Hey guys,

I am restructuring my diet/workout (well, really, structuring it for the first time) and am doing some research on carb cycling.

I am approx 20% bf and 220 lb. My body type is in between an endomorph and mesomorph however my goal is to build muscle and get to about 10% bf

For the last two weeks I have been doing HIIT cardio and compound weight training on alternate days. HIIT consists of 5 min warm up, then 30s at 95% followed by 2 min jogging pace. I repeat this 6-8 times.

Weights consists of exercises with compound movements, bench press, barbell shoulder press, assisted dip, bent over row. I also like to work my leg muscles as a warm up. Moderate weights, average form, short time between sets, about 8-10 reps of 3 sets (comments? i prolly need to look at those numbers closely)

My diet has been in a caloric deficit for some time. I have been consuming about 180g protein, 100g carbs, and 40g fat per day. I have recently lost approx 60lb and feel that my body has adapted to my present diet and training (HIT, no weights, resistance machines like seated row, boxing, bike)

My training goal is to build muscle thereby increasing my basal metabolic rate. I do not want to eat in a caloric excess. I have been looking at carb cycling and really want to adopt a carb cycling plan into my diet.

My question is that, in most articles I have read, carb cycling is used by bodybuilders during the cut phase to go from roughly 15% bf to %5 ish roughly. I do not have an amount of muscle mass comparable to a body builder,

hence I am trying to determine if carb cycling is suitable for me since my BMR is prolly quite low at this point after loosing some weight on HIT only

At the moment my proposed carb cycling diet consists of:

All days: 220g protein evenly spaced over 6 meals.
4/6 meals with lean protein (white chicken meat, white turkey breast, salmon, tuna, low fat cottage cheese, egg whites)
2/6 meals fatty protein (dark chicken meat, dark turkey, eggs (1/2 whites, 1/2 whole eggs), cottage cheese (whole milk))

Also, atleast 3 meals/day include 3 cups green vegetables (cabbage, brocolli, zuchinni)

M: No Carb
T: High carb. 4/6 meals are carb meals
W:No Carb
T: Low carb
F:no carb
S:high carb
S:low carb

High Carb:
4/6 meals unlimited carbs,with 50-100 cal fruit
meals preceeding and following workouts are one of the four carb meals
last 2 meals are protein meals only
I think the amount of carbs on this day will be important so that I dont overdo it. Prolly around 280g ill start with? comments?


Low Carb
3/6 meals carbs. 50-100cal fruit with each meal. ill start with approx 220g carbs on this day (about 1g per lb bodyweight)
meal following workout is a carb meal

No Carb
No carbs. No fruit.

On weights days I take a whey protein (25g protein) before workouts with milk. I also plan on suplementing with fish oil 15g/day.

If anyone has an insights it would be much appreciated

I am still a beginner so dont bash me too hard

thanks

MB