Carb Cycling

[Jariel]

I've started on a carb cycling diet to try and lose my excess body fat and was just wondering if anybody here has tried carb cycling and if it's really that good?

What I've read suggests it's a good way to overcome the fatigue and muscle loss of traditional cutting, but is it really effective for fat loss or is it just water weight I can expect to lose?

 

[vanwilder]

yes its good, i did a 2 day no carb 1 day carb. you will notice muscle size decrease when your not on carbs, but when you have them again youll get big again. dont get discouraged. i also used an e/c stack so that helped a lot as well

 

[MrLuvr]

Couple of questions about carb cycling:

- On the no carb days, do you increase your protein and fat calories to compensate for the calories lost due to no carbs? If so, how much?

- what is allowed/not allowed on a "no carb" day? I guess vegetables are fine. What about fruit? And dairy? Peanut butter? Nuts?

- I am guessing no carb days should not be the same day as workout days? what about the day after? don't you need the carbs the next day too?

 

[vanwilder]

a carb cycling day does not mean no carbs it means to try to cut out all the unnessesary carbs, i still had toast in the morning, you need a bit of energy for your body right. YO DONT WANT HEAVY CARBS like bananas. no heavy carbs after 6 o clock either. just by doing this alone you will lose weight

 

[MrLuvr]

Originally posted by vanwilder
a carb cycling day does not mean no carbs it means to try to cut out all the unnessesary carbs, i still had toast in the morning, you need a bit of energy for your body right. YO DONT WANT HEAVY CARBS like bananas. no heavy carbs after 6 o clock either. just by doing this alone you will lose weight

Well, shouldn't you be trying to cut out all unnecessary carbs anyway.

What you are describing seems to be more of a low carb day and not really a no carb day.

 

[vanwilder]

you dont really want a 0 carb day though, you want as little as possible to get by, you need some, as if you cut them out entirely your ****ed when you start eating them again. and thats why im saying in the morning as well or i didnt say that, well w/e in the morning it is ok, as anythign you eat for breakfast will be burned by the end of the day anyways.

 

[semag]

Originally posted by vanwilder
you dont really want a 0 carb day though, you want as little as possible to get by, you need some, as if you cut them out entirely your ****ed when you start eating them again. and thats why im saying in the morning as well or i didnt say that, well w/e in the morning it is ok, as anythign you eat for breakfast will be burned by the end of the day anyways.

try getting a 0 carb day, I bet it's close to impossible... especially if you're eating everything you need to be eating protein-wise.

 

[MrLuvr]

Originally posted by vanwilder
you dont really want a 0 carb day though, you want as little as possible to get by, you need some, as if you cut them out entirely your ****ed when you start eating them again. and thats why im saying in the morning as well or i didnt say that, well w/e in the morning it is ok, as anythign you eat for breakfast will be burned by the end of the day anyways.

Well, if you ate vegetables then you wouldn't get a 0 carb day anyway, but you could keep it to around 50 grams or so of carbs.

My impression of carb cycling was that the whole intent of it was to shock your body anyway. To go from eating almost no carbs to carbs to no carbs again which is what would induce the fat loss.

 

[tj]

Originally posted by semag
try getting a 0 carb day, I bet it's close to impossible... especially if you're eating everything you need to be eating protein-wise.

not if you know what you are doing..... just keep reading semag it will come to ya lil buddy.

 

[vanwilder]

do what ever you want, i do not suggest going 0 carbs, why bother, your not competing, you dont really need to get that low bf. eat some carbs, you need energy, you will get sick or run down. shocking your body is different than depleting it of its nutrients imo

 

[tj]

Originally posted by vanwilder
do what ever you want, i do not suggest going 0 carbs, why bother, your not competing, you dont really need to get that low bf. eat some carbs, you need energy, you will get sick or run down. shocking your body is different than depleting it of its nutrients imo

yep, your right who needs abs? Girls don't like them at all.

Your body can use fat for energy instead of sugar...but your right it definetly isn't a diet for lazy wimps..so you should stick with milk and cookies.

 

[Heizen]

Originally posted by tj
yep, your right who needs abs? Girls don't like them at all.

Your body can use fat for energy instead of sugar...but your right it definetly isn't a diet for lazy wimps..so you should stick with milk and cookies.

Having abs isn't the universal panty wetter padawan.

Carb cycling is something I have really only seen used by competing bodybuilders to get rid of that extra fat.... after they are already ripped. As in they do it the last few weeks before a show. It doesn't seem like it should be needed if you have a fine cutting diet going on already.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by Heizen
Carb cycling is something I have really only seen used by competing bodybuilders to get rid of that extra fat.... after they are already ripped. As in they do it the last few weeks before a show. It doesn't seem like it should be needed if you have a fine cutting diet going on already.

I agree totally. Carb cycling is an advanced technique for advanced trainers and totally unnecessary for most posters here (including myself) - just get off your lazy arses to do cardio, keep protein high in your diet to preserve muscle and you should be able to get down to 10-12% easily without fancy techniques.

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by tj
yep, your right who needs abs? Girls don't like them at all.

Your body can use fat for energy instead of sugar...but your right it definetly isn't a diet for lazy wimps..so you should stick with milk and cookies.

If you want to look good just for girls, then you'll end up getting a girl who's interested purely in your looks, and so it'll be a brief, superficial relationship.

My honey doesn't give a **** how I look, she thinks I'm gorgeous anyway - that's the kind of girl you want mate.

Now if you wanted abs to make YOURSELF feel better, then fair play.. but don't do it for the girls, not a good move.

 

[Jariel]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. My problem is that I'm actually quite cut everywhere except my lower stomach where I still have stubborn love handles. It's really annoying as I've put in so much work, yet I don't feel completely comfortable with my body yet.

I'm doing plenty of cardio, but I'm reluctant to do any long term cutting as it always affects my state of mind really badly.

However, I have tried carb cycling for a week now with 2 carb days and one 0 carb day and have already seen some good results.

On the no carb day I've been eating tuna, chicken, steak, eggwhite omelette and substituted 2 meals for whey protein.

I'll give it another week or two at the most before returning to a normal diet, and update you guys on the results.

 

[EFFORT]

You'll need to give it a lot more than a week or two, its taken you awhile to put that fat on and it'll take even longer to lose, so give it at least 8 weeks

 

[Warboss Alex]

I'm doing plenty of cardio, but I'm reluctant to do any long term cutting as it always affects my state of mind really badly.

You might be doing too much? Leave off the cardio for a week and see what happens.

 

[Heizen]

Originally posted by Jariel
Thanks for the feedback everyone. My problem is that I'm actually quite cut everywhere except my lower stomach where I still have stubborn love handles. It's really annoying as I've put in so much work, yet I don't feel completely comfortable with my body yet.

I'm doing plenty of cardio, but I'm reluctant to do any long term cutting as it always affects my state of mind really badly.

However, I have tried carb cycling for a week now with 2 carb days and one 0 carb day and have already seen some good results.

On the no carb day I've been eating tuna, chicken, steak, eggwhite omelette and substituted 2 meals for whey protein.

I'll give it another week or two at the most before returning to a normal diet, and update you guys on the results.

Whatever floats your boat then. If you are cut it is going to take a while to get that last bit, since it takes more effort to lower your bodyfat when you get into the lower numbers.