What is Carb Cycling and is it Good for Over 45 Year Olds...Are you Going to Try it? -

In a nutshell carbohydrate (carb) cycling is varying your carbs day by day in order to boost your metabolism and help promote fat loss. It is an aggressive approach to your nutrition plan, and is most used in a plateau.

To understand if carb cycling (CC) is for those in fitness over 45 is dependent on the person. CC is for those times when you are trying to prep for a contest. but for those who are over 45, it may be used for those times when we hit a metabolism plateau.

That is what is happening to me right now. I am currently stalled at a certain fat percentage, and weight. In order to break through this plateau I can either increase my workouts, cardio sessions, which can lead to over training. Or I can further restrict calories but that can cause even more harm.

So my plan is to shore up my nutrition plan and utilize carb cycling to help jump start my fat loss and get the extra 4 percentage points off my overall body fat percentage.

For my carb cycling I decided it will be done over three days, twice a week, and then one day of no carb or a carb re-feed if my fat loss stalls.

CARBOHYDRATES TO EAT

Focus will be on clean carbs and will include the following.

Potatoes – Sweet or Russet
Brown Rice
Ezekiel Bread
Oatmeal
Whole Wheat High Protein Pasta

Of course vegetables are a given and not really counted in my overall carbs. There is a focus on keeping it super simple so as not to have to overthink my meals.

I avoid all simple carbs, junk carbs, and other foods with no nutritional value. On NO carb, low carb days I will increase fat intake. On medium and high carb days I will reduce overall fat intake.

CARB CYCLING SPLIT – See the diet below;

Day One – Lowest Carb amounts, with only oatmeal on the first meal , and excluding all other carbs except vegetables. Increased fat will include pumpkin seeds with oatmeal, and egg yolks.

Day Two – Medium Carb Amounts – oatmeal in the first meal, and brown rice in meal two and four.

Day Three – High Carb day – all carbs in all meals, egg whites only, and no nuts or seeds. Very low fat intake.

Day 4-6 Repeat as above.

Day Seven – this is a no carb, high fat day. I basically eat no carbs at any meal except for veggies. Fat intake is increased. And this is done on my rest day.

Day Seven – alternate carb re-feed, if my fat loss or metabolism stalls then I have a super high carb day which would include whole wheat toast at breakfast and fruit, rice at all meals, and whole wheat pasta.

This usually happens once every 3-4 weeks.

CURRENT DIET

Breakfast:

1 cup of dry oatmeal
1/4 cup blueberries
1/8 cup of pumpkin seeds

5 egg whites, 3 whole eggs
Fajita Veggie Mix
Pico de gallo

MEAL NUMBER 2

6 ounces of ground turkey
1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup of vegetables

MEAL NUMBER 3

6 ounces of chicken
1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup of vegetables

MEAL NUMBER 4

6 ounces of pork
1/2 cup brown rice
1 cup of vegetables

MEAL NUMBER 5

Container of Oikos Triple Threat Yogurt
Scoop of protein powder

So there you have it, this is my current plan to blast away that last bit of fast. I started out with a nice carb re-feed day and I am diving right into this plan. I also have added extra intense workouts with a new trainer, and HIIT cardio.