Many people are looking to create a carb cycling menu to help them to stay on track so they’ll be able to lose weight with greater ease, healthfulness and convenience. While the idea sounds simple enough, when you’re new to the strategy, it can feel like you’re facing a rather daunting task.
The whole concept of creating a carb cycling menu actually comes from bodybuilding. Once a bodybuilder has built up a lot of muscle, the next step is often to burn off the remaining layer of fat in order to make sure the muscles have the greatest definition. After all, the efforts to bulk up with muscles don’t show results nearly as clearly when a layer of fat is covering them up. Therefore, many bodybuilders would use alternating days of foods that are low in carbohydrates and then normal eating days, in order to gain the fat burning results they want, without sacrificing their health or their muscle building.
That said, forming a carb cycling menu is hardly a task that can exclusively benefit bodybuilders. Everyday dieters can also take advantage of the ability to continue to eat higher carb foods while still losing weight, provided that it’s done properly.
The standard formula alternates between high-carb and low-carb meals, each day for six days. Then, on the seventh day, it’s considered a time for reward meals. That said, the actual meal strategy that works best for you will depend on your personal weight loss and fitness goals. For example, many people whose main goal is losing weight will find that having five days per week that are low-carb, with two high-carb days splitting it up, is the most effective balance.
Once you know that, you can select the foods you want to add to your menu. For example, while many people feel that low-carb days means that they should simply fuel up on meat, and then on the high-carb days, they should chow down on pasta, that’s not necessarily the best way to look at it. Instead, higher carb-days should be made up of legumes, whole grains and fruits. On the lower carb days, lean meats such as chicken, as well as fish, eggs, or tofu, can be a great complement to non-starchy veggies.
Of course, it’s all well and good to create a meal menu made of these foods but don’t let yourself down by forgetting about snack time. Having options available between meals will also make sure you don’t end up letting your hunger guide you to the wrong selections.
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