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Is "refeeding" necessary?

foxygirl14
foxygirl14 Posts: 158 Member
Just read this article and would like your thoughts.

http://www.muscleforlife.com/refeed/

Bonus question: As a 5'2" female with ~18% bf and eating 1200 cal for the past 6 weeks, do you think I would benefit from a refeed or is that only for 'real athletes'?
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Replies

  • feisty_bucket
    feisty_bucket Posts: 1,047 Member
    Well, glycogen stores are a real thing. It's a good idea, IMO, to eat "some" carbs after hard exercise, which is usually called refeeding:
    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mohr114.htm

    On the other hand, there are people who call themselves "zero carbers" and they often exercise. I don't know their results. I'd guess not stellar, but haven't thoroughly looked into it.

    As for the article and your bonus question: calorie cycling is also a thing that people do and is useful. It just means eating more on some days and less on others, depending on what you're doing. Lifting requires a surplus, to build. All this stuff is a big deal in the Intermittent Fasting/Leangains world and also with people doing recomposition. On myfitnesspal, it's easy to manage if you use the "calorie banking" approach.

    For example: all my days are different, calorie wise:
    1. lifting day = TDEE + ~1/3rd
    2. running/hard cardio day = TDEE + a lil' bit
    3. resting day = TDEE
    4. fasting day = ~1/6th TDEE

    So yeah - back to your question. Six weeks is a long time, I'd definitely eat big at some point in there. Don't freak out if the scale jumps around though, (as you'll see a lot of people do on here), because water retention will be happening.
  • DavPul
    DavPul Posts: 61,406 Member
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    Just read this article and would like your thoughts.

    http://www.muscleforlife.com/refeed/

    Bonus question: As a 5'2" female with ~18% bf and eating 1200 cal for the past 6 weeks, do you think I would benefit from a refeed or is that only for 'real athletes'?

    What is your exercise regimen?
  • foxygirl14
    foxygirl14 Posts: 158 Member
    DavPul wrote: »

    What is your exercise regimen?

    Running 3-5 miles and doing 30-45 min of strength training (gym machines no free weights) 5 days a week and walking and resting the other 2.
  • kdiamond
    kdiamond Posts: 3,329 Member
    I like refeeds and I believe they can help mentally, if not physically. You're exercising a lot on low calories, it's time!
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    DavPul wrote: »

    What is your exercise regimen?

    Running 3-5 miles and doing 30-45 min of strength training (gym machines no free weights) 5 days a week and walking and resting the other 2.

    And you eat gross 1200 cal? Or net?
  • foxygirl14
    foxygirl14 Posts: 158 Member
    Gross 1200 cal
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,846 Member
    edited May 2016
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    Gross 1200 cal

    Well, you're undereating.

    Lyle McDonald hits on a lot of the same points about refeeding here http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/calorie-partitioning-part-2.html/ and in his video, which is long; I watched it while doing yoga warmups:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6846ZTBu08k&index=4&list=PLUXvX9BaxgqG9yO5XWB3gA_QshvrrcjVr

    In the video he stresses refeeding is more helpful for people close to their goal weight then people who have just started dieting/have a lot to lose.
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
    Short answer is yes. You don't need to eat back every single calorie, especially since calorie counts may be off, but get close. You should aim to be close to your expected calorie goal by the end of the week.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    Gross 1200 cal

    How do you function on such low calories doing all of that exercise?
  • foxygirl14
    foxygirl14 Posts: 158 Member
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    Gross 1200 cal

    How do you function on such low calories doing all of that exercise?

    Not very well! I was hoping refeeding would help.
  • thefuzz1290
    thefuzz1290 Posts: 777 Member
    Then there's your answer. :smile:
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    I think rather than a re feeding issue, you should first look at the massive undereating you are doing on a daily basis.



    QFT
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I think rather than a re feeding issue, you should first look at the massive undereating you are doing on a daily basis.



    Yes, this is probably a better idea than doing a one off re feeding every now and then.
  • bmahrenholz216
    bmahrenholz216 Posts: 2 Member
    For women, the lowest calories you should be eating is 1600 kcal a day. If you are running 3-5 miles almost every day you want to restore your muscle glycogen so you don't pull from your blood sugar (which could result in hypoglycemia). If you aren't getting a sufficient amount of calories your body will actually decrease its basal metabolic rate (calories burned at rest) and make it harder to utilize the macronutrients you eat for training.
  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    I think rather than a re feeding issue, you should first look at the massive undereating you are doing on a daily basis.



    So much this
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    foxygirl14 wrote: »
    Gross 1200 cal

    How do you function on such low calories doing all of that exercise?

    Not very well! I was hoping refeeding would help.

    So would eating back your exercise calories!
    You are going to have to when you want to maintain so why not while you are losing?
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,846 Member
    I think rather than a re feeding issue, you should first look at the massive undereating you are doing on a daily basis.

    65363709.jpg


  • T1DCarnivoreRunner
    T1DCarnivoreRunner Posts: 11,502 Member
    For women, the lowest calories you should be eating is 1600 kcal a day.

    I'm a man, and I eat 1,350 kcal daily in order to lose weight when I wasn't losing at 1,660 kcal daily. So this universal proclamation of a minimum calorie goal of 1,600 for women is worthless.
  • therealfitt
    therealfitt Posts: 8 Member
    So your body only realizes that it goes under intense athletic training when stood in Beijing ready to go for gold.. You run and get sikver. Must have been because yoi didn't have that refeed because not quite sure if youre a real athlete.. But I guess youre not with just a silver ... That refeed will come one day.. Keep striving ....