Carb Cycling

Hello, friends.  Hope y'all are having a good week so far. 

So, I've been considering trying Carb Cycling for some time now.  Chris Powell (from Extreme Weight Loss) uses this method with his clients.  His clients seem to drop massive amounts of weight.  It seems to work. 

Here is a link to an article he wrote on carb cycling   http://chrispowell.com/carb-cycling-101/

I'm no stranger to eating low carb.  I've done it on and off for years.  I seem to do well with it, but the problem lies with making it a lifestyle.  There can be long term effects of a prolonged low carb diet.  While it does get the weight off, there are other things to consider. 

With low carb diets (especially Atkins, where you consume high amounts of protein and fat and very little fiber), there can be quite a few long term effects.  Heart disease, malnutrition, vitamin deficiencies, digestive diseases, organ damage, and cancer risk (specifically, colon cancer) are a few.  I recently read that certain low carb diets can also cause diabetes and pre-diabetes to worsen because of the high fat consumption. 

I don't think all low carb diets are bad for us.  It all depends on what your low carb diet consists of.  In the past, I have used the Atkins diet for most of my low carbing.  As I'm researching, I'm finding that Atkins has the most damaging effects.  Too much fat and too much protein aren't good for us.  It's probably much safer to focus on LEAN meats and get most of our carbs from green vegetables or fruit. 

I'm thinking that carb cycling wouldn't have all those long term effects since you would be having a few high carb days each week.  The idea is to eat high carb on workout days and low carb on non-workout days.  I'm sure it will be trial and error until I find a carb ratio that works for me. 

In the article that I linked above, Chris lists 4 different carb cycles you can choose from.  My plan is to try the Turbo Plan.  That means, 2 low carb days followed by 1 high carb day.  Repeat.  Then a reward day.  Then it starts all over again.  I'm not sure if I'll do a reward day EVERY week, but I will probably do it every now and then. 

So, here's my carb cycling details:

Low carb days:  20-25 grams of TOTAL carbs.  Mostly lean meats and green vegetables.  Exercise will be limited to walking only. 

High carb days:  No more than 75 grams of HEALTHY carbs.  Mostly from fruit, vegetables and whole grains....such as quinoa, brown rice, whole grain bread, etc.   Exercise will consist of cardio (like walking and running intervals) and muscle building (like lifting weights, doing squats, burpees (which I loathe!).  I may even get my Bob Harper video out so he can kick my butt into gear!  His video does it all....major cardio and muscle building!

Reward days:  Treat myself without going overboard.  This will be the day that I can take care of my sweet tooth, have a bowl of pasta, etc.  These will be non-exercise days.  I do have one rule, though.  No treats during or after dinner.  If I treat myself, it will have to be at either breakfast or lunch.  No sugary treats at night!

So, there it is.  This is where I'm starting.  I hope this plan works for me, but I am prepared to play around with it and find what works best for me.  I'm hoping this will be the answer to my low carb prayers, lol.  Seriously, I think this would be a good balance of low carb without feeling so deprived all the time.  I also think it's a lot healthier than all of my other low carb endeavors.

Until next time...