What is the science of "cheat day/meal"/refeed?

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  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    This makes sense! I was wondering why I was STARVING the day after a refeed!

    Again, I can't speak for the actual science behind it...I know it increased my leptin levels because instead of being "full" I was stomach grumbling starving the next morning when I'd wake up...but I can't speak to whether or not it actually kept my metabolism up...other than the fact that I never really had a plateau or anything and lost on average 1 - 1.5 Lbs per week (faster earlier on). It did help me immensely in my workouts though.
  • Alissakae
    Alissakae Posts: 317 Member
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    Thanks for all the info here! My weight loss slowed to a glacial pace after my first 75 pounds came off, even after I added in teaching water aerobics three days per week. Now I think maybe this is what I need to try to kick start myself again, I may have been "too good" with working out 6 days per week and eating at a deficit every day.
  • arnolv98
    arnolv98 Posts: 12 Member
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    Bump
  • eazy_
    eazy_ Posts: 516 Member
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    .
  • tigersword
    tigersword Posts: 8,059 Member
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    Refeeds are 99% purely for psychological reasons. Leptin is a very fast responding hormone, and even when you refeed to boost lepton levels, it's right back down to the lower levels within 24 hours of returning to deficit. They are useful for glycogen replenishment if you carb cycle or low carb, but metabolically, minimal effect. It's mostly for maintaining sanity.
  • skydiveD30571
    skydiveD30571 Posts: 281 Member
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    So, if I did a refeed day on Thursdays, (essentially carb loading) and took my ride on Fridays, with a 900 cal expenditure, would you skip eating the exercise calories back since I just chowed down heavy the day before or meet somewhere in the middle and eat half the cals back?

    After your refeed day is over, it's over. No need to adjust Friday based on Thursday. Just go about your usual Friday.
  • twooliver
    twooliver Posts: 450 Member
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    Timothy Ferriss talks about the science in his book:

    The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman by Timothy Ferriss

    I think he talked about this on Dr. Oz...not sure....although Dr. Oz addresses this also (google it)...

    Ferriss' methods are extreme... so it's no surprise he includes a cheat day...only it's with intention.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    So, if I did a refeed day on Thursdays, (essentially carb loading) and took my ride on Fridays, with a 900 cal expenditure, would you skip eating the exercise calories back since I just chowed down heavy the day before or meet somewhere in the middle and eat half the cals back?

    You just go about business as usual. A re-feed is essentially going to shrink your overall weekly calorie deficit.
  • jehavin
    jehavin Posts: 316 Member
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    Thanks. You're right about it not affecting the day after. I think what I'm coming to understand is that I wasn't doing a true refeed/cheat day, just upping my exercise to still stay in a deficit despite eating way more calories. I will try a true refeed (around 2000 calories (which is 150cal more than maintenance) this Thursday and then do my long ride on Friday and eat back half the calories like I do with my other workouts. I appreciate everyone defining what a true refeed is (versus just a spontaneous cheat day) and explaining the science so that even I could understand it and I will reread "The 4 Hour Body" to see if maybe I can understand his terminology this time!
  • kristen2713
    kristen2713 Posts: 253 Member
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    bumping..extremely well explained and interesting!
  • BrandiLou1984
    BrandiLou1984 Posts: 50
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    Jehavin- Thanks so much for posting this! I have been wondering about this a lot lately and now I know!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,523 Member
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    From my personal experience I've only found re-feed worked for me when I was in prolonged (at least 6 weeks) of consistent calorie deficit and I stalled a little. A once a week re feed just tended bump my energy up more the next day as well as a little more water weight.
    I do believe they work, but for each individual I think it's gonna be a trial and error experiment to find out what works.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,943 Member
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    For me there are no cheat days, though I occasionally go over calorie limit. I eat what I want when I want, I just stay in my calorie limit.

    The mist important reason I don't believe in cheat days is because I am not on a diet.
  • liloldDee
    liloldDee Posts: 92 Member
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    Great thread, I will try a refeed day every few weeks and see how I get on. I like the idea of planning it rather than letting it happen, it means hopefully I will stay in control rather than going over board.
  • Riddickcz
    Riddickcz Posts: 2
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    There is no difference between cheat meal and cheat day.
    Definition of a cheat meal is any meal that pushes you above your desired daily caloric goal.

    If you are in caloric deficit its a meal that brings you to maintenance calories or in caloric surplus.
    If you are bulking and in caloric surplus to start with, its a meal that pushes you in a significant caloric surplus.
    If you are maintaining, its a meal that pushes you in caloric surplus.

    Either way, you are not achieving your caloric goal for the day, meaning its a cheat day. If you eat some pizza or burger or whatever "unheatlhy" (hate that term...) but manage to fit it in your caloric intake for the day, you just made your diet flexible, but didnt cheat because at the end of the day you still managed to hit your caloric goal for the day.

    As for refeed day, its meant to spike your leptin and other hormones level while you are on a significant caloric deficit for longer period. The longer you are in caloric deficit, the less hormones your body produces. Leptin is responsible for the speed of your metabolism so when your leptin levels drop, your metabolism decreases which slows down your fat loss progress. Leptin is carb sensitive so essentially what you want to do on refeed day is to keep your protein and fat intake stable, since those do not effect leptin, but increase your carb intake. The amount of carbs you can increase for refeed day varies from person to person, but a good place to start is to increase your carbs to the level of your maintenance calories. One refeed day, or two refeed days a week..thats up to you and depends on how severe caloric deficit you are in. Try and see :)
  • gautamrkumar
    gautamrkumar Posts: 1 Member
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    Best refeed info I have ever seen.. Thanks a lot
  • cw106
    cw106 Posts: 952 Member
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    There is no difference between cheat meal and cheat day.
    Definition of a cheat meal is any meal that pushes you above your desired daily caloric goal.

    If you are in caloric deficit its a meal that brings you to maintenance calories or in caloric surplus.
    If you are bulking and in caloric surplus to start with, its a meal that pushes you in a significant caloric surplus.
    If you are maintaining, its a meal that pushes you in caloric surplus.

    Either way, you are not achieving your caloric goal for the day, meaning its a cheat day. If you eat some pizza or burger or whatever "unheatlhy" (hate that term...) but manage to fit it in your caloric intake for the day, you just made your diet flexible, but didnt cheat because at the end of the day you still managed to hit your caloric goal for the day.

    As for refeed day, its meant to spike your leptin and other hormones level while you are on a significant caloric deficit for longer period. The longer you are in caloric deficit, the less hormones your body produces. Leptin is responsible for the speed of your metabolism so when your leptin levels drop, your metabolism decreases which slows down your fat loss progress. Leptin is carb sensitive so essentially what you want to do on refeed day is to keep your protein and fat intake stable, since those do not effect leptin, but increase your carb intake. The amount of carbs you can increase for refeed day varies from person to person, but a good place to start is to increase your carbs to the level of your maintenance calories. One refeed day, or two refeed days a week..thats up to you and depends on how severe caloric deficit you are in. Try and see :)

    a lot of well explained info .thanks.
    can anyone explain simply how i calculate my maintenance calories please?have been on a 6-10 000 cal deficit for 10 weeks.
    tia.
  • JonnyQwest
    JonnyQwest Posts: 174 Member
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    I have learned over time not to try to think about it so scientifically.....instead I go by what my body tells me......when I need a refeed/cheat....whatever the heck you want to call it....there is no question about it, my body will tell me......I will feel lethargic, moody and just overall physically and mentally drained. I find it impossible to plan a specific day when this will happen so I don't necessarily plan it out but when I do refeed, I will make sure to carb load and give my body the things it has not had a lot of...rice, pasta, maybe dessert or alcoholic beverage if I am using it as full blown cheat meal, etc....next day I always feel great.....happens about once a week on average. It is definitely just as important mentally as it is physically.
  • skyfit_wafflequeen
    skyfit_wafflequeen Posts: 2 Member
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    Fantastic post!! All responses very helpful and useful!

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