Should I Do Carb Cycling To Lose Weight?

Should I do carb cycling to lose weight? It is an alternative way to lose weight but if you do lose weight from carb cycling it is not because of cycling carbs. It is because you are in a caloric deficit as that is the only way you can lose weight.

It is important to understand the science of why you are losing weight when you implement any weight loss program. People always want to blame a specific macronutrient like carbs for being the culprit to gaining weight. Most of the time the case is that you are consuming too many bad and empty calories.

Carb cycling is a dietary method in which you alternate carb cycling daily, weekly, or monthly. You adjust the carbs from low to medium to high in routine or in a cycle.

When you carb cycle you are doing it on a couple of factors such as:

• Based on your current bodyfat level or specific fitness goals.
• Based on your training and rest days.
• Based on certain athletic events or competitions.
• Or a refeed after being on a prolonged diet for a while. Then you would refeed your body with more carbs.

The scientific basis of carb cycling is to provide carbohydrates around intense workout days. People do it to match their bodies’ needs for calories and glucose.

There are some studies that have revealed that when you are in your low carb days, and you target carbs around your most intense workouts, it can help improve insulin sensitivity. And this is an important health marker which is greater insulin sensitivity. The maximum benefit of carb cycling is to teach your body how to use carbs as fuel.

Can Carb Cycling Help You Lose Weight?

The only way that carb cycling can help you lose weight or improve fat loss is if your body is in a caloric deficit. If you are not in caloric deficit, you will not lose weight, it is really that simple.

But carb cycling can possibly enhance physical performance in the gym because of its ability to use your carbs as fuel from a timing perspective. There still needs to be more research on this theory to 100% validate it. There is quite a bit of observational evidence when it comes to this.

There are some research studies that have shown that consuming carbs around workouts can help with recovery and glycogen replenishment.

Drawback to Carb Cycling

Not everybody can do carb cycling and go from low carbs to high carbs because of how it affects their energy levels, concentration, and focus. Going from low carbs for a couple of days to high carbs can really affect your mood and day to day functionality.

 It is not a sustainable lifestyle day to day approach, and it is not conventional either. The reality is you don’t need to do carb cycling to drop body fat, lose weight or increase your performance in a workout. Despite what you read on the internet or on some silly pseudoscience blog.

Here is a sample carb cycling program

Monday- Weight Training- High Carb Day- 200 grams

Tuesday- Cardio Exercise- Moderate Carbs Day- 100 grams

Wednesday- Rest Day- Low Carbs Day- 25 grams

Thursday- Weight Training-High Carbs Day- 250 grams

Friday- Weight Training- High Carbs Day- 200 grams

Saturday- Rest- Low Carbs Day- 25 grams

Sunday- Rest- Low Carbs Day- 25 grams

With this carb cycle sample program example, you can clearly see the amount of carbs each day in terms of how you are specifically implementing the carb cycling plan.

Recommended Carbs

Some of the recommended carbs are whole grains like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa. Fruits like apples, bananas, oranges, peaches, etc. Vegetables like spinach, broccoli, asparagus, green beans, etc.

“The only way that carb cycling can help you lose weight or improve fat loss is if your body is in a caloric deficit.” Celebrity Fitness & Nutrition Expert Obi Obadike

The Bottom Line is carb cycling is a popular method among athletes to optimize their physical performance. Although it is promoted as a weight loss strategy it isn’t necessary to do this to lose weight.

If you do lose weight through carb cycling it is not because of carb cycling. It is because you are in a caloric deficit plain and simple.

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References

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