Is carb cycling a good idea for women over 40 who want to lose weight?

Nikkiey is clear that she doesn't use carb cycling herself. With carb cycling, your calories come down, go up, come down and go up again. She compares it to sending Morse code to your body: it's doing too much, and your body doesn't recognize what you're trying to do. Hitting the same consistent numbers every day, then adjusting as your body adapts, is what she firmly believes in.

She also adds some nuance. She says her views have changed over the years and that saying she's totally against it would be wrong. Everybody's body is different, so what works for one woman may not work for another, and some bodies may respond better to another strategy. In her experience, though, only a very small group of the women she's coached has responded to carb cycling.

So what do you do when progress slows? Nikkiey says to check all your data points first: photos, measurements and the scale. Some women change in measurements but not in photos, or the reverse. If any of those is still moving, she's had women stay on the same macros for two months and keep getting results. If nothing has moved for a long time, that's a sign your body has adjusted to that intake and your numbers need to change. After a long stretch on the same macros, she also mentions a diet break, where you raise your calories well above your usual intake for one full week.

The bigger point is focus. Nikkiey describes your goal as a straight line right in front of you. Veering off into keto, carb cycling, cutting calories or copying someone else is what turns it into a years-long winding road. If you haven't gotten results yet, the problem usually isn't you. You need one plan you stick with.