Cyclical Ketogenic Diet: A Perfect Bodybuilding Diet
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Cyclical Ketogenic Diet can be aptly called the perfect bodybuilding diet for allowing you to build muscles without adding volume, to lose fat while cutting and to raise the serum anabolic hormones naturally. Achieving these goals through a diet looks like a fairy tale, but it’s the REALITY. Many have tried it and got flourishing results that will astound you.
Cyclical Ketogenic Diet (CKD): Methodology
In cyclical ketogenic diet, you would be mostly eating a low-carb diet, but there will a weekly occasion reserved for carbing-up. Unbelievably, it boosts the growth-promoting hormones (testosterone, growth hormone, IGF-1) in your blood.
In standard cyclical ketogenic diet, you eat a low-carb diet for 5 to 6 days interspersed with 1 or 2 days of high-carb diet every week. It’s user-friendly and manageable. However, if you experience performance deterioration towards the end of the low-carb phase, you are recommended to carb-up on Tuesday or Wednesday to restock your glycogen store.
As you keep your carb-intake low, the body makes a metabolic switch and start burning fats. It provides several health benefits to the bodybuilders;
- Breaks down the fat (lipolysis).
- Builds up the body fat (lipogenesis).
Usually, the body needs around 3 days to produce plenty of the right enzymes to burn fats. Initially, the beginners may feel dizzy. Sadly, people take this temporary effect as a long-term side-effect and quit.
Insulin
Insulin draws glucose from the blood and stores as glycogen in the liver and muscles. In absence of insulin and glucose store, the body starts to use fat for energy. Again, insulin and growth hormones share a strange equation. If one depletes, the other elevates. This is also, why insulin level is kept low – to boost lean muscle growth.
Testosterone and Dietary Fat
When one eats a diet rich in dietary fats, it improves the testosterone level, which is a hormone that maximizes the lean muscle growth. Even females can enjoy the benefits of this low-carb, high-fat diet.
Why Do You Need To Carb-Up Once A Week?
Carbing-up once a week elevates the insulin level and transfers the amino acids to the muscle tissues. It helps to reinstate the exhausted muscle glycogen store. This also ensures better gym performance. Muscles act like glycogen tanks that are emptied during your week’s workout and refilled during weekends carb-ups. As you continue it for weeks it becomes a cycle and thus, called the cyclical ketogenic diet.
How Many Carbs Can You Have?
You should be eating less than 50 grams of net-carbs (carb minus fiber) daily. However, this is just a general guideline and actual quantities vary from one person to another. Experiment to see what suits you best personally, but keep it minimum so that you can burn fat efficiently. Best, start with an intake of 30 grams of net-carbs daily.
Don’t go for post-workout carbs. It may increase your insulin level. However, you can have a protein shake with very little or no carbs.
What To Eat In A Cyclical Ketogenic Diet?
You may think cyclical ketogenic diet is too restrictive, but actually, it is pretty good and practical. People tried it but failed because it lacks diversity in meals. But, if you know what and how to replace, then you can make your meal both interesting and enjoyable.
Here, for an example is a sample one day’s eating plan.
- For breakfast, have one serving of scrambled eggs and bacon.
- Then, mid-morning, get a keto wrap with tuna, cheese, and mayonnaise filling.
- For lunch, have one serving of Ceasar salad.
- And for the main meal after a workout, enjoy a serving of Taco Salad and a low-carb protein shake.
- For snacks, go for a protein bar.
There are certain consequences of low-carb diets like sluggishness, brain fog, decreased energy and performance. It’s normal to experience those in the early phase until your body completes the switch. Well, that’s all the essential information for Cyclical Ketogenic Diet. Hope, you found it useful!
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