Carb-Cycle With Candy

Since having my kids, a holiday that is becoming a firm favorite of mine is that of Halloween.

I mean, how often do I get to dress up as one of my daughter’s favorite characters from Sesame Street? Oh, if you want to see WHO, then just watch my video below.

Anyways, Halloween is nearly always associated with candy. And cookies. And cakes. And chips. It’s a carb minefield! A common question I get asked is ‘what do I do over the holidays? Well, I’m going to tell you…

So, what we are going to do is actually use all those tasty candy bars and treats, and use them in a ‘mini-carb cycle’. This will not only help us survive the night – but to allow us to continue to cut body fat.

So how do we set up a 3-day carb cycle?

In this instance, we are going to use Halloween (Friday) as our base point, and work from there. I am going to break it down day by day so you know exactly what to do, and what not to do, so you don’t gain any unwanted weight over the holidays.

To get set this up, we need to be sure that there is a day either side of our ‘cheat day’, so in this case it’s going to be Thursday and Saturday.

Thursday

This is where we cut our carbs, and we are going low carb. Now what does low carb actually mean? Well everyone is different, and variables such as training, bodyweight and daily activity all come in to play. But I’m going to make it real easy for you.

All I need you to do on this low carb day, is take your bodyweight in lbs, and divide it by two. That’s the maximum number of carbs you are going to have today. Sure you can do less, but definitely don’t do more than this. Make sure you have eaten all of your carbs in the AM, as you need to keep the PM carb free

Friday (Halloween/The ‘cheat day’)

Now by Friday, your body is going to be starved of carbs, and its basically going to be begging you for some. This is where we cheat. And we cheat hard!

 I want you to do one thing for me though – I DON’T want you to feel bad for it.

Now as I mentioned above, everyone is different. You might be the kind of person that cheats by going crazy with carb-filled treats all day long, and that’s cool. Me personally, I like to keep most of my meals healthy then got nuts over a couple of meals and have everything I want.  Personally I find it gets better results but whatever works for you is fine with me too.

Saturday

This one is the easiest to describe but can be the hardest to do, because when I say no carbs. I mean none. Nada. 

If you have been following me for some time, you will know I normally have two Quest bars on my low-carb days, and one on my no-carb days. But, after eating like crazy the day before, you have to be strict with yourself today.  Otherwise the carb cycle just doesn’t work.

You have to starve your body completely of carbs on the Saturday. The neat thing is that when you get to Sunday you will realize: ‘wow, this is what carb cycling is all about’. You will feel great and look great.

This is just is a 3-day version of what I go through in-depth with my new carb cycle-book – ‘Carb Cycle Max’ – which is coming out in a week or two.

What else do you need to know to make this work?

Well firstly, on your low-carb days you still need some energy. We are going to get that energy from fat. Not much, about 20-25 grams of fat max. You don’t want to go over this number as otherwise the carb-cycle wont tap into those body-fat stores and you will undo all your hard work.

Secondly, on the no-carb day you might be a little bit more tired and have slightly less energy than usual; that’s totally normal.  Personally I don’t find it too hard as, well, I’m a coffee drinker!

So there you have it, my definitive guide to cheating in the holiday season. So go and carve that pumpkin, grab some candy, get dressed up and get lean too!

Michael