper them down slightly, cycle them, or restrict them to certain times of the day. It is beneficial to have some complex carbs in your diet because they can potentially help keep your body from becoming catabolic. In the morning for instance, after fasting for eight hours, I don’t see why it is a problem eating some oats with a banana and some berries. After an intense workout, you should be taking in faster-digesting carbs immediately afterward to replenish your depleted glycogen levels, too. When your muscle glycogen levels are depleted, you run the risk of losing muscle tissue. By contrast, taking in some carbs, especially at breakfast and straight after training, shouldn’t hinder your fat-loss goals.

So essentially carb cycling is a program where you mix higher carbohydrate days with lower carbohydrate days in the effort to lose weight without suffering some of the negative consequences of a pure low carbohydrate diet plan.
Some of these negative side effects include a drop in exercise performance, increased hunger and very much carving levels, lowered metabolic rate, and difficulty focusing and concentrating in the gym. By having those higher carbohydrate days back in there, you offset some of these factors, so generally most people find this approach much more enjoyable to use. Before you hop onto the carb cycling diet program though, there are a few key facts that you must keep in mind and remember. Here's what to know.

1:

High carb days should be placed on your hey training days

The first you should must know as you go about designing this type of diet program is that in order to see your best results, you should be putting your highest carbohydrate diets on days you perform your headrest workout sessions like on leg and back days. Or if you are using a full body workout.

The reason for doing this is simple - the body needs those carbohydrates the most on these days. Having them before you do the workout will help fuel you in the gym so you can work harder and push more weight, and then having the influx of carbohydrates after the workout session will help saturate the muscles with carbohydrate storage (muscle glycogen) and aid with recovery.
Since you want all these carbohydrates to be put to best use on this diet, and have the least likely chance of turning into body fat this means timing them correctly throughout your week.

2:

Expect some water gain weight gain:

Second up on the list of 'musts' that you need to know, and be prepared for, is that you will very likely experience some water weight gain when doing the higher carbohydrate days. For every gram of carbohydrate you take into the body, you'll store four grams of water with this. If you're eating 200-300 grams of carbohydrates on those high carb days, this adds up very quickly.
Those who are leaner tend to experience this effect the greatest because at that point, any water weight gain is highly noticeable. Try not to let yourself get too alarmed over this. It's a normal process and is not fat gain. Within a day back on your regular low-carbohydrate plan you should notice this recede.
If you're someone who really struggles psychologically with weight fluctuations (and how you appear in the mirror), this very well could mean carbohydrate cycling is not for you. It is a side effect of this type of plan, and therefore something for which you must absolutely prepare yourself.

3:

Choose carbohydrates highest in glucose or complex carbs:

When it comes to food selection while performing a carbs cycling fat-loss diet, you want to think glucose. Either simple glucose sources (preferably around the workout period when they are absorbed quickest) or complex carbohydrates that will break down into glucose.

What you want to avoid here is fructose as this type of carbohydrate will behave differently in the body and won't have the same benefits as glucose does. If you were to intake a large amount of fructose on your high carbohydrate days, there is a much greater chance some of this may get converted into body fat gains since it won't get stored in the muscles as readily.

4:
Decrease fat intake on high carbohydrate days:

Another important thing to remember as you go about your carb cycling diet is that you should also be decreasing your overall dietary fat intake on days you go high carb. It is normal for most people to increase their overall calories on the high carb day (to boost the carb intake that much higher) but by lowering the fat intake, you allow more room for those carbohydrates without going really crazy with your calorie level. Ideally, stay within 300-600 calories of your low carbohydrate day intake to prevent the excess calories from cancelling out the fat loss for the week unless you are specifically planning to have very low calorie, low carb days (see the example below).

5:
The fifth fact to know about carbohydrate cycling, linked to the point above, is that your total weekly calorie intake must remain at what is necessary for overall fat loss. Let's look at an example.

Let's say that you currently maintain your body weight at 2200 calories per day or, 15,400 calories per week. This means to lose one pound per week, you must create a calorie deficit (per week) of 3500 calories, or take in just 11,900 calories.
On a standard diet where you maintain the same calorie level on all seven days, this would mean you take in 1700 calories per day (2200-500=1700).
Now, since you are cycling and want your high carbohydrate days to have more calories, you're going to get a little more fancy with the math.

Let's say you actually want your high carbohydrate days to be above maintenance (to really boost the benefits that this diet has to offer), and plan to have three high carbohydrate days.
Let's set those three days at a calorie intake of 2400 (keep in mind protein should stay constant throughout the whole week).
Now, since those three days equate to 7200 calories, this means you have 4700 calories left over for the remaining four days, or about 1200 calories each.
As you can see, those low carbohydrate days are quite low in calories, however, after coming off the higher carbohydrate day most people find this to not be a struggle.
If you'd prefer not to bring your low carbohydrate days that low in overall calories, simply adjust the total calorie intake on the high carbohydrate days slightly downwards. That will give you more calories for those low carb days. For example, you might do three high carbohydrate days at 2000 calories and four low carbohydrate days at 1500. As you can see, this stays within the 300-600 range better that was described in the point above.
It's all about balance - make sure your weekly intake is where it needs to be and distribute the calories from there based on your set-up preferences.

So there you have it -- all the information you need to know to get started. It does tend to be a superior form of diet for those who are really looking to maintain workout performance and prevent weight loss plateaus occurring.
Just keep in mind that it will require more planning from a meal perspective to make sure you're following the intakes you have set, so dedicate a little more time out of your day to this.