Cycle carbs

(Chris) #1

Been on keto for two months now and lost 20lb I feel awesome! Just wanted to reach out of curiosity and tell you all about my friend Melody! She is actually on keto as well but she does a carb up every Sunday! She has been doing it for about 6 months and she looks phenomenal too! Have any of you ever heard of this?

(TJ Borden) #2

In a general LCHF diet, the one day off a week is pretty common, and I’ve known people that have been successful with it if they weren’t too metabolically deranged and just had a few pounds to lose.

When it comes to keto, you could probably get a way with it once you’ve been fat adapted for a while, although many would recommend against it (myself included).

If someone were to try that starting out, they would get into ketosis, but that one day off a week would likely prevent them from becoming fat adapted, and they’d probably be in a constant state of carb withdrawal because their body would learn it just had to hold out for the weekend and it will get the boost of carbs it’s seeking.

(Allie) #3

In addition to the above, it’s just not necessary. If you come into keto straight away looking for ways to “cheat” then you’re really just setting yourself up for failure.

(LeeAnn Brooks) #4

Leanne Vogal has this as a meal plan option in her book, but I’m with the others. Don’t do if you’re not fat adapted. And I have no interest in doing it anyway. Why tempt the carb craving demons?

(Lonnie Hedley) #5

Every now and then I go crazy and eat a half dozen hostess packages in one sitting. Doesn’t affect me. However, I’m male, 6 ft, under 140 lbs. I go right back to Keto the next day. Like the others have mentioned, adding carbs back isn’t required…or suggested. “Carb cycling” seems like an excuse to eat a burger and fries. Or in my case, chocolate cakes.

You have to make your own choices.

(Ron) #6

Wow, impressive. Whats you BF%?

(Lonnie Hedley) #7

I plan on getting a DEXA soon, but I’m not sure. I’d guess 12-14. Definitely not as “stick and bones” as 140 lbs at 6 foot would imply.

(Ron) #8

I’m 6’ also and cannot imagine that low. 40 years ago in HS I was 160lbs and not a big guy. That is my goal on this journey so your weight is impressive.:+1:

(Chris) #9

Though it can be effective, I really advise against CKD diets unless you are truly fat adapted and understand what you are doing. I lost good chunks of weight at a couple times in life on CKD’s, but each week was a miserable experience because I was never truly fat adapted.

I just do not see a real performance advantage for CKD unless you are a professional athlete aka your income is dependent on athletic performance.

(Lonnie Hedley) #10

I was 155 in high school. When I cut carbs Sept 2016, my goal from 195 was 160. Keeping pretty strict has been worth it in terms of the weight loss. But once I got down to 145 I let myself enjoy some of the old crappy foods now that I feel I have Keto “figured out”. At least for me anyway.

(Ken) #11

Eating carbs for one or two days on the Weekend, preferably after adapted, is fine. It’s good for your metabolism, and provides a little break if you think you need one. It’s impossible to gain fat over a couple of days of eating’em, but you’ll probably gain some temporary water weight.

Having some carbs over a day or two is not a CKD. A CKD requires a massive Carb intake over a short period of time (36 hrs is typical) in order to totally recompensate glycogen. It’s for people training heavily and following caloric restricted lipolysis the rest of the time.