Will Carb Cycling Help Me Lose Weight?

Many people use carb cycling to manipulate insulin levels in the hope that this will provide some sort of fat loss advantage.  But insulin isn’t the master controller of body weight—when it comes to losing or gaining weight, calories are king. 

To demonstrate this, if a high carb/low fat diet is compared to a low carb/high fat diet where calories and protein are equal, the effect on body weight will be the same despite the low carb dieters having lower insulin levels. Weight loss is clearly dependent on calories, not necessarily insulin levels.

Now, that being said, there may be certain non-weight related benefits incurred by cycling carbs so that higher days fall on intense training days and lower days fall on rest days. With more fuel to power hard workouts, you’ll likely see better performance and more muscle and strength gains. 

 Also, the incorporation of higher carb and calorie days may help a person better stick to their macros and provide a mental break from dieting for those on a fat loss setting with Avatar. But we don’t recommend cycling carbs in the fruitless attempt to manipulate insulin levels or enhance weight loss.