Lean Mass Gain + Fat Loss = Carb Cycling

[WhiteLightning]

I figured that since I often suggest to people that they should check out the carb cycling diet (as presented by T-nation.com), and that since the layout on the page appears so overwhelming to most, I'd post my simple and easy to use calculator for anyone interested in trying the diet out. It's not keto and allows a lot of carbohydrate, IMO.

I know that it worked for me. I successfully gained 9 pounds of muscle and lost 14 pounds of fat using this diet. Magic, no. Worth trying, yes.

I still highly recommend reading the original article in its entirety, in order to understand how to properly use the diet, and how it works.

Update(v5)[4-2-09]: This may be my final release of the spreadsheet, unless I choose to add a section to calculate a maintenance diet. I also remembered to bring the "Female" page up to date, as I had previously left all improvements off of it.

UPDATE (v8)[8-8-09]: The file labeled "Lightning's Carb Cycling v8" is the new version which has customizable ratios of CHO/Fat/Protein, greater aesthetic appeal, maintenance diet calculator, updated female page, additional caloric information display (including projected weekly weight loss calculator) and a macronutrient tracker to help you figure out how many grams of each macronutrient you have left to eat for the day, just in case you can't calculate all of your meals.

UPDATE (MetaHuman release)[11-11-09]: MetaHuman has provided us with a very clean, very simple, spreadsheet, complete with all of the features of the version 8 release. I highly recommend it. If you do have any questions about it, post them here. Thanks, MH!

LINKS for WHITEBELTS/DUBS:

CarbCycling Decoder (MetaHuman Release)

[byukid]

what program runs .xlsx?

[ciscokid1024]

Cool! It works for me on MS Excel.

Thanks!

[ciscokid1024]

Should the good fat be really low for the Fat Loss Diet?

Mine caculates out to under a gram of good fat per meal.

That seems to low...

[ciscokid1024]

Edit: Double so I will post a link to the article:

T-Nation.com | Carb Cycling Codex

[WhiteLightning]

That's one thing I noticed about it. The amount of fat is completely dictated by your activity level, whereas carbohydrate intake is function of bodyweight. Some tweaking may be necessary. For me, having an activity level of about 1.6 I was eating about 60 or 70 grams a day. You could probably exchange some protein and carbohydrate for fat, as both are a function of bodyweight. I'd scoop a little protein off as it's set for 1.5g/lb of bodyweight. Also noteworthy is that Thibaudeau recommends an upper limit of ~15% bodyfat for users of the diet.

Hope that helps.

[toastyy]

so i am confused...

do you cycle between each days? have one week of each high medium and low?

[WhiteLightning]

I do it this way: I have 2 heavy lifting days, so those are my high carb days. I usually do 2 dynamic/high rep days, where I don't lift as heavy, so those are moderate carb days. My 3 off days are low carb days. Anyone using the diet is supposed to have 2 high carb days, 2 moderate carb days, and 3 low carb days each week, and prioritize them accordingly.

[Vedic]

Ahhhh the carb cycling days. I have used tha approach in the past. Although it was different than you describe.

[WhiteLightning]

Nice. If it's got Vedic's stamp of approval, it's gotta be good.