a question for those who do refeeds

oat_bran

How do you know when you're running low on leptin and need a refeed?

Do you start to go gradually hungrier and experience more and more cravings ? Do you start feeling weaker and perform worse at the gym?

What's your BF% and how often do you have refeeds?

psuLemon

oat_bran wrote: »

How do you know when you're running low on leptin and need a refeed?

Do you start to go gradually hungrier and experience more and more cravings ? Do you start feeling weaker and perform worse at the gym?

What's your BF% and how often do you have refeeds?

Leptin will always decrease when you are in an energy deficit and ghrelin increases. If you start to feel lethargic, have been dieting awhile, finding you have compliance issues or in general struggle a refeed is a good idea. Also, if you are lean, than regular refeeds and/or diet breaks is a good thing as well.

Talan79

Look up Paul Revelia on YouTube & refeeds. He has a great channel on YouTube.

TavistockToad

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10604863/of-refeeds-and-diet-breaks

sardelsa

I regularly incorporate refeeds right at the start of my cuts for adherence and to boost workout performance. I eat around maintenance or higher and usually start out with 1-2 per week. Then as I get leaner, the more helpful I find them. Towards the end when I am fairly lean I end up with 2-3 days, sometimes 4 per week. I don't always follow a super traditional high carb/lower fat approach, I usually keep protein and fat fairly consistent, then increase my carbs.

In terms of diet breaks I have started to take one every 10-12 weeks, usually one in the middle of a cut is sufficient for me. I think a lot of factors come into play when deciding when to take one.. such as personal preference, length of cut, leanness and size of deficit. I went 16 weeks straight last cut and I was burnt out by the end. This time with a diet break at 11 weeks it really helped me keep going for the final stretch.

I don't track my bodyfat% but I would imagine I usually hover around mid to low 20s (my profile pic is from the end of my cut last year which is usually as low as I like to get).

oat_bran

sardelsa wrote: »

I regularly incorporate refeeds right at the start of my cuts for adherence and to boost workout performance. I eat around maintenance or higher and usually start out with 1-2 per week. Then as I get leaner, the more helpful I find them. Towards the end when I am fairly lean I end up with 2-3 days, sometimes 4 per week. I don't always follow a super traditional high carb/lower fat approach, I usually keep protein and fat fairly consistent, then increase my carbs.

In terms of diet breaks I have started to take one every 10-12 weeks, usually one in the middle of a cut is sufficient for me. I think a lot of factors come into play when deciding when to take one.. such as personal preference, length of cut, leanness and size of deficit. I went 16 weeks straight last cut and I was burnt out by the end. This time with a diet break at 11 weeks it really helped me keep going for the final stretch.

I don't track my bodyfat% but I would imagine I usually hover around mid to low 20s (my profile pic is from the end of my cut last year which is usually as low as I like to get).

Thanks that's very helpful!

pinggolfer96

When I get down to 6-8% I have refeeds once a week at 800+ grams of carbs. It’s very subjective to the individual though. Most of the time people don’t NEED a refeed until they get to very low body fat. They more so need a mental break. One day does very little too on hormones such as leptin and ghrelin. Usually deep into a cut I’ll start incorporating them. Like I said when I get to 6-8% shredded lol.