Many people know that carbohydrate is essential to our body, especially for fitness. Some believe that when they cut their carbohydrate intake, it’ll help them lose weight.
Carb Cycling has been gaining popularity among people. For people who are unfamiliar with the process, they check a Carb Cycling guide to start their journey.
People adjust their carb intake to optimize it. If they eat a lot of food with carbs today, they will increase it the next time.
However, is Carb Cycling effective? Let’s find out.
What Is Carb Cycling?
As mentioned, Carb Cycling is the process of fluctuating between low-carb and high-carb intake.
The most common approach is to eat fewer carbohydrates on non-workout days while eating more during workout days.
There are other ways for carb cycling, as some people do it in one day. They’ll eat foods with high carbs when they exercise but eat low carbs for the rest of the day.
How Does Carb Cycling Work?
Carb Cycling works amazingly in helping us in our weight loss programs and becoming healthier. Here are the things Carb Cycling does to our body:
Keeps your metabolism humming during fat loss
When you want to lose weight, the most common method is to reduce the food you eat.
Your body may respond in different ways. Some examples are dropping your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) and using less energy during exercise.
To see efficient results, you will need to reduce the amount of food you eat continuously. It won’t be easy to keep up, and in most cases, it could bounce back and gain more than before.
Carb Cycling prevents metabolic adaptation. Regular shifting from low-carb to high-carb allows your metabolism to keep from adapting.
It’ll be easier to lose weight and not worry about getting more fat.
Helps regulate hormones affected by weight loss
Dieting can affect your home, especially leptin, as it plays a crucial role in hunger and metabolic adaptation.
The higher your fat content is, the more leptin you have in your blood. This is key as it decides about calorie intake, energy use, and hunger.
If you reduce your food intake, even for just a few days, your leptin will also decrease. This means your brain will tell you to eat more to save you from starvation.
However, with Carb Cycling, your leptin level will temporarily rise as you eat calories from carbohydrates. You’ll feel a temporary decrease in your hunger and appetite.
Since there is little carb and high-calorie intake, your body can keep up to lower carb days. You can have fewer adverse effects related to hormones.
Easier to stick to a low-carb diet
People usually go for a low-carb diet when they want to lose weight. They eat less than 30% of calories from carbs in their daily food.
The ketogenic diet is one of the most common low-carb diets. It is low in carbohydrates and high in fat content. It is usually composed of 10% carb and 60% fat.
Although the keto diet can be very effective, many people, especially beginners, can’t keep their bodies from sticking to the diet plan.
Their mind and body would give up and return to their old eating habits.
Alternating low-carb and high-carb food intake allows your body to become more flexible. It’ll be easier to adapt and maintain a new eating habit, allowing you to be on the keto diet longer.
Promotes athletic performance on a low-carb diet
Athletes sometimes use the ketogenic diet. If their diet is fat-adapted, it’ll give them more fat content to burn during intense exercises and training.
Our body typically relies on carbohydrates to move, especially in endurance exercises. The carbohydrates are in the form of glycogen.
However, our body can only keep a certain amount of glycogen at a time. So if you do long workouts, you’ll eventually run out of carbohydrates, allowing you to slow down.
Most athletes eat 60 to 90 grams of carbohydrates per hour during performances. This gives them more fuel to compete.
When you do Carb Cycling, you allow your body to max out the glycogen you store. This will allow your body to have more fuel.
Shifting from low-carb to high-carb intake lets your body adapt from a keto diet to high-carb days.
The Bottomline
Carb Cycling is a helpful way to optimize your diet. It’ll allow your body to become more flexible in eating habits. You can have a more efficient weight loss process as your body won’t be shocked by the sudden change.
Sticking to a low-carb diet may help you lose weight, but your body might be unable to keep up. In the end, your body will suffer from the process.
So don’t put your body in a difficult state. Instead, shift to Carb Cycle; you’ll have a smoother weight loss and become healthier.
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