5 Tips for Burning Fat with Carb Cycling

Whether you already ride a bike or want to start as part of a healthy lifestyle or exercise regime, you can use your time on two wheels productively to lose fat and gain muscle with carb cycling.

Online bike retailer, Formby Cycles tell you what you need to know:

What is Carb Cycling?

In the simplest terms, carb cycling is a method of adapting your carbohydrate intake to suit exercise levels so that you can maintain energy, burn fat and build muscle.

When you exercise, your body needs carbs to give it energy but by loading carbs on the days you work the hardest, you can make your body use those carbs efficiently.

This doesn’t mean altering your overall calorie intake dramatically, though it’s wise to cut down on fats, it means structuring your diet to include a mix of high and low carb days.

“Many assume that a healthy lifestyle requires eliminating carbs,” shares Lumen.me nutritionist Abigail Markman. “However, confining ourselves to carb restrictive diets for prolonged periods might inadvertently hamper our metabolic flexibility, and actually prevent us from reaching our health goals.”

What Does Carb Cycling Mean?

Carbs are one of the three macronutrients, along with protein and fat, that the body needs for energy. They provide fuel for the brain and muscles, so they are essential for overall health and well-being.

For this reason, people choose to vary their carbohydrate intake from day to day or strategically time their intake around activities (like exercise) where they need them, AKA carb cycling. As a result, the body becomes more efficient at using carbs for energy, and the metabolism becomes more flexible.

Here are some commonly asked questions about carbohydrates and their role in our diet:

How much carbohydrates do I need per day?

The amount of carbohydrates needed varies depending on individual factors such as metabolic health, activity levels, and personal goals. Lumen provides personalized daily recommendations based on real-time metabolic data to help you determine your optimal carbohydrate intake.

Why are carbs important in our diet?

Carbohydrates are essential for providing energy to the body as they are its preferred source of fuel. Additionally, carbs contain essential nutrients and support a healthy gut microbiome. While low-carb diets can be effective for weight loss, they may also disrupt the body’s ability to efficiently process carbohydrates, emphasizing the importance of including quality carbs in our diet.

What are examples of high-quality carbs?

High-quality carbohydrates are nutrient-dense and typically rich in fiber. Examples include whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. These foods provide a steady release of energy, help prevent blood sugar spikes, and contribute to a healthy gut microbiome.

What happens if you eat too few carbs?

Consuming too few carbohydrates can lead to nutrient deficiencies over time, particularly in essential nutrients such as calcium, vitamin D, magnesium, and phosphorus. These deficiencies can have long-term implications, particularly for bone health. If following a low-carb diet, it’s essential to include foods rich in soluble vitamins (folate and thiamin), selenium, magnesium, calcium, and iron to mitigate the risk of deficiencies.

Tip 1: Get a real understanding of your dietary intake by using an App like MyFitnessPal. See the top fitness apps for 2016.

What are the Benefits of Carb Cycling?

A low-carb diet is often the first port of call for anyone looking to shift a few pounds, but while it certainly works, it can deplete your energy stores to make your workout performance weak, focus poor and metabolism sluggish. Plus, after a few days or weeks it can just become really tedious.

This will make any cycling regime difficult to maintain.

With carb cycling, you combine exercise with a diet that has a carb count which varies by day. The benefit is that you don’t feel physically or psychologically robbed of the carbohydrates you crave, you’re able to sustain solid performance levels and you can force your metabolism into action.

On high carb days, your body will have the energy it needs to work hard, grow muscle mass and store the glycogen necessary for recovery. Try to make your most challenging rides on these days.

On low carb days, workouts may feel like hard work but the results make it worthwhile. Without the energy from carbs, your body is forced to burn fat stores but with this method, it won’t deplete muscle mass.

Plus, as you build muscles up, they will continue to burn calories efficiently while you rest.

Tip 2: Keeping your bike rides varied will help maintain motivation and generate the best results. 

What are the Disadvantages of Carb Cycling?

To get the best results from your carb cycling regime you need to think about your dietary intake and organise your exercise regime carefully. Prepare to do some serious planning.

Also, be prepared for weight fluctuations as you may gain water weight on high carb days. This can easily be mistaken for increased fat which can be discouraging but don’t worry, this will dissipate on the low carb days.

Tip 3: Fat loss may be the aim but between muscle gain and water weight fluctuations, weighing yourself is an inadequate measure of success.

Make a record of your measurements and take photos of yourself, then put them away somewhere for four weeks. Carb cycling works, you will feel the results and see them clearly if you don’t obsess about monitoring them too much.

What Kind of Carbs Are Best?

There are two types of carb: simple and complex and for the best carb cycling results, you need a diet rich in protein and complex carbohydrates.

Broken down by the body into glucose, they give you stable energy and blood sugar levels, an active metabolism and improved brain function. They also help you to feel full after eating, making it easier to avoid cravings and snacks.

Just some examples include sweet potato, couscous and kidney beans but you can find an extensive list of healthy foods at Body for Life.

Tip 4: Keep your diet interesting by getting creative with your cooking. There are thousands of free recipes online so step out of your comfort zone and try some new foods.

How Important is the Bike?

Carb cycling is as easy as riding a bike, right? Not necessarily.

It all depends on how good your bike is. To maintain an exercise regime your bike should be comfortable, have the drivetrain you need to ride efficiently on the terrain of your choice and be something you actually want to get out there and ride.

Tip 5: Buy the best possible bike you can on your budget

You can get great advice on choosing the right bike for your carb cycling workouts, online or instore from the friendly team at Formby Cycles.

Image Source