Help with carb cycling.

[solarclimax]

When cycling carbs, on what days of the week do you have low medium high?
For instance i lift mon wed and friday and do cardio tues thurs and sometimes saturday, so wich days would be best to have the low medium and high carbs ?

 

[the-short-one]

When cycling carbs, on what days of the week do you have low medium high?
For instance i lift mon wed and friday and do cardio tues thurs and sometimes saturday, so wich days would be best to have the low medium and high carbs ?

There are several ways to do it.

You could eat low carb 3 days and high on the fourth.

You could eat low carb 5 days and carb up on Saturday & Sunday.

You can have high carb days only on the days you do cardio with moderate days on lifting days and low on off days.

You can step up then drop (low carb2 days, med carb 1 day, high carb 1 day, drop to low again).

There is no one right way to do it. You have to find out whats best for you. Play around with it a little. (You may find that 5 days of low carb is too much because you're running out of gas by day 3.)

 

[solarclimax]

Cheers !!!
1 more question, i currently have a diet plan that is the same for every day and the carbs add up to 209. How should i go about splitting that up into low, medium and high ?

 

[the-short-one]

Cheers !!!
1 more question, i currently have a diet plan that is the same for every day and the carbs add up to 209. How should i go about splitting that up into low, medium and high ?

I would add in a yam or oats or whole wheat pasta with one meal for moderate, and add them to another for high. You don't really need simple carbs added in except for pre & post workout.

I eat the majority of my carbs in the morning - my first 1 - 3 meals.

 

[solarclimax]

So are you saying just keep my carbs as they are for the low day then add in say extra oats for medium day and even more complex carbs for the high day ?

 

[the-short-one]

So are you saying just keep my carbs as they are for the low day then add in say extra oats for medium day and even more complex carbs for the high day ?

right. (I don't know your weight/height/build/male/female - so I'm best guessing here based on your workouts alone.)

you need simple carbs before and after a workout (weights). since you work out all the time, you need to figure those carbs as your minimum. On the off days, you can cut your carbs down to almost non if you want. You won't like it, though.

I would say that you have a pretty intense workout/cardio schedule - so 200 carbs a day on low days is nothing, especially if you're counting vegis as carbs. And when I say add more carbs - I mean in MODERATION.


First meal of the day, have 1/2 - 3/4 cup of oatmeal

Second meal, have 4-6 ounces of yam

Third meal, have 2-4 ounces of pasta

Females stay on the lower end, males can eat more carbs.

 

[Sassy69]

Some considerations w/ carb cycling:

Match your trainig to the carb cycle, not the carb cycle to your training - screwing up the low / high progression won't get you the value of the short term manipulation of your metabolism.

If you have to train on a low carb day , live w /it. Remember that carb cycling isn't really a long term diet plan - its a phase of cutting. If your goal is to be cutting, don't worry about heavy lifting days to build strength - the two goals aren't mutually conducive.

If you are cutting your carbs on the low days - are you also dropping your total cals or just changing your macro ratios? If yoru total cals get too low it will affect your energy & your body will slow down metabolism to accommodate the too low total cals. If it gets too low you can replace the calories you cut from carbs w/ same cals of fat. E.g. if you drop a 4 oz potato, add 1 tbsp flax seed oil.

I tend to drop my carb cals on a per-,meal basis, i.e. I had 3 of 6 totall meals that included carbs - on each progressively lower carb day, I'd replace the carbs of the particular meal w/ same cals in fat so my ratios changed but total cal didn't.

 

[solarclimax]

I think you have both helped clear that up a bit, thanks

 

[Dieselicious]

What I do is stay at 7 meals a day. I sometimes run my carbs out the first 6 meals day 1, run carbs only 5 meals day 2..... all the way to only carbs for breakfast, then bumb the carbs up out the 6 meals again. works like a charm.

 

[solarclimax]

Thanks diesel. I also have 7 meals a day, i have been on this eating plan for a couple of months now but i want to tweak it to cycle carbs. Here the meal plan i am going 2 tweak.

(P) = Protein... (C) = Carbohydrates... (F) = Fat... (Cals) = Calories

12:00 AM
2 whole eggs
4 egg whites
Oats, 80g
Black coffee
(P) 36.2 (C) 49.32 (F) 19.2 (Cals) 604.4

2:00PM
Tuna, can 100g
Whey with water 30g
Omega 3-6-9 Suplement
Multi -Vits
Banana
(P) 59 (C) 41.1 (F) 10.5 (Cals) 489.5

4:00PM
1x Chicken breast
Brown rice 50g
Peas, sweetcorn, carots, green beans 50g
Strawberries 200g
(P) 32.3 (C) 54.3 (F) 3.45 (Cals) 553

6:00PM
Steak average 250g
Brown rice 50g
Peas, sweetcorn, carots, green beans 50g
Apple
(P) 74 (C) 53 (F) 16 (Cals) 567

8:00PM
Whey with water 30g
(P) 27.3 (C) 0 (F) 0 (Cals) 127

10:00PM
Salmon 100g
Red pepper 50g
Coliflower 50g
Broccoli 50g
(P) 28.15 (C) 4.9 (F) 14.1 (Cals) 335.5

12:00PM
Low fat cottage cheese 125g
Whey 30g with 1 pint semi skimmed milk
14g flax seed oil
(P) 43.1 (C) 6.75 (F) 22.95 (Cals) 242

Total.. (P) 308.65 (C) 209.37 (F) 85.59 (cals) 3019

I know i should be getting no more than about 8 - 9 hours sleep because i need to wake up and start eating again but i'm lazy i need to work on it