Carb Cycling and HIIT

goalscrounger

goalscrounger

Well-known member
I saw an interesting video where a fitness coach was promoting the above combo instead of the traditional diet/cardio approach to losing weight. I am the heaviest I've ever been and need to get into some sort of regime where I can get on top of things and lose some weight. I leave for work at 6 a.m and don't get home until 7 p.m Monday to Friday (and am in bed by 9 p.m for a 5 a.m wake up alarm) so I find it hard to find time to do any substantive exercise during the week, so I am wondering if carb cycling combined with HIIT may be an effective solution?

Anyone else tried it? Any alternative advice?
 
goalscrounger said:
I saw an interesting video where a fitness coach was promoting the above combo instead of the traditional diet/cardio approach to losing weight. I am the heaviest I've ever been and need to get into some sort of regime where I can get on top of things and lose some weight. I leave for work at 6 a.m and don't get home until 7 p.m Monday to Friday (and am in bed by 9 p.m for a 5 a.m wake up alarm) so I find it hard to find time to do any substantive exercise during the week, so I am wondering if carb cycling combined with HIIT may be an effective solution?

Anyone else tried it? Any alternative advice?
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Exercise is great but intermittent fasting is a good option if you struggle to find the time to do it.
 
What you eat is the predominant factor in weight control that and just trying to be more active in general. Long term slight energy deficit in a sensibly balanced normal "non fad" diet.
If you're going to do real HIIT training you need to be be relatively fit first + done properly you still need time spent to warm up for it really well then cool down. It's not as time efficient as some "experts" say it is.
 
I used carb back loading a few years ago so I could train at 4am. You don't eat any carbs until your last meal then you stock up on potatoes/Rice whatever and because you're sleeping them off they take longer to burn and fuel your morning session. It does take a couple of weeks and early workouts to get used to it though so if you think you wont stick to it you're best off trying to basic eat less move more. You just need to find out what works for you. People say little and often but calories in are calories in whether or not they're done in 3 meals or 5 smaller meals.

Breakfast: 2x eggs
Mid morning snack: fruit
Lunch: chicken/turkey/fish with rice/potato and salad/veg
afternoon snack: small handful of plain nuts, almonds/cashews or plain peanuts plus fruit.
Tea: Alternate lunch ideas.

Load your plate with leaves or veg so you feel like you're eating a lot and getting full but its all good stuff. if you dont have a very active job scrap the snacks and drink as much water as you can. Often hunger is dehydration.
 
atypical_boro said:
Exercise is great but intermittent fasting is a good option if you struggle to find the time to do it.
Click to expand...
Good advice there.
I do the 5 and 2 diet, and it works for me, but not everyone. If you are short on time, try the Canadian 5BX exercise plan, it looks easy at first to do those exercises in 11 minutes, but you will soon find, that when you reach your limit, it's hard work.
 
I long low heart rate session on a weekend. If you have time to do something on the other weekend day, do the cycling equivalent of fartlek .... easy pace interspersed with random hard efforts, some flat, some on hill segments. Finding a loop where you can mix it up and keep going for PRs on hill segments of varying lengths helps. Then one HIIT session on maybe Tuesday and 20 to 40 mins cycling equivalent of tempo on thursday. Rest the other days, but try to not be sedentary for long periods if avoidable. Walk around a bit. Take stairs not lifts etc. And keep your carb intake low.
 
I would say: Make your first meal at 1pm - preferably eggs. make your last meal 8pm.

Cut out bread/potatos

Switch white pasta for wholewheat and white rice for brown.

Add a bit of exercise - walking cycling etc at a moderate pace and you should be good to go.

Ideally, you would want to add a couple of strength training sessions per week but it looks like your schedule is tight.
 
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