CARB CYCLING

Just like Intermittent Fasting (peep our blog on intermittent fasting HERE) the concept of Carb Cycling is something you’ve probably heard of - and maybe even considered. 

However, is it something that needs consideration? Should we jump on it? Or, should we steer clear?

I decided the best way to answer this question is to ask an expert. Handy for me, I live with one, and here's what she had to say:

Q: What is your overall opinion on Carb Cycling?

A: my views on carb cycling are similar to those of Intermittent fasting.

if you Google “why is carb cycling bad” you’ll find a long list of things such as: it can give you terrible headaches, lead to restrictive eating disorders, digestive distress, fatigue, and hormonal imbalances.

And if you Google “why is carb cycling good” you’ll find an opposite list with benefits such as: weight loss, controlled calorie intake, balancing of insulin, and satisfaction when eating
less.

A lot of people turn to carb cycling to lose weight and people who start this diet can sometimes see great results, especially at the beginning - which makes it appealing for others on their weight loss journey. Often, those people who have impressive results have a hard time sustaining them, so I always recommend proceeding with caution if you are interested in trying it for weight loss reasons.

At the end of the day, I believe carb cycling is a really intense “diet” to follow that is difficult to sustain, and any “diet” that is difficult to sustain, in my opinion, is not a good diet.

However, if carb cycling is your jam and you don’t find it difficult and it works, you do you.
For the average human like you and I, trying to live a long happy healthy life, carb cycling is just another fad diet that often leaves us feeling worse than we did when we started.

Q: Is there a situation in which you think Carb Cycling could be a good idea?


A: yes! I believe bodybuilders, physique competitors, and certain elite athletes (especially cycling around their training days) could benefit from carb cycling - only if they follow a carb cycling program for a short period of time (weeks, and for whatever reason if needed, only a few months max!)

Q: Do you have any experience with Carb Cycling yourself?


A: I dabbled in carb cycling after I finished trying the Keto diet a number of times. It appealed to me because it made the “high carb” days sound exciting, especially after being in ketosis and trying to switch my main energy source from fat instead of carbs.

the idea of having high carb days or as my coach at the time called them “reefed days” I was excited! Ultimately, like the other things I had been trying, it was really hard to manage, and on my low-carb days, I had next to no energy to get through my day, let alone the workout I was trying to compLete at the same time.

And, to give you a little piece of mind to ensure that we don’t just get our information from one source, I also want to share a little bit of what I’ve learned through my hours of research. Obviously, keep in mind that I am not an expert when it comes to this concept, however, I do take everything that Lucy says into consideration and with the intention of spreading love, health, and happiness to her clients and her community, I take pride in the fact that I sort-of know what's up.

I have zero intention of leading you astray. 

If for some reason you feel led in the wrong direction, then what's cool is that you actually get to make your own decisions. Let's just say you’re not really on the fence about Carb Cycling - you’re determined to do it no matter what we say. Great!! Please do. Your body is your body for a reason and you were gifted an incredible organ known as your brain that allows you to make decisions that best suit you. 

No one thing is either right or wrong for each and every single person. The opinions you read here are strictly ours, and they have been compiled through years of education, research, and experience (on my wife's part) and through hours of research (on mine) topped with a little bit of common sense and a relatively low desire to do anything too restrictive or controlling when it comes to what I’m eating.

But, as I said, you have to do what's best for you. At the end of the day if you’re 100% in on carb cycling, please just make sure you’re happy, healthy, and doing it for yourself. 

At Dunnebells we are neither PRO nor ANTI anything fitness & health (completely) - what matters is when it comes to your health and your fitness, we inform you to make decisions that can lead you towards sustainable results.

Results that you can sustain, over time.

A lifestyle. 

Carb cycling by definition is cycling between low carb days and high carb days, or if you will, cycling between low carb times of day and high carb times of the day.

From what I’ve read and researched it's important to note that there, at this point anyway, has been no actual research done on carb cycling. Sure, there are people who have done it and monitored their results, and there have been people who have studied a lot of what happens - but no actual research has been done.

Carb cycling might give you the following results:

• Continued weight loss without falling into metabolic adaption.
  
  The theory of metabolic adaption basically says that as you lose weight you might find it easier to continue losing weight if you also gradually decrease the number of calories you eat. For instance, say you start your weight loss journey at 2200 calories a day, but then you lose 20lbs and then you switch to 1900 calories a day in order to continue losing weight.
  

  This is problematic and known as metabolic adaption.
  

  The goal should not ever have to be eating less!
  

  So the theory is that carb cycling will keep you from running into metabolic adaption while still being able to lose a fair bit of weight. Carb cycling, therefore, is thought to jumpstart your metabolism so you don’t have to decrease your calorie intake.
  
  You can see how this whole thing would be problematic, however, this is one of the potential results of carb cycling.
  
  

• Okay, so I’m going to try to make sense out of this next benefit.
  
  Turns out, when you go through a major weight loss, your hormones are drastically affected. I won't get into all the hormones involved but one I will touch on is leptin, and the role of leptin in your body is to essentially send signals to your brain about hunger, calorie intake, and all sorts of other decisions your body will make such as - how to use the energy its been given.
  
  Typically, when you’re in a low-calorie intake period of time, leptin drops and basically tells your body that you’re going into starvation and need to eat.
  
  Thank you, leptin.
  
  When leptin drops it also sends signals to a whack-load of other hormones to drop too. So, if you’re carb cycling - when you are in a high carb period of time, your leptin rises and the idea is that because it rises so high when you then switch to a low period of time, it sort of tapers off instead of sending emergency signals to cue starvation and you’ll essentially miss out on that signal that says “I'm really hungry and need to eat”. You’re basically building a reservoir so that when you’re in a low period, your body doesn’t really realize and your body doesn’t cue starvation.
  
  You can imagine that this would be beneficial in the low intake portion of carb cycling because naturally, you should feel hungrier, but thanks to the whole up and down of it all, you’re not.
  
  It’s tricky, but this is one of those benefits that people rave about with carb cycling. Eating less is annoying and painful, but apparently if done this way, you shouldn’t notice a difference
  
  

• Getting your body used to low-carb (low-calorie) intake days can essentially set you up for weight loss because you’re less affected by those low days. Over time it’s expected that the more low days you have, the less you’ll notice and the more weight you could lose.
  
  Great if you believe in carb cycling.
  
  Not so great if you’re on the fence and don’t really want to have to eat less to accomplish your goals - in our opinion anyways, this should never be the goal.
  
  Who really wants to have to eat less to find their version of happiness? Not us! But alas, this is one of the so-called benefits of carb cycling.
  
  

Once again, let me reiterate that my research is entry-level and that everything I’m finding online can also be found by yourself.


Obviously, I am impacted by my wife's opinion as well as my true belief that restricting food in any way, shape, or form is a big no-no (for me, anyway). It seems that the research I’ve done believes that those who are for carb cycling, are for it for their own reasons. For reasons that may turn out to be true. And, those who are against it are against it for the same reasons, their own.

Science, at this point, doesn’t give us enough evidence to prove the benefits. Also, it’s key to note that it’s likely quite hard to achieve the so-called benefits of carb cycling - so not really ideal to try if you’re just an Average Joe (Joanne) who is trying to get a handle on your health and fitness.

For anyone whos competing in weight lifting, CrossFit, training for a specific event, or being paid for the way their body looks and performs - maybe carb cycling is for you.

However, if you’re not - I suggest really spending some time researching it, and asking yourself why you might take this route. Are you committed to everything it’s going to take? Do you truly believe that it will allow you to feel happier? Be happier? Are the actions of carb cycling something you think is sustainable for you? If not, how do you think your body will react if you do it for a few months and then try to scale back into a more manageable and enjoyable routine? Do you truly believe in it or are you just hoping it will be a quick fix to a bigger problem?

Things to think about for sure. 

Most importantly, we just want you to know that you get to choose what you do.

Would we do it? Most definitely not. But that doesn’t mean you can’t, or that we’d think any differently of you if you did. 

There are so many fad diets and intake trends that it’s common to want to explore other quick-fix options. You’re not failing if what you’re trying to do is put yourself and your health first. In fact, we believe that simply wanting to explore options is a good sign! It means that you care enough about yourself to want to be better, to find the best version of yourself.

If you’re lost and you’re not sure what to do, our inbox is always open. Dunnebells has a five-star rating for a reason. We help women all over the world change their relationship with food, exercise, and self. We teach women how to love themselves and how to put themselves first - in numerous areas of their life.

We teach women how to take things that seem impossible and turn them into things that are possible. We surround women with a community of other women who are doing the same, knowing that sometimes it’s not all rainbows and butterflies and that community and connection are of utmost importance.

Right now we are taking those who are ready for a change into our 8-WEEK-PROGRAM, and if you sign up we will get you started today, at no extra charge with things that will prepare you to tackle your program with eagerness and excitement.

Not sure that the program is for you? No worries - we get it. Choosing the self is hard, and choosing a trainer is sometimes just as hard. We’re here to make it a bit easier for you by offering ONE FREE WEEK inside our exclusive app, giving you access to our head coach, Lucy.


Not ready for any of that but craving community, check out our FACEBOOK GROUP and start small, each and every single day.

Happy Tuesday Friends!