 Hi friends, welcome back to my channel and a very special welcome if you're new here. My name is Jen. I'm a certified weight loss and nutrition coach and I'm on WW personal points. Happy Sunday. I am back with the second video in my little cycling series. A couple of weeks ago, I put out a video all about calorie cycling and how it's beneficial for weight loss. In that video, I talked about carb cycling and how I do both calorie cycling and carb cycling. So today, we're going to deep dive into what is carb cycling and how is it beneficial for weight loss. If you're new to my channel, I've lost over 125 pounds. The majority of that weight loss has come from counting calories, sticking to a protein goal, calorie cycling and carb cycling. So if you're excited to hear all about the benefits of carb cycling and weight loss, give this video a big thumbs up, subscribe if you're not because I upload five videos a week. I talk all about the best and healthiest and sustainable ways to see weight loss down in the description box. You'll find all of the information that I shared with you today. My nutrition coaching website where I offer personalized macros and calories, including your carbohydrate goal every day to be successful. Like I mentioned, following my personal calorie and protein goal is what has been most successful for me when it comes to losing weight and maintaining that weight loss. I offer one-on-one coaching if you would like to chat with me directly, links, discounts to my favorite healthy things and of course come on over, join our Facebook group. We'd love to have you. So let's jump into all about carb cycling and how it's beneficial for weight loss. First let's define what is carb cycling in a nutshell. What that means is on some days you eat more carbs than others. So you take your carbohydrate goal for the week and you cycle it throughout the week with some higher carb days and some lower carb days. Before we deep dive into this, I want to make it absolutely clear that carbs are not the number one enemy or number two enemy. Carbs are essential for a healthy diet, for weight loss and for energy. They help fuel your brain and your body, especially when you're in a calorie deficit. If you work out, carbs are essential for muscle building as well as sustained energy to finish your workout, but eating too many carbs can be detrimental for weight loss. That's why carb cycling is such a valuable tool when it comes to losing weight and even maintaining your weight loss. So like I mentioned, the nutshell of carb cycling is having some higher carb days and some lower carb days. So for example, maybe you have three high carb days a week and four low carb days a week. Now for me, what I do is I have higher carbs on the days that I strength train. So the days that I'm lifting weights, I have higher carb days. The days that I'm just taking a walk or have a rest day, I have lower carb days. Higher carbs help fuel your workout, also help you recover, build muscle and give you sustained energy. So it makes sense to have those higher carb days on the days that you're a little bit more active. Now the exact number of carbs that you need every day is personal. That's why I offer personalized macros and calories and I give you your personalized carb goal every day. There's a lot of factors that play into how many carbs you should be having every day. Some of those factors are your weight, your muscle mass, your goals and even your activity levels. And active women looking to lose weight, taking on carb cycling on a day to day basis has been proven to be extremely beneficial. So how exactly does it work? Let's go back to eating a little bit higher carbs or having higher carb days on the days that you're a little bit more active. Maybe you go to the gym or you're training for a race or you're taking an extra long walk in the beautiful weather outside. Your body will immediately reach for carbohydrates for energy to sustain you through that workout. It comes through carbs along with fat, not protein when it comes to boosting your activity. So it's important to have a higher fast digesting carb snack or meal prior to working out. One of my favorite go-tos pre-workout is a rice cake with some American dream nut butter. It's a fast acting carbohydrate with protein and fats, which is the perfect combination to help boost my workout. When our bodies reach for carbs and fat storage for energy, it allows our protein to remain in place to help rebuild our muscles after our workout. So it's really the trifecta for exercise is having carbs and fats and allowing your body to use the protein to rebuild your muscle. But maybe on days that you're sitting on the couch more or it's a little bit less active day for you, your body doesn't need as many carbohydrates because again, your body reaches for carbohydrates first for energy. And when we're doing less throughout the day or we're less busy and less active, we need less energy. Now those are the days that you can utilize lower carbs. On these days, your body is going to turn to fat for energy rather than carbohydrates. And remember, we want to burn fat. We want to have fat loss. So we're not mad that our body's reaching for fat for energy instead of carbs on those less active days. So can carb cycling actually help you lose weight? Unlike your fat and protein intake, your carb needs actually vary from one day to the next. When you swap simple carbs for protein and veggies, it becomes trickier to overeat. Most of us don't binge on broccoli and chicken. So that also will help your waistline. So is carb cycling safe? Is it truly safe for everyone? Technically yes, when it's done properly, we want to make sure that we're not restricting or eliminating or putting any foods as off limits. Remember food does not have a moral value. You're not good because you ate salad and you're not bad because you ate pizza and no food is bad or good. So if done properly, if making sure that your carbs are coming from fast acting carbohydrates pre-workout and then slow digesting carbohydrates for the rest of the day, things like quinoa and brown rice and oatmeal, now fast acting carbs for reference or things like rice cakes, chips, cookies, candies, those are absolutely okay and they're actually beneficial before you do your workout. But you want to follow up your workout or your activity with slow digesting carbs for the rest of the day. As our body is digesting those carbohydrates, it's using energy, a.k.a. burning calories, which puts us more in a calorie deficit, which leads to more weight loss. So it's beneficial to have both fast acting and slow digesting carbohydrates as part of carb cycling. And remember, nothing's off limits, no food is bad or good. So there's no one size fits all plan for weight loss and there's no one size fits all plan for carb cycling, but it's very easy to figure out higher carb and lower carb days. So for ease of math, let's say that you're allowed 100 grams of carbohydrates every day, which side note is pretty low. Most people eat over 100 grams of carbs every day. So over the course of a week, which is seven days, you'll be consuming 700 grams of carbohydrates. Let's say that three days a week, you want to have higher carb days. You want to eat 150 grams of carbohydrates three days a week using up 450 of your 700 weekly carbs. What you're going to do is take 700 minus the 450 carbs that you're eating on your high carb days, divide that by the remaining days of the week, which is four. And that is your carbohydrate goal for the remaining four days of the week. That way you have your three high carb days and your four lower carb days. And at the end of the week, you've eaten your carbohydrate goal of 700 grams. So just like calorie cycling, it's very easy to figure out high carb days versus low carb days. And at the end of the week, you're within your carbohydrate range for weight loss. So now that you know that carb cycling is beneficial for weight loss, it's healthy for most individuals if done properly. And you know how to figure out high versus low carb days. What the heck do you eat when you're carb cycling? So first let's talk about what does a high carb day look like? A big portion of your calories is going to be coming from carbs on a higher carb day. And chances are your high carb days are going to be days that you're a little more active. So make sure that you're choosing the right carbs, those fast acting carbs pre-workout, those slower digesting carbs post-workout. Now on a lower carb day, it's going to look significantly different. You're going to try swapping a serving or two of your carbs during the day for a little bit leaner protein option or maybe some fruits and vegetables. Again, take your number of grams per day times it by seven and figure out how many high carb days that you want to have in a week. Now for reference, I have four high carb days a week because I strength train or work out in the gym lifting weights pretty heavily four days a week. So I like to make sure that I'm fueling my body with enough carbohydrates pre-post and during my workout. So those four days a week are my high carb days and the remaining three days of the week when I'm a little less active are my lower carb days. I want to give you some menu ideas for a higher carb day. These are just general menus just to give you a few extra ideas on how you can create what you're eating on your high carb days. So your breakfast may be something like half a cup of old fashioned oats cooked with one cup of 1% milk and apple or banana and a couple tablespoons of chopped walnuts. For lunch, you could use a sandwich with two slices of whole wheat bread, four ounces of deli turkey, a fifth of an avocado and some mustard. You could toss in three ounces of raw carrots and a couple tablespoons of hummus as a side. For dinner, you may choose two ounces of whole wheat pasta tossed with tomato basil sauce, sliced zucchini and four ounces of lean ground beef. Half of an ounce of dark chocolate for dessert would make the perfect dinner. That's a total of about 1500 calories and you can see that there's 177 grams of carbs, 83 grams of protein and 58 grams of fat. So this is a high carb day compared to protein and fat. You can also throw in a couple of optional snacks like two whole grain crispbreads with two laughing cow Swiss cheese wedges. That's going to give you a nice well rounded day, including all three meals and at least one snack. Now let's shift over to a lower carb day. For breakfast, you may choose two egg whites plus two eggs scrambled with one handful of baby spinach and topped with one slice of mozzarella cheese, a cup of strawberries as a side. Now for lunch, we're swapping the sandwich for a spinach salad topped with four ounces of cooked wild salmon, low starch veggie like tomato, cucumber or peppers, two teaspoons of olive oil and two teaspoons of balsamic vinegar. We'll pair that with six ounces of Greek yogurt. Now for dinner, we're going to do four ounces of grilled chicken with one and a half cups of roasted asparagus and a cup of butternut squash cooked with two teaspoons of oil for some healthy fats. Now this calorie total is only about a thousand calories a day, which is very low for most people. But look at the carb versus protein versus fat. 63 grams of carbs, 102 grams of protein and 32 grams of fat. So this is definitely a higher protein, lower carb day. And for an optional snack this day, you may choose to have a hard boiled egg. So you can see that a higher carb day versus a lower carb day, what your macros at the end of the day end up being. And remember macros are protein, carbs and fats. On your high carb days, the majority of your calories come from carbs. On your low carb day, the majority of calories come from protein. So that's just a couple of different menu ideas for you. Of course, make sure you're eating the foods that you enjoy and you're structuring your meals to fit into your personalized macros. So does carb cycling help with weight loss? Absolutely. By adjusting your carbohydrates based on your activity, not only are you giving your body what it needs for energy, but you're also giving your body enough protein on the days that you're not as active and it doesn't need as many carbohydrates. Now, do you have to carb cycle to lose weight? No, as long as you're in a calorie deficit and you eat enough protein in a balanced, healthy diet, you're still going to see weight loss. For me, I find that this works better for me for weight loss, but also for satiety, especially on days that I'm lifting weights and a lot more active. I need that extra bit of energy from carbohydrates. Carbs are not bad, food is not bad or good, it has no moral value and make sure that you're fueling your body for your activity level. Every body is different. That's why it's incredibly important to have your personalized macros and calories done so you know exactly what you should be eating every day and how you should structure your carb cycling. Now, let me know down in the comments if you have any questions when it comes to carb cycling or if you've been carb cycling, how's it working for you? Have you found it to be beneficial? Let us know everything down in the comments. And if you enjoyed today's video and you found it helpful, give it a big thumbs up. Make sure you're subscribed and your bells turned on because I upload five videos every week and check out the description box for nutrition coaching, personalized macros and calories. Again, highly recommend. Links and discounts to my favorite things and of course, come on over, join our Facebook group. We would love to have you. Thank you so much for watching. I hope this was helpful and I'll see you in the next one. Bye.