If you have a love-hate relationship with carbs, often enjoying them but feeling guilty after eating them, you may be curious about the benefits of carb cycling.
Carbs can be a controversial topic when it comes to weight loss. Yet eating carbohydrates in general isn’t the problem, nor is eliminating them a solution. It’s all about balancing the quantity, quality, and timing of carbs you consume and understanding how they impact your metabolism.
While we know that consuming too many refined carbs, such as white bread, pasta, and sugary snacks, may contribute to weight gain and other health problems, most of us eat these foods regularly. In fact, according to one study [1], low-quality carbs still account for 42% of daily calories, while high-quality carbs — such as whole grains and fruits — only account for 9%.
So, what exactly is the carb cycling diet, and how can eating the right combination of carbohydrates benefit weight loss? Let’s find out.
Carb cycling is an eating pattern that alternates between high-carb and low-carb days. It’s not a diet but rather a way of eating that helps your mitochondria, the powerhouses of your cells, to easily shift between carb and fat burn.
The idea behind carb cycling is to give your mitochondria the energy they need to power your workouts and replenish glycogen, the stored form of glucose in muscles and the liver, on high-carb days. On low-carb days, carb cycling enables your mitochondria to rely on fat for fuel.
When your mitochondria are more resilient, moving between carb and fat burn, they become metabolically flexible. This has many benefits, including weight loss, better body composition, improved athletic performance, and balanced energy.
Having a personalized nutrition plan optimized for your metabolism will help you determine when your body needs a low-, medium-, or high-carb day so you can eat in the best way possible.
Carb cycling can influence insulin sensitivity, which is crucial for metabolic health and weight management. Insulin sensitivity refers to how effectively the body’s cells respond to the hormone insulin, which regulates blood glucose levels.
High insulin sensitivity means that cells use blood glucose more efficiently, reducing the risk of conditions like type 2 diabetes. On high-carb days, increased insulin levels facilitate glucose uptake into muscle cells, promoting glycogen storage and muscle repair [2].
On low-carb days, reduced carbohydrate intake and lower insulin levels help the body rely more on fat for energy and may improve insulin sensitivity. This alternating pattern helps maintain balanced blood sugar levels, reduces insulin resistance, and supports overall metabolic health.
Carb cycling can also optimize glycogen levels to enhance performance and recovery. Glycogen plays a critical role in providing energy during physical activities.
On high-carb days, increased carbohydrate intake replenishes glycogen stores, ensuring muscles have ample energy for intense workouts and reducing muscle fatigue. During low-carb days, glycogen stores become depleted, prompting the body to use fat as an alternative energy source [3].
This cycle of glycogen replenishment and depletion boosts metabolic flexibility and promotes fat metabolism, which in turn aids in weight loss.
You can structure your carb cycling in several ways. The most common method is alternating between high- and low-carb days, but you can also alternate between high- and low-carb weeks.
The amount of calories you eat daily or weekly depends on your goal. If you’re trying to lose weight, your daily intake should be at a caloric deficit [4]. If your goal is muscle growth, you will want to eat a surplus of macros daily, but make sure to balance your carbs and allow them to fit into your low- and high-carb days. Use a macro tracker to calculate how many grams of carbohydrates you should eat based on your body weight.
Those who just want to balance their body composition or maintain their weight may find themselves somewhere in between—eating enough protein to maintain muscle while losing body fat.
It may take some trial and error for a couple of weeks, but using a personalized nutritional plan that gives you accurate biofeedback on your metabolism will remove the guesswork of understanding what your body needs to achieve your goals.
Here are some carb cycling tips from our Lumen experts:
Each recipe has been designed with carb cycling and metabolic health in mind so you can get the most out of this nutrition approach.
Greek chicken salad
Ingredients
Chop, dice, and mix all the ingredients and enjoy!
Garlic salmon and broccoli
Ingredients
You can either air fry, bake, or cook the broccoli on the stove with a drizzle of olive oil. Chop the garlic, add it to a pan, and saute. Spread a generous amount of salt and pepper on the salmon and add to the pan with the garlic. Cook for 4 minutes on each side!
Chicken enchilada bowls
Chicken enchilada bowls
Saute the veggies and tofu or chicken. Cook the rice (about 1 cup). Once the veggies and meat are cooked, add them to one pan and drizzle teriyaki sauce on top. Mix in one bowl with the rice, and bon appetit!
1: Does carb cycling help with fat loss?
Yes, carb cycling can improve fat loss by improving metabolic flexibility and encouraging your mitochondria to use fats for fuel on low-activity days. Carb cycling also helps balance insulin levels, which limits the amount of carbs our body stores as fat [5].
2: Who can benefit from carb cycling?
Anyone can benefit from carb cycling. It can be a particularly helpful tool if you are trying to lose weight or optimize your metabolism. Not only can carb cycling improve exercise performance, but it’s also a great way to achieve sustainable weight loss [6].
3: What is the best schedule for carb cycling?
The best carb cycling schedule will vary based on your specific goals. Carb cycling can be done on a daily or weekly schedule. For example, someone who works out at a high intensity every other day may consider alternating between high-carb intake on exercise days and low-carb intake in between to support performance and recovery.
For additional articles by Lumen’s experts, please visit our carb cycling category.
Carb cycling is an effective way to lose weight and keep it off as long as you’re in a caloric deficit. Having a structure for your own carb cycling meal plan will keep you on track and ensure you’re eating the correct amount of macros for your specific goals—whether that’s to gain muscle or lose fat!
[1] Shan, Z., Rehm, C. D., Rogers, G., Ruan, M., Wang, D. D., Hu, F. B., Mozaffarian, D., Zhang, F. F., & Bhupathiraju, S. N. (2019). Trends in Dietary Carbohydrate, Protein, and Fat Intake and Diet Quality Among US Adults, 1999-2016. JAMA, 322(12), 1178–1187. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.13771
[2] Daly, M., Vale, C., Walker, M., Alberti, K., & Mathers, J. (1997). Dietary carbohydrates and insulin sensitivity: A review of the evidence and clinical implications. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 66(5), 1072–1085. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcn/66.5.1072
[3] Murray, B., & Rosenbloom, C. (2018). Fundamentals of glycogen metabolism for coaches and athletes. Nutrition reviews, 76(4), 243–259. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuy001
[4] Most, J., & Redman, L. M. (2020). Impact of calorie restriction on energy metabolism in humans. Experimental gerontology, 133, 110875. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2020.110875
[5] Volek, J. S., Noakes, T., & Phinney, S. D. (2015). Rethinking fat as a fuel for endurance exercise. European journal of sport science, 15(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2014.959564
[6] Adamska-Patruno, E., Ostrowska, L., Goscik, J., Pietraszewska, B., Kretowski, A., & Gorska, M. (2018). The relationship between the leptin/ghrelin ratio and meals with various macronutrient contents in men with different nutritional status: a randomized crossover study. Nutrition journal, 17(1), 118. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12937-018-0427-x
Abigail Markman holds a Master’s degree in Nutritional Sciences, underscoring her vast knowledge of nutrition and health. She has been a practicing Nutritionist for several years, driven by her passion for empowering people with valuable insights into balanced nutritional intake and lifestyle habits and their significant role in promoting overall well-being.