PREP WEEK: DAY 3 · Wednesday Training 

Macronutrients and Carb Cycling

Weekly Affirmation -  “I will allow myself to be a beginner. I am willing to learn and grow, even after stumbling. I am worthy of investing in my health.”

Good morning, friends and welcome to day three! ☀️ Today you are going to learn about two more components of the FASTer Way to Fat Loss lifestyle - macronutrients and carb cycling! It’s a big learning day today, so put your thinking caps on!

MACRONUTRIENTS (aka "macros")

• So what's all this talk about macronutrients (aka "macros") and why are they important? No need to wonder anymore! I am also going to tell you why we track macros instead of calories. Simply counting calories does not ensure that we are flooding our bodies with what it needs to function at its best. Many times, people who simply count calories do not fuel their bodies with foods that heal their bodies and prevent disease. In case you weren’t aware, living off of 100 calorie packs is not a good health strategy. 🚫

• Macronutrients are the “large” nutrients that make up everything we eat. They consist of carbohydrates, fat, and protein. When we eat balanced macros, it fuels our bodies correctly and keeps our blood sugar balanced. This is important for regulating insulin, which has many roles in the body (including fat storage and keeping energy levels stable).

• Eating balanced macros is much more effective than simply trying to reduce calories in order to burn fat. Calorie reduction may give you short-term results, but it will also have a negative impact on your energy, mood, sleep, exercise recovery, and more. Not only that, you will eventually hit a plateau, which means you’ll have to further restrict calories to continue seeing results. This is a frustrating, unhealthy, and an unsustainable way to live.

• I encourage each of you to read this very brief blog post that explains each macro in more detail! As we move forward, I will be giving you more ideas on how to meet your fat goals, carb goals and protein goals. With that, do not forget to refer to the macro cheat sheets that I gave you last week. Remember to utilize all of your resources! 👏

https://www.fasterwaytofatloss.com/blog/2016/12/19/why-i-count-macros-instead-of-calories

CARB CYCLING:

• Carb cycling is a strategic variation of carbohydrate intake that burns fat while properly supporting our hormones. We cycle our carb intake by eating a low amount of carbs on some days (called “Low Carb Days” on Monday and Tuesday every week) and eating higher amounts of healthy carbohydrates on other days (called “Regular Macro Days" on Wednesday - Sunday). Through carb cycling, we see fat loss, increased energy levels and improvements to overall body composition! Here is a nice surprise: You are encouraged to increase your healthy fat intake on low carb day! There may even be days in which you double your regular fat intake. With the reduction of carbs, fat will serve as your fuel and your energy source on low carb days. That is why eating more fat (prioritize HEALTHY fats) than usual is important when carb cycling. 

• We also have “Low Macro Days” which are different than “Low Carb Days”. These are completely optional and are best suited for those who would like to lose a good amount of weight. On Low Macro Days, all macros are lower — protein, carbs and fats — to put our bodies into a reduced caloric intake level. Again, these are optional but if you choose to do a low macro day, please do so on Thursdays and/or on Sundays. Please pair Low Macro days with REST days. Do not pair with strength training days as our energy stores are lower, we don’t want to over exert ourselves on these days. You can switch the Thursday strength workout with Friday!

• Our ideal weekly schedule will look like this:

  • MON - Low Carb (+HIIT workout)

  • TUES - Low Carb (+HIIT workout)

  • WED - Regular Macro Day (+Full Body strength workout)

  • THURS - Low Macro Day (+Rest day) option OR Regular Macro Day (+Upper Body strength workout-look for this on Friday’s workout studio tab)

  • FRI - Regular Macro Day (+Upper Body strength workout) or (+Rest day)

  • SAT - Regular Macro Day (+Leg Day strength workout & Treat day)

  • SUN - Low Macro Day (+Rest day) option OR Regular Macro Day (+Rest day)

• In our program, we aim to keep our NET carbs less than 50 grams. TOTAL CARBS minus FIBER = NET CARBS. Your app is automatically set to its appropriate goals on low carb days, as well as regular macro days. You do not need to adjust anything. See my example image below. Notice how my protein is close to my goal, my fats are heavily increased and my fiber is subtracted from my total carbs. If you are male, pregnant or nursing, your NET carbs will be 100g. There are also certain health situations in which we may need to set your NET carbs higher. Please reach out if you’re concerned with low carb days.

TODAY’S ACTION ITEMS:

• Please note that we won’t begin carb cycling until next week (Monday and Tuesday). Hopefully you have plenty of time to ask questions and learn your app a little better before then. 

• Continue intermittent fasting. Remember that it is okay to build up to a 16 hour window. It will get easier as you learn how to fuel your body properly. PROGRESS OVER PERFECTION!

• Choose mostly whole foods for your nutrition today! Try and eliminate the foods that are processed and/or have a lot of ingredients that you don't recognize.  Think of it this way - whole foods don't have ingredients because they ARE the ingredient! 😉

• Make sure your app is set up and ready to go. Please refer back to yesterday’s morning post for instructions on setting up your app!

• If you haven’t already, please share your macro gram targets in the comments below so I can review and approve that your goals are set correctly. Practice tracking your meals today and see how you do! Keep scrolling to learn how!