There are many diet fads out there that you may lose weight on; however, a lot of those diet plans are not sustainable so you will yo-yo back to where you were before. A nutritional plan that you can continue to follow for long term is the best route to go versus the so called crash diet. While there are numerous good plans out there the cyclic ketogenic diet is one that is typically overlooked. This diet is typically called carb-cycling. It is great for maximizing fat loss while still allowing your body to perform high-intensity exercise.
Carb cycling is a very easy concept to follow and there are several different variables to allow for flexibility. This diet simply consists of three different days of eating: high carb, low carb, and no carb days. You can choose what days to have each option but typically you would just rotate all days in order. For example, Sunday would be no carbs, Monday low carbs, Tuesday high carbs, and such forth. Typically the high carb days would be on high intensity workout days and the no carb days on the resting days. Either way, all days involve 6 meals throughout the day.
In breaking each day down protein is the base of the whole carb cycling plan; while of course, raising and lowering your carb intake on each day. The no carb day is the simplest day to follow; however it may be toughest day mentally to resist certain foods. Just stick to protein foods on these days.
Low carb days are a bit more complex but can be calculated out to find the proper ratios of protein / carbs / and fats. To find the amount of protein women should multiply their body weight by 1.2 and men by 1.5 to figure out how many grams of protein they need. For fat totals women should multiply by .5 and men by .8 and then for carbs women .6 and men .9. If you then multiply the protein and carb numbers by 4 and then the fat total by 9 and add them together that will tell you how many calories to consume. You can deviate from those numbers a little bit but stay close to them.
On high carb days increase your protein and carbs but decrease your fat calories. For women multiply your weight by 1.4 for protein and carbs and then 1.7 for men. Whereas, fat should only be by .3 for women and .6 for men.
Although there are a few calculations to get this type of meal plan figured out once you have started you will gain a better awareness of what exactly you will need to eat on each particular day. Reap the rewards of this plan while decreasing your body fat percentage but still keeping that sharp edge during your high intensity workouts.
Check out this website for more information: http://www.cutandjacked.com/
