Carbing up or carb loading originates from bodybuilding and endurance athletes. “Endurance” athletes being those who compete in events that last 90-120 minutes. The idea is that you eat more carbs about a week before an event while scaling back your training. It increases the glycogen in your tissues and it supposedly gives athletes more energy to use during competition. They eat high fiber carbs, such as rice, oatmeal, pasta, raisins, dried fruit, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
Does Carbing Up Work?
People on keto started to wonder if this could work for them to boost their metabolism and build muscle. It’s not easy staying under 20-50 grams of carbs a day, and maybe “carbing up” would keep your body guessing . This could get you over any weight loss plateaus. Thus, the cyclical keto diet was born.
The cyclical keto diet is when you do strict keto 5-6 days a week and then have 1-2 days of eating more carbs. It tends to be used by people who are looking to increase muscle mass or exercise performance. So, a strict keto diet consists of 75% fat, 5% carbs, and 20% protein. A carb up day, or “refeeding day” would consist of 60-70% carbs, 15-20% protein, and 5-10% fat.
You Can’t Eat Whatever You Want
This cyclical diet does not give you license to eat cakes, cookies, and chips. You will notice that the percentage of fat that comes from the food you eat on the carb heavy days is very small. You eat complex carbs that are high in fiber, such as whole grains, beans, lentils, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash.
Many people do intermittent fasting to return to ketosis quickly after their carb up day. I have not followed this way of eating, so I’m not sure how it affects how you feel. But what I read online was that after the first few times of doing this, the keto “flu” becomes less and less intense with each time you do it. Most do the carb heavy day one day a week so they are in ketosis more time than they are out of ketosis.
There is very little research done on this way of eating, especially looking at long-term effects. There are people who swear by it and say it keeps your metabolism revved up and helps with weight loss plateaus. Most people who do it this way are building muscle. In other words, they are athletes.
Is Carbing Up A Good Idea
Is having a carb up day a good idea for the regular keto person? For me, I would say no. Firstly, if I want to have an off-plan day, I’m going to plan for it and eat what I want to eat. It would just be an excuse for me to eat more carbs. I’m not an athlete by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not an endurance athlete!
If you tried to put me in a marathon I would die of exhaustion. There was a time when I wrestled and we would eat strictly for 6 days and then have a “cheat day.” We were also working out 5 days a week. I’m at a point in my life that I don’t want to work that hard and I’m not going to become a professional athlete, so I just don’t see it working for me.
I’m not sure what the cyclical keto way of eating would do to a person’s system. It seems like it would be hard to switch your body in and out of ketosis every few days. But, I didn’t know if switching to burning ketones would be a good idea either, and that has worked for me. It all comes down to doing your research and making your own choices. Do this based on what feels right for you.
Cheat Days Are Iffy
But, please don’t get taken in by the idea that you can do strict keto for 6 days and then take a day to eat whatever you want and have keto work for you. It might, but it’s likely that it won’t. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, keto is a lifestyle choice. You can take a day to go off-plan and eat things you have been craving, but call it what it is. Unless you are an endurance athlete, carbing up is not likely to work for you.
Wendy
