Lost weight after my refeed day. Can anyone explain the science??

bloomblythe5
bloomblythe5 Posts: 24 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hey y’all

I’ve been in a calorie defecit of 1600 for about a month now and it’s going good, I’m having smart and healthy meals to fuel my workouts and try and fill me up with fewer calories. In this last month of being in this defecit I’ve lost about 6ish pounds which is great! I’m super happy with my slow and steady progress especially since I can see the muscle I’m putting on too. I went from 173 to 166

The last week or so thought I’ve been increasingly hungry and feeling more insatiable than usual and my cravings for more food have been stronger too. It’s been a struggle but I did some research and decided a refeed (not cheat) day would be great and I was super excited for it haha.

My weigh ins are on Friday’s so this last Friday when when I weighed in at 166.2

Sunday (yesterday) is when I planned to have my refeed so I started off strong with 500 calories worth of protein pancakes with 86% dark chocolate and pb2

I know generally what the deal is with refeed days so I want to put these extra calories and energy to good use so after breakfast I did some intense skating with a friend for a little over 2 hours. I went about my day eating I had a whole pizza, had a lot of snacks like rice cakes and some bars, and finished off with chicken rice and potatoes for dinner and some halo top ice cream. I had one more intense leg/butt workout before dinner (just to use up the food I’m eating). I finished the day with something like 2400 calories and 312g carbs.

I wasn’t worried about putting on weight cuz I know I’m gonna be back on track starting today until I feel like I need another cheat or refeed day. I know that with that many calories and carbs I’m probs gonna be bloated and heavier than my previous weight. But when I stepped on the scale today I was 165.5! A new low... just not really sure what to make of it and I’m getting a little anxious trying to understand like is this a sign I can increase my calories?? Change my macro split to more carbs?? Do nothing and keep doing what I’m doing??

Sorry for the long story, thanks for reading!

Replies

  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,388 Member
    I tend to be lower on days after I had more fatty foods and generally more calories. Other people report the same. I have no idea what the exact reason is but my theory is that it's either
    a) less poop weight. More fat generally means having a good poop
    b) more waste in your system, which needs fluids to move along. In combination with the above you could be reducing your water weight this way. But that would probably be a bit too fast for digestion.

    Thus no idea. But yeah, I've noticed this for a long time.
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,094 Member
    I don't know about the science, but you're certainly not the first person to lose weight right after a refeed/higher calorie day.
    If I had to guess, I would say it's due to a loss of water weight (a deficit stresses the body which can cause water retention, so eating more could encourage a (temporary) loss of water weight?).

    In any case, one single weigh-in is a very bad basis for making decisions about your calorie intake. Fat loss shows up slowly and fast weight changes are due to water weight (or changes in food waste in your system). So just keep doing what you're doing, I'd say :smile: And keep an eye on the long term trend.
  • Hanibanani2020
    Hanibanani2020 Posts: 523 Member
    I always drop significantly the day after my cheat day and I think it’s because I workout harder on those days so I’m probably a bit dehydrated. I normally go up a few hundred grams the day after then even out the next day
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Your water weight is/was lower today. Its constantly changing - could be based on where you are in your cycle.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    Do you normally weigh yourself on Mondays? Comparing your Friday weigh in to your Monday one is not consistent since you are adding a lot of variables. For example your weigh in last Monday without a refeed may have been less than this Monday. In the end it is likely a combination of less water and food weight. I wouldn't pay much attention to a random weigh in but many over time.

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