Planned refeeds? If you have experience with them how do you approach them/plan them?

tmoneyag99

I'm starving today. I plan on eating a few extra calories under my current WOE. I have been at a deficit for over a month but have a REALLY long way to go.

So the content of my refeed isn't going to be junk but rather a little bit more than usual. (Little extra meat, a little extra good fat, a little extra fresh veg)

Has anyone ever woken up one morning and thought "Man I feel like crap. I'm going to eat extra today and get back on my deficit tomorrow"


How did that work out for you? What do yours usually look like.

toxikon

I believe there's a difference, biologically, between a single day of eating at/above maintenance, and a 3-day to 2-week planned refeeding period.

When you eat at maintenance and boost your carb intake for 3 (or more) consecutive days, your body boosts its leptin levels and reduces its ghrelin (hunger hormone) levels, which is a good thing.

With only one maintenance day, you won't see those results.

That's not to say that maintenance days are not helpful on a psychological level.

MegaMooseEsq

I eat at or above maintenance one to two nights a week. I enjoy going out, so it was important to me not to have to give that up while dieting. I find I can maintain a sufficient deficit during the week to compensate for the higher days, and that I don't get as hungry as opposed to when I try to maintain a week or more at a daily deficit.

There's a massive thread on refeeds and diet breaks on this board that you should check out if you haven't already. The first post has been updated with a lot of great info and people are really good about answering questions there.