Can carb cycling help you lose weight?

When it comes to weight loss, it seems like carbs are always the bad guys. From fad diets that drastically slash carb intake (while championing fats and protein) to women-specific dietary prohibitions, carbohydrates are often the first casualty in the war against weight.

Enter: carb cycling. Formerly the strategy of athletes, it seems to be the next big easy answer to weight loss woes. But what is it? How are you supposed to do it? And with all the misinformation and fads, how can you know if this even works?

With the help of Accredited Sports Dietitian Lisa Middleton, we’ve sorted the fact from the fiction when it comes to carbs and using them responsibly.

The big idea behind ‘cycling’

As we said, carbs get a bad rap. But they’re important fuel for your workouts, so when you cut them out, it’s a whole lot harder to give 100 percent at the gym. Carb cycling is where you strategically scale the number of carbs you consume to power your workouts. So if you’re carb cycling daily, you plan a higher carb day before a big workout, then a lower carb day when you’re putting your feet up.

To make things more complex, there are also weekly and monthly/yearly approaches. Weekly carb cycling is used by athletes who need a big burst of energy once a week; say, a soccer player who has a match every Saturday. They would go carb-heavy on the day of the event, then deliberately plan a few low-carb, low-activity days afterward. Monthly or yearly carb cycling is for those tackling one major event, like a marathon. Most of the popular carb cycling diets take the simple daily approach because the major goal is efficient weight loss.

“People may find carb cycling helps them lose weight, but typically with a personalized meal plan from a dietitian, and a bit of trial and error,” Lisa says.

The ‘downhill’ of cycling

Carb cycling sounds like an easy weight loss tool (and the idea of some carb-heavy days can seem pretty inviting). After all, it makes sense: only take in the carbs that you need, and only when you need them. Adjust energy intake, encourage fat burn. Easy, right?

But in practice, carb cycling is a lot trickier. Energy needs and results vary by individual, which is why athletes seek personalized advice from a dietitian.

“People using carb cycling have to make sure they get the right amount for their body,” Lisa says. “Age, weight, sex, type of training, metabolic rate all affect the exact amount of carbs you need for high or low days.”

Any numbers-focused thinking that has you obsessing over macros on a daily basis will quickly feel restrictive. That’s a danger with undertaking carb cycling on your own.

“It may limit the variety of foods you eat,” Lisa says. “If you make your diet more complicated, you can fall back on easy, repetitive low-carb ‘standards’, and find it harder to get the fiber and nutrition you need.”