Your favourite carb cycling method for fat loss

[Josefein421]

This confused me originally when I heard the method explained by Justin Harris.

I can’t really explain this in a calories in vs out sense, but many experiences coaches or competitors will tell you that when you get very lean, sometimes increasing csrbs more will cause your metabolism to run away even more.

The low days and medium days will decrease, but the high days will increase.

Keep in mind there is one high day a week.

One factor is you are going into the high day quite glycogen depleted, so the majority of those carbs are being stored (hence the insulin).

May have something to do with how carbohydrates interact with thyroid especially in a very depleted state.

It’s actually pretty common for guys to increase carbs a couple weeks out before a show and have there metabolism “run away” from them, I assume from the increased carbs stoking a sensitive metabolism without being used as energy in the moment when stored as glycogen.
This is more of an experience based reasoning than a hard scientific explanation.

I’m dropping roughly 3lb a week right now and my high day is increasing weekly. To be honest, I’d have it up around 1100 right now, but I’m having trouble getting past 900-950 on Reta right now as I just put it in and am not used to it.

Skip Hill’s skip loading method follows a similar protocol with increasing high days during fat loss.

The lower the low days the more depleted you are thus the higher the load you can handle to replenish glycogen. When cals are higher on medium days you dont get depleted to need a load. Youre always full.

And you are the first person I have heard call Paul a gem. He is the Aldi version of Justin. Tell him you heard it is easier nowadays to become a pro and masters pro isnt as tough as open. He will meltdown lol.

 

[Brock456]

The lower the low days the more depleted you are thus the higher the load you can handle to replenish glycogen. When cals are higher on medium days you dont get depleted to need a load. Youre always full.

And you are the first person I have heard call Paul a gem. He is the Aldi version of Justin. Tell him you heard it is easier nowadays to become a pro and masters pro isnt as tough as open. He will meltdown lol.

I think it was @OldManLogan who said that.
But yeah…. That’s why I asked that lol

 

[ChickenRiceRepeat]

The lower the low days the more depleted you are thus the higher the load you can handle to replenish glycogen. When cals are higher on medium days you dont get depleted to need a load. Youre always full.

And you are the first person I have heard call Paul a gem. He is the Aldi version of Justin. Tell him you heard it is easier nowadays to become a pro and masters pro isnt as tough as open. He will meltdown lol.

Well yes ideally the medium days should put you around a slight to moderate deficit whereas the low days are deep digs, so the medium days are not to be re loading glycogen.

Right now my low days are 2300 calories, medium days are 3100 calories, high day is roughly 4600 I think. I’m dropping 3lbs a week and the day after my high day my weight basically returns within 1lb of my baseline from previous week, and the next day is almost always a new low.

I’m not going to really address the criticisms of Paul much, he may have gotten a lot from Justin, and have his bias, but we all do. Hes intelligent and still newer to coaching.

I think he’s genuine, and I’ve never heard tell of him melting down in any way.

 

[Dagmoon650]

geez so much #`s planning, so complicated. I`ll do 6 days low, protein, veg and trace carbs. Sunday, eat anything but not till bloated stuffed, mostly carbs. Monday morning my muscles are full, I`m happy, ready to grind out another week. Real simple, effective and gets me down to 8% bf without losing muscle. I don`t ever count macros or kcal!

That’s the kinda simple plan I’m looking for. What are primarily using for your high carb day? Just anything or like sweet potatoes and rice?

 

[hogan87]

That’s the kinda simple plan I’m looking for. What are primarily using for your high carb day? Just anything or like sweet potatoes and rice?

After 6 days of low carb, lots of veg and protein, grinding with fasted lifts and cardio, my insulin sensitivity is out the roof and I`m cranky. Nothing makes me happy like pancakes and syrup, a danish, stuff like that. Kinda a play on the old "skip load" or shit load. I`ll be folding laundry after a danish and look like I just finished a workout! Muscles full, glycogen stores filled and I`m happy. Ready for another week. My pic is over in the ganabol thread to see how its working for me.

 

[professionaldyel]

I respect the effort you’ve put into your posts. A lot of people join then just start spamming 3 word responses to get their 50 post count

Carb cycling is definitely effective, and there seems to be a lot of successful ways to approach it

For me—I don’t really like yo-yo-ing around with my calories too much. I try to eat the
the same thing everyday, just keeps the tracking simple

Leg days I’ll add 200g or so extra carbs because they’re a big focus point for me so even if I’m cutting I don’t mind a mild surplus on this day, then the other days I’ll just stay at a 300-400 calorie deficit

My protein and fats usually stay relatively the same if I’m bulking or cutting, then I’ll just add or pull carbs depending on which way I want the scale to move

I bought Justin Harris' MASSIVE SPREADSHEET for full retail price, I can't stick to it because I'm too autistic when it comes to having the perfect amount of groceries.

 

[FK86]

The lower the low days the more depleted you are thus the higher the load you can handle to replenish glycogen. When cals are higher on medium days you dont get depleted to need a load. Youre always full.

And you are the first person I have heard call Paul a gem. He is the Aldi version of Justin. Tell him you heard it is easier nowadays to become a pro and masters pro isnt as tough as open. He will meltdown lol.

What is it with people named Paul?

 

[snuklov]

How do you deal with dinner meals and family? Or not knowing if you'll get to train that day ? I have an unpredictable schedule most days. I wont know for several hours into the day if I can train or not, so I'm cautious about eating too much because it could mean what I had thought would be a high or medium day is now in fact a low day. The same with family meals , we eat to an unpredictable schedule and all make an effort to east togther. That means I eat what they eat and it often doesn't line up with target macros.

 

[qbkilla]

How do you deal with dinner meals and family? Or not knowing if you'll get to train that day ? I have an unpredictable schedule most days. I wont know for several hours into the day if I can train or not, so I'm cautious about eating too much because it could mean what I had thought would be a high or medium day is now in fact a low day. The same with family meals , we eat to an unpredictable schedule and all make an effort to east togther. That means I eat what they eat and it often doesn't line up with target macros.

Id just keep doing the best you can. If you don't have set training days and a set meal plan (eating a daily meal with the family that is whatever) ...I can’t see how you would implement it. Whenever I did carb cycling training days were set, meals were set, everything was weighed out and 100% precise.

 

[AllOkJumpmaster]

How do you deal with dinner meals and family? Or not knowing if you'll get to train that day ? I have an unpredictable schedule most days. I wont know for several hours into the day if I can train or not, so I'm cautious about eating too much because it could mean what I had thought would be a high or medium day is now in fact a low day. The same with family meals , we eat to an unpredictable schedule and all make an effort to east togther. That means I eat what they eat and it often doesn't line up with target macros.

Be conservative with calories, and carbs early in the day until you what your training options are. Meal prep, and have some low carb options, and a higher carb option available. Do you prep your meals, and do you have a refer at your job or bring a cooler. If I was in that spot. Id bring like a chicken / veg option in one container, and a chicken / veg / carb option in a separate container, once you know you can train, eat accordingly, bring the uneaten one back home for another day. Just because you eat with your family, and eat what they eat, doesn't mean you have to go ham on calories. Also, perhaps a discussion with family about meals comprised of isolated macro isolated component. Like a lean meat, a vegetable, a carb, and a fat, so you can eat each as you wish, as opposed to something like a lasagna where everything is in the entire meal that you cannot separate out.

 

[Josefein421]

Be conservative with calories, and carbs early in the day until you what your training options are. Meal prep, and have some low carb options, and a higher carb option available. Do you prep your meals, and do you have a refer at your job or bring a cooler. If I was in that spot. Id bring like a chicken / veg option in one container, and a chicken / veg / carb option in a separate container, once you know you can train, eat accordingly, bring the uneaten one back home for another day. Just because you eat with your family, and eat what they eat, doesn't mean you have to go ham on calories. Also, perhaps a discussion with family about meals comprised of isolated macro isolated component. Like a lean meat, a vegetable, a carb, and a fat, so you can eat each as you wish, as opposed to something like a lasagna where everything is in the entire meal that you cannot separate out.

This sounds like good advice for a tough situation. Since if you train it is later in the day put most of your carbs pre/intra/post that way the base meals 1-3 or whatever can stay relatively the same.

As for family dinners... why cant you just eat with them but eat your own food? Isnt dinner more about quality time vs the actual food eaten? However I had a friend who competed and his wife was like that. He literally cooked the dinner, at with them but his bodybuilding meals, did all his fatherly duties for the night and wouldnt train until after the girls were in bed and she still gave him shit nonstop. It didnt last...

 

[Zylog259]

I purchased the massive plan and shredded plan from Justin Harris site. I’ve used them both over the last year with amazing results. I wanted to see how the diets worked without having to pay the coaching fee. Honestly they were the most effective diets I’ve ever used. I’m 50 and it kept me in the best condition of my life. Definitely recommend trying them. They are a little complicated at first but once you figure it out, it’s very simple.

 

[snuklov]

I purchased the massive plan and shredded plan from Justin Harris site. I’ve used them both over the last year with amazing results. I wanted to see how the diets worked without having to pay the coaching fee. Honestly they were the most effective diets I’ve ever used. I’m 50 and it kept me in the best condition of my life. Definitely recommend trying them. They are a little complicated at first but once you figure it out, it’s very simple.

Any advice or tips around how you made it work? What was complicated to figure out at first?

 

[Tomgrass]

I am playing with current protocol and it works great
3 days high -4500 calories low fat high carb protein around 300
4 days low zero carb 250-300 protein rest fats to fill to 2500 calories
My maintenance is 3400 and on average if i combine all days together and divide by 7 this is the number i eat on average… but on deficit days i loose fat- no carb low calories and on training days i grow as calories surplus and a lot of carbs.

 

[Zylog259]

I am playing with current protocol and it works great
3 days high -4500 calories low fat high carb protein around 300
4 days low zero carb 250-300 protein rest fats to fill to 2500 calories
My maintenance is 3400 and on average if i combine all days together and divide by 7 this is the number i eat on average… but on deficit days i loose fat- no carb low calories and on training days i grow as calories surplus and a lot of carbs.

Snuklov, I think the most difficult part was eating on my own as my family would eat “normally”. I would eat meat and rice meals 6 times a day. I just weighed and meal prepped every night and at first it was a pain but once I got into the habit I actually looked forward to the 20-30 minutes. It was a good time to relax before I’d go to bed. I can’t say enough about the plans. I went from 218 with 20% BF to 210 with 14% BF on the shredded plan since January 1. My body composition changed completely.

 

[Brock456]

How do you deal with dinner meals and family? Or not knowing if you'll get to train that day ? I have an unpredictable schedule most days. I wont know for several hours into the day if I can train or not, so I'm cautious about eating too much because it could mean what I had thought would be a high or medium day is now in fact a low day. The same with family meals , we eat to an unpredictable schedule and all make an effort to east togther. That means I eat what they eat and it often doesn't line up with target macros.

I think the simple solution is to wake up early and train first thing in the morning at 4-5am and that way you can plan the rest of your day.

 

[snuklov]

I think the simple solution is to wake up early and train first thing in the morning at 4-5am and that way you can plan the rest of your day.

Be conservative with calories, and carbs early in the day until you what your training options are. Meal prep, and have some low carb options, and a higher carb option available. Do you prep your meals, and do you have a refer at your job or bring a cooler. If I was in that spot. Id bring like a chicken / veg option in one container, and a chicken / veg / carb option in a separate container, once you know you can train, eat accordingly, bring the uneaten one back home for another day. Just because you eat with your family, and eat what they eat, doesn't mean you have to go ham on calories. Also, perhaps a discussion with family about meals comprised of isolated macro isolated component. Like a lean meat, a vegetable, a carb, and a fat, so you can eat each as you wish, as opposed to something like a lasagna where everything is in the entire meal that you cannot separate out.

 

[snuklov]

Be conservative with calories, and carbs early in the day until you what your training options are. Meal prep, and have some low carb options, and a higher carb option available. Do you prep your meals, and do you have a refer at your job or bring a cooler. If I was in that spot. Id bring like a chicken / veg option in one container, and a chicken / veg / carb option in a separate container, once you know you can train, eat accordingly, bring the uneaten one back home for another day. Just because you eat with your family, and eat what they eat, doesn't mean you have to go ham on calories. Also, perhaps a discussion with family about meals comprised of isolated macro isolated component. Like a lean meat, a vegetable, a carb, and a fat, so you can eat each as you wish, as opposed to something like a lasagna where everything is in the entire meal that you cannot separate out.

I like this idea, I hadn't thought of the idea to take two meals and just eat whichever one is appropriate. My plan is to save 1000 calories or so for family meal time so I have a buffer to work with. I'd keep carbs and fats minimal during the lead up to this.

 

[snuklov]

Snuklov, I think the most difficult part was eating on my own as my family would eat “normally”. I would eat meat and rice meals 6 times a day. I just weighed and meal prepped every night and at first it was a pain but once I got into the habit I actually looked forward to the 20-30 minutes. It was a good time to relax before I’d go to bed. I can’t say enough about the plans. I went from 218 with 20% BF to 210 with 14% BF on the shredded plan since January 1. My body composition changed completely.

and how did the Massive plan go for you ?

 

[Zylog259]

and how did the Massive plan go for you ?

It went really well until I injured my shoulder. So I only used the program for 8 weeks. Noticed a decent amount of lean muscle. I think I gained around 6 pounds with minimal fat gain. I’m about to start it again for the next 16-20 weeks.