How To Use Carb Cycling to Break a Fat Loss Plateau

Dieting and exercise are always partners to better health and a better body. When you are done exercising and dieting effectively, your body will start to get used to what it’s been having—less calories and more burning of calories. So, the body will adjust to this change by burning lesser calories than it used to, no matter how much calories you take. This is called lower metabolism. That could mean gaining fat soon despite exercise and diet. You can resolve this problem by a carb cycling diet.

A carb cycling diet focuses on carbohydrate consumption. There are days that you will eat high carbs, days of low carbs, and days of no carbs. Basically, these days will be recycled, thus the term “cycling,” so that the body will not get used to low carbs or high carbs intake. Below are guides on how to properly use this diet:

• Learn about the three types of carb cycling days. These days are referred to as High Carb, Low Carb, and No Carb. High Carb diet days will allow you to eat as much carbohydrates as you want. Low Carb diet days will only allow up to a certain amount of carbohydrates in your diet, but not to the extent of having no carbohydrate intake at all. This is saved for the No Carb diet days, wherein carbohydrate intake is near to zero. “Near to zero” because some fruits and vegetables have a minimal amount of carbohydrate.
• Decide on how these days will be recycled. Some people are more comfortable if they will have two days for each High Carb, Low Carb, and No Carb diet. Other people feel it’s more convenient doing the two-day High Carb, three-day Low Carb, and one-day No Carb. There are also those who have one day for each diet. What’s important is that you will follow a sequence to make this diet effective. This is where the “cycling” will play an important role. For now, decide on which is more convenient for you. Try the diets and see how long you can handle without taking carbohydrates or how many days you can tolerate taking low-carbohydrate diet.
• Have small but frequent servings in a day. You can eat as much as six times a day or even more. But eat only in small proportions. This is the secret to breaking the fat loss plateau. This principle applies on all carb cycling days. Normally, dieters have six small meals in a day. You can follow that, too, if you can easily adjust your routine.
• Diet on specific carb cycling days. On High Carb days, you can take as much carbohydrates in four of your six meals. But keep the protein and other food low. Eat a small serving of high-fiber protein in these four meals. For the two meals, cut out the carbs and eat only protein.

During Low Carb days, three of six meals will include minimal carbohydrates and the rest will be protein. The remaining three meals should consume protein. Again, a serving of fruit after the carb cycling meal is necessary. Meanwhile, you won’t eat any carbs during the No Carb day. Diet during this day will be composed of protein, fats, fruits, and vegetables. This is the simplest but this is the most challenging day for the body.

It takes perseverance to make the carb cycling work for breaking the fat loss plateau. Just follow the guides above and continue on working out, especially exercises that can develop more muscles. The more muscles you have, the faster your body’s metabolic rate will be.