Sample Diet Plan
Here's a 5 day low-carb 2 day high-carb cycle diet. During the two first days of the low-carb phase completely eliminate carbs from your diet. Also keep fat to a minimum. Protein is the main nutrient of the first two days, as you might have guessed. (80-90% protein, 10-20% fats, 0-5% carbs). During those two days restrict food intake to the following:
- Birds (chicken, turkey, etc.)
- Fish (salmon, tuna, etc.)
- Egg whites
- Low Carb Protein powder
- Lean ground beef or Top Sirloin
In those two days keep a fairly high caloric intake. Low Carb Protein Shakes are very useful in this part. You can spice them up if you want:
- Whey protein powder, 30 g (26g/proteins, 0.3g/carbs, 0g/fat)
- 6 egg whites (18g/protein, 1g/carbs, 1g/fat)
- Light Jello powder 80g (1.6g/protein, 0g/carbs, 0g/fat)
- 200 ml of water
This drink give you a whopping 45.6 grams of protein with minimal fat or carbs.
Drink one in the morning, one after training, and one before going to bed. That gives you about 150 grams of fat free, carb free protein.
The rest of the day eat normaly. For example:
Breakfast:
Trout with Romaine Lettuce
Lunch:
Two Chicken Breasts with 1/2 a cup of Low Fat Cottage Cheese
Dinner
Ground Beef or Top Sirloin Steak with salad
As you can see the primary focus is on protein. During this phase you should aim for 1.5 to 2 grams of protein per pound of bodyweight.
By eliminating nearly all carbs you force your body to enter a lipolitic, fat-burning state. Because it may take some time to enter that state, don't eat too much fat during that adaptative stage.
The next three days are higher-fat days. You still keep the same type of menu for the three basic servings (breakfast, lunch, diner), it's only the post workout shake and snacks that change. Instead of drinking a high protein/low carb shake after your workout, you drink a high fat one. How, you ask? Simply substitute the protein powder for olive oil (full of EFA's the fatless fat) and add two egg yolks.
In addition, I recommand eating two slices of cheese or 1/2 cup of cottage cheese every three hours.
There are two good reasons for this increased fat intake.
- By cutting your carbs you cut your main energy source, protein is a very inefficient source of energy so you have to increase your fat intake to be able to remain active.
- The higher your intake of fat compared to other nutrients, the greater the body's efficiency will be at using fat as energy (including bodyfat).
When the five days of low-carbs are over you enter the compensation phase or the high-carb phase. This is carb-loading. The first day you try to eat ONLY carbs (about 90-95%). But don't overdo it or else you might spillover to the fat cells. A small meal of complex carbs every two hours is a good starting point. Eating five or six small meals throughout the day is better than three big meals because it keeps your body out of starvation mode.
The second day you decrease your carb intake to about 50% and increase your protein intake accordingly. Again the blender is your friend here, so is non-fat milk. After that it's back to phase one!
So if we resume, the cycle is:
- First two days: high protein, no carbs, low-medium fats.
- Days 3-4-5: High fat, medium protein, no carbs.
- Day 6: High complex carbs, no fats, low protein.
- Day 7: Medium carbs, medium protein, no fats
Back to the Low Carb Diet Info
