carb cycling set up

Carb cycling is a popular diet and nutrition strategy that involves alternating your daily carbohydrate intake to achieve specific goals such as weight loss, muscle building, or improved athletic performance. The idea is that by manipulating your carb intake, you can optimize your body’s metabolic processes and better control your energy levels and hunger.

What I love most about carb cycling is the flexibility it allows me to have throughout the week. My days are not always the same, some days I'm really busy, somedays I have more time. On the very busy days, it's nice to eat less and not stress about getting enough calories in. And then on quitter days, it's nice to take the time to enjoy larger meals.

The basic premise of carb cycling is that you eat more carbohydrates on days when you’re physically active or training, and less on days when you’re not. For example, on high-carb days, you might aim to consume 2-3 grams of carbs per pound of body weight, while on low-carb days, you might aim to consume 0.5-1 gram of carbs per pound of body weight. By doing this, you’re providing your body with the fuel it needs when you need it and limiting it when you don’t. You can also set this up to accommodate for your social outings, in which you usually eat more carb heavy meals.

If you work out everyday, have more carbs on your tougher days (like leg days) and less carbs on easier days (like shoulders or arm day).

For those who are new to carb cycling, it’s important to note that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. The exact amount of carbohydrates you consume on high-carb and low-carb days will depend on your individual goals, body composition, and level of physical activity. It’s important to start with a moderate approach and adjust as needed based on your results.

How I do it for myself

Here is exactly how I start off when I carb cycle.

Daily calorie intake: I aim for 3000. (Bases on my goals as of Feb 2 2023)

I highly recommend converting this to a weekly caloric goal because it'll make the next steps easier. So for me it's 3000 x 7 = 21000 calories per week.

Daily protein intake: 90kg (my current weight) x 1.8 = 162g per day. (648 calories)

Daily fat intake: 90kg x 1 = 90g per day (810 calories)

Important to note that my daily protein and fat intake will stay the same each day. Only my carbs will change.

My daily protein and fat caloric intake is 1458 already. Now all I have to do is divide up the week into high, medium and low carb days.

Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays are usually quite busy so they will be lower carb days. Wednesday and Sunday are more quiet so they will be higher carb days. Friday is hit and miss so I'll keep it on the lower side.

Here is how it looks when I enter the carbs