This is the reason you are here, right? You want to lose weight, get in shape, tone up, slim down, and stay that way for the rest of your life, right? Well Carb Cycling HeadQuarters is proud to announce that April is Get Fit and Stay That Way Month! All month-long we will be taking you from your current state, whatever that may be, to a new level of fitness, muscle development, and healthy nutrition. So follow along, check back often, or subscribe to the blog through RSS or email! If you’d like more information regarding what carb cycling is, or why it works check out our post on what carb cycling is. You can check out the other parts of this series below:
The great news with this process is that you can start today! There isn’t a huge learning curve, nor expensive food, plans, or memberships to buy! Unlike a lot of the diets on the market today, carb cycling isn’t a members only club, nor is used by any one group exclusively. Body builders use it to build huge amounts of muscle without gaining fat too. Athletes use it to help tone and maximize muscle gain. Normal people use it to drop a few pounds. Extremely overweight, or even obese people use it to shed the pounds they never could before and get into the best shape of their lives! This means that there is no specific demographic that will benefit from this, because everyone will!
The first step in any journey is the mental one. You must commit to this. Carb cycling is normally done in 90 day phases. In April, we are going to take you through the first 30 days of you phase one. We’ll still be here after that for support, encouragement, and information! But this series will end May 1. Mentally you must accept that this will be difficult at times, especially at first. However, it does get easier and the results are definitely worth it! You will see results fairly quickly, but don’t get discouraged if they differ from your expectations, as we all expect more than is realistic at first. Once you are mentally committed and prepared, you’re ready to start doing!
Your first step is to get rid of all the bad food in your house. That’s right, all of it! Head on over to the approved foods list and take anything out of your pantry, cabinet, or fridge that doesn’t make that list. I know this is hard, but it is definitely necessary to prevent backsliding, cheating on diet days, and snacking. This was perhaps the hardest thing for me in the entire carb cycling experience. My family had bought groceries fairly recently before making the leap to carb cycling and I hate seeing good food go to waste. Then we had the idea to donate our non-perishable foods to a local food bank! You should do this too, if you are so inclined. We do this because if it is in your kitchen, when you are craving carbs on day two, you will go over to the pantry and fix that nice big taco mix dinner that you “saved.” If you have a family with children, don’t fret! These recipes and meals that we eat on this diet can be adjusted to portions that will fit their needs as well and that are delicious even for those picky eaters.
Next is to create a weekly meal plan. This plan should be made on a Friday night or Saturday morning for optimal timing for most families. Obviously adjust this to fit your family’s schedule. We tend to buy groceries on Friday night or Saturday morning and then cook a week’s worth of meals on Sunday evening for the following week. Let’s face it, no one wants to cook five meals a day every day. When you’re hungry, eat! Plan out your five meals (3 meals and 2 snacks daily) everyday for the week and have plenty of Tupperware on hand to store and refrigerate. Once you have that meal plan created, make a list of ingredients that you will need and create a grocery list. I like to list items in the order that they are in the store by section (meats, garden, dairy, etc.) so that the actual shopping is as quick and painless as possible (I hate grocery stores). We will be creating some yummy meals in the following weeks together as well as giving out a few recipes to try.
Have questions? Let us know in the comments below!
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