Chris Powell Carb Cycling?

[SarahM]

Hi Everyone,

I just bought and finished reading Chris Powells book "Choose More, Lose More"  It is the followup to his Choose to Lose book.  I like the idea of carb cycling and it makes sense to me.  I also like how positive Chris and his wife Heidi come acrross.  I was following Paleo for a while, but was a bit bored with the limitations honestly and I was getting really cravy.  So in looking for another plan that focuses on healthy eating and exercise I found this one.  Has anyone else followed this carb cycling plan?  I would be interested in knowing your thoughts, and if you are seeing good results. 

Thanks 

Sarah

[SunsetRunner]

It's not about dieting, dieting restricts to much, can lead to binge eating cause of having been restrictions to much while not being hungry though eating because of wanted the certain food for so long.

When weighing less and less our bodies require less calories / nutrients to stay within the new healthy weight range.

Make gradually changes in food habits, so they automatically take over from old habits. When having a craving, if not hungry, know it's a craving.. eat for the taste, take a smaller portion.. 

With dieting as soon as being in a healthy weight range but eating as much as before.. or falling back in old habits because dieting is to restricted to tough to maintain.. keeping in a dieting cycle.

When making gradually changes it's easier every day to keep up while having everything with moderation.

When eating foods provided by nature mostly, rich in nutritients lower in calories than a cookie for example, our bodies being satisfied with less calories overall though having all nutrition it needs.

Cookies.. are also made to taste so good that we can want more though being higher in calories.. possible to eat lots with cookies alone.. our bodies still being hungry since it is needing certain nutrients to get satisfied..

Processed foods are okay to have but these can contain ingredients not able to pronounce. If not possible knowing what the ingredient is, it can't be that good for our wonderfull bodies..

Aim when wanted to eat natural foods as minimal as processed overall, Dont restrict when craving something specific..

[TandemWalker]

---

@SarahM wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I just bought and finished reading Chris Powells book "Choose More, Lose More"  It is the followup to his Choose to Lose book.  I like the idea of carb cycling and it makes sense to me.  I also like how positive Chris and his wife Heidi come acrross.  I was following Paleo for a while, but was a bit bored with the limitations honestly and I was getting really cravy.  So in looking for another plan that focuses on healthy eating and exercise I found this one.  Has anyone else followed this carb cycling plan?  I would be interested in knowing your thoughts, and if you are seeing good results. 

Thanks 

Sarah

---

I agree with @SunsetRunner - all diets are fads that we eventually drop and then we're back to square one.

Fitbit's approach is about instilling in people permanent lifestyle changes, both in terms of exercise and eating habits.

I don't know what your particular situation is Sarah; but in my case, a visit to my family doctor and subsequent referral to a professional nutritionist worked very well. I was not given a diet but rather a list of food groups and specific food items; with comments about timing for consuming certain foods in relation to my fitness program, rest times and general lifestyle. Nothing novel here, nothing that I didn't know before, but one visit brought everyting into focus. That was 2 years ago and I am still following those general guidelines to this date.

At the end of the day, as long as you stay active and are careful to avoid sugars and fats; and eat carbs when you know you will be burning them off shortly thereafter as opposed to allowing them to turn into sugar and fat, are steps in the right direction. That's not to say that we can not indulge from time to time -- but those instances are the exceptions to the norm, not the norm.

Have a great day.

TW

[Sine]

Hi Sarah,

I'm following Chris & Heidi's new book, Extreme Transformation. Started two weeks ago. It was a little daunting at first but once I took a step back and followed the macro nutrients for each meal instead of the huge variety of recipes in the book, it has been much easier to manage. I'm struggling with eating 5 times a day as I'm usually not hungry when the next meal comes around. My husband and I are doing this together which makes the planning a lot easier. I was down 3 lbs at the end of week 1 but didn't have any weight loss last week - my fault as I cheated a few times. Back on track this week so hopefully another loss on Sunday.

I like their plan as it balances out healthy fats, carbs and protein. It doesn't restrict any one food group or macro nutrient. To address the other comments, this is not a diet but a lifestyle. When reading the Maintenance chapter, the basic concepts remain in place - eating 5 times a day, every 3 hours; cycling the 4 high carb days, two low carb days and a reset day but it adds in more opportunities for rewards.

Let me know how you are doing. It would be great if we could be part of each other's support teams.

Sheena

[awood08]

@SarahM

I don't follow the plans exactly, but I do flutuate between high carb and low carb days. I have had great success so far. It works good for me to eat what I want in moderation, make healthier choices, and take a few days a week to have some bread and other days get my carbs solely from veggies. I agree with the others. Eating healthy is not as hard as everyone makes it out to be, it's when you decide to "diet" that you end up not succeeding. For me, I don't diet, I make healthier food choices and control my portions.

I agree with the idea of the carb cycling plan, but also believe there is room for improvement 🙂