Carb cycling

[ac419]

I have a question about carb cycling. My current routine is as follows: mon chest tri, tues back bi, wed rest, thurs shoulders forearms, fri legs, sat sun rest. My diet: mon low, Tues low, wed off, thurs low, fri low, sat sun high. Is this routine ok? Most of the time on Saturdays and Sundays I do cardio. Everyday is within my calorific allowance

[slfmade]

I don't like it. When I carb cycle I like 1 high, followed by 3 mod, followed by 3 low. I don't lift on my high day. I schedule legs the day after a high carb day and chest and back on the other 2 mod carbs. This ensures I have carbs on days I'm working the larger muscle groups. Here's my schedule when I do it.

Sun - High carb - Rest
Mon - Mod Carb - Legs
Tues - Mod Carb - Chest
Wed - Mod Carb - Back
Thursay - Low/No Carb - Rest
Friday - Low/No Carb - Shoulders
Saturday - Low/No Carb - Arms

Sometimes I'll combine - arms and shoulders and take Saturday off too or just do cardio.

This is what I've found works best.

[ac419]

I'd prefer to have my high car days on weekends if possible, gives me something more to look forward to on the weekends

[slfmade]

I'd prefer to have my high car days on weekends if possible, gives me something more to look forward to on the weekends

The last time I checked - Sunday was a weekend day. You should really limit your high carb day to once a week. If you want that to be Saturday- that's fine.

It's also hard to reach any state of ketosis with off days in between your low/no carb days.

[Sicko]

I agree with slfmade on the functionality of his program. But for me I have my high carb day(s) on the weekend as well. I work a lot of hours and don't get to see the wife and kids very much during the week so I do not want to be a nay sayer on weekend food choices..or have to watch them eat pancakes or a pizza while I angrily eat a piece of chicken. It keeps my diet in check to know that I have a donut or Western Bagel day coming on Saturday..

[slfmade]

I agree with slfmade on the functionality of his program. But for me I have my high carb day(s) on the weekend as well. I work a lot of hours and don't get to see the wife and kids very much during the week so I do not want to be a nay sayer on weekend food choices..or have to watch them eat pancakes or a pizza while I angrily eat a piece of chicken. It keeps my diet in check to know that I have a donut or Western Bagel day coming on Saturday..

Like I said earlier...you can have it on whatever day you want. Just keep the high carb day at one day per week. Or don't if you don't want to...have 3,4, or 5....but don't ever come on here saying you're not getting the results you would like either.

[Sicko]

Like I said earlier...you can have it on whatever day you want. Just keep the high carb day at one day per week. Or don't if you don't want to...have 3,4, or 5....but don't ever come on here saying you're not getting the results you would like either.

take a breath brutha... you sound pretty hostile this morning...sounds like you got something/someone eating at you...

[slfmade]

No...I'm perfectly fine.

[Sicko]

OK then...nice chattin with you...

[ac419]

Im not trying to reach ketosis, I've want to get carbs as low as possible without reaching ketosis.

[--->>405<<---]

just a bit curious to ur current stats? goal stats? current low carb macros, moderate, and high??

[slfmade]

http://forums.steroid.com/nutrition-...%2A%2A%2A.html

[tarmyg]

Im not trying to reach ketosis, I've want to get carbs as low as possible without reaching ketosis.

Why?

[--->>405<<---]

One thing is for sure: there are many ways to cut. Ive done a 7 day carb cycle, 2day, 3day, straight low carb, and currently reducing carbs by 30g weekly (currently at 180g ed with a 280g refeed and 140g on non training days).. made it to 10%bf with all of em.

Should be there again within a couple weeks if im not there already.

Just find what works for you and stay consistent and precise calculating macros.

[ac419]

I'm currently down to 90kg I'd say around 10% bf. low carb day 30g med 145g high 265g

[--->>405<<---]

I'm currently down to 90kg I'd say around 10% bf. low carb day 30g med 145g high 265g

what is ur height?

you say youre "off" wednesdays in reference to diet? does this mean u cheat all day?

ur definitely lean enuff and 198lbs (90kg) is a decent weight depending on ur height.

are u cutting or maintaining?

if ur cutting and still dropping fat and maintaining strength id say just keep doing what youre doing until it quits working. assuming ur "off" day is a cheat day u have good room there to reduce carbs/cals even more to keep weight(fat) coming off as well as dropping one of the 2 refeeds u have.

u also say sat and sun u do cardio. is this the only two days u do cardio? if so u can always add another day or 2 in down the line depending on ur goals.

from what i can see without u answering the above questions, and assuming u are correct in ur bf% estimation, u seem to have it well in hand.

[ac419]

I'm about 5"11. That was meant to say wed no as in no carbs. I do some cardio on the other days maybe 10 mins after doing weights. I have got really ripped all over, I just have fat left around the 'love handles' which is really hard to shift

[--->>405<<---]

love handles is last to go usually with lower back fat.

after looking a bit harder i think personally 4 x 30g carb days is too many if youre just starting on that protocol.

if yes, what was ur previous macro total amounts?? (and not just carbs what are all ur macro totals for each day??)

[ac419]

That should be 4 days at 145g. I have 1 day at 30. I was having 2 high days, but I'm thinking of just having 1 high day

[--->>405<<---]

the way im doing my diet (which is working really well) is i have 3 day types per week.

training
non training
refeed

the refeed occurs once and the others depend on my training schedule. i train 3 on 1 off so out of 7 days typically i dont have more than 2 non training days and even on those days my carbs still are at 140g.

training day carbs right now are at 180g, refeed at 280g.

i started high with 380, 280, 240 and have redued each of the 3 types weekly to continue progress as well as adding cardio periodically (not weekly) to where i currently do 4 x MISS at 450cals and 2 x HIIT.

i have found this type diet to be very good at keeping progress going. also most weeks i lift 5-6 days which i think is a nother big/good factor. i do power split (push, pull, legs) then hyper split (push, pull, legs).

i enjoy this better than picking arbitrary caloric/carbohydrate values as a starting point and will prob maintain this style of diet from here on out with regards to cutting.

i see a LOT of competitive BBers doing their diets the same.

BTW my protein is 245g and fats are at 35g. i started at 250g pro and 50g fat.

current stats are 69" 200lbs @10%bf so pretty close to you.

[ac419]

How come your fats are so low? I have my fats double that

[Matt007]

Keep it simple man, 1 refeed per week, usually make my refeed after measurements on sunday, then the refeed begins lol
As far as my carb cyclig goes right now it looks like this
150/100/50/150/100/50 refeed, simple, easy, effective, I dont adjust my fat intake on depleting my carbs either I keep my fats, pro, the same, a lot of people make it more complicated then it really is, at the end of the day u are in a deficit anyways bro

[ac419]

Surely if you don't decrease your fats on days when you increase carbs you will not be in a deficit? On them days anyway

[slfmade]

Surely if you don't decrease your fats on days when you increase carbs you will not be in a deficit? On them days anyway

I keep my protein and fats the same everyday and only adjust my carbs to give me my deficit. The high carb day hits at TDEE. This puts me at a total 4800 calorie deficit. However if that's more than you like you can always adjust your carbs to be higher on mod and/or low. Here's what mine looks like.

High Carb Day - At TDEE
Fat 50g - 450 cals
Pro 275g - 1100
Carbs 300g - 1200 cals
Total 2750

Mod Carb Day - 600 calorie deficit
Fat 50g - 450 cals
Pro 275g - 1100 cals
Carbs 150g - 600 cals
Total = 2150

Low Carb Day - 1000 calorie deficit
Fat 50g - 450 cals
Pro 275g - 1100 cals
Carbs 50g - 200 cals (Veggies ONLY)
Total = 1750 cals

I've also tried this where I have an extra 1000 calories on my high carb day by adding another 250g carbs. So a total of 550g of carbs. This still gave me a 3800 cal/wk deficit.

[ac419]

What I have been doing is having a 500 cal deficit Each day. On high carb days I would decrease fats and on low carb days I would increase fats