Articles & Tips

Of all the intricate and interconnecting components that comprise the biology of the human body, perhaps none suffers a worse rap than hormones.

Especially among women, hormones get blamed for myriad issues, problems and conditions—both real and presumed.

In a perfect world, we would get all the vitamins and nutrients we need from the foods we eat.

And in a doubly perfect world, we could eat whatever we crave to fortify a healthy body.

But for those of us who live in a somewhat imperfect world, and are trying our best to follow a sensible bodybuilding meal plan, there are supplements.

Nobody wants to refer to them as “diets” anymore.

The word carries an unpleasant connotation which many people equate with “complexity,” “frustration,” “struggle” and, because they're so difficult to sustain, often “failure.”

If you're determined to create meal plans for weight loss, a new term might play as music to your ears—and provide delight to your palate: “carb cycling.”

Carb cycling is the practice of alternating high-carb and low-carb days—with just one simple proviso: you consume more carbs on high intensity (or training) days and fewer carbs on lower intensity days.

It might help to think of carb cycling as a way to keep your body in optimal balance: You fire up your metabolism on high-carb days and burn fat and retain muscle on low-carb days.

Yes, you might need a calculator to compute your ideal carb intake (unless you're using MealPlanMagic). And you might even want to keep a journal to track and adjust your carb cycling program. But you're likely to find carb cycling so enjoyable and rewarding—and so unlike any “diet” you've ever tried to follow—that they will merely become the tools of your means to achieve meaningful and lasting weight loss.

With a fresh meal planning and prepping tool at your side, assisting you in creating the best meal plans for weight loss, you'll eat heartily, too—and bring about the weight loss success you crave most.