Carb Cycling, Simplified — The 3

On the one hand, low-carb diets are great for fat burning and weight loss. Some of the most popular weight loss diets involve eating very little carbohydrate, often less than 50-100 grams a day. Science supports the value of low-carb diets for weight control and fat loss (1).

However, on the other hand, carbs provide the fuel your body needs for intense physical activity—namely glucose, which your body stores as glycogen. Glucose and glycogen are the preferred sources of energy during things like strength and interval training.

Low-carb diets, while useful for fat loss, can reduce training and sports performance, making your workouts not only harder but less effective (2). Not eating enough carbs can also interfere with recovery.

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Needless to say, for many, these are significant drawbacks that could hurt your long-term progress.

Because of this, a lot of exercisers and athletes follow a high-carb diet when their training load is high or they’re trying to optimize performance. They then switch to a low-carb diet when they train less or want to lose fat.

While this approach can be effective, it’s not ideal for all people or scenarios. For example, if you want to lose fat without hurting your performance or gains, or maximize your performance without gaining fat.