What is Carb Cycling?

You may have heard the term carb cycling before as it relates to different types of diets that are trending right now. However, it is important to truly understand what carb cycling is and if it is right for you if this type of diet is something you are wanting to try. Carb-cycling is a low-carb diet, similar to the Atkins or other low-carb diets, and is one that promises quick weight loss, even though the weight loss is primarily coming from water. This type of diet is good because it can help keep you fuller for longer, maintain steady blood sugar levels, lower blood pressure and have higher energy levels. While there are these benefits to this type of diet, there are also some down falls to be considered. If you are not careful and have too many low-carb days in a row, you can experience lack of energy, constipation, moodiness and irritability. 

Typically, a carb-cycling diet is used by someone who is trying to shed body weight and increase muscle or by someone who is trying to overcome a weight loss plateau. This is a type of diet that is not right for everyone to use, and can be counterproductive for some, and is only used for short periods of time, as it is very strict and rigorous. Carb cycling is a diet that uses high-carb days, low-carb day and no-carb days to train your body to use more fat for fuel as opposed to burning carbs and losing muscle mass for fuel. Lower-carbohydrate days when done for 3 days in a row encourage the body to use up carbohydrate stores for fuel and switch to fat-burning. Burning fat will lead to weight loss from both body fat and water. A typical carb-cycling diet schedules low-carb days for 2-3 days at a time followed by 1 higher-carbohydrate day.

When is comes to the other macronutrients, protein and fat, during a carb-cycling diet, protein intake usually stays the same, while fat intake is opposite of the carb intake. So, on lower-carb days, you will increase fat intake and on higher-carb days, you will decrease fat intake to keep total calories in check. 

The bottom line when it comes to this type of diet is that it needs to be carefully planned out and executed to reap the most benefits. Once a plan is made, it must be maintained so that your body does not experience any of the negative side effects that can be associated with a low-carbohydrate diet.