Carb cycling???
 

Hi Guys......
Hoping someone can help.
I've been stalled for such a long time now. I've tried increasing my calories, decreasing calories, increasing carbs, decreasing carbs etc, etc, etc .. . . .
Nothing has worked for me and since my inital weight loss during induction I haven't lost anything.
I read the very interesting artical about carb cycling yesterday and would be very interested in giving it a go.
Can anyone tell me if there any any rules for carb cycling??
I couldn't find anything about it in DANDR
Your help is much appreciated!
:help:

I, too, have been toying w/the idea of carb cycling, as I am quite a stall myself, and really didn't lose too much on induction either.

From what I've read, most do CARB UP on weekends, at about 100-120g carbs, and then back to induction level carbs for the week.

I think there is a whole GOOD thread in the tips/stalls sectin of the general LC section.

GOOD luck, and let us know if you have any success.

Yeah I probably need to check out that thread as well as I don't believe strict Atkins works optimally for me. I think my body needs the jolts of carb ups and down. I do pretty well with getting right back on plan after a carb up day. I think that's the key...being able to eat carbs intentionally for day or two and not making it an excuse to eat carbs everyday.

My wife and I are going to switch to carb-cycling starting with out first "carb up" days next week. We're going to do low carb (20-45 ecc) on Sunday through Thursday and high (90-350) on Fridays and Saturdays. The reason for the experiment is that we've both lost alot of weight so far but the rate of loss has slowed almost to a halt. We are thinking that cycling might prevent the body from becoming super sensitive to sugar and to prevent the metabolism from slowing to accomodate our diet. I've found only a handful of people who have tried this without combining it CKD (cyclical ketogenic diet) with heavy weight training. But of those that I have found who have tried it, they report that it got them over a hump. I have no idea how long any of these people stuck with it. Someone told me that this is like the "Curves Diet". I think that they may be referring to the womens fitness center. Does anyone know what the "curves diet" entails?

By the way, I keep a blog. So if you want to follow my experiment on carb-cycling, feel free to read. I'll be sharing daily carb intakes and weights. I report my waist and hip measurements weekly. I can be found at:

http://lowcarbohydrate.blogspot.com/

Hey Big Daddy D... I have been doing the carb cycling for the past month. I didn't "discover" carb cycling until a few days after I finally reached my goal weight. I was looking for a way to maintain my weight loss without having to keep my carbs low all the time. I can say that it is working well for me. I have lost an additional 3 lbs, which is fine with me as I want to stay closer to 140 and keep it below my goal weight.

I had a hard time finding info on carb cycling as well, since most of what is online is for body builders. I did get a used copy of Jay Robb's The Fat Burning Diet, but have since passed it on to a friend and fellow low carber. His is a bit different, but still has the same ideas as what I found online.

I do 3-4 LC days where I keep my carbs around or below 20. 1-2 days I call my mid carb(MC) days where I have 50-60 gms of carbs. Then 1 day a week, I have my high carb (HC) day where I will go 100 or more. After my mid carb days, I go back to 2 LC days and after my HC day, I again do 2 LC days. It's normal for me to gain 1.5-2# after my MC and HC days, but I've found that the weight comes back off quickly when I go back to LC days and that usually by the time my HC day rolls around again, I have lost more weight. Last week was TOM for me, so I didn't lose any, but I'll see how it goes this week now that that is over with. I think the carb levels are entirely up to you and will depend on how carb sensitive you are. It may take some playing with them to figure out what will work the best.

I'm very pleased with carb cycling so far. They say that it's like any program and your body will still get use to your "cycling schedule" and your weight loss can stall, so I've read suggestions where you can do up to(but no more than)3 "zero carb" days where you cut almost all carbs, or you can have a "cheat day" or a "cheat meal" and eat anything you want and then go right back to LC again.

Jay Robb's is a bit different approach. He says to follow this plan:

Day 1: LC all day
Day 2: LC all day
Day 3: LC all day but have an HC dinner
Day 4: LC all day
Day 5: LC all day
Day 6: LC all day but have an HC dinner
Day 7: LC all day but have an HC dinner

He gives certain carb, protein and fat grams to eat per meal depending on if you're male or female and to have protein snacks. At one of the HC dinners, he says to make it one where you have whatever you want... even if it's sugar or more along the lines of junk food. He does say to try to eat it within one hour.

Another place I read that you can do LC all week and HC on the weekend... Others say to change carb levels every day by about 50-75 gms. It can get confusing, so I stopped reading and did a little bit of everything into what worked for me!

Anyway, it appears that there are no set rules for those of us who aren't bodybuilders, which is fine with me. I have enjoyed NOT having to follow a lot of "rules"! lol... I do plan my days ahead of time, though, because it does take a lot of self control when I have to go back to the LC days. But other than that, it's been pretty easy and I am really enjoying it. I especially enjoy the HC day and will spend several days planning what I am going to have! I had more of a "cheat meal" for my HC day this week but kept it quite healthy, but with more carbs than my normal HC. It was fun!

You and your wife are doing awesome. I wish you the very best with your carb cycling experiment!

This sounds great. Hoping to learn more.

Me too! Atkins has worked for me in the past like a charm... but alas, not this time... would be interested to see what schedule others follow and what they include in their HC days... also, how frequent are your "free" meals?

Me too! Atkins has worked for me in the past like a charm... but alas, not this time... would be interested to see what schedule others follow and what they include in their HC days... also, how frequent are your "free" meals?

hmm this is an interesting idea...although I feel like on my carb-down days I would get really really hungry....

Actually, I have found that the carb UP days are tougher!

One high carb day twice weekly, such as...
Two low carb (Mon/Tues), one high carb (Wed), two low carb (Thurs/Fri) , one high carb (Sat), three low carb, etc...which means you can have a high carb on the weekend probably when you really want it and a break in the middle of the week.

I am just starting out but have done a good amount of research on the internet about this and giving it a go, just starting today. Will try to post pix and progress and ideas as I am successful. And no we do not have to be weight lifters to do carb cycling! There was an interesting article in First magazine about carb cycling 10/26/09. There are some books out there as well, but I am too cheap to buy them when there is so much free information on the internet. I research and take the most common suggestions and have designed a plan from there. I will see how it turns out.

Carb Cycling for life
 

This is my first adventure in carb cycling and I feel great!

Are there others out there with past posts that are still thinking about this or pursuing it? Maybe we can all get together with our ideas and tips to help us reach our goal weight.

I am looking for a plan I can live with for life. This may be perfect for those of us who look to "cheat" only after a few days of very low carb intake (and I find very low carb to be hard on my digestive system, even with adequate water intake).

I have lost 5.5 pounds and 4 inches in the first week and will be weighing in this Friday again. My clothes are fitting better everyday also--hooray! It has been a long time since I woke up each day feeling "thinner". I hope this trend continues, and I think it will. I have read that many bodybuilders use carb cycling to decrease body fat while maintaining muscle mass (and muscle helps maintain a higher metabolism - a bonus for us!).

I actually did quite a bit of research and came up with my own easy to follow plan...anyone interested? (And you don't have to be a bodybuilder either!)

1. Multiply your present weight by 0.6: this is your carb intake for lower carb days
2. Multiply your current weight by 1.4: this is your carb intake for higher carb days
3 Eat your body weight in grams of protein to maintain/gain muscle mass/tone for increased metabolism (I weigh 146 pounds = eat 146 grams protein per day--this is hard for me to do and I usually eat much less... but it does seem to help my blood sugar remain level and decreases hunger and I am not as moody/irritable as on very low carb restrictions)
4. Don't worry about fat intake (similar to Adkins), but incorporate protein when you intake fat (a good amount of protein on your salad since you are having dressing on it).


Lower carb days:
-On lower carb days, no breads, etc
-Get my carbs from veggies mostly
-Allowed to have some lower carb fruit like grapefruit or blueberries
-In a pinch on a extra busy day at work, I may have a higher protein frozen dinner with 20-40 carbs
-Focus on eating close to your protein requirement and you will find you often don't reach your limit on carbs
-Drink 8 8oz glasses of water daily

Higher carb days:
-I pick two non-consecutive days to go higher carb each week, for example, Saturday and Wednesday
-On my higher carb days, I still do not eat any sugar type products (ie, cookies, etc.) or desserts, may add in extra fruit or some toast/pasta/rice etc. I try not to go crazy overboard and stay within limits
-Still focus on your target protein intake - this way you will fill up on higher quality foods and naturally eat less carbs
-Drink 8 8 oz glasses of water daily

***Once every two weeks I am planning to let myself have a dessert of my choice-I will probably split a dessert with my DH after dinner so I have enough protein in me to avoid a hypoglycemic "crash".