Refeed/cheat days

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  • be_patient
    be_patient Posts: 186 Member
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    thanks for all your replies everyone! xxx
  • Lysander666
    Lysander666 Posts: 275 Member
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    Having cheat days is a PERSONAL thing. Whether it will still cause you to lose weight is dependent on:

    1. How many days a week you do it
    2. How much you're eating over your limit
    3. Your personal genetics/physical make-up

    it will work differently for everyone, you have to find your own 'sweet-spot'.

    I have found that I can have two-three days whereby I go 1000 or more cals over my limit and I still lose. This might not be the case for everyone.

    The reason why this works for me is because my weekly calorific average is still low even after excess days. Therefore if the rest of the week is really low, the weekly calorific average is at a deficit too.
  • ritaharper18
    ritaharper18 Posts: 2 Member
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    I have a target of 1580 calories per day to lose a pound a week. I stick to that most days but sometimes find it hard going.

    So to enable myself to eat more some days and satisfy those cravings, i make sure I do some exercise of choice. Generally gardening, walking or something gets a really good deep clean.

    I find this way I can have some indulgent moments but they are controlled with my exercise making up the balance of calories.

    The results are worth it, the garden is coming on, no weed is safe! The extra cleaning, moving furniture, emptying cupbaords and just going through stuff is really satisfying too.

    I also find I am more careful with those calories I have earned.
  • CatLadyyy
    CatLadyyy Posts: 102
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    I have a cheat day once a week.. when i just go wild! It helps me stay on track the rest of the week and doesnt affect my weight loss! But im sure everyone is different
  • bnorris2013
    bnorris2013 Posts: 256 Member
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    I used to have cheat days

    Now mostly on days that I plan on eating more then usual I just do enough cardio to give me the calories for the day
  • foot1647
    foot1647 Posts: 92
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    What would be considered a cheat meal I just incorporate into my daily total. So if I want Chinese or Thai take out, I just order a single size container and usually just one thing like chicken and brown rice or something mildly sweet like mandarin chicken.

    I may be more inclined to eat whatever more often when I reach my weight goal but I'm not sure yet, I have a ways to go still. If I go in the red on my calories I make up for it by doing extra cardio the next day and avoid eating those "bonus" calories.
  • 0OneTwo3
    0OneTwo3 Posts: 149 Member
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    I do a huge carb refeed once a week (atm. from 6days 2100kcal to 3500kcal+ refeed) while trying my best to keep protein and fats at the same level as other days. the next day i weight in at +1kg but the day after that i have lost that again and the weight loss is sped up again.
    I have no science to back up that carb refeeds speed up the metabolism though and i heard from people that it doesn't work for them that way.
  • sarahlanglin
    sarahlanglin Posts: 1 Member
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    I don't equate refeed days with cheat days. I stick to a paleo diet, a cheat day for me would be eating a gallon of ice cream and a box of cookies which is something I only do maybe once every two or three months and I always end up regretting it later. I do however, do refeed days once every week or two. My normal macros are probably 60% fat, 20% protein and 10% carbs but on a refeed day I up my carb in take A LOT. I'm not sure how that changes my macros around, I'm not that meticulous. Anyway, the important thing is I don't up my intake with crap food. If I'm going to have a refeed day, I get my carbs from several sweet potatoes for the most part and tons and tons of veggies. I've noticed that this helps keep my metabolism and hormones from adjusting to the low carb so I can continue to steadily lose weight rather than hit a plateau and get frustrated
  • PudgyFellow123
    PudgyFellow123 Posts: 40 Member
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    that's a good point. Re-feeds are meant to be carb heavy to increase your leptin level after eating under your maintenance caloric baseline. If you're eating sweets and fats, than the whole exercise is pointless.
  • jeremyobrien359
    jeremyobrien359 Posts: 1
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  • Walter__
    Walter__ Posts: 518 Member
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    They are not the same thing. Don't confuse them.
  • love8383
    love8383 Posts: 169
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    I don't really like the term "cheat days" it implys you're doing something wrong, there's nothing wrong with eating more some days, i always vary my caloric intake by 100-250 so my body doesn't get used to a certain amount
  • chrisdavey
    chrisdavey Posts: 9,834 Member
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    Flexible dieter here. Last week I had two refeed days at around 600g carbs each. Typical intake is around 250g. This will be limited to one this week and next. Currently around 7.5% BF so relatively lean. I have these when I am feeling especially lethargic.

    THis isn't a cheat as it is planned. Weight normally jumps for a day or 2 and then goes back down.

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