At some point you might have seen a fitness enthusiast post about how they are incorporating high carb and low carb days to accommodate their training schedule. Many people will plan to consume higher carbs on days where they train more intensely (especially lower body days). This same concept can be a useful tool for those who want to cycle their daily macro intake in order to accommodate higher calorie days for variety of reasons.

Whether you are in a cut (aka a calorie deficit), eating at maintenance, reverse dieting (aka slowing adding in calories after a diet phase in order to build your metabolism back up), or in a bulk (aka consuming more calories than needed to maintain your weight with the intent to add muscle more effectively), you can use the strategy of cycling your macros/calories to accommodate a variety of situations. Things like BBQs, special events, restaurant meals, dinner at someone else’s home, etc. My clients love it because if they have an event planned or want to have a treat meal without going over their total weekly budget, they know they can simply adjust macros by pulling some from one day (or a few days) and allotting them to another. The idea being that the weekly total balances out (the average of the daily totals for the whole week is equal to the daily target macros). The other great thing about it is that they can fit these events and higher calorie foods into their plan as a lifestyle approach. Regardless of whether they have a higher calorie meal, it doesn’t deviate from their goal, so it creates no guilt or stress when trying to plan! Think of it like a budget, only for your macros. As long as it doesn’t exceed what you have to spend in a week, a higher day offset by lower ones isn’t going to undo anything! In fact, I think it’s mentally freeing!

Personally, I like to use this method in order to fit in higher calorie desserts on a more routine basis. It has been really fun implementing this strategy over the last couple of months as I am intentionally upping my calories and reverse dieting. It has allowed me to try out new brands like PDX Cookie Co cookies and Waffle Queen Wookies instead of a #MacroFriendly dessert all the time.

How to do it: The easiest thing to do is just to pull some carbs and fat from one (or more days) with the intent to use them on either one very high meal or a high day, or rotating them to alternate days like what is shown in my graph.

Reader Questions:
1/ Have you ever tied this approach?
2/ Does this sound like something you’d like to try?

Questions? Drop them below or shoot me an email!

You can also email me if you think you might want to work together! We can set up a free discovery call! The goal of my coaching is to get you to a place where you no longer need a coach.

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P.S. If you are interested in getting a custom set of macros, you can find out more here. If you want something more in-depth which will help you learn #Moderation365 nutrition strategies like #DessertEveryDay and how to eat in a way you love and still get results, you can get 1:1 coaching via my Meal Mastery Mentorship. You can head to this link to find out more.

If you just want to stick your toe in the water and see what it’s like, then my Meal Mastery Nutrition Audit has a 100% money-back satisfaction guarantee! So no excuses!!! Find out about it at this link.

If you are interested in working on a specific habit and need someone to help you troubleshoot, keep you motivated, and hold you accountable, I offer coaching a variety of ways, which you can learn more about here.

My specialty is habit change and my approach is to work on mindset alongside the habit, so that it is healthy and sustainable, and this is best done via 1:1 Coaching which you can learn about here. Whether it involves your health, finances, nutrition, exercise, relationships, or personal growth, habits are the key to success. We are the outcome of what we repeatedly do. Without addressing that, there can be no change. Learn more here!

P.P.S. I will be increasing my 1:1 coaching prices after I have my new #Moderation365 certification. Current clients will be grandfathered in at their current rate as long as they don’t lapse, but for those who are wanting to enroll as a new client, I would do so now if you are on the fence!