A free carb cycling meal plan for endomorph female is exactly what you need to kick-start your journey to lose weight naturally with ease. It’s time to ditch the restrictive diets and unhealthy short-cuts. You are here because you want to lose weight. You have heard of a low carb diet plan and are looking for some ideas to incorporate it into a healthy lifestyle. Well, my friend, you have come to the right place.
Carb Cycling for Beginners
GENERAL
Carb cycling is a part of most nutrition plans written by fitness and nutrition professionals, even if the term is not specifically used. Like most diets, carb cycling is a form of calorie restriction. The foremost principle of weight loss is you need to expend more calories than you consume to see the scale drop.
When dietitians, nutritionists or personal trainers talk about carb cycling, they refer to the manipulation of the amounts of the body’s 3 macronutrients: protein, carbohydrates, and fats. We determine the amounts of each based on your bodyweight, body fat-to-muscle ratio, and the frequency and intensity of your workouts.
Carb Cycling: Getting to Know Your Macronutrients
Macronutrients, or macros, are the building blocks of the foods we eat. (Micronutrients are the vitamins and minerals.) Macronutrients are classified as carbohydrates, protein, and fats. Let’s dive into each one.
WHAT ARE CARBOHYDRATES?
The components of carbohydrates are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. In their original form, most carbohydrates come from plants.
There are two types of carbohydrates: simple and complex.
SIMPLE VS. COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES
Simple carbohydrates break down quickly in the body due to their lack of fibre. They raise our blood sugar rapidly, forcing the pancreas to make more insulin.
Complex carbohydrates are a healthier option and more suitable for weight loss diets due to their fibre content which slows the rise in blood sugar.
COMPLEX CARBOHYDRATES TO INCLUDE IN YOUR DIET
When thinking about carb cycling, it’s important to add healthy, complex carbohydrates to your meals. Here are some of the best ones to eat.
- Organic starchy vegetables such as sweet potatoes, squashes and yams.
- Gluten free grains such as rice, oats, buckwheat and quinoa.
- Low GI fruits such as berries, apples and kiwis.
Squash is a healthy carbohydrate that you can include in your carb cycling diet plan. Photo by Kim Daniels/Unsplash.
WHAT IS PROTEIN?
Protein is made from complex macromolecules that contain carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, and are composed of one or more chains of amino acids. These amino acids are broken down in the digestive system. Your body uses them for the essential growth and repair of tissues, and as a secondary energy source.
Animal sources are referred to as ‘complete proteins’ (meaning they contain all 20-22 amino acids). Plant sources are ‘incomplete’ as they do not contain all the amino acids.
HEALTHY PROTEIN CHOICES
To get the most out of your protein, choose wisely. These are the proteins that I recommend my clients add to their diet.
- Organic, lean cuts of meat
- Wild caught fish.
- Pasture raised eggs
- Organic, full fat dairy
- Beans, pulse legumes
- Whey and Vegan protein powders
WHAT IS DIETARY FAT?
Fats consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Dietary fat supplies us with essential fatty acids (known as linoleic and linolenic acid) that can’t be made by the body.
Fat is vital in our diets. It aids the absorption of certain vitamins, helps brain development and protects our organs. It’s also the body’s second-most-preferred source of energy.
HEALTHY FATS TO EAT
It is important to avoid trans fatty acids and hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated fats. These can all have negative effects on health.
Healthy fat choices include:
- Avocado
- Coconut oil
- Pasture raised butter
- Nuts and nut butter
Why Carbs Matter for Weight Loss and Fat Loss
When looking at any kind of diet for weight loss, choosing foods that have the most ‘bang for your buck’ (the most nutrient dense foods) is of utmost importance. When calories are restricted, the quality of those calories are essential. This isn’t just true for weight loss. It also matters for energy, stress levels, good sleep, and beautiful hair, skin and nails. Choose single-ingredient, unprocessed foods that are organic and in season.
Carbohydrate intake is usually the first variable changed when dieting for fat loss. Reducing carbs can cause a drop in weight for a number of reasons.
- It automatically reduces calories
- It limits the amount of processed foods consumed
- It’s effective if a client is showing signs of insulin resistance
WHAT HAPPENS IN YOUR BODY WHEN YOU EAT CARBS?
When you eat any type of carbohydrate, your blood sugar rises, followed by the release of insulin from the pancreas.
The insulin is released to enable the sugar (energy) to get into the muscle cells. Insulin literally ‘unlocks’ the cells to enable energy in.
Insulin resistance is the body’s inability to handle carbs efficiently, when blood sugar is raised too quickly. Too often, the body is unable to handle the amount of energy being produced, it is unable to ‘get in’ to fuel the cells, and therefore is stored as fat.
BUT, NOT ALL CARBS ARE BAD
And not all carbs are created equally, either. Refined, processed carbs (white bread, donuts, cookies,) raise blood sugar very quickly. These should not be consumed on a regular basis.
Carbohydrates such as sweet potato, oats, squashes and whole grains can be eaten as part of a healthy diet and have some great nutritional benefits.
Whole grains are good carbs that can be included in your carb cycling diet plan. Photo by Wesual Click/Unsplash.
Carb Cycling Is Better Than a Low-Carb Diet
There is no doubt a low-carbohydrate diet can be a great quick fix for some, and the resulting weight loss can give a much needed boost to health, self esteem and insulin sensitivity.
However, most on a low-carbohydrate diet will start to plateau. And, not including carbohydrates in your diet can cause negative effects, such as raised cortisol (the stress hormone), lowered thyroid function and poor mood and energy levels.
Carb cycling, on the other hand, has many benefits. It can be successful for both the general population and the professional bodybuilder!
Why Carb Cycling Works
Carb cycling is an effective way to lose weight and fat for most people. Here are the top reasons why.
Makes transitioning from low-carb to a moderate-carb diet better for your bodyCarb cycling reintroduces carbohydrates to the body at a slower rate, which is important for insulin sensitivity.
It’s not a one-size-fits-all approachBody weight and workout intensity are used to calculate your macros (and therefore your calories). So, it is highly personalised, which is essential for weight loss results.
Higher carb foods can contain higher levels of micronutrientsYou’ll get higher levels of vitamins and minerals in some carbohydrates than proteins and fats such as B vitamins, magnesium and and beta carotene.
It can prevent muscle lossCarb cycling can prevent catabolism (muscle loss), and even increase muscle growth. This is important when trying to build muscle and increase metabolism, because muscle mass burns more calories than fat mass.
Helps breakthrough a weight-loss plateauAdding carbohydrates to the diet can upregulate thyroid function and provide more energy for hard training sessions.
Lack of food variety can hinder weight lossBeing bored with your food choices is an underestimated player in weight loss success. Carb cycling allows you to reintroduce different foods and meal plans.
It’s flexibleCarb cycling isn’t a strict diet plan. It allows you to plan for when times when you may eat off track, such as dining out, holidays and vacation.
Carbs can be good for stress and sleepCarbohydrates upregulate the neurotransmitters that control your feel good hormones (serotonin and dopamine). This in turn can help you get a great night’s sleep and result in more weight loss.
How to Create A Carb Cycling Meal Plan
In the majority of diets, ‘low carb’ is considered to be an intake of under 50g of carbohydrates a day. But what is considered high carb can vary greatly, and what is high carb for one person may be low carb for another. This is dependent of a variety of factors including:
- Bodyweight
- Body composition (muscle mass to fat ratio)
- Level of insulin resistance / insulin sensitivity
- Amount of inflammation in the body
- Stress levels
- Genetic make up
- Hormone balance
- Training frequency and intensity
Carb Cycling Diet Examples
In this carb cycling example, let’s look at 3 different levels of carbohydrate intake: a high carb day, a mid carb day and a low carb day.
The more weight you have to lose, the less insulin sensitive you will be. This means your body will be more likely to store carbohydrates as fat rather than muscle. If you have over 20lbs to lose, start out with 1-2 high carb days a week. Those who are leaner and wish to build more muscle can handle more frequent high carb days, and would benefit from 2-3 a week.
3 Days of Strength Training, 2 Days of Cardio
For example, let’s say you strength train 3 times a week in the gym, and on 2 days a week you do cardio for 25-35 minutes.
On your 2 most intense strength training days (perhaps your full body workouts or leg day), you will raise your carbohydrate intake, keep protein at mid range, and have little to no fat. This is your high carb day.
This will help increase muscle growth and provide energy for your workouts. On the 3rd strength training day (your lighter day) you would consume a medium carbohydrate intake, a little more protein and a little more fat (mid carb day).
The other days would be your 4 low carb days, keeping insulin levels low and enabling your body to use fat as a fuel source.
How to Figure Out Your Macros
To establish your own macronutrient goals, we need three pieces of information
- The frequency and intensity of your strength training
- Your body weight
- Your somatotype
Somatotypes are a classification of 3 body types in relation to bone size and muscularity. They are detailed here to help you ascertain yours:
Ectomorph: Generally lean, a smaller frame and thinner limbs. Has a faster metabolism. Your goal is usually to gain muscle instead of losing fat. Ectomorphs should choose 3 high carb days, 3 medium carb days, and 1 low carb day a week.
Mesomorph: Athletic looking with a medium sized frame. Stays reasonably lean and muscular without too much effort. Your goal is usually to optimize body composition (increase muscle/decrease fat). Mesomorphs should choose 2 high carb days, 2 medium carb days and 3 low carb days a week.
Endomorph: a larger frame and heavier set. A slower metabolism, you are usually trying to decrease body fat. Endomorphs should choose 1 high carb day, 1 mid carb, and 5 low carb days a week.
Carb Cycling Calculations
These are the calculations I recommend for determining your low, medium, and high carb days.
High Carb Day
- Carbohydrate: 1.4 g per lb of bodyweight
- Protein: 1.4g per lb of bodyweight
- Fat: under 30g
Medium Carb Day
- Carbohydrate: 0.8g per lb of bodyweight
- Protein: 1.5 g per lb of bodyweight
- Fat: 0.3g per lb of bodyweight
Low Carb Day
- Carbohydrate: Approx 50g carbs coming from non starchy vegetables only
- Protein: 1.4g per lb of bodyweight
- Fat: 0.5g per lb of bodyweight
AN EXAMPLE: CARB CYCLING FOR WOMEN
Let’s put this into practice for a 125lb female Mesomorph, whose priority is looking to drop fat whilst maintaining muscle size.
Her base calories are 1,625 a day. She workouts 5 times a week and is reasonably active. She trains with a high intensity 3 times a week, and does 2 x 35 minute Metabolic Conditioning workouts a week.
Her carb cycling breakdown for the week might look like this:
High Carb Day (2 Days a Week)
Carbohydrate: 175g
Protein: 175g
Fat: 20g
Medium Carb Day (2 Days a Week)
Carbohydrate: 100g
Protein: 187.5g
Fat: 37.5g
Low Carb Day (3 Days a Week)
Carbohydrate: 50g
Protein: 200g
Fat: 62.5g
Meal planning is important for a successful carb cycling diet. Photo by Ello/Unsplash.
How Many Meals to Eat a Day When Carb Cycling
The nature of carb cycling lends itself to eating smaller meals more frequently. You may find that 5 small meals are easier to digest, especially on your high carbohydrate days.
A neglected (but effective) aspect of carb cycling is known as ‘nutrient timing’. This is the placing of the carbs at specific times (usually focussed around the workout) for the body to be able to use them most effectively.
To utilize nutrient timing, eat the majority of your carbohydrates in the two meals after you workout. This could mean adding oats into your post workout shake, and then having another serving of low GI carbs (such as sweet potato) in the next full meal post workout.
Keep fats low in these two meals so your body can use the carbs to full muscle building effect. With this format, the meals furthest away from your workout will consist mostly of protein and fats.
MEAL PLAN FOR A 125LB FEMALE MESOMORPH
Below is a suggested meal plan for our 125lb female mesomorph on a high-carb day with training mid morning.
Breakfast: 40g Protein / 10g Fat
2 large scrambled eggs, 4 slices of turkey bacon with steamed spinach
Post Workout Smoothie: 35g Protein / 75g Carb
2 scoops protein powder, ½ cup oats and a small banana
Lunch: 35g Protein / 75g Carb
3.7oz grilled chicken breast, 1.25 cups sweet potato with a leafy green salad
Mid Afternoon Snack: 30g Protein
1 serving 0% fat greek yoghurt with 0.5 scoop protein powder
Dinner: 35g Protein / 10g Fat
5oz Rump steak, steamed broccoli, green beans and 1 teaspoon butter
There is some math involved, but once you have your individualised calculations you have a very effective guideline to work to.
Tips to Make Carb Cycling Easier and More Effective
- Use single ingredient foods in their natural state. This will help to separate and calculate your amounts of protein, fats and carbs
- Food preparation is key. Plan and prepare your meals in advance.
- Use a calorie tracking app on your smartphone. My Fitness Pal is easy to use, has an enormous database of foods and you can even scan the barcodes of the foods you eat.
- No change on the scale? Remember that muscle weighs more than fat, which is why you may not see the drop in body weight you expected. Track your progress by taking weekly photos in your sportswear and note improvements in the gym and in mood and positivity too.
Carb Cycling: A Daily Meal Plan to Get Started
You know a no-carb diet isn’t up your alley, but you don’t exactly want to fill up on a pre-race pasta feast every night either. No matter your health and fitness aspirations, carb cycling might be a good middle ground. Although its roots are in the world of bodybuilding, trainers are turning to the nutrition strategy to help clients achieve their goals — whether they’re trying to slim down or build muscle — or both.
“Eating healthy carbs on certain days keeps your metabolism revved up, and sticking to mostly protein and vegetables on days in between keeps insulin low enough that you can burn fat without losing muscle,” explains Shelby Starnes, a competitive bodybuilder and carb cycling expert. “It’s a routine that anyone can modify for their individual goals.” If you’re intrigued but don’t know how to start, read on for tips about how to put together a weekly carb cycling menu.
Find the Right Formula
The classic carb cycling schedule alternates between high- and low-carb days, six times a week, saving the seventh day for reward meals. Depending on your health and fitness objectives, however, you might want to alter your setup for the week. For instance, to lose weight, you might aim for five low-carb days interspersed with two high-carb days, suggests Starnes. On the other hand, if gaining weight and adding muscle is your goal, think about including four or even five high-carb days. “Just make sure not to put all your high-carb days back-to-back,” Starnes says. “You should space them evenly throughout the week.” No matter your plan, be prepared to closely monitor your progress and consider adjusting your schedule to see what brings the best results for you.
Choose Your Fuel
So should you just munch on meat during your low-carb days and pig out on pasta the rest of the week? Not exactly. Jessica Crandall, R.D.N, and Vital RD owner, recommends getting the majority of your calories on high-carb days from complex carbohydrates, such as whole grains, legumes and fruits (or a high-quality protein shake if you’re in a pinch). “They’ll keep you energized throughout the day while still promoting weight loss,” she says. To power through low-carb days, try to get your protein from chicken, fish, lean beef, eggs or tofu and complement it with non-starchy veggies — basically anything besides potatoes, corn and peas is fair game. As a general rule, says Starnes, do the majority of your shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store. You’ll load up on fresh staples and sidestep preservative-packed processed foods.
Snack on Track
Many trainers suggest taking a “cheat day” and allowing yourself to eat what you like, but make sure that approach isn’t setting you back. “To sustain a diet, a weekly reward day is not the best option,” says Crandall. “If you’re in the mindset to indulge after depriving yourself, you could end up eating 5,000 calories in one day when you only need 1,400 — and that will derail any progress you’ve made.” But don’t be discouraged; there is a little wiggle room for treats in a carb cycling plan. “If having an occasional bagel or bowl of sugary cereal helps you comply with your meal plan, work that into a high-carb day,” says Starnes. “Just scale back the other meals a bit that day.”
Make a Carb Cycling Meal Plan
Once you’ve stocked your fridge and pantry with healthy grains, proteins and produce, coming up with a daily menu is key for achieving the best results. As a general rule, though it will vary from person to person, Crandall says that women should take in around 1,200 calories and men around 1,500 on low-carb days, with slightly more on high-carb days. Starnes recommends calculating the correct portions of each macronutrient by getting a certain number of grams per pound of body weight.
Endomorph Carb Cycling
Losing weight and gaining fitness isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. We all have different body composition types, different metabolisms, and different fitness goals. A lot of what works depends on your body composition type, and if you’re an endomorph, chances are you know the feeling of being frustrated with slow results from your diet or fitness program. Don’t despair. Carb cycling can be a game changer for endomorphs. Here’s how it works.
Endomorph Body Type
People come in all different shapes and sizes, but for the most part, we can all be categorized by one of three different body types. These body types are ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph. These body types define a person’s general shape, body composition, and how easily they gain, maintain, or lose weight.
Endomorphs tend to be softer, sometimes with a more rounded body shape and lacking noticeable muscle definition. Endomorphs tend to be carrying around a least a little extra body weight and are the fastest of the three body types to gain weight. This is believed to be at least partially blamed on a slower metabolism, which is commonly seen in endomorphs.
This isn’t to say that if you’re an endomorph, you’re destined to a life of having a hard time losing weight, yo-yo dieting, or always feeling out of shape. Endomorphs can be fit, but this involves understanding how to eat to boost their metabolism and help their bodies burn more fat for fuel.
Low-carb or keto-style diets are often recommended for endomorphs, but there’s no reason that you have to eliminate carbs altogether. Complex carbohydrates (the types of carbs that are good for you) are extremely beneficial and offer vital nutrients. You don’t have to give up carbs, but you can modify your carb intake daily, which is what carb cycling helps you do.
Endomorph Body Spectrum
Even among endomorphs, there are differences in body type and metabolism. These things aren’t fixed but tend to move along the spectrum, separating endomorphs from mesomorphs and ectomorphs. To better understand this, let’s start by understanding how mesomorphs and ectomorphs differ from endomorphs.
Mesomorphs are those among us who seem to have a perfectly functioning metabolism. It’s neither too fast nor too slow, and they seem to gain weight or lose weight as they see fit. They have a low to moderate amount of body fat. Generally speaking, mesomorphs tend to be pretty successful with almost any diet or fitness routine they try. They tend to have a more compact, more muscular build, and while they may carry around a little extra weight, it’s usually well proportioned, and their bodies still look more defined rather than soft and rounded.
Ectomorphs are on the exact opposite end of the spectrum compared to endomorphs. Ectomorphs have an overactive metabolism and tend to have more difficulty gaining or maintaining their weight. They also tend to lack muscle definition, with bodies that are more long and lean.
It’s entirely possible to be an endomorph and still have a characteristic or two from one of the other body types. For example, an endomorph that’s closer to a mesomorph on the spectrum might have more muscle definition, but it might not show as much because there is a higher percentage of body fat covering it.
Likewise, an endomorph who is closer to the ectomorph side of the spectrum might be more pear-shaped, with a thin, more lean, and compact upper body and a fuller lower body where they tend to gain and retain weight.
Following an endomorph diet plan will help you, no matter where on the endomorph spectrum you fall, but you might need to make minor adjustments to accommodate your individual needs.
Benefits of Carb Cycling for Endomorphs
Carbohydrate cycling can help reset your metabolism to work faster and more efficiently. By alternating between low carb days and high carb days, you’re providing your body with caloric fuel but also changing how it uses and metabolizes fat stores. Of all the body types, endomorphs are the most perfectly suited for carb cycling.
Following a carb cycling plan can help endomorphs achieve lose weight by using body fat for fuel, help build greater muscle mass, which will also help to improve your metabolism, and help balance blood sugar by improving insulin resistance.
Combined with a fitness program, carb cycling for endomorphs can more efficiently burn excess calories, eventually resulting in fat loss. This is important because while being an endomorph isn’t synonymous with being unhealthy, endomorphs are more at risk of the serious health problems that being significantly overweight or lacking muscle mass can lead to.
For example, obesity is tied in as a risk factor for conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer. Low muscle definition may make you more prone to falling, accidents, and injuries as you age.
What Does Carb Cycling for Endomorphs Look Like?
While endomorphs do well by cutting some carbs, particularly refined carbohydrates, a strictly low-carb diet often isn’t the best solution. For endomorphs who enjoy carbohydrates, cutting them out cold turkey is rarely sustainable. But more than that, endomorphs need certain carbs, especially those high in fiber.
Carb cycling is the best of both worlds. You can enjoy a high-carb day, then switch to low-carb days, which will help burn fat and balance the slower metabolism that endomorphs are known for.
With carb cycling, each person needs to find the right balance between the high carb and low carb that works for them. Endomorphs tend to get the best results by scheduling more low-carb days, with only one to two high-carb days each week.
Moderate carb days can be used to transition from one to the other and are good for days where you might do something like resistance training instead of cardio or endurance activities for fitness.
With carb cycling, you’re not only burning calories but also naturally consuming fewer calories due to the shift in eating habits. Often, when people start cycling, they don’t worry about counting calories initially.
However, those with an endomorph body have a sluggish metabolism, so maintaining a calorie deficit is important if you want to lose weight. As an endomorph, paying attention to macros is important so that you know exactly where your calories are coming from and that they’re all accounted for.
When carb cycling, you want to focus on whole, nutritious foods as much as possible, regardless of which cycle day you’re on. Eating healthy is the primary goal, so make sure you stick to healthy fats and lean, grass-fed animal proteins. Stick to complex carbohydrates and avoid processed and sugary foods. The quality of each calorie matters if you want to lose body weight as an endomorph while carb cycling.
A typical carb cycling week for an endomorph might look something like one high-carb day, followed by a moderate-carb day. The next phase would be two low carb days, and then one high and one low carb day again before starting the cycle over again.
Some people find a simple alternating day schedule between low and high-carb days to work best, but this really depends on your individual metabolism and how active you are. Most endomorphs will lose the most body fat if they follow a low-carb cycle for at least two days in a row. Most carb cycling experts advise against going three or more days of eating extremely low carb unless you’ve hit a weight loss plateau and want to leverage carb cycling to break through it.
Endomorph Macros
Carb cycling is also called macro cycling because following a carb cycling healthy diet involves keeping track of the three macronutrients – carbohydrates, fat, and protein.
We focus a lot on carbohydrates when talking about carb cycling, but fat and protein are equally important. There are a couple of different schools of thought about whether you should focus more on healthy fats or lean protein when carb cycling. Honestly, this is up to you and may depend on your health goals. Still, if you choose to cycle in high fat rather than high protein days, it’s important that you’re eating the right kinds of dietary fat.
Endomorphs who choose a high-fat diet when cycling should stick to fats from food sources such as olive oil, avocados, and fatty fish like salmon, nuts, and seeds. What you want to avoid are the saturated fats that are bad no matter your weight or body type.
For endomorphic body types that want to gain muscle, increasing protein intake on low-carb days is key, especially when exercising properly – like focusing on muscle growth with a targeted weightlifting workout. In this case, lean proteins are great; the cleaner, the better. Avoid processed foods, like lunch meats or smoked meats that are high in nitrates and sometimes added sugar.
To calculate your macros, it’s a good idea to start with a basic idea of how many calories you need to consume to achieve your fitness goals. If weight loss is the goal, you want to achieve a calorie deficit – meaning that your body uses more calories than it consumes. If weight gain or maintenance is the goal, then you don’t need to worry about achieving a calorie deficit.
Next, find a macro-nutrient starting point for each day. This is simple, straightforward, and relatively easy to calculate. A good beginning macro formula for a beginning low-carb day is 20% of calories from carbs and 40% coming from each fat and protein.
These numbers can be adjusted up or down, depending on what works best for your body. If you want to shed body weight but have hit a weight loss plateau, you might shift the carbs to 10%-15% on low-carb days.
For high-carb days, you might consume between 40%-60% of your calories from complex carbohydrates and divide the remaining calories among fat and protein. Expect an adjustment period as you figure out which macro formula works best for your endomorph diet.
Calculating Macros
We’re all about making life easy, so we recommend using one of the many apps that will do all the hard work of calculating and keeping track for you. Still, knowing how to calculate macros on your own is a good idea.
The most important numbers you need to know are how many calories are in one gram of each of the three macronutrients. It probably won’t come as a surprise that fat has more calories than protein or carbs. Fat has nine calories per gram, which holds true no matter what type of fat it is.
Carbohydrates and protein both have four calories per gram. If you’re watching calories, you can see why fats need to be more closely monitored than carbs and protein.
Let’s say you’re an endomorph whose ideal diet contains 2000 calories. If we’re following the 20/40/40 macro ratio for a low-carb day, you would want 400 calories from carbs, 800 calories from protein, and 800 calories from fat.
Since carbohydrates have four calories per gram, we would take the 400 allotted calories and divide it by four. This tells us that 400 calories are equal to 100 grams of carbs. Now you can keep track of your carbohydrate macro by using either the number of grams you’ve consumed, the total calorie count from carbs, or both.
You’d then repeat this for protein and fat. Eight hundred calories of protein intake are equal to 200 grams, and 800 calories of fat are equal to just under 90 grams. These numbers are your goal posts but don’t be hard on yourself if your macro numbers don’t match exactly at the end of the day.
Carb Cycling Meal Plan for Endomorphs
Carb cycling isn’t so much a diet as it is a sustainable dietary lifestyle, especially for the endomorph body type that’s prone to fat gain and muscle loss. You can definitely cycle on and off of a carb cycling program, but many modify their cycling days to make the lifestyle more sustainable for the long term.
For example, if you were following a more strict carb cycling fat loss meal plan, you might adapt that to include three days of high carb, two moderate carb days, and two low carb days once you reach the point of weight maintenance. Carb cycling is extremely adaptable, which is why many say it’s the best diet, regardless of your body type.
On the surface, carb cycling can feel complicated, but the secret is to keep things as simple as possible. You don’t have to have a new, different meal every night. There are no rules that forbid you from enjoying your favorites on repeat. If you need a little extra help to get started, we’ve created a free seven-day carb cycling meal plan for you to try.
What To Eat and Avoid While Carbohydrate Cycling
With the endomorph diet, you want to stay away from refined carbs, even on the days you eat more carbohydrates. White bread, standard pasta, and baked goods are just a few examples of carbs to avoid. This isn’t the keto diet, so you don’t have to avoid starch vegetables unless you want or need to for weight loss.
Carbohydrates from whole grains, sweet potatoes, and other nutrient-dense starchy vegetables are fine. What matters is being mindful of your macros and making sure you consume a variety of vegetables, whole grains, and fruit (the actual fruit, not the juice).
A carb cycling fat loss meal plan will also feature lean protein sources. Whether you get your protein from animals or plants, you want to make sure it’s as clean as possible. Think along the lines of grass-fed, pasture-raised, no antibiotics, and sustainably sourced. For plant-based protein, opt for organic, non-GMO products as long as they fit within your budget.
The endomorph meal plan isn’t a fat-free diet by any means. In fact, it’s higher fat than most other dietary approaches, with the exception of keto. Losing fat and being healthy requires a certain amount of healthy fat intake, so don’t avoid fats altogether.
To help make life easier as you transition into carbohydrate cycling, our in-house registered dietician has created a completely free carbohydrate cycling meal plan that works wonderfully for endomorphs and other body types.