Is Carb Cycling Good For Weight Loss?

The hardest and most important part of achieving your fitness goals is to make sure you get your diet right. The right diet will not only have you looking and feeling better but will improve your lifestyle tremendously. With a lot of different diets to choose from, it’s vital that you choose one that not only suits your needs but also one that will not cause you any issues or negativity when following it.

WHAT IS CARB CYCLING?

Carb cycling is a diet method where you restrict carb intake on certain days and eat more carbs on others. Some people adjust their carb intake day-to-day, while others may do longer periods of low, moderate and high-carb diets. Carb cycling aims to time carbohydrate intake to when it provides maximum benefit and exclude carbs when they're not needed.

This is a popular diet method as it has proven results and has a large following worldwide as an effective form of dieting that has helped people achieve their fitness goals without having to make dramatic changes to their lifestyles.

THE BENEFITS

Carb cycling is popular because it doesn’t take drastic efforts to follow. The health benefits include things such as aiding in muscle recovery after workouts, preventing fatigue and hunger and helping to prevent any hormone imbalances.

It also allows you to still eat your favourite meals without having to worry about having too much carbs every day. This will allow you to reduce your body fat percentage as it will aid weight loss.

Another great benefit is how it allows you to be flexible in your diet as well as preventing your metabolic rate from dipping by increasing your leptin levels.

HOW IT WORKS

Carb cycling is actually very easy to follow and should fit into your lifestyle seamlessly. People who follow it, do so for a number of different reasons. Such as:

Body composition goals: This is where you would reduce carbs during a diet, then add them back during a muscle building or performance phase.

Training and rest days: A popular method is a high carb intake on training days and a lower carb intake on rest days.

Refeeds: Another popular approach is to do one or several days at a very high-carb intake to act as a "refeed" during a prolonged diet.

Special events or competitions: Athletes will often "carb load" prior to an event and many physique competitors will do the same before a bodybuilding show or photoshoot.

Type of training: Individuals will tailor carb intake depending on the intensity and duration of a particular training session; the longer or more intense the training is, the more carbs they will consume and vice versa.

Body fat levels: Many individuals will cycle their carbohydrates based on their level of body fat. The leaner they become, the more high-carb days they include.

Whatever your goal, carb cycling is a very popular dieting method and it’s definitely worth a try if you’re looking for a diet that will not too drastically impact your lifestyle.