What is the best low carb diet plan? Of all the diets out there (Atkins, South Beach, etc.) which ones are the most effective? After spending a lot of time learning about nutrition and fitness, I came across a diet that people in the gym swear by when asked. And according to my fitness guru, Hollywood swears by it, too. It’s a new evolution of the ancient high protein low carb diet and advanced fat loss technology called the “carb cycle”. It has also been called “carb cycling,” “the zigzag diet, the zigzag diet,” and the “high-low” diet.

How it works

Our body is primed to respond to hunger. This means that when we eat less, our body thinks there will be less to burn in the future, so it goes into starvation mode. In starvation mode, our bodies will burn less and less because they think there is no more to burn. This is why traditional low-carb dieters reach a plateau when they have been on a low-carb diet for some time.

Carb cycling (I like to call it CC) is the most effective way to trick our bodies into not going into starvation mode. On the CC diet, you drop the carbs for a few days and then increase them again before your body figures out what’s going on! CC is based on the concept of alternating low-carb days with high-carb days rather than keeping the carbs low all the time. The beauty of this diet is that it harnesses the fat loss benefits of a low carb diet but eliminates all the low carb side effects! It keeps your metabolism rate at a high rate and prevents your body from going into starvation mode.

play plan

You should be low carb three days in a row max and then fill up on day four. When you carb load on day 4, your energy stays steady and your metabolism ramps up to burn fat fast. On my low days, I eat carbs for the first two or three meals (snacks included) and my carbs are minimal. (1/2 cup brown rice) After 4pm I eat high protein meals with only fibrous carbs (salads, greens, etc)

On my peak day, I simply eat anything I want (still no sweets and soda). This is where I eat a lot of starchy carbs like French fries, Chinese fried rice, mashed potatoes with gravy etc. It not only fills me up with needed carbs but also gives me a feeling of reward after three days of low carb. After losing 20 lbs and shaving 11 points off my body fat percentage, I am really convinced that this really is the fastest way to lose weight and also what seems to be the easiest. =)