Carb cycling?

[John89231]

Anyone dare to explain Carb cycling and it's use in bodybuilding? How does it help keep fat gain down?

 

[HAYEZ]

i am not the best at explaining things... onebreath can explain it better


but you basically keep you carbs all week low and moderate only around your pre and post workout

you do this all week then 1 day you refeed

but when you refeed you dont eat just anything

how i did it was like this

i weighed 210 i think then
grams per meal
pro 60 6 meals
carbs 20 4 meals
then 60 pre work then 60 post
fats 80 per day

total calories
1440 pro
560 carbs
450 fat

2450 calories a day 6 days a week

refeed day i would take
180 pro
700 carbs
these are all simple carbs, no complex carbs, no fructose sodas etc...just simple sugars
like fruity pebbles, ice cream ,snacks , white flour products etc..

basically anythign you normally wouldnt eat you eat on carb up day

NOW REMEMBER
you cant eat fat with these meals, it effects how the food is used...you need to keepo your fat iuntake about 7% of the carb intake
say you eat 100 carbs in one meal you can eat 7 fat

if you dont abide by them rules your just gonna get fat..

the reason why it works is because thru the week of low carbing you depleting your muscles , the refeed day you replenish you muscles with glycogen which will fuel your workouts for the following week and also kick start your metabolism..
the following day form a refeed you will wake up leaner and muscle full..i know it sounds crazy and not possible but it works

google team skip and read his posts it will explain everythigng in more detail

 

[joe d]

carb cycling works by forcing your body to feed off of fat. you use carbs for fuel when their there and fat when there not there. you can do it a lot of different ways you can use a 3 day schedule high carb, moderate carb, no carb you could do the same with 2 day intervals, you could do a polumbo style where you run low carbs like 20g per day for 5 days then high simple carbs the 6th day and high complex carbs the 7th day. it all works like the adkins diet but with refeeds.

 

[John89231]

Cool thanks for a overview guys, So is this advanced nutrition that you need to learn to stay big and ripped? Or just another tool to use?

Reason I ask is I already lose fat pretty easy, and carb cycling looks pretty complicated and a lot more effort and strictness then I may be able to adhere too.

 

[sonicwaste]

There are as many carb cycling routines as there are keto routines. What it all comes down to is:

a) law of thermodynamics - in a macro prospective how many calories you are in defecit per week. In a micro prospective how many calories you are in defecit per 24 hours.

b) how efficiently does your body free fatty acids - this is why a depletion style workout routine coupled with low carbs works well

c) how efficiently does your body oxidize fatty acids - If you have a) in check, then it comes down to b) and c). If you can't free fatty acids and burn them whilst eating carbohydrates, then you either use a keto diet, keto diet coupled with depletionary workouts, or use strategic supplementation and strategic cardio/training routines to make b and c more efficient.

Most people don't train with enough volume, proper rhythm and intensity to fully deplete glycogen. So most people fail with the CKD's that involve strategic re-feeds.

Take it for what you will. There's more than one way to get from point a to point b. You just have to figure out how to make it work.

What are your goals?