Alternate between high- and low-carb days - safely!
What Does a Week of Carb Cycling Look Like?
You want to know how to lose weight safely and effectively with carb cycling? Follow this example week! We’ve provided an example program, but you’ll need to do your own math to figure out your target calories if they’re different from our weekly goal. You see, it’s really important that you stick to your total weekly calorie goal. You might go over the goal on your high-carbohydrate days, so you’ll need to compensate with the low-carb days.
It’s also important that your carbohydrates are high-quality foods. This is not an excuse to stuff your face with junk food! Look for complex carbohydrates, found in whole-wheat pasta, or carbs found in fruits and vegetables, like sweet potatoes or broccoli.
High-Carb Day 1:Â Workout (1,550 calories, 175 grams carbs)
Low-Carb Day 2: Rest (1,200 calories, 50 grams carbs)
High-Carb Day 3: Workout (1,550 calories, 200 grams carbs)
Medium-Carb Day 4: Rest (1,200 calories, 75 grams carbs)
High-Carb Day 5: Workout (1,550 calories, 150 grams carbs)
High-Carb Day 6: Workout, high-carb day (1,550 calories, 200 grams carbs)
Low-Carb Day 7: Rest (1,200 calories, 50 grams carbs)
This plan has us finishing at 9,800 calories for the week, or 1,400 calories per day, which puts most people in a safe 0.5- to 1-pound of weight loss per week. And, since we’ve synced our high-carb days with our workout days, all of those calories should be well-used for weight loss.
If you’ve had success using carb cycling, we’d love to hear from you. Drop us a line in the comments and let us know how it worked!
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