May God Bless All Who Respond - Carb-Cycling Doubts

[ryanfisher]

I would like to help you OP, but tbh that post is very long, and it's hard to glean pertinent information from it.
If you would like to summarize without all the background, I can take a shot at answering it. What other people told you really does not matter. Speculating just confuses the issue. What's your TDEE, desired calorie deficit, whats your training routine, how are you doing it now

My TDEE is 2,400 kcal / Current goal is to maintain my physique with Carb-Cycling. My training routine is from Monday to Saturday and total rest on Sunday.

[HoldMyBeer]

My TDEE is 2,400 kcal / Current goal is to maintain my physique with Carb-Cycling. My training routine is from Monday to Saturday and total rest on Sunday.

I usually hear about carb cycling for cutting. It's usually so your body doesn't adjust to a consistent dietary intake and you can have more carbs on the days you need it (like leg days). What's your routine? (Push pull legs. Upper lower. Brosplit. etc)

[ryanfisher]

I usually hear about carb cycling for cutting. It's usually so your body doesn't adjust to a consistent dietary intake and you can have more carbs on the days you need it (like leg days). What's your routine? (Push pull legs. Upper lower. Brosplit. etc)

High Carbohydrate Days I Workout, Legs, Back, Chest / On Moderate Carbohydrate Days I Workout, Arms and Deltoids / and on Low Carbohydrate Day - which is Sunday I don't train, full rest. And on this day I eat fibrous vegetable salad. The amount of protein and fat stay the same every week, I don't change.

[HoldMyBeer]

High Carbohydrate Days I Workout, Legs, Back, Chest / On Moderate Carbohydrate Days I Workout, Arms and Deltoids / and on Low Carbohydrate Day - which is Sunday I don't train, full rest. And on this day I eat fibrous vegetable salad. The amount of protein and fat stay the same every week, I don't change.

Yeah... Can't really make much sense of what your workout structure is like.
But yes, higher carbs on legs, moderate on back (unless you deadlift on back days), the rest low carb. But it all has to equal out to be the same amount of carbs per week you would normally eat if you were not carb cycling since you are just trying to maintain. Like you said, protein and fat does not change.
To me, it doesn't make much sense to carb cycle on maintenance. Then there will be days you're in a caloric deficit for no reason. Like I said, it's mostly used to manipulate calories through the addition or subtract of carbs while still keeping the carbs high on days it's most needed. You're making your diet needlessly complicated to reap the same benefits

[ryanfisher]

Yeah... Can't really make much sense of what your workout structure is like.
But yes, higher carbs on legs, moderate on back (unless you deadlift on back days), the rest low carb. But it all has to equal out to be the same amount of carbs per week you would normally eat if you were not carb cycling since you are just trying to maintain. Like you said, protein and fat does not change.
To me, it doesn't make much sense to carb cycle on maintenance. Then there will be days you're in a caloric deficit for no reason. Like I said, it's mostly used to manipulate calories through the addition or subtract of carbs while still keeping the carbs high on days it's most needed. You're making your diet needlessly complicated to reap the same benefits

So are you saying that Carb-Cycling is only effective for the cutting phase? I was convinced that Carb-Cycling could benefit me by avoiding body fat. I will review my nutritional strategy. It makes sense what you said .. I will change my nutrition strategy, I will work with macronutrient time, eating only clean, I will add 500 kcal above my TDEE, which will put me at 2,900 kcal. I will avoid carbs at the end of my day, I will do what you said and cut my fat in half and split it into 4 meals. My carbs will be put in the 3 main meals of the day - breakfast, pre-workout and post-workout ((I'm not going to consume pre or post workout fat, so I'm only going to eat protein and fat until the end) Keeping Carb-Cycling process won't work, because on low carbohydrate days I would have a calorie deficit, there would be few calories that would hurt my results. I will deal with my carbs on my day off within my TDEE So, trying to keep my lean body mass avoiding body fat, i'll plan a carbohydrate cycle for definition later i think i will be able to put more clean muscles above my TDEE with the macronutrient time.My day off rest i will be eating my maintenance calories of body weight, which will make me consume less carbs.

[HoldMyBeer]

So are you saying that Carb-Cycling is only effective for the cutting phase? I was convinced that Carb-Cycling could benefit me by avoiding body fat. I will review my nutritional strategy. It makes sense what you said .. I will change my nutrition strategy, I will work with macronutrient time, eating only clean, I will add 500 kcal above my TDEE, which will put me at 2,900 kcal. I will avoid carbs at the end of my day, I will do what you said and cut my fat in half and split it into 4 meals. My carbs will be put in the 3 main meals of the day - breakfast, pre-workout and post-workout ((I'm not going to consume pre or post workout fat, so I'm only going to eat protein and fat until the end) Keeping Carb-Cycling process won't work, because on low carbohydrate days I would have a calorie deficit, there would be few calories that would hurt my results. I will deal with my carbs on my day off within my TDEE So, trying to keep my lean body mass avoiding body fat, i'll plan a carbohydrate cycle for definition later i think i will be able to put more clean muscles above my TDEE with the macronutrient time.My day off rest i will be eating my maintenance calories of body weight, which will make me consume less carbs.

No, it can work for bulking too. Your TDEE is just an estimated average. In actuality, you are probably burning more calories on a leg day than a chest day, so adding more calories in on those days makes sense.
There is a lot to unpack there so I'm not going to even attempt it. But I will say, you're one rest day during the week, your body should still be in muscle building mode and so you should still be in a calorie surplus of you want to bulk.
Putting on fat is 100% a matter of calories in vs out. If you eat at actual maintenance calroies, you will not put on fat. Unless you are untrained or overweight you will also not put on muscle. If you are in a calorie surplus you are inevitably going to put on some amount of fat, how much fat vs muscle depends on the training stimulus and how much excess calories.
The term "bulk" implies a clean bulk. No one wants to bulk to put on fat (i.e. there's only bulking and dirty bulking). If you want to minimize fat gain keep the food clean and the calorie surplus smallish. How small? That's dependant on the person and amount of stimulus your training provides. Start at a 500 cal surplus, monitor your weight and bodyfat, and increase (or decrease) from there.

[ryanfisher]

No, it can work for bulking too. Your TDEE is just an estimated average. In actuality, you are probably burning more calories on a leg day than a chest day, so adding more calories in on those days makes sense.
There is a lot to unpack there so I'm not going to even attempt it. But I will say, you're one rest day during the week, your body should still be in muscle building mode and so you should still be in a calorie surplus of you want to bulk.
Putting on fat is 100% a matter of calories in vs out. If you eat at actual maintenance calroies, you will not put on fat. Unless you are untrained or overweight you will also not put on muscle. If you are in a calorie surplus you are inevitably going to put on some amount of fat, how much fat vs muscle depends on the training stimulus and how much excess calories.
The term "bulk" implies a clean bulk. No one wants to bulk to put on fat (i.e. there's only bulking and dirty bulking). If you want to minimize fat gain keep the food clean and the calorie surplus smallish. How small? That's dependant on the person and amount of stimulus your training provides. Start at a 500 cal surplus, monitor your weight and bodyfat, and increase (or decrease) from there.

Got it, I'll get this advice.Thank you , bro