A carb cycling program is an intentional variation of carbohydrate intake each week. Most carb cycling plans consist of high carb days and low carb days. The FASTer Way To Fat Loss pairs our carb cycle with the workouts we will be doing to maximize fat burn and energy levels.
Long term restriction of carbohydrates and calories can lower your metabolic rate and negatively affect your hormone levels. This is a big reason women find themselves at one of those weight loss plateaus. For a short period of time a significantly restrictive diet will bring you results, however, over time it will cause your metabolic rate to decrease. Once that happens, you will see your weight loss stop and will need to restrict calories even further to lose more weight, thus lowering your metabolic rate once again. Not only is this a terribly unhealthy way to live, it is also incredibly frustrating.
Carb cycling allows for planned high carb days that increase your thyroid output and help you control hunger. Because you are cycling your carbs, you will also have low carb days that offset your high carb days. With this type of cycle you will continue to see fat loss, increased energy levels and improvements to your overall body composition. Carb cycling improves insulin levels, helping your body store less fat. When paired with intermittent fasting and effective workouts, carb cycling can help you break through those dreaded plateaus so you can truly look and feel your very best.
Intermittent fasting is not a type of diet, but an eating schedule. Your body is always in one of two states: fed or fasted. In the fed state (any time your body is digesting food), your body’s insulin levels make burning fat a challenge. However, in the fasted state (8-12 hours after your body finishes digesting), your insulin levels are lower and better able to reach into your fat stores. People rarely go into a fasted state throughout the day. In fact, the traditional theory of several small meals per day keeps us from ever reaching the fasted state. In addition, that type of eating schedule regularly spikes our insulin levels, which also hinders fat loss. So, while eating several small meals per day can lead to weight loss (calorie deficits always do), you will likely be losing both muscle and fat. When you lose calorie burning muscle, you lower your metabolic rate and make it harder for your body to burn fat. You also might become frustrated because you never feel toned and fit even though you are working out and eating clean.
Not exactly. In the FASTer Way to Fat Loss, we have eating windows combined with our high and low carb days. We eat all of the time! We simply confine our eating to a shorter window throughout the day, allowing our bodies to enter into the fasted state.
Yes. This program is called the FASTer Way to Fat Loss because we focus on implementing cutting edge nutrition strategies like intermittent fasting. We will be fasting daily.
Yes! The creator of FASTer Way to Fat Loss, Amanda Tress, and thousands of clients have actually breastfed their children while participating in the FASTer Way with no negative impacts to supply. If you are breastfeeding, we will modify your low carb days and be very diligent about your water intake. If you are focused on whole food nutrition and you’re well hydrated, and you’re EATING ENOUGH CALORIES, you won’t see a decrease in milk supply. We will be sure to check on your caloric intake because when you are living in too big of a calorie deficit and doing crazy, intense workouts, your milk supply can absolutely be affected. The FASTer Way to Fat Loss is designed to fuel your body in a way that is perfectly safe for nursing moms.
No! While I am happy to share the products I use and love (protein powder, vitamins), none of them are required to participate. I am a huge proponent of fueling your body with real food and this program is based on that premise. Nothing is required but hard work, commitment and positivity.
This program is for women and men. In addition, this program has been incredibly successful for women who have a foundation of working out and under 100 pounds to lose. This program is challenging and will require commitment. If you have more than 100 pounds to lose and have not worked out in a long time, then we can make the program work for you, but it will require some modifying. If that’s you, I will have you start with our nutritional cycle then ease you into our workouts. I truly want you to see results, but I also want you to be safe and remain injury free. So, if you have more than 60 pounds to lose, we will move a little more slowly, but will eventually be able to ease you into the full program and lifestyle over time.
My honest answer to this question is: If what you are currently doing was working extremely well, you wouldn’t be looking into this program. If you were seeing incredible results, and were truly passionate about your current lifestyle, you would not be searching for other solutions. This program is designed to work as a whole. We pair our nutritional cycle with our workouts, because that is what gets the very best results. It is absolutely critical that we are fueling our bodies for our workouts, and teaching them how to burn fat instead of glucose throughout the day. If you belong to a gym like Orangetheory, are doing Pilates, Yoga or Barre, then I highly recommend you do our workouts for the first few weeks. I definitely want you to keep doing workouts you love, so I’m all for you adding yours in. However, it is important that we discuss what you are doing so that we can make sure your food cycle is matched accordingly. If you are working with a personal trainer, I would obviously want you to continue with that, but again would have you look at your food cycle to ensure you are eating the right amount on the days you are working out!
The FASTer Way offers both a gym and at-home workout versions.Both are equally effective and you are welcome to do either. The at home workouts need a few sets of dumbbells and a sturdy chair or bench. If you have a few resistance bands, that will be handy as well.
We provide guidelines for each day of our food cycle. For example, on low carb day I will indicate that your goal is to consume less than 50g net carbs. I will explain how to calculate your macros (carbs, fats, protein) and also give you a sample meal plan and recipes. However, you will have the flexibility to consume the foods you truly enjoy. This is not a deprivation diet! Trust me!
I host the FASTer Way To Fat Loss community groups on Facebook. Most of my clients choose to join a Facebook community group for daily tips and accountability. While it is not required for participation in the program, I do highly suggest it.