Carb Rotation - An In-depth Guide to Personalizing Your Diet - New Article!

[Joe Black]

Carb Rotation - An In-depth Guide to Personalizing Your Diet - New Article! by Steve Colescott

Carbohydrate rotation is most likely one of the most effective ways to manipulate your body composition.

It's so effective because it not only addresses all major hormonal systems, it's also incredibly adaptable to whatever your physique goals are.

Whether you are looking to gain some slabs of quality muscle or want to strip away unwanted body fat, this could be your ticket to reaching that 'beach body' more quickly.

Enjoy and discuss/ask any questions here!

[Jaccal]

Hi, Thank you for a great article!

Please can I ask, when working out your calories for the day do you use your present body weight or your projected goal body weight if you are on a fat loss program?

In other words, if I weigh 250lbs and at a projected 10% BF would/should weigh 200lbs, which value do I use to calculate the calories?

Thanks
Jacques

[4g64fiero]

Wow. That was really well explained.

I will now have to focus more on this!

[Davy_Baby9]

I'm loving all the articles on this site!

I have never done carb-cycling before because to me, it seemed kind of complicated. Well, this summer I want to be as lean as possible, so this seems like the way to go.

[cphafner]

Awesome, awesome article. I worked with Shelby earlier this winter, and this is very similar to what he set me up with. I am still following it, still gaining weight and strength but keeping my bodyfat in check. I am a big fan of carb cycling.

[Joe Black]

I'm loving all the articles on this site!

I have never done carb-cycling before because to me, it seemed kind of complicated. Well, this summer I want to be as lean as possible, so this seems like the way to go.

I was too worried about the complexity of it, but in reality it's no more complicated than any other diet and preperation is the key.

I am working with Shelby on a very simular carb cycling strategy. I have low, med and high days and have specific timing and macros for those days. I've basically built a template for each day with 2-3 different options for each meal and once you have done that it is just a case of planning 3 days at a time, cooking the food and eating it and as with anything after a while you are able to do it easier and without quite as much planning.

The one big thing I like about this is it means you can schedule your higher carb days around the hardest training sessions nand save the low ones for cardio/off days and as the article describes if you want to adjust things it can easily be done by swapping one day for another etc.

[Jaccal]

Hi, Thank you for a great article!

Please can I ask, when working out your calories for the day do you use your present body weight or your projected goal body weight if you are on a fat loss program?

In other words, if I weigh 250lbs and at a projected 10% BF would/should weigh 200lbs, which value do I use to calculate the calories?

Thanks
Jacques

[alin]

Allen Cress is great.
Carb cycling is great.

An article from Allen Cress on carb cycling is instant win.
Thanks for the great article. Everybody should read this. Carb cycling is the way to go.

[Joe Black]

Although Allen cress did not write it it's just his pic in the article..

[Steve Colescott]

Hi, Thank you for a great article!

Please can I ask, when working out your calories for the day do you use your present body weight or your projected goal body weight if you are on a fat loss program?

In other words, if I weigh 250lbs and at a projected 10% BF would/should weigh 200lbs, which value do I use to calculate the calories?

Thanks
Jacques

If you are new to dieting, go with your current bodyweight. (If you have been dieting recently, you probably have a good idea of you baseline caloric needs). Just cleaning up your diet should bring changes. The inherent adaptablilty of the diet can come into play there. At first you can decrease overall calorie level to start fat loss. When it plateaus, you can then adjust your ratio of low/medium/high days. Remember, the changes should always be subtle. You want to coax continued progress, not attempt to force it (which tends to lead to metabolic shutdown and burnout).

[Steve Colescott]

Wow. That was really well explained.

Thank you!

[Steve Colescott]

I'm loving all the articles on this site!

I have never done carb-cycling before because to me, it seemed kind of complicated. Well, this summer I want to be as lean as possible, so this seems like the way to go.

It is complicated, but so is the body. There are some people that mentally respond better to a relatively static diet (the same thing every day until that no longer works or you need to adjust portion sizes). There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Carb rotation has a few added benefits: 1) it is adaptable as hell, 2) you don't tend to feel as restricted. Dying for Leggo waffles? Have one on your high carb day but try to use good sources as much as possible for the rest, 3) it encourages strength gains and recovery by giving you more carbs on your heavy squat and deadlift days, 4) glycogen gets reloaded and even superloaded after a couple low carb days, 5) some potentially cool hormonal stuff: increased insulin sensitivity, leptin optimization, glucagon and GH working on lowcarb days. The more I think of it, the more perks there are.

If simplicity is important to you, (and I under stand this, I like simple workouts with strength goals in one or two exercises a session with some assistance moves added in), then stick with a straight forward reduced-carb, high-protein, high-fiber fatloss diet. If you want to build muscle, get lean and strong and not get burnt out in the process, Carb Rotation might be worth trying.

[Davy_Baby9]

It is complicated, but so is the body. There are some people that mentally respond better to a relatively static diet (the same thing every day until that no longer works or you need to adjust portion sizes). There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Carb rotation has a few added benefits: 1) it is adaptable as hell, 2) you don't tend to feel as restricted. Dying for Leggo waffles? Have one on your high carb day but try to use good sources as much as possible for the rest, 3) it encourages strength gains and recovery by giving you more carbs on your heavy squat and deadlift days, 4) glycogen gets reloaded and even superloaded after a couple low carb days, 5) some potentially cool hormonal stuff: increased insulin sensitivity, leptin optimization, glucagon and GH working on lowcarb days. The more I think of it, the more perks there are.

If simplicity is important to you, (and I under stand this, I like simple workouts with strength goals in one or two exercises a session with some assistance moves added in), then stick with a straight forward reduced-carb, high-protein, high-fiber fatloss diet. If you want to build muscle, get lean and strong and not get burnt out in the process, Carb Rotation might be worth trying.

Awesome. I'm def going to try it. With college full time, and work full time it's hard to remember some stuff, that's what I was getting at. Today in class I worked on an Excel spreadsheet that had all the aspects of that article plus what I had to eat to reach those protein, carb, and fat totals for each day. It would def help keeping track each day with something in front of me until I get the hang of it.

[cphafner]

Steve how important do you think carb sources are? Especially on high carb days. I worked with Shelby earlier this year, and try to only stick to his preferred carb sources. Just curious your thoughts on food choices.

[alin]

Although Allen cress did not write it it's just his pic in the article..

Hah! Well, makes no difference really. Thanks for the awesome article.

[Steve Colescott]

Steve how important do you think carb sources are? Especially on high carb days. I worked with Shelby earlier this year, and try to only stick to his preferred carb sources. Just curious your thoughts on food choices.

Shelby is full of crap! What the hell does he know?

Just kidding. Shelby is the man and someone I consider a new but very good friend. Diet is very individual, both on the basis of how the particular athlete handles carbs and how the person mentally handles a diet, which is why working with someone like Shelby that does personalized diet is a smart move.

On a contest diet, I would stick with the core clean carbs we all know about (rice, sweet potatoes, oatmeal, etc.). In the off-season, you can use your high carb days to throw in limited amounts of whatever food is "singing its sweet siren song" your way. Just keep it in moderation.

Gluttony is consuming for the enjoyment of consumption, and something we, as Americans, seem to have perfected. When eating the occassional dessert, eat it slowly and savor each bite as much as you do the very first one. If you have ever seen a fat person with eyes as glazed the the snack in front of them, you know what I mean by someone eating to fulfill an emnotional need to eat, rather than providing good nutrition or enjoying something delicious.

[Travis Bell]

Steve, thanks for posting here. Excellent information

[Joe Black]

When eating the occassional dessert, eat it slowly and savor each bite as much as you do the very first one

Ha ha, man I have to work at this one.........

[shelbystarnes]

Great article as usual, Steve. Hopefully we'll get to see more of your work here soon.

[Off Road]

Great article as usual, Steve. Hopefully we'll get to see more of your work here soon.

Nice to see you posting here

[shelbystarnes]

Nice to see you posting here

I'm starting to get the hang of these computer things.

[cphafner]

Awesome to have you here Shelby. Your offseason has been very impressive!

Conor

[Steve Colescott]

Great article as usual, Steve. Hopefully we'll get to see more of your work here soon.

I suspected you might browse through here. That's why i thought I'd poke you with a stick a bit on my earlier response.

[CleverName]

The link is 404'd right now... can we get it back up?

[Joe Black]

aware of this problem, fixing now!