Carb Cycling

Losing or maintaining weight is usually a big priority for runners, but despite how it may seem, losing weight and training hard aren’t easy to do in conjunction.

That’s where “carb cycling” can come in handy.

Listen in as Coach Claire helps you determine if carb cycling is right for you and how to implement it to reach both your running and weight loss goals.


Audio Transcript

Claire Bartholic: Hi everyone. Welcome back to the Runners Connect Run to the Top Extra Kick podcast.

Today’s question is from Kiran and it’s about carb cycling.

Kiran asks via email: I am an experienced marathoner, usually running 55-60 miles per week but I have trouble reaching my weight loss goals despite my training.

I found a Runners Connect article on carb cycling and thought it might be worth a try. What’s your opinion on carb cycling? Are there any risks I should know about? Thanks.

Claire: Oh boy, I can relate to this question. Like you, Kiran, I am the type of person who gains weight while marathon training if I’m not very careful.

Non-runners don’t understand this at all, and are shocked when I tell them that lots of running does not mean automatic weight loss.

First of all, I’m going to assume that you are not rewarding yourself after a long run with a six-pack of beer, and the entire pan of brownies.

Before getting into any complicated formulas and calculations, we need to make sure to get the basics down first.

The best way to lose weight is to lose the junk food and the liquid calories.

Your body absorbs calories from processed foods and liquids quickly and greedily, and is very slow to tell your brain that you are full when you consume them.

Learn to love water, black coffee and tea, and avoid the rest as much as you can, to lose weight.

Unprocessed whole foods, mostly veggies, fruit, whole grain, legumes, nuts, and seeds, should be the vast majority of your diet. They are macro and micro nutrient dense foods that will fill you up with fewer calories.

Let’s say your diet is all of that; it’s nutritional perfection, and yet you are still not losing weight, or maybe you’re even gaining it.

The next step is to think about your muscle mass.

Hopefully, you are strength training with all that running that you are doing. While lots of running is generally considered a catabolic activity, if you supplement with strength training, you could be gaining muscle as well.

A pound of muscle weighs the same as a pound of fat of course, but if you are burning fat and gaining muscle at the same time, the scale might not budge, even though you’re getting stronger and leaner.

If you believe your muscle weight is stable, and you still have fat to lose, and nothing you’ve tried seems to be working, you might have to try something a little more extreme, like maybe carb cycling.

Here are the basics.

Carbohydrate is essential to running well. Your body prefers to burn glycogen from carbohydrates immediately before moving on to stored fat for fuel.

Let’s think about it this way, glycogen is like the fresh food in your fridge and fat is like the frozen food in the deep freezer.

It’s easier and more efficient to grab what’s ready in the fridge right now rather than to walk to the basement or to the garage, and get a frozen pizza out and cook it in the oven.

But if you let that fridge go empty, unless you go to the store and get more food, your only choice is to eat what’s in the freezer, even though it’s more work, and that’s how you burn fat.

The trick is to let the fridge go bare.

In other words, don’t eat the carbohydrate, so your body is forced to use your deep storage, aka your fat, for fuel.

The problem with that, is that runners require a fairly constant supply of glycogen. If you just stop eating carbohydrates, you might lose weight but your runs will suffer.

There are ways to adjust to a very low carbohydrate diet, but there simply is no evidence that it helps performance, and lots of evidence that it hurts.

So, carb cycling tries to put one foot in both worlds.

Basically, you will have no carb intake on rest days, low carb intake on easy days, and high carb intake on workout days and long runs.

Maintaining this type of carb cycle approach will enable a runner to specifically target days when carbohydrates and calories are needed for performance and recovery, while still allowing for the calorie and carbohydrate deficit needed to lose weight.

If you’d like the breakdown of the formulas, and the calories, and the percentages, you can find that at runnersconnect.net and search for carb cycling.

What are the risks and what’s my opinion on this strategy?

First, it’s extremely complicated and difficult to adhere to. It requires precise weighing, measuring, and tracking of every single thing you put in your mouth every single day.

If you have a slightly obsessive personality, which, let’s be real, most of us runners do, carb cycling can either be a fun challenging game, or it can feed the negative side of those obsessive traits.

It’s also socially difficult to do, because you will not be able to eat normally with your family and friends.

Your low carbohydrate days will feel terrible as your brain gets cranky, and you’ll feel hungry most of the day.

Not to mention, on your low carbohydrate days, you don’t have the distraction of running to take your mind off food, or the appetite suppression sensation that many runners get after a run.

Carb cycling is a very short term solution for losing weight for a specific event, and it really can work, but it’s not a great lifestyle choice.

Again, the best way to lose weight is best summed up by Michael Pollan: Eat mostly plants, and not too much.

And don’t forget, liquid calories don’t register with your brain the same way that solid food does, so skip the sugary sports drinks after your runs and try a no-calorie hydration drink like our sponsor, EnduroPacks.

Head to runnersconnect.net/enduropacks to get your own.

Hope that answers your question, Kiran and best of luck.

That’s it for today’s episode of the Run to the Top Extra Kick podcast. And of course, if you have a question, I would love to answer it, so record your own at runnersconnect.net/daily.

Finally, a quick message from our sponsor.

This week’s Extra Kick podcast is brought to you by EnduroPacks.

Running in hot, humid summer weather can really begin to wear on you and your system, so what’s the first thing you reach for after an especially sweaty run?

If you usually grab a traditional sports drink, you’re getting a ton of calories, artificial flavors and colors, and some unpronounceable ingredients that you don’t need.

If you hydrate with just plain water, you’re missing out on replacing the essential nutrients and electrolytes that you lost in your sweat, but you can hydrate better with EnduroPacks.

EnduroPacks is a fast-acting liquid made by runners for runners, that provides natural, vegetable-based nutrients and 13 essential electrolytes to keep you at the top of your game.

No sugar, sweeteners, or artificial ingredients, just a hint of natural lemon for a clean taste. Check it out for yourself at runnersconnect.net/enduropacks.

Have a great run today.

Enjoyed this question and answer? Consider subscribing to our daily podcast where we answer your questions.

By subscribing, you get to learn every day while you run or while at the gym. Plus, you can always skip over questions you already know the answer to.

Have your own question? Ask our coaches!

You May Also Enjoy...

Running downhills

How do you get better at downhill running? Are there any tweaks you can make to your form or things you can do in training

What to do at stop lights

How should you handle unplanned breaks in your run for things like stoplights, etc? Should you jog in place, walk, or stop? Does it even

When to replace your shoes

When should you replace your shoes? Many of us have heard every 400-500 miles, but what if they were all treadmill miles, or still look