Thread: Carb cycling?

What is it exactly?

is it to do with cutting and trying to retain muscle mass?

Originally Posted by Toughenuff

What is it exactly?

is it to do with cutting and trying to retain muscle mass?

Carb cycling is exactly what it sounds like - cycling/manipulating carbohydrate levels on various days in order to try to manipulate your body composition.

They are usually used for weight loss/cutting but you can also use them at any time (for maintainence and for bulking).

When dieting they aim to 'trick' your body into utilising your bodyfat for fuel, preventing metabolic slow/minimising the negative side effects of dieting and preserving lean mass. When bulking they aim to minimise fat gains and maximise muscle gains.

They are usually not needed for your everyday weight loss plan. Most people will be fine on a plain linear diet. But when cutting for a competition or when getting very low in BF%, they can be very handy to help you strip those last few %...

In bulking they are great for people who find they have poor partitioning and gain too much fat... But, once again, for most people a simple linear diet is fine.

There are a lots of diets that cycle carbs... And even though they are not necessarily called 'carb cycling' diets - many diets involve cycling carbs anyway! You can read about a few different types with Twin Peaks carb cycling plan, UD2 (by lyle McDonald) and even your basic CKD diet....