I used to think "carb cycling" was stupid.

I'll be honest...when I first read about the concept of "carb cycling" for fat loss (i.e. strategically taking carbs out of your diet and putting them back in), I really thought it was stupid.

I thought, "Dang, if I take out carbs, I'll lose all my muscle mass. And carbs are necessary for high intensity strength training. I'll get weak as a kitten."

I thought carb cycling was the worst idea ever.

One book changed my thinking, though.

I was in my third year of training (which would be about 22 years ago) and the book I got was called the "Anabolic Diet" by Dr. Mauro DiPasquale. If you've been around for awhile like me, you might recognize it.

Essentially, it was 5 days of strict low-carb eating followed by 2 days of refeeding with carbs (nothing was really off limits in terms of food...in fact, I ended up developing a mild addiction to bacon and toaster strudel for awhile ;).

The idea was to balance your blood sugar and insulin levels for the 5 days and focus your training on losing fat. The low-carb eating makes it easier for your body to access stored fat. This also increased your insulin sensitivity so that when you went back to eating carbs on the 2 days, you got a BIG rebound in muscle growth due to the flood of anabolic hormones.

Now, skeptical as I was, I do have an open mind so I read the book, cover to cover, and I decided to try it...

And Holy Crap...the first week was BRUTAL.

I found out the hard way that I was a serious "carb burner", meaning that my enzymatic "machinery" was geared to using CARBS for energy, not fat. That's why when I would try and diet to lose fat, I found I was having a hard time losing fat effectively while keeping up my energy levels and training hard.

My body didn't really know HOW to efficiently burn fat for energy.

So I dove in...and the first few days I had no energy at all and felt like garbage. But I was determined to gut it out and make it to the weekend (the 2 refeed days) at the very least then take it from there.

Friday came and I felt weak, tired and hungry. I was starting to feel like this stuff really WAS stupid.

But when I started eating carbs again that Saturday morning, something MAGICAL happened...

I felt AWESOME...all my energy came back. My appetite came back (big time) and I felt strength and power FLOODING back into my muscles...

I had the whole weekend off training...and when Monday came around, even though I went back to low-carb eating, I pretty much BLEW UP the gym. I was getting massive pumps with every exercise...my strength was up...and I had a ton of endurance.

That one workout COMPLETELY changed my mind about carb cycling.

This was EXACTLY what I was looking for.

And I knew this was going to be how I'd do fat loss from that moment on.

Over the years, I've since experimented with and refined my own approach to carb cycling. If you've used my Metabolic Surge program, you've seen it and done it (5 days low-carb, 1 day only protein, 1 day only fruit, 5 days low-fat, along with some strategic intermittent fasting, then repeat for 3 cycles).

And that works AWESOME...

However, it's NOT the only effective way to approach carb cycling.

Rewind back in time a few years ago...

I was at a get-together/event/vacation down in St. Pete's Beach with a number of other fitness professionals (you probably know and get emails from a lot of them, actually!) and there was a guy I didn't recognize.

He came up and introduced himself and said he had read my fat-loss program then mentioned that he had a program that was similar in concept to it, in terms of strategically rotating carbs to not only fat, but prevent metabolic slowdown AND helping hang onto muscle mass while dieting.

His name was Shaun Hadsall (still is ;) and he and I instantly hit it off. He's one of the nicest people I know and we've been great friends ever since...and whenever we meet up at one of these events, we always end up training together. Let me tell you, I've put him through some serious workouts, hitting him with some of my most insane stuff and he just eats it up.

His program is called "4 Cycle Fat Loss" and it's EXCELLENT.

The base idea of the program is carb cycling...the method of cycling that he uses is extremely effective and is based on good science and good logic.

It's the kind of approach that allows you to get the benefits of low-carb eating (rapid fat loss, stable energy levels, optimal hormone production) without experiencing the major downsides that can come from keeping carbs too low for too long.

You can read more about his program here...he's currently got it on sale for DIRT CHEAP.

If you've tired my Metabolic Surge program and liked it, this program is right up your alley. It's a fairly similar approach that uses similar guiding principles. It's good stuff.

And heck, I'm not afraid to admit that his program might work even BETTER for you than my own program.

I think it's extremely important that we all keep learning as we go through life...you've gotta keep moving forwards in your knowledge.

Now, on a side note, if you go to the page and feel it's a bit too "markety" for your taste (there IS a lot going on there), I would urge you to look past that and give this program a chance. The dietary and program design is solid and the price makes it very much worth your while to check out.

I USED to think carb cycling was the worst idea ever...

Now I know it's the BEST way to lose fat and keep your muscle and strength...and the 4 Cycle Fat Loss program is an extremely effective approach to doing it.