Involuntary Refeeds Work!

DapperKay
DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Over the past month I had some friends over and we decided to book a few far weekend trips to Europe (I live in London). As usual on these things, your entire system gets disrupted and you go from counting the grams of carbs in your salad to munching on donuts at 1am in a desperate bid to avoid drinking on an empty stomach. The next day would be all about big breakfasts and snacking all around with big dinners.

Prior to going on holiday I had reached the pure exhaustion phase, after nearly 6 months of hard work and no let up, I had dropped 80 lbs, averaging around 2 lbs a week drop and my BF went from a whopping 28% to 17%. All great, but it came at a cost, I was DEPLETED and I could feel it from the moment I open my eyes. Gym was a disaster, I could barely sustain a 30 minute work out.

Then came the mass exodus over last month and the mammoth intake of carbs and sugars. I thought it was going to take me months back.

....

Instead, and you saw this coming, I dropped an extra 2% on the BF scale and an extra 4 kg on the weights. All this while I was still going to the gym, now sustaining a good hour, and I have shaken off that grudgy weakness. I am now full of energy again, muscle glycogen levels restored and good to go on another 6 months of hard work to continue becoming more lean while buidling muscle.

Leptins are really something! Just make sure your refeeds focus on carbs, and DONT let them become a habit. Mine were involuntary and I mentally fought them, hence why I think they worked, I didn't let them become a thing.

Just thought I'd share, this stuff works and I feel great!

Replies

  • awtume9
    awtume9 Posts: 423 Member
    That's awesome, but maybe you should be regularly eating more if you don't have enough energy to fuel your workouts? You shouldn't be so exhausted...
  • DapperKay
    DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
    That's awesome, but maybe you should be regularly eating more if you don't have enough energy to fuel your workouts? You shouldn't be so exhausted...

    Possibly, I am on 1450 cals though, exhaustion is inevitable. At one point I was on 1200, back then it was REALLY tough. Next month I am going up to 1550, should start to feel more normal then. Slowly increasing it to 1800 by end of 2013.
  • Hildy_J
    Hildy_J Posts: 1,050 Member
    I love this! 'Re-feed' is a positive way of seeing it, as opposed to 'cheat day', 'bad weekend' or 'binge'.

    I agree with you OP about the energy surge... and perhaps it keeps the metabolism guessing, too? :wink:
  • DapperKay
    DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
    I love this! 'Re-feed' is a positive way of seeing it, as opposed to 'cheat day', 'bad weekend' or 'binge'.

    I agree with you OP about the energy surge... and perhaps it keeps the metabolism guessing, too? :wink:

    I think Leptins, the enzymes that control when you feel hungry and whether or not to burn fat, basically relax and start to burn fat that it was storing efficiently due to your diet. It deems you now safe because of the re-feed and as you said, it guesses wrong, but it works, especially if re-feeds are very far apart and not a cheat day.

    I think it requires ultra mental strength to pull the cheat day/meal thing off. But re-feeds, you ONLY do when you have reached pure exhaustion phase, when you know you either re-feed or you risk losing lean muscle mass. At that point it is most effective, especially when the re-feed is based on sugar and carbs.

    It too requires mental strength to stop at the right time, hence why I think when they come involuntary they work best, no planning, they just happen and then boom you are back on track!
  • Elafacwen
    Elafacwen Posts: 44 Member
    A similar thing happened to me on a two week trip to the Netherlands. I was down 60 pounds before leaving, ate literally anything that looked good in any quantity that I wanted, drank, and just had a merry old time with carbs and sugar and fried foods.
    Came back home 4lbs lighter...
  • Unknown
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  • DapperKay
    DapperKay Posts: 140 Member
    Yea.....sorry but what you did is not a refeed. It's basically a diet break.

    Possibly, whatever it was, it worked, never been more efficient and still losing like crazy, weeks on.

    Although, after reading up more on re-feeds, it really isn't that different, its not as structured or measured...
  • Unknown
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  • Love4fitnesslove4food2
    Love4fitnesslove4food2 Posts: 711 Member
    I love this! 'Re-feed' is a positive way of seeing it, as opposed to 'cheat day', 'bad weekend' or 'binge'.

    I agree with you OP about the energy surge... and perhaps it keeps the metabolism guessing, too? :wink:

    I think Leptins, the enzymes that control when you feel hungry and whether or not to burn fat, basically relax and start to burn fat that it was storing efficiently due to your diet. It deems you now safe because of the re-feed and as you said, it guesses wrong, but it works, especially if re-feeds are very far apart and not a cheat day.

    I think it requires ultra mental strength to pull the cheat day/meal thing off. But re-feeds, you ONLY do when you have reached pure exhaustion phase, when you know you either re-feed or you risk losing lean muscle mass. At that point it is most effective, especially when the re-feed is based on sugar and carbs.

    It too requires mental strength to stop at the right time, hence why I think when they come involuntary they work best, no planning, they just happen and then boom you are back on track!

    Minor correction--leptin isn't an enzyme, it's a hormone that regulates energy intake and appetite. It also, doesn't burn fat but instead is "a mediator of long-term regulation of energy balance, suppressing food intake and thereby inducing weight loss."

    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17212793

    Just thought you'd like to know a bit more about the hormone that you attribute your progress to.

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