Carbohydrate and Calorie Cycling for Maximum Fat Loss
High carbs, low carbs, moderate carbs – depending on who you talk to,
you will likely hear one of these recommendations being touted as the
optimal approach to maximum fat loss. So what's the truth? The truth of
the matter is that there is really no one best way. Each of the above
methods has been used by countless people – from bodybuilding and
fitness competitors all the way to your every day gym rat – and used
successfully at that. In actuality, how many carbs you are eating is
not ...
High carbs, low carbs, moderate carbs – depending on who you talk to,
you will likely hear one of these recommendations being touted as the
optimal approach to maximum fat loss. So what's the truth? The truth of
the matter is that there is really no one best way. Each of the above
methods has been used by countless people – from bodybuilding and
fitness competitors all the way to your every day gym rat – and used
successfully at that. In actuality, how many carbs you are eating is
not the key determinant of your fat loss progress; calories are. More
on that later though. The key to successful fat loss is paying
attention to your body, following a plan designed for your body and
making the necessary adjustments to your program as your body changes.
With that said, a nutritional strategy that includes both carbohydrate
and calorie cycling in a structured plan built around your training
program could be just what you're looking for. Let's take a closer look
at this carbohydrate issue first.Truth
be told, there are benefits to having a fair amount of carbs in your
diet and there are benefits to keeping them low. So why not use both
strategies? Said in a simpler way, why not cycle your carb intake, and
subsequently your caloric intake? By cycling your carb intake you get
the best of both worlds. Assuming you keep your protein and fat intakes
relatively constant, and only manipulate your carb intake, you are
automatically cycling calories as well. The first benefit to doing so
is that it keeps your body from adapting to what you are doing. Your
body will always try to adapt to what you're doing and the further you
move away from your natural set point, the harder your body is going to
try to pull you right back. This is just in part related to the
regulatory hormone, leptin.Leptin levels are related to things
like insulin, your caloric intake and your current level of body fat.
Think of it as one of the big "fat-loss decision makers". The leaner
you are the lower your circulating levels of leptin are going to be. On
the flip side, under normal conditions, leptin is plentiful. However,
while on sub-maintenance calories, and particularly on low-carb diets
where circulating insulin levels are low, leptin levels drop and they
can drop quickly. Decreased leptin levels cause a cascade of other
regulatory changes, namely a decrease in thyroid output and metabolic
rate, as well as an increase in catabolic hormone activity and
appetite. In an attempt to become more efficient, your body will try to
adapt to make your newly lowered caloric intake its new maintenance
intake; that is, it will make the necessary changes needed to do the
same amount of work on less energy. Unfortunately, this usually means
having to continuously lower calories to maintain fat-loss progress,
which inevitably makes it very hard to hold onto all your hard-earned
muscle. None of this sounds too good does it? There has to be a better
way, and there is. Planned and structured days of high calories and
high carbohydrates may help with this.As previously mentioned,
there are benefits to both low-carb intakes and to high-carb intakes.
When carb intake is drastically reduced you create a temporarily
greater caloric deficit. In addition, low-carb intakes result in
decreased levels of circulating insulin, increased levels of the
fat-burning catecholamines and therefore a much heightened rate of fat
oxidation. Quite simply, when insulin levels are low, you create an
environment in which fat is more likely to be used for energy. Low
muscle glycogen, as a result of decreased carbohydrate intake,
obviously results in depleted muscles, but there are benefits to this
as well. Low muscle glycogen tends to promote a higher rate of free
fatty acid burning. Result? More fat loss.On the flip side
however, most people do not enjoy eating few carbs for very long. While
there are clearly benefits to doing so, there are other things that
need to be considered. Chronic low-carb intake can actually impair
insulin sensitivity and promote insulin resistance. As already noted,
low-carb intakes result in overly flat, depleted muscles and gym
performance typically suffers. Throw in a day of high carbs and your
muscles fill out, you find yourself more vascular, your workouts are
great, and you look and feel much better. There is also research to
support the fact that these higher-carb/calorie days may stimulate
leptin production, which as we already noted is an important player in
the fat-loss game. Carbohydrates are also very protein sparing –
meaning they prevent protein from being oxidized as fuel – which is an
important consideration when muscle retention is a primary focus.There
are psychological factors to consider as well. How you feel on a diet
is arguably just as important to your progress as any other variable.
There are not too many people that enjoy looking flat and depleted all
the time. And lets not forget one of the reasons most people can
appreciate – carbohydrates simply taste good.So to summarize,
we want some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are higher and
some days where carbohydrate intake and calories are lower. The
simplest way to set this is to just cycle your carbohydrates and
calories according to your weekly training schedule. For example,
assuming four workouts per week, you might have your high days on your
two big workouts, medium days on your two easier workouts, and low days
on your off days.PRACTICAL STEPS There is no one best way to
cycle carbs or calories. In fact, there are many, many different
permutations that can be used successfully. Here is just one example
that you could use as a template. Feel free to tweak it to suit your
needs if necessary.First off is caloric intake. Determine all
the macronutrient totals (protein, carbs, fat, and calories) for the
medium day and then just let the carbohydrate intake change the
calories for the high and low days. So, assume the medium day is a
standard dieting day. As an aside, but a valuable note to keep in mind,
there are many different calorie equations you can use – however be
aware that they all have the potential to be off by as much as 20%. So
for the sake of simplicity you could just assume maintenance to be
approximately 15x total bodyweight and subtract 20-25% to create a
healthy caloric deficit. Remember, if you are not progressing based on
your caloric intake, simply adjust it up or down until progress
resumes. Next up is protein. I am sure we are all in agreement that we
need to eat sufficient amounts of protein when trying to lose fat and
maintain muscle, so set it anywhere from 1.0-1.5g/lb of bodyweight and
split it up evenly throughout the day. You are going to have three
carbohydrate intakes – one for high days, one for medium days, and one
for low days. Carbohydrate intake for the medium days is going to be
set at 1.0g/lb of bodyweight. So now we know our calories, our protein
and our carbs. All that remains is to figure out how much fat we're to
eat. In this case, fat simply serves as a caloric ballast. Simply make
up the rest of your calories from fat. Your protein and fat intake from
these days will stay constant throughout all three days. Carb intake
for your high days should be set at 2.0g/lb of bodyweight and finally
for your low days it is going to be minimal as you're only eating
fibrous vegetables; no starch type carbs at all.Remember the
truth of the matter is that there is no one best method for fat loss.
Carbohydrate and calorie cycling is just one logical and effective way
of approaching it. Many who opt for this kind of approach find it very
easy to follow as you get a few days a week where you get to eat some
fun carbs, and like I said , who doesn't like eating carbs?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erik Ledin, B.Kin, CSCS, CISSN, is the President of Lean Bodies
Consulting Inc., an online consulting firm that reaches globally and
specializes in physique contest preparation, fat loss, nutrition and
overall physical enhancement. He can be reached at http://www.leanbodiesconsulting.com
|