My Carb Cycling Diet

[woodswise]

My coach started me on a carb cycling diet about two years ago, and I have made good progress leaning out while not losing much weight. Recently I tightened it up, and am experiencing about 1lb of weight loss per week, which IMHO is just about perfect. My goal is to take off 10 lbs and stay at 210 lbs for a while, before taking off another 10 lbs to 200.

Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are workout days so I consume carbs. Wednesday, Friday and Sundays are non-workout days (or accessory days) so I avoid carbs and eat fats. Here is the breakdown of my macro goals on each of my carb days and my fat days:

Carb Days:
250g protein = 1,000 Kcals
200g carbs = 800 Kcals
50g fats = 450 Kcals
Total Kcals = 2,250

Fat Days:
250g protein = 1,000 Kcals
50g carbs = 200 Kcals
150g fats = 1,350 Kcals
Total Kcals = 2,550 Kcals

The idea is to keep protein high, then to consume just enough carbs to fuel my workouts on training days, and to switch to fats on non-workout days, all the while staying in a slight caloric defecit.

The reality is I often go over on Kcals (normally hitting 2,400 on carb days and 2,800 on fat days), however while I am losing 1 lb of weight per week, I won't worry about it.

The beauty of this diet is I am stuffing myself full of food, and feel like I will burst after my larger meals, so I am almost never hungry while on it.

Here are my meals for carb days:

1 cup oatmeal for breakfast

.5 cup carrots as a snack

.75 cup rice
16 oz chicken breast for lunch

.75 cup rice
16 oz fish for dinner

1.5 cups of whole milk cottage cheese before bed.

Edit:

Here are my meals for fat days:

Brekkie: 4 medium eggs with 1 oz cheese melted on top

Snack: .5 cup of Carrots

Lunch: 16 oz of deli meat (either turkey or roast beef) with 4 oz cheese and a little mayonnaise

Dinner: 10 oz chicken thigh with skin on

Before Bedtime: 1.5 cups whole milk cottage cheese




I love this diet. My coach said to consider it a permanent change, not a temporary diet. Doing that helps me stick to it better than if I considered it temporary.

 

[Spongy]

Whatever works for you is most important, but why no animal protein at breakfast on carb days and then 100g all at once at lunch?

 

[woodswise]

Whatever works for you is most important, but why no animal protein at breakfast on carb days and then 100g all at once at lunch?

No particular reason. I guess I am a traditionalist because I like to eat oatmeal for breakfast and chicken and rice for lunch.

You're right to ask and I have been thinking if I increase the meat in my diet any more and I'll have to eat smaller portions over a larger number of meals so I can avoid the gag reflex as I eat all that meat!

I guess it bears mentioning that about a month ago I increased my protein intake by half as I had not been getting enough. So part of my long term strategy might be to have the smaller portions of meat in a larger number of meals.

 

[PillarofBalance]

Which days do you prefer?

 

[woodswise]

Which days do you prefer?

I prefer my carb days. Those fat days are just a little challenging for my digestion. I did Keto for two or three years prior to this diet, and found that my body adjusted to all those fats. But when carb cycling I don't get to adjust and almost always feel slightly nauseous on fat days.

 

[macgyver]

Interesting. I wonder the efficacy of methodology.

Having done many different types of diets, I wonder the benefit of shifting cals on 'low' days to fats.

I have done lots of carb cycling and even 'fat' cycling in both deficit and surplus. I have never mixed the two, however. Neat idea, but I guess one would be drawing on a conclusion that the lower insulin response may help with fat loss. But I say the flip side of all the fat ingestion may offset that. I am guessing is (since this is what things have shown for me) is at the end of the day it is all about the deficit not the macros.

BUT I do like carb cycling to give more carbs on days since I am a person that is affected by carbs so much. It also breaks up a deficit diet with changing what you eat on a daily basis.

Might be something neat to try, but rather than equalizing my daily cals, I let the 'high' and 'low' carb days also equate to high and lower cal days. I then would take the daily average to calculate my weekly deficit.

Not sure of your exact size and activity level, but 2200 cal would have me losing about 1.25lbs a week. Seems like you are in a good place! Keep it updated. Be cool to see how it works for you!

 

[macgyver]

Only one thing to add. I am not sure if you just posted an avg day or you really eat the same things all the time. I would say no reason to be so restrictive and Spartan-like in your approach. WIth those macros, you certainly have room for a little more variety. I would have a tough time getting down that protein in one sitting and taking in 100g/ meal is not really considered optimal. Not the end of the world, but there does show some efficacy to breaking up protein. (although not a huge one)

 

[BrotherIron]

Carb cycling isn't anything new. Most know the name Shelby Starnes but what many don't know is that Shelby was taught and an employee of Justin Harris and Justin taught Shelby ALL about diet/nutrition.