What's your opinion on refeeds?

absrpp

I have been on mfp for two weeks now. I have been eating 1400kcal daily but I reefed every three days and I eat around 200kcal above maintenance. I was wondering what is your idea of refeeds and whether or not you recommend them. I have been referring every fourth day because that is what Tom Venuto advices on Burn the fat, feed the muscle.
I am not interested in a fast weight loss, I have already been through two fad diets and I believe they are absolute crap. If refeeding is what is going to keep me going and then allow me to back up my calories to normal once I'm at my goal then I am going to keep doing is this frequently. Do you refeed? If so, how often?

Thanks,
A

PS: In these 11 days I have lost 1.6kg (3.2 pounds) which I believe is a safe rate for weight loss.

acogg

Refeeds = ! I find my endurance is much higher when I have an occasional day of being over my calories. I am not bad about sweets, so my over days are typically pretty healthy and fulfilling.

ndj1979

in….because I am curious about finding out people's thoughts/experience on this …and am considering adding a reefed day

what I have read about re-feeds is you should do them once a month, not ever fourth day? But that could be complete BS….

Snow3y

I was always under the impression that refeeds were made usually for when the body's glycogen levels are depleted.. Refeeding (eating high carb for the day) would thus restore those levels.

Snow3y

I've always known to do refeeds about once a week... This is for me though, I don't know what other people's diets consist of...

HMVOL7409

From my understanding refeeds are beneficial for those in longer cuts. You just started and already have a refeed every 3 days? More frequent refeeds are suggested for those already lean but most including myself only did so once every week or 2. Are your refeeds controlled with specific macro goals or are you just going all out and labeling it a refeed? (Which is not one in the same) By doing this every 3 days, all you're basically doing is cycling your calories, not necessarily getting the grasp of a refeed. Many cycle their calories, no issue in that.

MityMax96

I think they depend on the person and how the body is responding to what you are doing....

Like a person with a lot of weight to lose, may not need to do a refeed every 4th day.....

A person who is on the lower end of the BF % Scale, may benefit more from refeed....like around the 5th or 7th week.

The whole point of doing a "refeed" is due to the hormone Leptin, which tells our body to burn fat.....

Basically when a person is fat, overweight, obese....there body is filled with a ton of leptin, and the body no longer listens to the signals from this hormone, so instead of burning the fat off, it just sits and piles up....thus the person gets fat.

When a person starts restricting their caloric intake....this will decrease the leptin in the body, and thus the signal to burn fat goes down as well.....
So that is why a person on the lower end of the BF % scale will benefit from a refeed.....
It kinda helps to re-kick the body burning fat.
Because when you eat more or "refeed", the body responds by putting out more leptin, which then helps to start burning the fat.....

So that is why depending on where you are with your body weight/body fat %...the refeed can help or not help.....


The other thing you need to think about is if you are trying to lose weight....
And you do a refeed...
Does this refeed wipe out the caloric deficit you had for the week???

So if you are maintaining at 21000 calories a week.....
Your deficit will be ~17500 calories....
So if you have been on target to hit that number, but on your refeed day, you do a lot of calories....
You run the risk of wiping out your weekly deficit.

karryann2008

@MityMax96, Thanks for all that information :-)

LolBroScience

I think they depend on the person and how the body is responding to what you are doing....

Like a person with a lot of weight to lose, may not need to do a refeed every 4th day.....

A person who is on the lower end of the BF % Scale, may benefit more from refeed....like around the 5th or 7th week.

The whole point of doing a "refeed" is due to the hormone Leptin, which tells our body to burn fat.....

Basically when a person is fat, overweight, obese....there body is filled with a ton of leptin, and the body no longer listens to the signals from this hormone, so instead of burning the fat off, it just sits and piles up....thus the person gets fat.

When a person starts restricting their caloric intake....this will decrease the leptin in the body, and thus the signal to burn fat goes down as well.....
So that is why a person on the lower end of the BF % scale will benefit from a refeed.....
It kinda helps to re-kick the body burning fat.
Because when you eat more or "refeed", the body responds by putting out more leptin, which then helps to start burning the fat.....

So that is why depending on where you are with your body weight/body fat %...the refeed can help or not help.....


The other thing you need to think about is if you are trying to lose weight....
And you do a refeed...
Does this refeed wipe out the caloric deficit you had for the week???

So if you are maintaining at 21000 calories a week.....
Your deficit will be ~17500 calories....
So if you have been on target to hit that number, but on your refeed day, you do a lot of calories....
You run the risk of wiping out your weekly deficit.

I would chime in and say you probably don't need refeeds unless you are rather lean. You also don't need them every 3 days...

Refeed's should be a at or just slightly above maintenance cals. Typically you'll drop fats, maybe protein a little bit, and dump the recalculated macros into carbs.

It's also a nice mental break if you've been at lower cals for a while...

ndj1979

I think they depend on the person and how the body is responding to what you are doing....

Like a person with a lot of weight to lose, may not need to do a refeed every 4th day.....

A person who is on the lower end of the BF % Scale, may benefit more from refeed....like around the 5th or 7th week.

The whole point of doing a "refeed" is due to the hormone Leptin, which tells our body to burn fat.....

Basically when a person is fat, overweight, obese....there body is filled with a ton of leptin, and the body no longer listens to the signals from this hormone, so instead of burning the fat off, it just sits and piles up....thus the person gets fat.

When a person starts restricting their caloric intake....this will decrease the leptin in the body, and thus the signal to burn fat goes down as well.....
So that is why a person on the lower end of the BF % scale will benefit from a refeed.....
It kinda helps to re-kick the body burning fat.
Because when you eat more or "refeed", the body responds by putting out more leptin, which then helps to start burning the fat.....

So that is why depending on where you are with your body weight/body fat %...the refeed can help or not help.....


The other thing you need to think about is if you are trying to lose weight....
And you do a refeed...
Does this refeed wipe out the caloric deficit you had for the week???

So if you are maintaining at 21000 calories a week.....
Your deficit will be ~17500 calories....
So if you have been on target to hit that number, but on your refeed day, you do a lot of calories....
You run the risk of wiping out your weekly deficit.

at what percent body fat would someone benefit from a re-feed..I am about 12% right now...

Acg67

I think they depend on the person and how the body is responding to what you are doing....

Like a person with a lot of weight to lose, may not need to do a refeed every 4th day.....

A person who is on the lower end of the BF % Scale, may benefit more from refeed....like around the 5th or 7th week.

The whole point of doing a "refeed" is due to the hormone Leptin, which tells our body to burn fat.....

Basically when a person is fat, overweight, obese....there body is filled with a ton of leptin, and the body no longer listens to the signals from this hormone, so instead of burning the fat off, it just sits and piles up....thus the person gets fat.

When a person starts restricting their caloric intake....this will decrease the leptin in the body, and thus the signal to burn fat goes down as well.....
So that is why a person on the lower end of the BF % scale will benefit from a refeed.....
It kinda helps to re-kick the body burning fat.
Because when you eat more or "refeed", the body responds by putting out more leptin, which then helps to start burning the fat.....

So that is why depending on where you are with your body weight/body fat %...the refeed can help or not help.....


The other thing you need to think about is if you are trying to lose weight....
And you do a refeed...
Does this refeed wipe out the caloric deficit you had for the week???

So if you are maintaining at 21000 calories a week.....
Your deficit will be ~17500 calories....
So if you have been on target to hit that number, but on your refeed day, you do a lot of calories....
You run the risk of wiping out your weekly deficit.

If the whole point of a refeed is raising leptin, then they are pointless. How long does leptin stay elevated after a refeed?

Acg67

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/531579--spike-day-nonsense

http://web.archive.org/web/20120623110418/http://broscience.com/broscience-com-approved-articles/1305-s-all-about-leptin-bro-amirite.html

MityMax96

If the whole point of a refeed is raising leptin, then they are pointless. How long does leptin stay elevated after a refeed?

You could be right....

I read your link...haven't read it before, and I will go back over it later when I have more time....

But I was basing my logic off of LeanGains.com and some posts Martin did....
As well as Lyle....
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html

So I don't know that I would dismiss it out of hand, and not say there is no validity to how leptin and various other hormones work towards fat loss.

_Zardoz_

There is a lot of people who do refeeds on mfp. They just call them cheat days ! Personally I don't do them but some people swear by them

Acg67

If the whole point of a refeed is raising leptin, then they are pointless. How long does leptin stay elevated after a refeed?

You could be right....

I read your link...haven't read it before, and I will go back over it later when I have more time....

But I was basing my logic off of LeanGains.com and some posts Martin did....
As well as Lyle....
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html

So I don't know that I would dismiss it out of hand, and not say there is no validity to how leptin and various other hormones work towards fat loss.

That's not to say I don't think refeeds offer some benefits, but pinpointing raising leptin levels isn't one of them. I think Lyle answered in his forums that short term refeeds have little lasting effect on leptin levels

MityMax96

If the whole point of a refeed is raising leptin, then they are pointless. How long does leptin stay elevated after a refeed?

You could be right....

I read your link...haven't read it before, and I will go back over it later when I have more time....

But I was basing my logic off of LeanGains.com and some posts Martin did....
As well as Lyle....
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html

So I don't know that I would dismiss it out of hand, and not say there is no validity to how leptin and various other hormones work towards fat loss.

That's not to say I don't think refeeds offer some benefits, but pinpointing raising leptin levels isn't one of them. I think Lyle answered in his forums that short term refeeds have little lasting effect on leptin levels

His 6 part write up on his site would say other wise......
but I could be misreading it.

kuderstadt

Yeah, I was thinking it sounds a lot like a calculated cheat day. I've heard it can help to take a break from your diet once a week, but I feel like it also gives people a licence to eat more/worse foods than they would pre/post diet. If you're just eating to maintenance and not going all insane, I can't see how doing that once a week would be a bad thing….

MityMax96

Yeah, I was thinking it sounds a lot like a calculated cheat day. I've heard it can help to take a break from your diet once a week, but I feel like it also gives people a licence to eat more/worse foods than they would pre/post diet. If you're just eating to maintenance and not going all insane, I can't see how doing that once a week would be a bad thing….

Well if you are doing a refeed...
The one promoted by Lyle is a High Carb refeed.....
So not just more/worse food....
But more targeted......

Which is what I do with my routine, since I do Intermittent Fasting (LeanGains).

So you don't try to refeed on just a bunch of high fat/carb foods....
But take in more carbs to elevate the levels of hormone quickly.....
And also you keep your fats low, so it doesn't encourage your body to store it as fat.

Again, just my understand and reading of things....
I am certain ACg will disagree....
But this is just my opinion and what I do.

MityMax96

Any way I will post this for my logic and reasoning on the issue....
And keep in mind that Lyle is promoting the idea of a Carb Refeed....not a refeed of any food you want....
So the idea is to keep fats low.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-2.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-3.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-4.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-6.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-the-last.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/bodyweight-regulation-wrap-up-other-hormones.html

cwolfman13

When I was fat and losing I had one about once per month...it really was more of a mental thing for me I think...I can't really speak to the science or lack thereof. I never called it a "cheat" day because I did plan it out and had a particular calorie goal for that day as well as macro goals. I always dropped fat and did a carb load basically and ate just above my maintenance number by around 250 calories or so.

I'm leery about the "science", but it was always a nice mental break...and spaghetti.

Regardless, I don't think it would be necessary every 3 days to re-feed. My bodybuilder brahs at the gym do it once per week when they're in a cut and that's it...and they only do it in a cut. I don't know, maybe there's some small advantage to doing this if you're really training like a bodybuilder or something...but again, just don't know.

Acg67

Any way I will post this for my logic and reasoning on the issue....
And keep in mind that Lyle is promoting the idea of a Carb Refeed....not a refeed of any food you want....
So the idea is to keep fats low.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-2.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-3.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-4.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-6.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-the-last.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/bodyweight-regulation-wrap-up-other-hormones.html

I'm familiar with the write up, notice he never mentions how long leptin is raised after a high CHO refeed? But does allude that leaner people might benefit from mult refeeds per week, which if leptin was raised for any length of time why?

MityMax96

Any way I will post this for my logic and reasoning on the issue....
And keep in mind that Lyle is promoting the idea of a Carb Refeed....not a refeed of any food you want....
So the idea is to keep fats low.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-1.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-2.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-3.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-4.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-6.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/the-hormones-of-bodyweight-regulation-leptin-part-the-last.html
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/bodyweight-regulation-wrap-up-other-hormones.html

I'm familiar with the write up, notice he never mentions how long leptin is raised after a high CHO refeed? But does allude that leaner people might benefit from mult refeeds per week, which if leptin was raised for any length of time why?

I thought he mentioned about a 24 hr period??
That is what I saw, perhaps I misunderstood him.

Right and I think Leaner people do benefit...
That is why I also take into account things I have read on LeanGains.com, and why I am doing LeanGains myself.
I have found the most benefit for dropping some stubborn fat areas by doing that.

Again just me....

your mileage may vary....
I ain't interested in getting into a pissing contest over it....
I just present it as something for the OP to read and consider, among many other things out there....
And see what works for him