My carb cycling diet

[Nate Dawg]

I made up a carb cycling diet, not necessarily going for a bulk as I dont really want to add any fat, but Im not looking to cut seriously either if that makes sense lol, just try and put on some muscle and stay lean. On a side note, I am on my 6th week of pct from a 7 month AAS cycle and it is actually going quite well, just thought I would let you know where I am standing as far as that goes. I set up the diet with 3 high carb days, 2 moderate days, and 2 low days. The high carb days I have set at 400-425g carbs/day, moderate is 300-320g/day, and low is 200-220g/day. Two of the high days are on training days, one is on a non training day, one of the moderate days is on a training day with the other being a non training day, both low carb days are on non training days...training 3 times a week. Using the Benedicts formula my BMR is like 2050 cals, weighing about 198 in the mornings. I am not that active during the day, other than walking to class, probably mon-fri walk a total of about 10 miles with all the walking combined, dont know how many calories that really accounts for. I have my protein intake pretty high, could probably be lower, but this is where it is at now. I have added a couple servings of broccoli a day to my diet, so the veggies are in there lol, just havent accounted for it yet in my macro breakdown as it doesnt count for much really. Here is the diet:

High Carb Day

Meal 1:
20 oz fat free milk
2 scoops whey protein
6 egg whites
1 cup oats

Totals: 890 calories/ 102g protein/90g carbs

Meal 2:
2 cups lowfat cottage cheese
1/2 bagel

Totals: 480 calories/ 53g protein/ 43g carbs

Meal 3:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
1 whole wheat bagel

Totals: 640 calories/ 70g protein/ 47g carbs

Meal 4:
2 cans tuna
2 TBSP olive oil

Totals: 540 calories/ 66g protein/ 0g carbs

Meal 5: (Pre Workout)
2 scoops whey
1 cup oats

Totals: 540 calories/ 58g protein/ 60g carbs

Meal 6: (Post Workout)
2.5 scoops whey
Vitargo

Totals: 590 calories/ 60g protein/ 83g carbs

Meal 7:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
1 cup brown rice

Totals: 740 calories/ 68g protein/ 70g protein

Meal 8:
20 oz milk
6 egg whites
1 scoop protein

Totals: 470 calories/ 68g protein/ 33g carbs

Daily Totals: 4890 calories/ 545g protein/ 426g carbs

Percentage Breakdown: 45%P/35%C/20%F

Moderate Carb Day

Meal 1:
20 oz fat free milk
2 scoops whey protein
6 egg whites
1/2 cup oats

Totals: 740 calories/ 97g protein/ 63g carbs

Meal 2:
2 cups lowfat cottage cheese
1 wholewheat bagel

Totals: 600 calories/ 58g protein/ 67g carbs

Meal 3:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
1 cup rice

Totals: 740 calories/ 68g protein/ 70g carbs

Meal 4:
2 cans tuna
broccoli
1 TBSP olive oil

Totals: 510 calories/ 66g protein/ 24g carbs

Meal 5:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
1/2 cup rice

Totals: 570 calories/ 64g protein/ 35g carbs

Meal 6:
2 cans tuna
2 TBSP olive oil

Totals: 540 calories/ 66g protein/ 0g carbs

Meal 7:
20oz fat free milk
6 egg whites
1 scoop whey protein

Totals: 470 calories/ 68g protein/ 33g carbs

Daily Totals: 4170 calories/ 487g protein/ 292g carbs

Percentange Breakdown: 47%P/28%C/25%F

Low Carb Day

Meal 1:
20 oz fat free milk
6 egg whites
2 scoops whey
1/2 cup oats

Totals: 740 calories/ 97g protein/ 63g carbs

Meal 2:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
1 wholewheat bagel

Totals: 640 calories/ 70g protein/ 47g carbs

Meal 3:
2 cans tuna
1 cup rice

Totals: 640 calories/ 74g protein/ 70g carbs

Meal 4:
8oz beef (George Foreman and patted dry)
2 TBSP olive oil

Totals: 640 calories/ 60g protein/ 0g carbs

Meal 5:
20 oz fat free milk
6 egg whites
1 scoop whey protein

Totals: 470 calories/ 68g protein/ 33g carbs

Daily Totals: 3130 calories/ 369g protein/ 213g carbs

Percentage Breakdown: 47%P/27%C/26%F

So thats pretty much what I have it set up like, when I was on the IGF I was leaning out good with this, but lately I have been sneaking a bit too much Chipotle or something, and the occasional oatmeal cream pie pre workout for a boost (I swear it helps lol), seem to be putting on just a tad bit of excess bodyfat..I'm gonna see what its like in a week or two and probably adjust from there. Anybody that has any advice or has ran a diet like this I would like to hear from, I am looking for all opinions and suggestions, they will be greatly appreciated!
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[The Godfather]

I thin kthe diet looks good because if you have a 3200kcal maintenance than you are ending up with a 534kcal/day surplus averaged from the week's intake.

My only ocmment would be as you mentioned the protein is on the excessive side and thta it is unneccesarily high. I think subsituting some with fat could be beneficial. You may want to add in some natty peanut butter or replace the beef one day with some salmon.

Also egg yolks would be a very good addition due to their AA contnet and other goodies in them

I think this will be beneficial in terms of optimal hormone production and you should not avoid saturated fat too much as again some saturated fta imo is very good on a bulk.

 

[Ubiquitous]

I like it Nate.. I carb cycle myself, with great success.. I add a couple NO carb days in succession with mine.. my high carb days aren't as high, but that's just me. Good breakdown. I'm going to come off of a long one myself in about 8 weeks.

BTW, I'll get back to your PM on the other site.. I totally flaked..

 

[ktw]

Wouldn't milk be a bad source of carbs considering it is fairly insulogenic?

 

[Nate Dawg]

I am drinking it more for the protein it has, most dairy products are pretty low GI, but if I was doing a serious cut I would definitely cut the milk out to reduce some of the bloat. Last summer I did that, cut out the milk, and was surprised by how much it actually bloats you.

 

[ktw]

correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't gi not directly influence how insulogenic a product is, as illustrated on the insulin index?

 

[The Godfather]

correct me if i'm wrong, but doesn't gi not directly influence how insulogenic a product is, as illustrated on the insulin index?

Some foods have a much higher II than would be expected from their GI. Here is a quote from II study:

"protein-rich foods and bakery products (rich in fat and refined carbohydrate) elicited insulin responses that were disproportionately higher than their glycemic responses."

Here's a link to a study on the milk issue http://www.thepaleodiet.com/articles/Milk%20Final.pdf

 

[ktw]

so by looking at the study you posted, it would be a bad idea to take in so much milk and be constantly elevating insluin levels for extended periods of time during the day. You could replace the milk with cottage cheese and eliminate that consequence

 

[The Godfather]

http://www.mendosa.com/insulin_index.htm

As you can read there the study authors say that even meat, fish and eggs which have negligible amounts of carbohydrates lead to a rise in insulin and that all dairy has a high II but a low GI so cottage cheese would be the same.

Insulin has been excessively demonised by the ketogenic proponents. You can lose weight on a calorie controlled diet with significant amounts of carbohydrates and you can also gain fat without the ingestion of carbs both of which will tell you that insulin is not the be-all or end-all of weight loss/gain.

 

[milwood]

Looks solid; well thought out, simple, based on whole foods, good macronutrient breakdowns. Since you're not cutting per se, your 3+2+2 with 3 as high carb days should be fine. I guess most people's CC diets I've seen were for a cut, so more emphasis would be on low and no carb days. Good luck---report back on your findings! :thumbsup:

 

[ktw]

just wondering, what is your bodyfat at 198lbs?

 

[Nate Dawg]

Probably 7-9%...not for sure really, have vascularity in abs and quads, and those are two places bf has to be relatively low to have vascularity there, especially for me since I am not normally very vascular. Dont know if that helps any?

 

[ktw]

I was just wondering, cuz I'm 200 even at about 16% and need to lose some fat and wanted to try carb cycling. I noticed in another thread that you train for powerlifting, which is something I am doing at the moment. Does the carb cycling affect your strength?

 

[Beelzebub]

nate, if gaining weight is an issue for you, carb cycling may not be the best answer right now. my suggestion, keep that high carb diet for about a month, eating it everyday, and see where the scale goes. JMO.

 

[Nate Dawg]

ktw- well I have been on this diet for about 10 days now, been taking the past 10 days kinda easy in the gym, just started hitting it hard again today, was taking it easy since it was time to deload and I was starting to get fried. So with that, I cant really tell you for sure, I think it shouldnt affect it too much, I would put the high days on your most important training days, for example my high carb days are mon/tues/wed and on monday I bench etc...and on wednesday I squat/dl etc...friday is set up as a moderate carb day and that is my other training day, so I dont train on any of the low carb days.

Looking back now, I kinda did carb cycling without even realizing it, because on training days and non training days I would eat basically the same meals and everything, but on training days I have the preworkout shake and postworkout shake, so on workout days I was taking in around 130g more carbs than non training days. Never really had any low carb days though, so I dont know how much it could be considered as carb cycling, but that is one thing I realized when I look back on my past diet.

Beelze, it would probably be a better idea for me to just stick with that high carb day and see what happens. The reason I decided to try carb cycling is to stay lean and possibly loose a little fat, but not being on any "assistance" at the moment, I dont think it is possible to put on size and lean out, so I would be better off just bulking. The reason I wanted to lean out some is that I feel so frickin small, and I would rather be small and lean than feel small and fat lol, I dunno....yeah I have dropped to 195 by today, so friday I weighed in at 198, and today I weighed in at 195...wtf is up with that! I think since I have taken the past week off the gym for the most part my muscle glycogen levels could have dropped and lost some water with it....thats what I'm telling myself at least..

Thanks for all the help and opinions, feel free to add more!

 

[ktw]

I usually train sunday, tuesday and thursday, but do the light mma work listed above monday, wednesday and occasionally friday. I was thinking of doing like 400grams on workout days, and just doing the light mma days as normal days, then weekend days as slightly lower days, but never dipping below 300 grams so as not to effect my strength. I always eat whole meals, rarely do I ever do shakes besides pwo, and after my mma workouts. Do you think this would sound like a decent start with carb cycling?

 

[Beelzebub]

nate, i don't believe you'll get fat with that diet, even with high carb. you obviously have a fast metabolism, i don't see you getting fat with it anytime soon.

 

[ktw]

anyone have any feedback on my idea? sorry to hijack your thread.

 

[Beelzebub]

ktw, start a thread and post your diet with questions. it's not polite to thread jack.

 

[ktw]

i did, not many replies, but i thought m y question was relevant given this was a carb cycling diet thread

 

[knox]

What you gots to do is eliminate all brown rice intake and other low gi carbs and replace them with your oatmeal cream pies. That is what i would do.:thumbsup:

 

[Hbs6]

i dont know if anybody is still paying attention to this thread, but nate, hows the carb cycling going? Still on it? I am cutting so I am doing it slightly below mant and a little different then yours, but how do you like it? THanks!