Carb Cycling: What Is It, and How Does It Work?

As it is said, health is always wealth. Hence taking care of your health is quite important. Like having a healthy diet, exercises is all a part of your health caring process.

Likewise one among them is carb cycling which will help you to burn fat. Now we need to know what carb cycling is:

What Is Carb Cycling?

This is a type of strict diet which is mainly or mostly famous among bodybuilders or serious athletes who are desired to drop fat, build body muscles or for storing more carb for any purposes such as the marathon.

Nowadays this method is growing a huge amount of popularity due to its desired results. Carb, proteins and fats are the energy givers in your body, hence your body needs carb to work the way you desired.

Carb Cycling

Here this energy is measured in calories; therefore we can calculate it as 1 gram of carbs is equal to 4 calories, whereas 1 gram of fat is equal to 9 calories.

The researchers claim that you get your 50% to 55% calories daily from carbs, 10% to 15% from proteins and less than 28% from the fats you have. And we can find those healthy carbs naturally in dairy products; plant-based foods like grains, fruits etc. and are added into processed foods such as sugar or starches.

When these carbs are digested these breaks into glucose which is later used by your body as fuel for the day. But when you stop relying completely on these carbs, your body will contain more energy.

This method of burning fat includes high and low carb days or even no–carb days. But if you are planning to exercise hard then it is always better to choose a high carb day, as this process will need more energy compared to other ordinary days.

Next you need to know how this works on your body; it will be as described below.

How Carb Cycling Works?

You may have heard a lot about insulin, but you may not know what it means, here insulin can be easily described as when you have your meal the carbohydrates and the blood sugar goes up, at this moment your pancreas makes a sort of hormone called insulin, insulin takes glucose into cell, which is later on used as energy, stored for later or turned into fat.

When these cells intakes blood sugar, the pancreas signals the cell to release the stored glucose from the treasure box, this process can be called glucagon.

This back and forth process makes sure whether your body has the right amount of sugar. But when you intake a diet that has a huge amount of carb level this produces too much insulin.

This can result in weight gain, type 2 diabetes, and heart diseases. And short breaks while carb cycling’s can give you a good opportunity to burn down fat instead of carbs and muscle tissues.

But always keep in mind that if you aren’t doing intense training or exercises during high carb days this can lead to reason of weight gain. And carb cycling is preferable for a short time purpose only and not daily.

And before starting this you gotta make sure that your overall diet is pretty healthy by which you can make your blood pressure, sugar and cholesterol level under control.

How to Do Carb Cycling?

This is merely a sample pack and your customized one will surely depend on your health and exercise goals.

  • Day 1: highly intense workout- 175-275 grams of carbs
  • Day 2: lightly intense workout- 100-125 grams of carbs
  • Day 3: heavily intense workout- 175-275 grams of carbs
  • Day 4: lightly intense workout- 100-125 grams of carbs
  • Day 5: highly intense workout- 175-275 grams of carbs

Is Carb Cycling Safe?

Carb cycling is totally safe, but when you cut back on this for a few days you may face several problems such as:

  • Tiredness
  • Constipation
  • Sleep problems
  • Mood swings
  • Bloating

The terms used for these issues are “carb flu”, and it won’t be lasting for a long time. Drinking water and electrolytes can help this.

And it is quite important for you not to try carb cycling if you are one of this:

  • Pregnant or breastfeeding
  • Handling a current or previous eating disorder.
  • Underweight
  • If you do have adrenal issues.

To make sure check with your doctor before you start your carb cycling.

Carb Cycling Meal Tips

Now, to select your diet options or referenced foods, some options are:

  • Low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, and other dairy products.
  • High fibered fruits and vegetables
  • lots of whole grains can be a great help
  • Store up on legumes, beans, lentils, and peas.
  • Limit the consumption of refined grains, added sugars, and highly processed foods.

Conclusion

Now you know a lot about carb cycling, now take all the precautions and get ready for a change you are about to see in yourself with this awesome method of diet that can give you the best and desired results, now let’s hit our boundaries hard.